Handbrake Instructions

You will use handbrake to compress the Oral History files that you collect.  The instructions below will help you learn how to use this software. Click on the blue box to read it.

ORAL HISTORY Preparatory Materials

The Preparatory Materials for your oral history needs to include the following elements: 1.) statement of consent, 2.) letter of introduction, 3.) your reason for choosing this narrator, & 4.) a review of one previously recorded oral history. be typed and submitted to me through google docs. Please share your proposal with comm.110.malone@gmail.com. . 

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Oral History Project

Two of the most important values that you will encounter in the Communication Arts Department are that (1.) STORIES are one of our most valuable human resources and that (2.) LISTENING to understand is one of the best skills you can develop while in college. 

While this Oral History project will develop your skills in summarizing, researching, interviewing and planning (all very marketable skills)-- the MAIN focus of this project is to help you become BETTER LISTENERS who VALUE STORIES that other people tell (skills which are both market-friendly, and, more importantly HUMAN skills).

With the help of one of your peers, you will collect an oral history from someone that you will find and work with across the course of the semester. An Oral History is a recording of a someone’s own personal recollections about a particular time, theme, topic or place.  Oral Histories are usually archived in libraries, museums and on the internet; the oral histories you collect will be archived in these kinds of institutions, too.  This website does a fantastic job talking about the history and current practices of oral history.  This website is the assigned reading for class.  You only need to read until you get to the sixth blue box -- the one that says: "Transcribing Oral Histories."  If you want to keep reading you may (of course). And if you keep reading even further -- our assignments are most like assignments "C" or "D" -- though it won't be precisely and only that.

After researching the topic of your speech, you will record an oral history of about an hour in length on video, transcribe it and eventually develop individual speeches which will contextualize portions of the interview. 

This project will include four assignments (click on each of them for more information): 

1.) preparatory materials

2.) research preparation
3.) the collected interview
4.) the listening paper

You will find one other student and that student will act as your “assistant” during the recording of the interview -- you will also act as as the “assistant for that student during the interview they collect.  Throughout the history, the two of you will also serve as resources for each other’s projects.

The Listening Paper

The Listening Paper will ask you to reflect on both the oral history that you collected and the process of listening that you engaged in to collect the oral history.

In the first section of the paper, you should analyze the oral history to identify some key themes or ideas that emerged.  You should then make connections between those ideas and the research that you did beforehand.  You may want to connect this part of your paper with the second part of your paper.

In the second part of your paper, you should talk about what you learned about the listening process, yourself and your own listening skills.  In order to write this paper, you should first re-read your notes from our class lecture on empathic listening and then you should re-read the course textbook on listening and interviewing.  

NEXT, you should listen to the entire oral history again, and take note of the way that you asked questions:   

• Did you ask open ended questions?  
• Did you ask follow up questions to the things that your narrator said?  
• Were you using the empathic listening process that we talked about in class?  
• Did you miss any great opportunities to follow up with any of the things your narrator said?  

Please identify patterns of your listening and question asking that define your STRENGTHS as a listener (and interviewer) and your AREAS FOR GROWTH.  Give concrete specific details from this interview (including the timecode from the interview) and set some goals for your listening and interviewing skills in the future.

I will expect you to use vocabulary from course lecture and from the textbook as you analyze your own listening and interviewing skills.

Please share your paper through google docs with comm.110.malone@gmail.com

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The Collected Interview

The Collected Interview includes the uploaded video recording of your oral history on youtube, a “segmentation” that you will submit and a completed statement of consent from your Narrator.

In preparation for your interview, I will train you in choosing a location, setting up and operating your video  camera and microphone.  During your interview, YOU will ask questions and your ASSISTANT will operate the camera and microphone.  Your practice and communication with each other will be key to succeeding in capturing the interview successfully.  It will be up to you to SCHEDULE the interview at a time that works for your Narrator and your Assistant

 A segmentation lists the stories, ideas, and main points that the participant talked about during the interview.  This list also includes time notations so that these various parts of the interview can easily be accessed.   You will turn your segmentations into me as google docs:  comm.110.malone@gmail.com

You should turn in hard copies of your consent forms in class.

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The Research Preparation

The Research Preparation for your oral history will help you in thinking about your participants, their experiences and the process of interviewing them.  After meeting with them to find out some of the details of their life and experience, you should do some research so that you have some background knowledge about the historical, cultural and sociological forces that have surrounded the time frame of their lives.  You should collect some academic research, you should read some first-person accounts, you should collect some literature from the popular press.  You should turn in some summary paragraphs that draw together your key findings,  a list of possible questions that you may include in your interview, and a list of works that you consulted.  Please use MLA format or APA format in this citation.  You will turn in your research via Google Docs, again sharing your document with comm.110.malone@gmail.com.  

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Research for Your Oral History

The Research for your oral history will help you in thinking about your participants, their experiences and the process of interviewing them.  You should collect some academic research, you should read some first-person accounts, you should collect some literature from the popular press.  You should turn in a summary paragraph that draws together your key findings,  a list of questions that you may include in your interview, and a list of works that you consulted.  Please use MLA format or APA format in this citation.  You will turn in your research via Google Docs, again sharing your document with comm.110.malone@gmail.com (as well as the members of your group).  Your research is due by 8 pm on October 23rd. 

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