Challenge

The idea for InqScribe arose from our needs as graduate students. As part of our research, we were collecting hours of classroom footage of students and teachers engaged in learning. How could we manage that corpus of data? We needed to be able to review the footage, note interesting points in time that deserved closer study, and on occasion, produce transcriptions of interactions among students and teachers.

In the late 90s, digital media was an emerging field, enabled largely by Apple’s QuickTime platform. Aside from basic playback engines, there weren’t really any other tools available that helped users make meaning around digital media. We’d have to invent our own solution.

Solution

The core concept of InqScribe was the pairing of an open-ended text field, in which the user could insert time markers, and a video playback control. Dynamic time markers were clickable to jump to that point in the video, and shortcuts made it easy to insert the video’s current time into text field.

This formed the basis for a tool that was flexible enough to support users who simply wanted to take notes about their footage as well as users who needed to produce professional transcriptions of dictated audio files.

This flexibility led InqScribe to move beyond its initial target audience of educational researchers and deliver value to additional audiences.

• Transcriptionists needed to be able to transcribe as quickly as possible. Custom keyboard shortcuts, along with support for USB foot pedals, provided a UI that streamlined their workflow.
• Film and video producers needed to be able to review and import notes, captions and subtitles created within InqScribe into their existing workflow. Diverse options for importing and exporting content meant that InqScribe provided value to another community by integrating into a larger ecosystem of tools.

Results

InqScribe was first released in 2004 as a commercial desktop app for macOS and Windows. Since then, it has been continuously supported and updated by Inquirium, evolving as operating systems and digital media formats have continued to evolved.

The modern landscape for digital media looks very different now than it did in 2004, and AI-based transcription has finally arrived after years of promise. We are continuing to update and improve InqScribe to provide value to users within this new landscape.