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talking history | syllabi | students | teachers | puzzle | about us
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Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 02:15:56 -0500
Reply-To: "Using Oral History to Teach U.S. History"
Sender: "Using Oral History to Teach U.S. History"
From: Tom Ikeda
Subject: video interviews, web access, healing
In-Reply-To: <61.2e38b142.2b90b598@aol.com> from Linda Shopes
on Fri, 28 Feb 2003 07:52:40 EST
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I’ve enjoyed the discussions and wanted to respond to an inquiry from Linda Shopes about experiences with video interviews and putting materials on the web. I work for Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project, a Seattle-based, nonprofit organization. We started putting our video interviews on the web about 5 months ago. I thought it might be interesting to share our experiences with doing video interviews (110 completed), putting them on the web, and also a few comments about the healing nature of doing interviews in a community that went through a traumatic experience.
VIDEO INTERVIEWS
Our narrators are primarily elderly Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated by the U.S. government during World War II. We conduct our video interviews using a life history approach. When we started 6 years ago our interviews averaged two hours. We now average 4-5 hours per narrator. (The more knowledgeable we became, the longer and more in-depth the interviews became.) We were fortunate to have the Oral History Association’s Evaluation Guidelines to help guide Densho’s policies and practices. Doing video recording introduces several levels of complexity (adding a camera operator, lighting & location issues, narrator anxiety about being videotaped, video tape formats, etc.) but we felt the benefits of video (being able to hear speech and see facial nuances, especially during emotional moments) were warranted because of the historical importance of the interviews. From a process perspective, we budget 20 hours for every hour of finished interview to do the pre-interview selection and research, video interview, transcript (fully proofed and approved by narrator), topic index, cataloguing, digital processing and paperwork.
WEB ACCESS
When we started the project, we knew we wanted to use technology to make our work (video interview, transcript, topic index, glossary) more accessible. After watching the internet grow in the late 90’s, it became clear that the web could provide extraordinary access. So we took the plunge and waded through legal issues, privacy issues, streaming media formats, content management database design, website design, password protection issues, etc. We also struggled with the concept of making primary source material available without adequate contextual material. So we created historical overviews and classroom activities about the incarceration of Japanese Americans.
To help ensure proper use of the interviews, Densho requires a free registration process to gain access to the archive section, which is password protected. Other sections of the website, including the multimedia historic overview and classroom activities do NOT require registration. Anyway, if you are interested, you can take a look at www.densho.org. It is accurate to say that it was a lot harder than I thought it would be to get this far and that we are still a work-in-progress and would love to have feedback. We plan to improve our website and archive, but have put that off in order to do more interviewing while potential narrators are still alive.
HEALING PROCESS
When our narrators started opening up with their memories, I did not anticipate how cathartic and healing this process would be. For many of these narrators, it was the first time talking about what happened to them and the emotions they felt. At the end, the narrators seemed happier and “lighter.” Family members of the narrators have repeatedly told me how much more peaceful the narrators seems to be. As a 47-year-old, third generation Japanese American, this healing aspect of the project has been the most powerful.
Tom Ikeda
Executive Director
Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project
This forum is sponsored by History Matters--please visit our Web site at http://historymatters.gmu.edu for more resources for teaching U.S. History.
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Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2003 22:17:53 EST
Reply-To: "Using Oral History to Teach U.S. History"
Sender: "Using Oral History to Teach U.S. History"
From: Linda Shopes
Subject: final thoughts
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How appropriate that we end this forum with a disucssion of ethics, and of
the deeply human value of oral history. Adriana Green reminds us of the
importance of seeking narrators' informed consent before doing an interview;
and of the particular care we must take when interviewing in communities that
have been exploited and misrepresented by scholars in the past. While review
of oral history protocols by Institutional Review Boards can be problematic,
as reviewers attempt to impose standards developed from a
biomedical/behavioral frame of reference upon a form of humanistic inquiry,
concern for the well being of narrators remains of prime importantce. THat
is why we seek legal releases for interviews - not only so that we can
legally use the interviews, but also so that narrators can exercise whatever
control they wish over their interview - or freely give it to the world.
And, as Kristin McCaman reminds us, that is why we ask narrators to review
transcripts.
I welcome Tom Ikeda's good discussion of the issues involved in videotaping
interviews and putting them on the web - clearly neither is to be undertaken
lightly. Many projects are concerned about putting interviews on the web
precisely because the enormous access this allows - attractive in many ways -
also opens up enormous possibilities for misuse and misrepresentation.
Requiring registration before use seems like a good idea; it suggests a
seriousness of purpose and perhaps cuts down on inattentive browsing. And
placing contextual material along side the interviews is terrific. Mr.
Ikeda's comments about the healing nature of interviews - even those focusing
on very difficult subjects - are well taken. In fact, IRB's sometimes get
concerned (overly concerned, to my way of thinking) about the potential
psycholgical harm an interview can inflict on a narrator. I don't deny that
this is a possiblity, though a remote one; Mr. Ikeda's comment nicely
suggests quite the opposite.
Transcribing dialect and other forms of spoken language can be tricky, I
think. While I take the view that the original transcript should be as
verbatim a rendering of what is on the tape as possible in terms of grammar,
sentence structure, word choice, etc. (and mindful that a transript is
different from an interivew edited for publication or some other means of
dissemination, where considerable intervention in the original transcript is
in order), trying to render word pronunciation is perhaps another matter
altogether. Unless one is very skilled and sensitive, rendering people's
words in the dialect in which they speak can appear patronizing, or even
insulting. WPA interviews of former slaves were often written up in what
interviewers thought approximated African American dialect - it had the
effect of rendering narrators in very stereotypical ways. I think all of
this points out that a transcript is only an approximation of what is on the
tape, and that serious researchers should listen to the tapes to get the full
meaning of the narrative, a meansing that cannot be rendered in written form.
Since this posting will conclude our forum, I'd like to offer a couple of
final thoughts.
I remain impressed and energized by the numbers of teachers at all levels who
are using oral history effectively in their classrooms. There have been a
lot of tips, resources, and good ideas shared here. Clearly oral history is
a means of connecting students with the past - and with their present
communities - in a meaningful way. Students seem to respond viscerally to
the narrative and humane quality of interivews - I suspect we all do.
Although interivews are about individuals, they also open broader historical
and interpretive questions: how to reconcile competing accounts, how to
explain variations between an individual's account and historical
generalizations, why people say what they do about the past, Oral history
blurs the line between history as "what happened" and history as "what we
make of what happened" - "we" here including both the narrator and person who
uses/interpretes/makes sense of the interview. It would have been
interesting for an English teacher to talk about how interviews can be used
as "texts" in themselves, which students have to analyze for meaning.
Many messages reminded me of how labor intensive oral history is: preparing
students/interivewers, doing research, organizing equipment, making
connections with narrators and lining up interviews, conducting the actual
interview, evaluating interviews, doing something with them. A classroom or
community project is not to be taken lightly -as I've said elsewhere,
"there's more to oral history than turning on the tape recorder." You all
have certainly confirmed that.
Finally, I learned something from the form of this forum. I appreciate the
informality of the conversation - the way people from all over the country
have participated in the conversation - from a short note about a resource to
a longer discussion of a particular issue. It seems a pretty low stress way
of making connections over a shared interest, at a level that is comfortable
for the individual; and also perhaps a way of breaking down some of the
isolation one can feel within one's own classroom, or doing one's own
project, or research. But there's also the frustration of not being able to
engage with someone one on one in a sustained way, or to push an idea forward
in real time. I've also noticed that the anonymity of the forum format
perhaps makes for a certain wariness.
But enough. I've enjoyed this and thank you all for your fine participation.
And thanks to History Matters, the American Social History Project/Center for
Media and Learning, and the Center for History and New Media for doing this
and all the other good work they do; and to Ellen Noonan for facilitating
this list. --Linda Shopes
This forum is sponsored by History Matters--please visit our Web site at http://historymatters.gmu.edu for more resources for teaching U.S. History.
--part1_196.16b97e6f.2b96c661_boundary
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How appropriate that we end this forum with a disucssi=
on of ethics, and of the deeply human value of oral history. Adriana G=
reen reminds us of the importance of seeking narrators' informed consent bef=
ore doing an interview; and of the particular care we must take when intervi=
ewing in communities that have been exploited and misrepresented by scholars=
in the past. While review of oral history protocols by Institutional=20=
Review Boards can be problematic, as reviewers attempt to impose stand=
ards developed from a biomedical/behavioral frame of reference upon a form o=
f humanistic inquiry, concern for the well being of narrators remains of pri=
me importantce. THat is why we seek legal releases for interviews - no=
t only so that we can legally use the interviews, but also so that narrators=
can exercise whatever control they wish over their interview - or freely gi=
ve it to the world. And, as Kristin McCaman reminds us, that is why we=
ask narrators to review transcripts.
I welcome Tom Ikeda's good discussion of the issues involved in videotaping=20=
interviews and putting them on the web - clearly neither is to be undertaken=
lightly. Many projects are concerned about putting interviews on the=20=
web precisely because the enormous access this allows - attractive in many w=
ays - also opens up enormous possibilities for misuse and misrepresentation.=
Requiring registration before use seems like a good idea; it suggests=
a seriousness of purpose and perhaps cuts down on inattentive browsing.&nbs=
p; And placing contextual material along side the interviews is terrific. Mr=
. Ikeda's comments about the healing nature of interviews - even those focus=
ing on very difficult subjects - are well taken. In fact, IRB's someti=
mes get concerned (overly concerned, to my way of thinking) about the=20=
potential psycholgical harm an interview can inflict on a narrator. &nb=
sp; I don't deny that this is a possiblity, though a remote one; Mr. Ikeda's=
comment nicely suggests quite the opposite.
Transcribing dialect and other forms of spoken language can be tricky, I thi=
nk. While I take the view that the original transcript should be as ve=
rbatim a rendering of what is on the tape as possible in terms of grammar, s=
entence structure, word choice, etc. (and mindful that a transript is differ=
ent from an interivew edited for publication or some other means of dissemin=
ation, where considerable intervention in the original transcript is in orde=
r), trying to render word pronunciation is perhaps another matter altogether=
. Unless one is very skilled and sensitive, rendering people's words i=
n the dialect in which they speak can appear patronizing, or even insulting.=
WPA interviews of former slaves were often written up in what intervi=
ewers thought approximated African American dialect - it had the effect of r=
endering narrators in very stereotypical ways. I think all of this poi=
nts out that a transcript is only an approximation of what is on the tape, a=
nd that serious researchers should listen to the tapes to get the full meani=
ng of the narrative, a meansing that cannot be rendered in written form.
Since this posting will conclude our forum, I'd like to offer a couple of fi=
nal thoughts.
I remain impressed and energized by the numbers of teachers at all levels wh=
o are using oral history effectively in their classrooms. There have b=
een a lot of tips, resources, and good ideas shared here. Clearly oral=
history is a means of connecting students with the past - and with their pr=
esent communities - in a meaningful way. Students seem to respond visc=
erally to the narrative and humane quality of interivews - I suspect we all=20=
do. Although interivews are about individuals, they also open broader=20=
historical and interpretive questions: how to reconcile competing acco=
unts, how to explain variations between an individual's account and historic=
al generalizations, why people say what they do about the past, Oral h=
istory blurs the line between history as "what happened" and history as "wha=
t we make of what happened" - "we" here including both the narrator and pers=
on who uses/interpretes/makes sense of the interview. It w=
ould have been interesting for an English teacher to talk about how intervie=
ws can be used as "texts" in themselves, which students have to analyze for=20=
meaning.
Many messages reminded me of how labor intensive oral history is: prep=
aring students/interivewers, doing research, organizing equipment, making co=
nnections with narrators and lining up interviews, conducting the actual int=
erview, evaluating interviews, doing something with them. A classroom=20=
or community project is not to be taken lightly -as I've said elsewhere, "th=
ere's more to oral history than turning on the tape recorder." You all=
have certainly confirmed that.
Finally, I learned something from the form of this forum. I appreciate=
the informality of the conversation - the way people from all over the coun=
try have participated in the conversation - from a short note about a resour=
ce to a longer discussion of a particular issue. It seems a pretty low=
stress way of making connections over a shared interest, at a level that is=
comfortable for the individual; and also perhaps a way of breaking down som=
e of the isolation one can feel within one's own classroom, or doing one's o=
wn project, or research. But there's also the frustration of not=
being able to engage with someone one on one in a sustained way, or to push=
an idea forward in real time. I've also noticed that the anonymity of=
the forum format perhaps makes for a certain wariness.
But enough. I've enjoyed this and thank you all for your fine particip=
ation. And thanks to History Matters, the American Social History Project/Ce=
nter for Media and Learning, and the Center for History and New Media for do=
ing this and all the other good work they do; and to Ellen Noonan for facili=
tating this list. --Linda Shopes
This forum is sponsored by History Matters--please visit our Web site at http://historymatters.gmu.edu for more resources for teaching U.S. History.
--part1_196.16b97e6f.2b96c661_boundary--
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Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2003 08:51:19 -0800
Reply-To: "Using Oral History to Teach U.S. History"
Sender: "Using Oral History to Teach U.S. History"
From: Bea Roeder
Subject: Re: ethical considerations
In-Reply-To:
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As a folklorist who also does oral history, I very much appreciated your comments on the forum. Thanks! And I will look for the articles/books you recommended.
Bea Roeder, Folklorist bearoeder@yahoo.com
Colorado Springs & Denver, Colorado
303 623-1527
---------------------------------
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Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
This forum is sponsored by History Matters--please visit our Web site at http://historymatters.gmu.edu for more resources for teaching U.S. History.
--0-1472213654-1047228679=:78797
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As a folklorist who also does oral history, I very much appreciated your comments on the forum. Thanks! And I will look for the articles/books you recommended.
Bea Roeder, Folklorist bearoeder@yahoo.com
Colorado Springs & Denver, Colorado
303 623-1527
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
This forum is sponsored by History Matters--please visit our Web site at http://historymatters.gmu.edu for more resources for teaching U.S. History.
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Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2003 17:03:33 EST
Reply-To: "Using Oral History to Teach U.S. History"
Sender: "Using Oral History to Teach U.S. History"
From: Aurora Levins Morales
Subject: Re: ethical considerations
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Good "meeting" you online. I saved your address. Aurora Levins Morales,
Historian & Writer
This forum is sponsored by History Matters--please visit our Web site at http://historymatters.gmu.edu for more resources for teaching U.S. History.