A few weeks ago, a lady named Joyce called during my show with Susie Elelman on 2GB. Joyce was looking for a solution to put her memoirs down on paper, but was struggling because she’s extremely visually impaired. She has a notebook PC but it’s very difficult to type, even with a Vision Australia modified keyboard attached.
Luckily the light bulb went off in my brain and I had my good mate from Nuance send Joyce a copy of their latest voice dictation package. Unfortunately Joyce hasn’t been able to get anyone to help install it yet.
Until last week that was, when I traveled over to see Joyce at her nursing home in Bass Hill. Joyce turned out to be as good-natured and friendly in person as she sounded on her call-in.
I figured out that I’d need more than a few minutes to get her set up, so I took the machine away and did a complete “oil and grease change” – upgraded to Windows 10, added an anti-virus package, installed a DVD Player program and set up the voice dictation. I’ve been doing this over the last few nights since I visited her.
I’m very happy to say that I returned today with the computer all shiny and new (inside and out) and we took the voice dictation program for a test drive – and it worked really well, even without any initial voice training! I could see Joyce’s face light up when the words she was saying appeared on the Word document a few moments later.
In fact here is a picture of a statement that Joyce dictated into the notebook as a message to Susie and myself. How cool is that?
There’s two memorable take outs from this episode for me. One, you certainly CAN teach an old girl new tricks! Despite her age and impairments, Joyce understood the concept and the process, and I can imagine her utilising this software to document her life history way more effectively now.
Secondly, this is a heartwarming and practical example of technology making a positive difference in someone’s life. It’s easy to talk about the latest gadgets and how good they look and sound, but it’s sometimes the unsung products and brands that are quietly helping people achieve their goals.
Joyce’s elation at my surprise visit, and the end result of the voice transcribing service now at her fingertips, was something to savour. I intend to look in on Joyce and make sure everything is working smoothly and to update her PC whenever it needs done. She’s a great lady with some really interesting stories and I can’t wait to see her life put into words.
You talked with Suzie on the radio one night on how to back up your computer to a USB stick, I missed most of it so was wondering if you could email me instructions on how to do it. Thank you.