Writing now from the immediate felt sense, I am finally writing now.
This experience arises at a few scales…
I was not so very well the latter half of the day before yesterday and was further feeling it yesterday. This left me behind in my attendance to a few things that matter, writing not the least of these.
Taking gentle care of this morning to ensure the health of my wellbeing meant the day started a little later in terms of those attendance to things. Similarly, in an almost fractal echo, just turning to the blank page today presented me with a handful more minor technical details to ensure the software situation was well in hand from the ongoing systems upgrade.
Speaking of the systems upgrade, I had mentioned in a past article my engagement with the new built-in Apple Voice Control and attempting to run the Nuance Dragon 15 voice software in a Windows emulator as a solution to the now well outdated Dragon for Mac which had been my accessibility solution for the better part of the last decade and a half. As of today I have completed that two week transition and am, with some fluency now, composing this using that emulator as the Apple Voice Control appears useful for short compositions (< 100 words), but fails on the count of "ease of editing and correction."
This too lends itself to the bodily sensation of writing finally.
Speaking of finally writing, I've actually decided to write two pieces today, as this one seems to be lending itself directly to a personal ground-level narrative that lines up with my intention to share some content which may be useful to others with disabilities who rely on accessibility software for composing the written word.
I have published a previous piece introducing the subject and will now close that subject with a few examples. This is for anyone wondering about Apple Voice Control (running in the Apple Ventura operating system environment as of April 2023) versus the best alternative of which I am aware, Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home edition version 15 (also probably Dragon NaturallySpeaking 16, but that is $800 more!)
The verdict is still a strong dependency on the Dragon Nuance software running in the Windows emulator environment. For now.
I will now close this article with a few examples of the Apple Voice Control output. Again, I am a vastly experienced user with technical skill and 20 years experience of dependency on these application, so I do feel this is a qualified offering for those in the need to know.
First, Apple Voice Control written today in real time with no corrections:
Prior to publishing I cut and paste it this text from the dragon environment into the software I use for my regular writing compositions.
That software is called scrivener and it’s from the literature in latte company.
All right just a few sentences what paragraphs year in order to generate some meaningful volume of contact for a reasonable context. Already I can see the transcription remains far below par with respect to the dragon software. That’s enough for now.
And lastly, a longer piece transcribed about two weeks ago when the software was entirely new to me.:
Now We are testing the mic to learn If
I had meant to publish something of some length and substance today.
Instead I am gently, and if I'm being honest, a bit tenderly learning the ropes on the new voice dictation feature of the latest computer operating system update that I will be using going forward.
This new voice software, the best in the market for the Apple operating system that I use, while functional, is steel search steel not as good as
I'm going to leave that garbage as it is…. I've re-position with a microphone and find very quickly that the transcription accuracy, while perhaps workable, Will at the very least take some getting used to.
The software seems to capitalize words randomly and at will.
The correction menu does not seem to have any editable options and only allows corrections suggested, even if those suggestions for y'all to include the actual intended word or phrase.
I have no written just over five paragraphs in the time it would usually take me to write a page. I have left many mistakes intact above rather than struggling with a software simply to get one paragraph correct.
I am hoping that by simply jumping in and working with what I have I will come to some reasonable accord with the software and will find enables productivity to a satisfactory degree going forward.
In the meantime there is definitely a learning curve.
I was going to, and will soon publishing article here reflecting on the way I often here voices I respect discussing the construct of colonization and how it has showing up in our world overtime, and how we might be relating to it now.
As you might imagine, I think that will be best if I wait to work out some of the kinks in the software before attempting such an endeavor.
In the meantime, I hope this example can prove valuable to others considering the use of apples voice transcription picture and dictation functionality.
fractal echo -- this is a brilliant phrase -- applies to more than tech issues.
Thanks for sharing your struggles with the software. It helps me understand the trajectory of your writing and the underlying effort you apply to make the words go from mouth to page. I used Neeva to investigate Apple Voice Control, and had an ah-hah moment when I realized we are talking about Siri - Let's hope Apple's AI learns to recognize you ASAP!