9.11 Interviews and Oral history

I have emailed feedback (for most of you) for Blog 1. If you have questions - be in touch or set up a time to stop by my office.

Interviews. We started talk about interviewing by thinking about the different kinds of interviews (genres) that are out there in our culture. You identified job interviews, news interviews, political and celebrity interviews, man-on-the street interviews and research interviews. Each of these different interviews have a characteristic audience, purpose and form, and they set up questions for different "subjects."

Oral history. I then introduced oral history in terms of its role in redefining the stories we use to "create" history. Oral histories generally focus on a particular life within a particular historical period or as related to a significant historical event; they may also present a life review that only incidentally connects to larger cultural happenings. Oral histories are often collected through interviews and recorded through audio or video recordings. The term "oral history" is also used to refer to the written, analytic essays that discuss the interview materials collected from oral history subjects.

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.

Review the process we developed for analysis and look around at your classmates' notes. Come to class prepared to analyze what we might learn from these oral histories