Fund 7 report on transcription and documentation methodologies

As part of the Cardano Project Catalyst F7 proposal QA-DAO Transcription Service, we researched and tested several approaches to transcription and documentation, aiming to derive a methodology guide to transcription and summary in the context of Catalyst.

In the following pages, you will find the results of this work.

TL/DNR:

• Your aim is to make material more accessible, more discoverable, and more searchable / indexable. So work with that in mind; and remember that text-based documentation is preferred, because it supports these aims.

• There is no single “right” way to document / transcribe. Choose a method that’s appropriate, in terms of time, cost, and level of detail, to the type of meeting - but note that they are all skilled tasks, and the documenter needs to be trustworthy.

• A documenter generally needs a high level of skill in the language that the meeting is in. Collaborative documentation can be less demanding of language skill.

• A documenter also usually needs a high level of understanding of the topic of the meeting. This is less true for verbatim transcription than for other methods, since it requires less intervention from the documenter.

• In general, chronological documentation seems to work best in Catalyst; though topic-based or speaker-based approaches might work sometimes.