Potential uses of high-quality transcription services

My contention is that just about every business can use transcription services to improve their workflow, information management, and brand awareness. The process of rendering the spoken word into written form is one of the most underappreciated and underutilized sources of content today. Per minute, reading is much more information-rich: the average person can read 250-300 words per minute (WPM), while we only speak at 110-160 WPM.

In addition, written word is indexable and searchable. Let's say you've signed up for a massive online open course (MOOC). I would posit that most people would prefer to have access to both the recorded lecture and the transcript. Listen to the lecture, use the transcript to study. Khan Academy (admittedly not a MOOC) already does this with many of their videos. They have an incredibly dedicated user base, and can therefore actually crowdsource the transcription and translation of their videos! I signed up for it and transcribed a couple videos myself, it was actually kind of fun! (I was actually hoping to get Rogers Word Service to be their go-to for transcripts, but clearly they have it figured out.)

Whether it's in-person interviews, phone calls, focus groups, staff meetings, seminars, lectures, or any number of various applications I haven't even considered, it's obvious that transcribing spoken word into written word is really a matter of increasing accessibility and convenience of information. You could say that Rogers Word Service is in the information accessibility business, via transcription. To me, that's a much more holistic approach to transcription.