Using EverNote to record telephone interview

[IndiraNair 1]

I would like to use Evernote to record a phone interview on a MAC for a research project.  Have others used it this way? Any suggestions?

Thank you!

[gazumped 11,664]

Hi - nice idea,  but unless you have your telephone wired up to allow recording,  or can make the call through the Mac via Skype,  the sound level is going to be very quiet..  you could have a phone on loudspeaker near to the Mac microphone but I'm not sure what sound quality you could expect.  How and where would you expect to play this back?  On the Mac to transcribe the content?  In an audio blog?

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Evernote wouldn't be my first choice. It doesn't have enough customizability, especially with the sound quality. For a face-to-face meeting it would probably be fine, but even then, I prefer to manage everything a lot more closely. Research, it seems to me, is worth the extra effort, especially if you'll be presenting at conferences and the like. There's nothing wrong with Evernote, but it is (wisely, I think) limited to use cases in which sound fidelity isn't at a premium -- a business meeting, a classroom,etc.

[DutchPete 247]

There is a 3rd party app that's integrated with Skype: Callnote. When you start Skype you start Cn @ the same time & it records the call. You can have the mp4 file sent automatically to Evernote. It also store a copy of the mp4 file locally, so if the automatic sending does not work (it is a bit erratic @ times) you can pick up a copy from your hard drive & copy it to Evernote for your records. There is a Windows & Mac version - see http://www.kandasoft.com/home/kanda-apps/callnote-skype-call-recorder.

[IndiraNair 1]

Thank you all! This is very helpful.  My purpose is to record a phone interview on the MAC and then transcribe it for analysis.  

 

From your suggestions and what i read, it seems I should try Callnote with Skype.

 

I haven't even used Evernote before.

 

Will post my results! Thanks!

[gazumped 11,664]

I'm sure you would anyway,  but may I remind you to try out the setup on a willing friend before you try to use it for real?  A rehearsal is always a good idea to weed out the problems you haven't thought about yet...

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

Depending on the nature of the research and whether or not this is part of a University, you might also want to consider the ethical implications of including your participants' data in a cloud service like Evernote. 

 

Some institutional ethics boards have restrictions on where digital data can be stored. It is also possible that even if they do not have restrictions, storing data on another company's servers might violate guarantees of confidentiality and anonymity (if you have made such guarantees). This is especially a possibility if you are storing audio recordings which might not be anonymized and which could be traced back to the participant. 

 

I'm not saying you SHOULDN'T store your data in Evernote, but you should really make sure you don't inadvertently get yourself into trouble. Most institutions have guidelines for storing digital data so you can see if Evernote fits within those rules.