Transcriber

[d'shadow]

I have a very good friend who is about to begin his thruhike, and he has asked me to transcribe his journal. I would appreciate any guidelines or suggestions from the hiking community to assist me in my new role.

[dixicritter]

Hard to give guidelines at this point on the info you've provided. Don't know how you'll be receiving the journal entries, or if you will be posting them online or what.

What I can do is tell you what Rock and I did while he was hiking. I was his transcriber. He would hand write his journal entries then mail me the pages to post to his journal on Trailjournals.com. I would usually have anywhere from 3 to 5 days worth at a time and would post one or two a day so that there wasn't such a long gap in between journal entries. That didn't always work out as well as hoped though.

So anyway, that's what we did. Other folks have done this differently, and I'm sure they will chime in soon.

[Jan LiteShoe]

Well, I'll kick this one off.

Will the journal be online?
Talk about how he will send you his journal.
Transcribing is a great chance to hike along "in spirit".
How timely does he need the journals entries posted?

For starters...
;-)

[Jan LiteShoe]

JINX! Dixie.
;-)

[dixicritter]

JINX! Dixie.
;-)

Great minds Jan!

[George]

always add to the miles and hardship the drama makes better reading

[d'shadow]

We discussed his journaling by hand, and decided to purchase new phones. We now each have an LG Voyager which opens up, providing a screen and keyboard. He plans to type journal entries each day and text, or e-mail them to me whenever he receives a signal on the trail.
I can either type, or cut and paste them into the journal.

[d'shadow]

Oh, sorry Dixie, they will be posted on trail journals. And, yes Jan, I will be hiking along with him in spirit. I am very excited about him being able to fulfill a dream!

[Jan LiteShoe]

Oh, sorry Dixie, they will be posted on trail journals. And, yes Jan, I will be hiking along with him in spirit. I am very excited about him being able to fulfill a dream!

Well, then, that's the best kind of support.

Good that you can cut-and-paste his entries. It will save the friendship.

[d'shadow]

Well, then, that's the best kind of support.

Good that you can cut-and-paste his entries. It will save the friendship.

He is the one who will be walking up hill both ways! And, I get a trip to Maine to pick him up

[camojack]

Great minds Jan!

Ummm...where?

[freefall]

One thing I remember from having my Mom transcribe my journals is she notoriously would correct my "spelling." Some things are meant to be spelled differently and so my advice would be to enter all entries as you receive them. There may be a reason for the different spelling (ie. thru-hiker instead of through hiker) and ya'll can discuss this later or he can make corrections.

[d'shadow]

good sugggestions, set up ground rules before he leaves...thanks!

[freefall]

good sugggestions, set up ground rules before he leaves...thanks!

remember, if he sends you a message about "Chunky Gal Trail", it is for real!

[freefall]

always add to the miles and hardship the drama makes better reading

Trudging up snow packed cliffs sounds so much better than walking a ridgeline that had some snow on it.

[kayak karl]

remember, if he sends you a message about "Chunky Gal Trail", it is for real!

and even though there is good phone reception on Big Butt Mt. don't call and say " i was just thinking of you!"

[stumpknocker]

Great minds Jan!

Now there's an oxymoron if I've ever heard one!! Those words just don't make any sense at all.

[freefall]

:d And Even Though There Is Good Phone Reception On Big Butt Mt. Don't Call And Say " I Was Just Thinking Of You!"

Lmao!!!

[dixicritter]

We discussed his journaling by hand, and decided to purchase new phones. We now each have an LG Voyager which opens up, providing a screen and keyboard. He plans to type journal entries each day and text, or e-mail them to me whenever he receives a signal on the trail.
I can either type, or cut and paste them into the journal.

That's good that you won't have to transcribe from handwritten pages. I know Rock was able to get text messages out to me on a fairly regular basis as well as some emails from the trail when he couldn't get a call to go through, and this was on the BMT. So y'all should do alright with this method in most places.

Oh, sorry Dixie, they will be posted on trail journals.

Posting to trail journals is a piece of cake. Just make sure you have the password.

Good that you can cut-and-paste his entries. It will save the friendship.

AMEN! Also the frustration of having to wait for the U.S. Postal Service to deliver the handwritten ones.

One thing I remember from having my Mom transcribe my journals is she notoriously would correct my "spelling." Some things are meant to be spelled differently and so my advice would be to enter all entries as you receive them. There may be a reason for the different spelling (ie. thru-hiker instead of through hiker) and ya'll can discuss this later or he can make corrections.

I agree to a point. There are some spelling errors that were so obvious on Rock's journals that I had to correct them. Rock is a horrible speller, if it weren't for spell checker he would be lost. This is one of those things that I would talk to the journalist about ahead of time though. Make sure he is OK with you correcting his spelling for him before you do it.

The good thing about Trail Journals is it can always be edited later if something isn't entered the way it should be.

[d'shadow]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and guidance! I really appreciate it.
It is good to know I have good people to turn to as issues come up along the way!

By the way, Stumpknocker, have really enjoyed reading your journal and sharing your adventures on the trail; especially since you do not eat top ramen!