What's new in Audio Project Manager 2.16.0
Oct 15, 2022
- We created a new concept called a Peer Group which is defined in the Members dialog. This is especially helpful for reviews. By assigning a discussion on a passage to a Peer Group, members of the group will see that it is their turn to review it. This replaces the idea of assigning a discussion to a role. Groups are more powerful than roles because a person can be a member of multiple groups. The groups could be named by roles but some language programs break into teams: Group A and Group B for example where Group B does the peer review of Group A’s work and Group A does the peer review of Group B’s work. So the avatar on the discussion card can be clicked to quickly and easily reassign the discussion to another person or group. In some cases, commenting can actually automatically assign the discussion back to someone to respond.
- For discussions, we now support Consultants-in-training (CIT) working with a mentor. Each of these are treated as Peer Groups. The CIT comments are visible only to the mentor until s/he approves them to be seen by the rest of the team. Mentor comments are only visible to the CIT.
- We added the ability to save the discussion filters so they can be used by others on the team.
- If a particular segment is being discussed and a new version of the audio is recorded, the segment being discussed can be updated to a segment of the new version without losing the segment of the previous version. The previous version has a play button added as a comment in the discussion thread.
- When Syncing to Paratext for one passage, only that passage is synched. The program automatically advances to the next step when the sync is complete.
- We added the ability to have transcription steps for Whole Back Translations, Phrase Back Translations, Questions and Answers, and Retellings. In addition Paratext Sync steps can be created for Whole Back Translations and for Phrase back translations. If both of these are transcribed, it is recommended that they be synced to separate Paratext Back Translation projects.
- When creating resources for internalization, it is possible to upload a resource that covers multiple sections and passages and link the part of this more general resource to the passages and sections it applies to in a chunking tool.
- A workflow template has been created for Render users who would like to use Audio Project Manager to get their content into Paratext. It includes steps for transcribing and syncing vernacular text and both whole and phrase back translations.
- The program will remember which row was being worked on in the Audio Project data sheet. This will help team members working on large project plans with many passages.
- We improved the editing of the data sheet. Adding Sections and Passages buttons now give a menu with multiple options. These options have always been available by right clicking but now they are available on the menu too. Passages can also be moved to previous or following sections.
- We added ways to export the audio and the transcriptions of back translations, questions and answers and retellings in addition to the vernacular content.
- We added a localization for Spanish speakers
- We have added the ability to track the Intellectual Property holder who is recording or has recorded the audio.
New in Audio Project Manager 2.15.9 (Jul 7, 2022)
- This release updates the Indonesian localization but otherwise is the same as 2.15.8. The full-featured desktop app is available for downloading. There should be no change for the SIL Transcriber web app which supports even more platforms.
New in Audio Project Manager 2.15.8 (Jul 1, 2022)
- Resolved Issues:
- TT-3100 Resource Delete Confirm (#812)
- TT-3393 Resource tool tips
- TT-3798 Passage Resources (#811)
- TT-3805 visual test
- TT-3830 Require Vernacular (#810)
- TT-3831 set sourceMediaOfflineId in prep for API export changes (#840)
- TT-3844 Create General Resources
- TT-3918 use tool name not step name to filter Paratext step (#841)
- TT-3919 Save Back Translation Segments (#815)
- TT-3997 Maintain Resource order (#805)
- TT-3998 Add Transcriber to Work flow (#807)
- TT-3998b move transcribe button next to play item
- TT-4001 Handle names with slashes
- TT-4002 Display Transcription State (#817)
- TT-4005 Shared Resource Create error (#816)
- TT-4006 Moving Resources (#813)
- TT-4023 add message when too many segments
- TT-4024 Flat chunking (#836)
- TT-4026 Deleting General Resources (#838)
- TT-4028 Canceling General resource creation (#832)
- TT-4030 Copy button and paste logic (#825)
- TT-4035 Off line Sync language code (#829)
- TT-4039 No off line resource edit (#839)
- update desktop help
- Known Issues:
- In the next release, we plan to add peer groups. Assignments of work flow steps, discussions or tasks can be made to peer groups.
- TT-3831 – If vernacular recordings are made while off line on a collaborative project, it is currently necessary to go on line to synchronize the data before creating the off line recordings for back translations, retellings or question and answers. (We plan to remove this requirement in a future release.)
- TT-3202 – when discussions are created by one user, a user on a different computer may need to refresh to see them.
- TT-4040 – after uploading general resources while off line, it is necessary to go to a different work flow step and come back to see the configure option enabled. (This work around will be removed in the future.)
- TT-3909 – ELAN export could be improved to take advantage of the segmenting information and any transcriptions made for segments.
- TT-3922 – If one recording is left in a paused state, another recording doesn’t play automatically.
- TT-4013 – after importing to an off line desktop program, a shared resource is not yet appearing.
New in Audio Project Manager 2.15.7 (Jun 25, 2022)
- This release fixes an issue in the desktop program that prevented posting to Paratext locally if the language tag contained multiple parts separated by hyphens and if it doesn’t and just contains a simple language code without hyphens.
New in Audio Project Manager 2.15.6 (Jun 24, 2022)
- The SIL Transcriber development team is pleased to announce the 2.15.6 hot fix release. This release fixes an issue in the desktop program that prevented posting to Paratext locally if the language tag contained multiple parts separated by hyphens. The full-featured desktop app is available for downloading. There should be no change for the SIL Transcriber web app which supports even more platforms.
New in Audio Project Manager 2.15.2 (Apr 21, 2022)
- The SIL Transcriber development team is pleased to announce the 2.15.1 release. After the Spring 2022 Release, there have been a number of requested features so we have decided to move into a monthly release schedule to release features more regularly. The full-featured desktop app is available for downloading and a corresponding SIL Transcriber web app supports even more platforms.
- Tagged discussions:
- If a region of the audio file is selected when a discussion is created, a discussion tag is inserted underneath the audio file at that point. This allows the users to see which parts of the audio file are being discussed and to proceed through the discussions in order. Clicking on the tag will highlight the discussion it refers to and the user can play or read the comments about that part of the audio. (Watch a demo.)
- Latest Audio Export:
- The export step now allows the user to export the latest audio files with their transcriptions in addition to having exports for just the transcription or for the entire project. There are two export options: audio export, and Scripture Burrito export. These new audio export options, only export the latest version of the audio so if the user has created multiple versions of a passage as they have worked through correcting it, only the final form is exported. The Audio Export will export different content based on whether the vernacular, retelling, question and answer, or back translations are selected. This Export step can be inserted at various places in the workflow and only the audio content that is at or past that step in the workflow is exported. So the idea is to have a way to export the content that has been completed to a particular point in the workflow.
New in Audio Project Manager 2.14.5 (Mar 25, 2022)
- SIL Transcriber announces the 2.14.5 hot fix that updates the localization for Indonesian. This is a hot fix on the SIL Transcriber Spring 2022 release.
New in Audio Project Manager 2.14.4 (Mar 23, 2022)
- SIL Transcriber announces the 2.14.4 hot fix that fixes the display and sort of the choices on the compare tool. They will sort by chapter, start and end verse number if they are present in the file name. The name also doesn’t stop displaying if it contains a period. The localization of work flow steps was also improved. This is a hot fix on the SIL Transcriber Spring 2022 release.
New in Audio Project Manager 2.14.3 (Mar 22, 2022)
- Customizable workflow:
- The workflow is a series of steps. Any step can be hidden and new steps can be added. The Admin user designs the workflow for the team. Templates of workflows for common solutions are provided. All projects on the team use the same workflow. The step names can be changed and localizations are provided. Each step is associated with a particular tool. Multiple steps can use the same tool and of course not all tools need to be used. The user is guided through the steps but can go back to repeat any steps or adjust any of the previous content.
- Resources:
- When a passage makes reference to a particular cultural topic, it may be helpful for those recording a translation of the passage to have a background description of this topic. This description can be provided as an audio resource or as a text / display oriented resource. Other resources could be translations of the same passage in various languages that are known to the translation team.
- Threaded discussions:
- Threaded discussions are very similar to commenting tools provided by Word or Docs. They allow the selection of a segment of the recording and the creation of a discussion around it. The discussion can have contributions from team members. These contributions can be audio or text. The entire discussion can be assigned to a person or role and can be resolved when finished.
- Community Checking:
- Community checking for orality projects is often done by playing the audio of the passages in the section for an “uninitiated” speaker of the language who is then asked to retell the section in their own words. As the retelling and translation are compared, observations can be recorded in discussions about things that were added or things that were left out. Another tact is to play an excerpt and ask questions about it and record the answers. The retellings or answers can be transcribed.
- Back Translation:
- These tools allow the user to listen to the passage and then record their back translation in a language understood by the consultant. This can be done for the entire passage or the passage can be broken into phrase segments and each segment can be back translated. These back translations can also be transcribed and sent to a Paratext back translation project.
- Paratext Sync:
- Paratext integration has been improved so that if a project has a registered back translation project, the program will choose the corresponding project or back translation project depending on what content is being synced. As in the past, the language code is very important for linking SIL Transcriber projects with the corresponding Paratext projects, either locally or in the cloud.
- Other changes:
- In the past, once a passage was transcribed it could block other passages in the same section from being transcribed by others. Now transcribers can un-assign the section and work on other passages if they choose. The goal of this version is to guide the user to do the right thing but not prevent them from doing something else if they feel they need to.
New in Audio Project Manager 2.13.5 (Feb 3, 2022)
- The SIL Transcriber development team is pleased to announce the release of Audacity Integration. The Audacity logo appears on the more menu of the Sections and Passages tab of the Audio Project screen. Clicking this logo will open the Audacity Manager dialog and allow the user to connect this passage to an Audacity project and then to import or export audio files edited in Audacity. Audacity integration is only available on the desktop application which can be downloaded. The Audacity Integration augments the Fall 2021 Release.