Blog Post 12

I wanted to write about how people recorded their oral histories. I noticed that they were all written differently. I thought it was interesting to see how people did it and based on the instructions what was different. Maybe people did part of the assignment, all of the assignment, interpreted the directions differently or something else.

Professor's Blog Post/ Instructions for Oral History:

Overall structure for an interview. Next we talked about how to plan the conversation for an oral history interview. I suggested that you think about the interview in parts. The first part serves as an orientation where you and the subject get to know (and hopefully feel comfortable with) eachother. This talk should provide any background information the subject will need (your objectives - if you have any) - and have some talk about any preferences/interests/agendas the subject might have. During the middle of your interview you cycle through questions (often in roughly chronological order) about the experiences that are at the center of your study. Ask open questions (questions that can't be answered with yes or no, and that don't put the subject on the spot). "Tell me about. . ." or "What was it like when . . ." or "Describe . . ." or "Tell me a story about . . ." are good lead-ins. Remember interviews are conversations - so follow up and add to your opening questions. As you come the the last part of the interview, begin some reflecting and pulling together. Make connections, ask for feelings and reflections. 

911 interviews. After this introduction you worked in pairs to conduct oral history interviews about experiences on 911. One of you was the interviewer, one of you was the subject - and BOTH of you took notes. I stopped you several times to catch up with your note taking. You were instructed to note what was said by both, the timing and sequence of the unfolding information, how the speakers interacted, and descriptions of "what happened" as the interview progressed. You were instructed to write down as much as you could as you were talking, and you were given several spaces of time during and after the interview to add your "head notes" (what you remembered) to your notes. All of these notes taken together should be posted on your blog. IN ADDITION - Blog 3 should include (at the end, or added to the main post in a different color font) and other stories, observations, "quotes" conversations that you remembered as you thought back on the interview. 

For next class:
Read: Methods/best practices for collecting oral histories http://www.oralhistory.org/do-oral-history/principles-and-practices/

Blog 3: Post your notes to your 911 interview (see 911 interviews above for complete directions). Title your blog "Blog 3: Interviewer (name), Subject (name) where you fill in (name) with the name of the participant in your group. 

Then I would compare each group/person's oral history and see how it compares to the instructions