Key Takeaway
Traditional digital transcription methods have struggled with accuracy, particularly due to historical accents from the 1940s and 50s. The Imperial War Museum (IWM) has partnered with Google and Capgemini to enhance transcription accuracy using AI technology. This new system understands contextual meaning, allowing it to interpret phrases correctly. For example, it recognizes that a sailor’s reference to “ooks” likely means “hooks,” demonstrating a significant improvement over previous transcription methods that failed to grasp such nuances. These advancements aim to streamline the transcription process and improve overall accuracy.
Traditional solutions were inadequate, and the historical context exacerbated the issue.
“We’ve been using digital transcription for several years, but its accuracy is significantly lower than we desire,” Nick observes.
“In the 1940s and 50s, accents were more pronounced than they are today, and you truly realize this when you listen to some of this audio.”
To address this, the IWM has formed several corporate partnerships that have helped streamline these processes.
Contextual understanding
Collaborating with Google and Capgemini, IWM has implemented AI transcription that captures the full meaning of sentences rather than just individual words.
“We have one interview with a sailor who frequently refers to ‘ooks’, and the transcription rendered it as ‘double-oos’,” Nick explains.
“That’s typically what digital transcription would produce. However, the AI transcription comprehends: this is a sailor, he’s on a ship, and when he mentions ‘ooks’, he’s referring to hanging things up, which must mean ‘hooks’. It understands context in a way that previous transcriptions did not.”
