Dragging out the Dragon

My copy of Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software, version 11, is now nearly two years old. I haven't used Dragon much since I last reported on it because I basically forgot about it but I should reacquaint myself as I have a book to write and my keyboarding skills are not improving.

I don't know if it's because I have a new Logitech H390 USB headset but the Dragon behaved spectacularly well last night when I used it for My Big Day Out blog post. After the great results I got I will persevere as I am sure that with the Dragon's help my writing task will be made easier.

The Dragon's Progress

When working with my son, a surgeon, in his rooms during recent times I heard him  dictating his medical reports at a rate of knots via voice recognition software. I was so impressed with the accuracy of his package to deal with complex medical terminology dictated at lightning speed that I vowed to purchase similar software for myself.

The Dragon appeared at my house about a month ago. Since them I have been working on taming it and making it work for me. At times the Dragon amazes me with its accuracy and at other times causes me great frustration.

I will continue to work with the  Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium Version that I have installed on my laptop computer. I am amazed when the software accurately records proper names and place names and some quite complex phrases and sentences. What I find intensely annoying is its poor recognition of the full stop command and some simple words such as I, me, the, et cetera.

My arthritic fingers appreciate being liberated from the typing task. When I don't have to type I find that I am able to concentrate more fully on the subject matter about which I am writing. When I dictate into Dragon the quality of my writing seems better in the first draft and I don't have to spend so much time on subsequent editing. There are of course no typos from Dragon when it is doing its job.

I have used the Dragon in a few applications including Blogger, Outlook, Google Docs, Microsoft Word and even in Twitter. Dragon's accuracy in each of these programs is of a similar standard. Reading this reminds me that I must try Dragon in Excel and Google spreadsheets, programs that I use regularly.

Dragon is a complex piece of software with many VoiceCommands that one can employ to streamline dictation process and other tasks such as Internet searches. I am hastening slowly with this new tool  consciously teaching myself a couple of new commands per week and others on a needs basis.

My previous experiments with voice recognition software have been disastrous. I am quite positive about this new product and expect even better results as it becomes more familiar with my vocabulary and voice.

If you, like me, lack keyboarding skills I would encourage you to purchase and persevere with a Dragon

The new Dragon at my house

Those who follow my blogs will know that my typing skills are somewhat lacking. I am in possession of a new tool that may help in this regard.

I am using Dragon NaturallySpeaking premium version to write this post. I only installed the the software last night and have written one report with it. This is my second attempt at writing with this product and so far it has transcribed with 100% accuracy.

As I have many stories that I wish to relate and record for future generations I am looking forward to using this new tool.

Have you used voice recognition software for genealogy purposes?