I'd like to support Steve's comments on using Dragon with Compendium.

Although I haven't used Dragon and compendium together in a public
setting, I have found Dragon to be a considerable time saver, as well
as much easier on the body. As Steve says, there are some minor
tweaks that are necessary, but nothing overwhelming.

However, I wish I could figure out how to quickly connect and position
the nodes, but that requires more sophistication than I have achieved
so far with Dragon.

From my point of view it is worth the money to buy a good USB
microphone, which unfortunately can cost more than the program itself.

I would like to ask Jeff if he found any decrease in recognition using
Dragon in an open meeting environment?

In summary I would say try it, I think you'll like it.

Richard

--- In DialogueMapping@yahoogroups.com, "sbmack7" <sbmack7@...> wrote:
>
> Jeff,
>
> Dragon works great with Compendium! Obviously the real timesaver is an
> adding definitions to the nodes. And from my point of view that is
> hyper-critical because that really is the documented rationalization for
> an argument. That is also the mechanical step that adds the most lag
> to the facilitation process.
>
> Here are some observations to get you started.
>
> You can buy Dragon Pro at Amazon for $140. But buyer beware. The $50
> rebate is a bait and switch. That is for existing owners only who want
> to upgrade. The lack of clarity on the page cost me $100, because I
> bought both my brother and myself a copy assuming I would get $100 back.
> (The bastards)
>
> A mechanical point I first wrestled with is turning the microphone on
> and off when I am facilitating. Which is obviously important because I
> do not want to capture my dialogue as I am conversing with the group.
> The spoken commands to manage the microphone are somewhat obtrusive, "go
> to sleep", "wake up". However, I found that the accounting
> plus sign on a full-size keyboard is a hotkey to turn the microphone on
> and off. So I can toggle the microphone silently.
> Dragon will insert nodes directly onto the canvas using Compendium
> hotkey equivalents. Unfortunately for me, it does not properly
> recognize "D" for Decision and "M" for Map. However
> there is a Dragon solution for that too. You merely have to preface the
> keyboard letter with the words "Press" or "Type" and
> Dragon assumes that you are doing a by-key insertion, so will insert a
> proper node. If you experiment, you can determine which nodes insert
> properly with just the spoken letter and which need the keyword preface.
>
> I am only a modest Compendium user, and have not really thought much
> about a way to verbally connect nodes. So I am still tethered to
> keyboard. But I don't really think there is a way to totally disengage
> from it anyway. However, Dragon does give you better connectivity with
> your group using any electronic facilitation tool that Dragon may
> recognize. I think the best voice/keyboard integration is probably
> facilitator-specific.
>
> Dragon does train up on your voice pretty quickly. But if you are
> working with a client who has a domain specific vocabulary, you would
> want to have the client e-mail you any special nomenclature and acronyms
> before your session. Then you could insert the new words in your
> vocabulary with your voice prior to the meeting. That does not take
> long.
>
> The microphone that comes with the software is an analog type and
> clearly visible. There are less visible ones available on-line with USB
> connections that are also more accurate. But they are significantly
> more expensive.
>
> So to close, given that you are a quasi-academic (And I won't hold that
> against you.), I would recommend buying Dragon just for your regular day
> to day professional activities. And then once you've trained it up
> sufficiently, test it out with Compendium. I think that you will find
> that it can be an excellent support tool for your facilitation
> exercises. Jeff If you do buy it, please let me know how it works for
> you, because I am curious.
>
> Steve
>