Department of Ideas: Life Transcript

by Brian Reich | 27 Jan 2010, 3:02pm

I have an idea: I want a transcript of my life.

Within minutes of the President delivering his State of the Union Address tonight the White House will release a transcript of his remarks.  Even though millions of people will watch in real time, many will TiVo, and the video will be available online (on YouTube, C-Span.org, as well as most television and newspaper websites), the written record of what the President spoke about will still be published online and the transcript will appear in the print edition of many of the nation’s largest newspapers.  If the speech is really good, you may be able to walk into a bookstore next week and buy a copy.

Of course, all of the President’s public remarks are transcribed and made available to the public.  But you will also find transcripts for a lot of television news programs — like Meet the Press or Larry King Live — available for free online.  NPR makes transcripts of its programs available through its iPhone app within minutes of them being aired.  Even some major conferences are starting to publish transcripts. Of course not everyone makes their transcripts available for free — it costs $19.95 to get a transcript of the Oprah Winfrey Show for example.

Clearly, transcripts have value.  In addition to being able to watch or listen to someone speak, a transcript gives you the ability to compare the substance of the speech to the delivery (they reveal very different things).  You can analyze a speaker’s use of language - look for the subtext and meaning behind what they are saying.  When trying to quote a speaker or cite a fact, having the transcript will help to ensure that key points aren’t missed.  In short, words are important.

I am not the President of the United States.  I am not a regular guest on a television news program or the host of a show on NPR.  I do give a lot of speeches and lead a lot of discussions, but while most of the events I attend videotape my talks, few make the extra effort to create a transcript.  And, while I do spend a lot of time narrating life for my two-year old son (particularly as we walk around New York City), I don’t have a personal stenographer who keeps a written record of my daily dialogue.

I wish I did have a written record of my life.  I think there should be a way to create a transcript of everything you do and say during the course of a day, and then refer back later.  I know there are applications designed to convert audio to text that you can get for your computer or iPhone — they are designed to help people keep track of their to-do lists, manage their voicemail, or record the contents of a meeting.  There are websites that can generate closed captioning for an online video.  You can even pay someone to sit in a meeting and take copious notes, or listen to a recording afterward and type of a transcript.

I want a transcript of my entire day.  I want the details of every conversation I have with someon.  I want to be able to review the stories I told.  I want a record the answers I provided when my son, Henry, asked me a question.  I want to remember what I told my therapist.  If my wife and I remember the details of a past conversation differently, I want to be able to look up what I said previously.  And I want to be able to capture the ideas and insights that I share with clients, or groups that I speak with.

There are lots of ways to track what you have done throughout the day.  Your calendar offers some details about how you spent your day (or at least were scheduled to spend your day).  You can review your emails to see how conversations developed over time.  Depending on how you use it, Twitter acts as a partial transcript as well.  And of course, you can always record everything and watch/listen later.

I’m not interested in being on my own reality show - or anyone else’s reality show for that matter.  I want to be able to review how I spent my time, what I talked about, what I was thinking (out loud).  I want to be able to engage in a conversation with another person and focus entirely on what they are saying without having to worry about not capturing a detail in writing that might be important later.   I am not very old.  I don’t have memory issues (that I know of anyway). But I don’t remember all the wonderful moments - and not so wonderful moments - from my childhood.  I don’t remember the particulars of every conversation that I have.  I don’t have the ability to review something that I said, or that someone said to me, to ensure that my interpretation was correct.  And I think I would benefit from that — and others might as well.

I want a transcript of my life.

Its just an idea…

TAGS : Department of Ideas