Software engineer · Desktop apps for academics

Alex Stein

I design and build software tools for academics and researchers who work with audio and video data. I use my experience in desktop software development and audio engineering to create tools that are practical, reliable and user-friendly.

Sweden, Denmark, Canada

Apps

What I've built

Each app has its own site with downloads and documentation. Click a card to visit it in a new tab.

DOTE

Freemium

The Distributed Open Transcription Environment. Manually transcribe recorded talk and interaction against synced video, then export publishable transcripts or subtitles.

Co-developed with the BigSoftVideo team, Aalborg University

Visit dote.aau.dk Coming soon

DOTEbase

Licensed

Organise, clip, tag and search DOTE projects across large audio-visual datasets, before or after transcription. Included with a DOTE licence.

Co-developed with the BigSoftVideo team, Aalborg University

Visit dote.aau.dk Coming soon

DOTE Whisper

Free

Turn recorded interviews, meetings and fieldwork into time-stamped, speaker-labelled transcripts for DOTE, without your audio ever leaving your computer.

Visit dote-whisper.alexstein.ca Coming soon

Video Alignment Tool

Free

Line up every camera and microphone from one event on a single timeline. Let the app align them automatically, or do it by hand.

Visit alignment-tool.alexstein.ca Coming soon

Cairn backup

Free

Simple, encrypted backups for people who have never set one up. Back up to a drive, a server, Google Drive or OneDrive.

Visit cairnbackup.eu Coming soon

Approach

Why I build these

Built for researchers

Plain language, sensible defaults and a guide for every app. You shouldn't need to be a programmer to use the tools your research depends on.

Your data stays on your machine

Transcription runs locally, and backups are encrypted before they leave your computer. Participant recordings and unpublished work stay under your control.

Free where possible

Three of these apps are completely free. The fee for DOTE licences goes to Aalborg University, and after overhead costs, it directly funds further development of DOTE and DOTEbase. If my free apps help you in your work, please consider supporting my ongoing development.

Support

Contact

Get in touch

Questions about one of the apps, or an idea for a tool your research needs? Email me.

alex@alexstein.ca GitHub