Otter

Otter, from Otter.ai. Live transcripts and summaries of lectures, interviews and meetings.

What it does well

• Transcribing research interviews (with consent) for coding
• Live captions for accessibility
• Searchable notes from long meetings

What it does poorly

• Recording anyone without consent
• Joining meetings automatically: it can send notes to every attendee
• Heavy accents or technical vocabulary without checking the transcript

What makes it different

Joins Zoom, Meet and Teams calls to transcribe, then lets you search and ask questions across all your recordings.

Quick start

1. Record a short test and check how it handles your field's terms.
2. Add custom vocabulary for names and jargon.
3. Turn off auto-join and auto-share before connecting your calendar.
4. Use the summary as an index, and quote from the transcript itself.

Strengths and limits

• Strength: Accurate live transcription
• Strength: Speaker labels
• Strength: Search across recordings
• Limit: Auto-join surprises people
• Limit: Free minutes are limited
• Limit: Accuracy drops on crosstalk

Privacy

Get consent from everyone recorded. Research interviews may need IRB-approved tools; check before using Otter for them.

Academic integrity

Recording lectures may need the instructor's permission. Check your course policy.