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Instructions for Naming Audio Files Prior to Upload

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We request that you put information in the audio filename rather than in the message area, if possible, because the order of the files gets mixed up after upload, so what you see as being the first file at the time of upload will not necessarily be the first file in the list when we go to retrieve the files after upload.

However, if you're uncomfortable renaming files please feel free to put the information in the message area, but please be sure to mention a unique identifying feature of each file you refer to, because referring to them as "first" and "second" won't be helpful.

PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IN YOUR AUDIO FILENAMES

    1. Length. Please include the length of the file e.g. 94m. NB: Don't confuse the length with the MB. The length would look something like 1:34:03, but you would show this as 94m in the filename. Please show the time as total minutes rather than hours and minutes and round up the next minute if it's over 30 seconds. We need to know the length in order to make sure we assign it to the right staff member, to ensure they will have enough time available during the length of time they're scheduled to work that week to complete your file by the required deadline. We ask that you provide this in the filename because we don't normally download the audio prior to assigning it, so we can't see the length on our end. (Note: Please see the section at the very end of this document for tips on how to find the length of audio files.)

    2. Interviewer(s) and Interviewee(s) names, initials or codenames. We use this information to create speaker IDs in the transcript.

    3. If you're doing a second interview with the same individual, please put No 02, so we don't worry that we've already transcribed that same interview sometime earlier. However, unless it's a second interview with the same individual, we don't need interviews to be numbered consecutively in any way.

    4. Total number of people in the interview or group including interviewer(s). For example:
      1. If it's an interview with two people, you'd put 2pl  (meaning 2 people)

      2. If it's a group with four participants and two facilitators, you'd put 4p 2f (meaning 4 participants and 2 facilitators) (Note: Separating participants from facilitators helps us to be sure we've understood correctly the total number of people. Otherwise we're never 100% sure if you've actually included the facilitators or just the participants and knowing the exact number of people can be really important to staff when they're trying to figure out who's speaking and whether it's the same person or a new person who just sounds similar.
    5. Date Held. We use the date held to make sure we don't accidentally transcribe the same meeting twice, just in case you or someone in your organization accidentally uploads the same meeting again at a later date. You may also find this useful for your own record-keeping. Please feel free to put the month, year and day in any order you like, but please show the year as four digits and the month as text to eliminate any confusion between the year, month and day.
      For example:   Aug 02 2012   ~   02 Aug 2012   ~   2012 Aug 02

SAMPLE FILENAMES:

Below are samples of how to name audio and video files for interviews, groups and conventions.

As a general rule for all files, it's best not to put periods in filenames, because if it' is too close to the end of the filename, our transcription programs will most likely not be able to recognize the file, because it's the three or four characters after the period that allow programs to recognize files. Although in some programs this is no longer as important as it used to be, audio transcription programs can be very finicky and this can cause problems.

However, if you've set your computer to display the extensions on filenames, don't remove any periods that are naturally there. Just don't add any yourself.

    1. Examples of file names for Interviews

      JohnSmith MaryJones intv BobGordon PeterWu - 4pl - 94m - Held Aug 02 2012
      OR
      JS MJ intv intv BobGordon PeterWu - 4pl - 94m - Held Aug 02 2012
      OR
      JS MJ intv BG PW - 4pl - 94m - Held Aug 02 2012

      Obviously, if you're using codenames, you'll need to put the codename instead. Full names are best, but if the names or long and/or there's several people involved, you may prefer to use initials for the interviewers and/or interviewees. It's fine to use initials for the interviewers if we know who they are because you've given us their names in advance and it's always the same people doing the interviewing. However, if you haven't given us the names of the interviewers, please give us their full names in either the upload message or an email. Even if you've asked us to use initials as ID for the interviewers, usually we put their full name on the right hand side of the legend at the top of the transcript. The same applies to interviewees. If you really prefer that the full names of interviewers and/or interviewees aren't divulged anywhere in the transcript, not even on the right hand side of the legend, there's no need to give us that additional information, but if that's the case, kindly remind us at the time of upload that you've requested that we not include full names anywhere in the transcript.

    2. Examples of file names for Groups

      DM FG SP Victoria - 4p-1f - Facil John Smith - 94m - Held Aug 02 2012
      OR
      DM FG SP Victoria - 4p-2f - Facil JS MJ - 94m - Held Aug 02 2012

      The acronym for the project name is at the beginning (e.g. DM for "Diabetes Management Project"), then FG for Focus Group (or MTG for Meeting if that’s more appropriate), then something about the participants if that's relevant to your study (e.g. SP for Service Providers), then the location, if relevant (e.g. Victoria), then the number of participants (e.g. 4p) and the number of facilitators (e.g. 2f), then the date held with the year as four digits and the month as text, to eliminate confusion.

      If there's just one facilitator, please put their name in the audio filename, unless the filename is already is too long for some reason. If there's two facilitators, just put their initials and give us the full names in the message area. Please also give us the names of the participants in the message area.

      If there's multiple files, please remember to identify which file they belong to by mentioning something unique about that file, not just "first" file, "second" file, etc., since the order of the files gets mixed up after upload.

    3. Example of filenames for Conventions

      MRSA Conf - Vancouver - Day 1 - Session  1 - 8am to 12pm - 4h - Held Aug 02 2012
      OR
      MRSA Conf - Vancouver - Day 1 - Session  2 - 1pm to 430pm - 3h30m - Held Aug 02 2012

      The acronym for the name of the conference comes first, then the location (if relevant), then which day of the conference it is (if applicable), then which session number it is within that day (if applicable), then the time of day the session occurred, then the length of the audio, and lastly, the date. (Note: Normally we ask you to show the length in minutes, but in the case of conventions, the time  is usually so long that it makes more sense to show it as "h" for hours and "m" for minutes. It's best not to use colons or decimal points in filenames. Please show the year as four digits and the month as text to avoid any confusion.)

HOW TO FIND THE LENGTHS OF AUDIO FILES

The following are explanations of how to find the lengths of audio files on both a PC and Mac. If you can't find the length, even if you can give us an approximate time from memory, it's better than none. However, please be sure to let us know it's just an approximate time. It's important to be aware that small differences in length can make a big difference in transcription time, because it usually takes us at least 40 minutes to transcribe 10 minutes of audio.

    1. How to find the length of an audio file on a PC
      1. You can select the file in Windows Explorer and look in the taskbar; or
      2. You can right click on the file, choose Properties, then look at the Details tab. However,  for some types of files, such as Sony DVF, there may be two Details tabs and only one will show the length. For other types of files, such as Olympus DSS, you may not be able to find the length in either the taskbar of the file properties, but it should be available in the download program that comes with the recorder.
    2. How to find the length of an audio file on a Mac
      1. Open the file with QuickTime Player and in the window for the audio file that opens in QuickTime Player, the duration will be displayed in the bottom-right corner. Right click the file in the Finder and choose Get Info (or select the file and press command "I"). In the info window that pops up, click on the triangle or arrow next to the words More Info, then the audio file length will be displayed, indicated by the word Duration; OR
      2. Select the file in Finder and press the space bar to open it in Preview. It will start playing instantly in a window with the Time displayed prominently.
      3. These methods will work for MP3, WAV, and other file types Mac users are likely to have, but won't work for WMA files. For WMA files, either open them in iTunes or look at the duration in the program you use to play the file.