A comment posted on The New York Times website turned out to be gibberish. The replies were almost as funny as the post. People referred to political parties and Waiting for Godot. One reader understood what happened: a voice-to-text program interrupted the writer.

In response, Christine explained that someone came to her door in the middle of her writing the post. She didn't turn off the program, so whatever she said got translated and posted for all to read. As she describes,

"I was composing a message using the autospeak, and a friend arrived early to my house," she wrote in a reply further down the thread. "I had no idea all that drivel was being recorded - there are even errors in the drivel! And then to be a pick, with about 15 emails announcing such, meant that my email went rogue."

Discussion:

• How have you used voice-to-text programs? What are the benefits?
• This examples gives us one obvious downside of using transcription services. What are some others?