AI tool · Internal product · CoR & EESC
Outcome
One simple, secure place for staff to turn meeting audio and video into text they can edit, share or subtitle
Officials at both Committees record plenaries, meetings, interviews and events. Writing up those recordings by hand takes hours. cScribe lets staff upload a recording, choose the language, and download the transcript as a Word file, plain text or subtitles.
The speech recognition runs in a Python service on the WIPO transcription engine, inside the Committees’ secure IT environment. I designed the interface and the logo, and built the front end on top of that service.
Tools: Figma, the CoR & EESC design system, HTML, CSS and JavaScript, connected to the Python web service.
BProblem & users
The AI team had a working transcription engine but no tool that staff could use on their own. The job was to wrap the engine in an interface that any official can use the first time, without training, and that keeps recordings safe.
Proto-persona · from the use cases
Proto-persona · from the use cases
CUse cases & user flow
Every use case follows the same five steps. Only the language and the download format change.
| Use case | Who | Input | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Draft minutes from a meeting | Meeting secretary, policy officer | Meeting audio in one language | Word file to edit (DOCX, verbatim) |
| Write up a plenary or debate | Policy officer, members’ support | Floor audio where speakers switch language | Word or TXT, with “Multilingual (Floor)” |
| Subtitle an event video | Communication officer | Video file (MP4, MOV) | SRT subtitle file |
| Reuse a quote or interview | Press, web and social media teams | Interview recording | Plain text (TXT) to copy and search |
DUsability review
I reviewed the screens against the 10 usability rules of Nielsen Norman Group and the WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standard. Each row shows how the design answers each rule, and what still needs checking with users.
| Usability rule | How the design answers it | To check in testing |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility of system status | A progress bar while the file is processed. Created, uploaded and expiry dates on the result. | Do people trust the progress bar on long recordings? |
| Match with the real world | Formats are named by what people do with them: edit in Word, plain text, subtitles for video. | Do people pick the right format the first time? |
| User control and freedom | View, download and delete from the list. Downloads stay available until the expiry date. | Is deleting safe enough, or does it need a confirmation? |
| Error prevention | Allowed formats are shown before the upload. Fields confirm with a check mark. | Do people notice the format list before they drop a file? |
| Consistency and standards | The header, colours and logos come from the CoR & EESC design system, like the other internal apps. | Does the side menu feel familiar to staff? |
| Help and trust | A short notice under each form says where files are processed and that only authorised recordings may be uploaded. | Do people read the notice, and is it clear enough? |
| Accessibility | Text labels on every icon action, visible focus, keyboard drag-and-drop alternative (“Choose File”), status not by colour alone. | Keyboard only, screen reader announcements of progress and completion. |
EUser testing
Status: plan. Moderated sessions with officials from both Committees, one task per use case. Results will replace this plan after the round.
| Task | What we watch | Success means |
|---|---|---|
| “Transcribe this meeting recording in French.” | Finding the upload button, filling title and language, adding the file. | Done without help and without a wrong file type. |
| “You need subtitles for this video.” | Which download people choose. | They choose SRT and can say why. |
| “Find yesterday’s transcript and download it again.” | Using the list, the language filter and the expiry sort. | Found in under a minute. |
| “When will this file be deleted?” | Reading the expiry date. | They give the right date. |
Rate each problem by how often it happens and how serious it is, fix the top issues, and test again. I don’t show results that I haven’t measured.
FScreens & design system
Designed for the three screens staff use: 1440 × 1024 desktops, 1920 × 1080 office PCs and 800 × 600 virtual machines. Names and contact details are hidden in the images.
A microphone whose body forms a “c” for cScribe, with three sparkles for AI. The flat version sits in the app header; the 3D version is the app icon. The gradient moves from magenta to light blue, so it stands out next to the institutional blue without competing with the Committee logos.
Same blue header (#2C4390) with both Committee logos on the right, the same side menu, form fields and buttons as the other internal apps. Success uses green with an icon and a text label, never colour alone.
| Step | Front end (my work) | Python service |
|---|---|---|
| Upload | Checks title, language and file type before sending. Drag and drop with a keyboard alternative. | Receives the file and starts a job. |
| Processing | Shows the file name and a progress bar, and keeps the page calm while it waits. | Runs speech recognition on the WIPO engine. |
| Result | Shows dates and the three download buttons with plain explanations. | Creates the DOCX, TXT and SRT files. |
| List | Table with language filter, expiry sort and view, download and delete actions. | Stores files and deletes them after 7 days. |
GOutcome & next steps