Background of Otter.ai:
Allow me to introduce you to Otter.ai, a voice recording app which listens and transcribes your messages for you, all while learning and adapting in the process. Otter is powered by ambient voice intelligence, which listens to you, recognizes your voice, learns you lingo, and identifies when there’s multiple speakers in the room, all at once. Otter has existed since 2016 and continues to improve.
It allows you to organize, record, and transcribe messages directly in app, or you have the option to upload voice files from elsewhere.
There is a free version which I have found works well for the use I need, as a student journalist.
Analysis:
You may be wondering: What does this have to do with journalism?
The answer: Everything.
Gone are the days of missing the conversation because you’re catching up with your hand written or typed quotes. Along with a recorded audio, Otter transcribes for you. This means you can record a conversation, allowing you to hold eye contact, be more personable, and make a better connection with you subject.
Then when you’re facing your deadline you can easily pull quotes from Otter where they are already written down for you. You can scroll to important parts of the interview and listen while you read to catch any mistakes the AI might have made. In my experience with the app, it is around 90% accurate.
There is a similar app to Otter called Fireflies.ai, which is extremely similar but not as user friendly for individual use. Fireflies is good for small to medium sized businesses, whereas Otter has individual and small business capacities, which are better suited for the solo journalist.
As a student journalist I am so lucky to have stumbled on to this app as a first-year student, I have used it for every interview I have conducted since, and there have been many.
Conclusion: How Can Otter.ai be Better?
If Otter.ai were to offer conversation summaries it would make the tool even more useful to a journalist with a busy schedule who just interviewed ten people on the same subject. I can see this easily becoming something Otter develops and adopts in the future.
Another tool Otter could use to improve would be to use it AI component to create an analysis of the conversation, basically telling you what of value was expressed.
Beyond that and more specifically for journalist Otter could offer keyword searching. Where it identifies keywords then links helpful information related to the subject matter. Which a journalist could use to deepen their story and find more sources.
As for Otter.ai today, I think it is incredibly useful and I recommend it to everyone I meet who needs to conduct interviews, either for a journalistic purpose of otherwise. I have also found it useful for my entrepreneurship classes in which I interview possible customer segments.
The uses are endless and this app is an amazing tool to help streamline an otherwise complicated and time consuming process.
Work Cited
Gershon, J. (2020, March 2). Otter Voice Notes for journalists: Blog. Otter.ai. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from https://blog.otter.ai/how-journalists-are-using-otter/
Otter Voice Meeting notes. Otter Voice Meeting Notes – Otter.ai. (n.d.). Retrieved February 14, 2022, from https://otter.ai/?utm_content=brand&utm_source=google_ads&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=search-core-prospecting-consumer-non_edu-web-brand&utm_term=otter+ai&gclid=CjwKCAiA9aKQBhBREiwAyGP5lVBVLuovQScBwaCImWUrwrlxAoy12f6AZLqBd6pP3Gm8nAfAA68ImxoCVQsQAvD_BwE
Otter.ai vs. Fireflies.ai: Which one is better and how to choose between the two?: Avoma Blog. RSS. (n.d.). Retrieved February 14, 2022, from https://www.avoma.com/blog/otter-vs-fireflies