Conducting interviews can be a challenge, especially for students who are just getting started in their careers. Otter is a major asset for these...
Sydney Kuntz
September 9, 2019
For students who conduct interviews for their studies, Otter can make all the difference.
Elizabeth Pagliei recently graduated with a degree in marketing and advertising communication from Endicott College, a private institution in Massachusetts. She began using Otter during her senior year.
“I got to know Otter when someone from my Student Support program suggested that I use it to record and help transcribe my interviews for my thesis project,” Elizabeth said. “I have mostly been using the app for transcribing interviews and getting my thoughts written down for papers.”
In the semester since she started using Otter, Elizabeth noticed major differences in how quickly and efficiently she could do work.
“Life before Otter was difficult when it came to transcribing interviews,” she said. “Something that could take me hours now only takes me 30 minutes!”
Otter can process conversations in real-time, which means that users can let the app do the tedious transcription work while they focus on their interviews. Then, when it’s time to review interviews to gather information, users can easily scroll through conversations or search for particular quotes using keywords.
Otter transcribes with high accuracy and can separate different speakers. This can be particularly useful for interviews since users can identify different speakers and eventually train Otter to recognize different participants in the live interview and in future conversations.
Otter also provides the flexibility to edit conversations if needed.
“I like the ability to edit the transcriptions online and being able to easily copy them,” Elizabeth said. “It made my schoolwork a lot easier!”
Users can securely access their Otter conversations from multiple devices. For example, if a student records a conversation on their phone, they can immediately open the same conversation on their laptop to review . Users can also invite participants to review and edit the conversations collaboratively using Otter.
Additionally, premium users can control the playback speed of recordings and skip silent portions, which can be a major time saver when looking for quotes from long interviews.
All of this means that students can spend more time focusing on the content of their interviews rather than the hassles of the transcription process. For Elizabeth, she could aim her attention at her thesis as she finishes her last semester at Endicott.
“None of my conversations have been very crazy, but I conducted eight interviews about advertising cannabis in Massachusetts using the app!” she said.
Many students conduct interviews about interesting subjects and could benefit from a shorter transcription process. Like Elizabeth, they can sign up for free an use Otter to streamline that process and spend more time learning from the content of their conversations.
Whether you’re just getting started or you're already a pro, we’d love to hear your experience using Otter as a student.
Submit your story here for a chance to be featured on the Otter blog or social media channels. All featured students will receive 1 year free of Otter Premium.
