Talk Nice To the PC

摘要

As a caseworker for chil-dren in New York, Jim Coursin conducts hundreds of interviews a year, and he's required to enter his handwritten notes into a computer. But even at 60 words per minute, converting his chicken scratch to bytes was an onerous time-suck. In desperation, a few years ago Coursin started using a program called Dragon Naturally Speaking. He'd dictate his notes into a microphone and text would magically appear on the screen. At first the program was clunky and inaccurate. But each year the software has gotten better. Nowadays Coursin raves about the productivity boost he's gained— and he's persuaded his bosses to let bis entire department try the software. "It's a tremendous tool that's helping me beyond belief," he says.