oral history practice

Instructions: Study the module resources and participate in the discussion forum.

Answer the following questions:

1. Mention and explain the six considerations for oral history practice.

2. If you could interview a famous personality, which one should you select? About what important event would you like to interview this personality?

Remember to review the   for your submission.

Submission Instructions:

· Submit your initial discussion post by 11:59 PM Eastern on Wednesday.

· Contribute a minimum of 250 words for your initial post.

· Respond to at least two of your classmates’ discussion posts by 11:59 PM Eastern on Sunday. Ask a question and provide a different viewpoint.

Mention and explain the six considerations for oral history practice.

Introduction

Oral history is a practice that seeks to preserve the voice of people who have been long gone. In order to do this, you must consider many factors including:

Humanness of the interviewees

Humanness of the interviewee is one of the most important considerations for oral history practice. Humanness refers to the ability of an individual to understand and express themselves, as well as their beliefs, values and experiences in a way that allows them to be heard by others. Interviewees need to be able to represent themselves so that their stories can be accurately understood by others. They also need to feel comfortable during their interviews and have privacy when they ask questions or make comments about themselves or other people involved in an event being recorded on tape or digital data storage media like flash drives or CDs (remember those?).

Authenticity of the interviewee’s voice

The authenticity of the interviewee’s voice is key to good oral history practice. It should never be edited, added to or taken away from in any way. The interviewer should stop each time they think something needs to be clarified and allow the person being interviewed time to clarify or explain it themselves.

The best way for an interviewer/researcher to maintain this authenticity is by asking open-ended questions instead of closed ones (for example: “Tell me about your childhood”). This allows them both more freedom with their answers but also ensures that there will always be some room for interpretation on both sides—and therefore makes it harder for either party involved in this conversation (the subject matter expert or researcher) if they want certain things changed later down the road when working through drafts with other people involved in editing processes.”

The best/most appropriate way to represent a person or group of people.

When you are asked to represent someone or a group of people in an oral history, the best way to do so is to use their own words. This means that any interviewee should be allowed and encouraged to tell their story in its entirety.

If this sounds like it might not be possible because of time constraints or other concerns, don’t hesitate to ask questions about what would be most appropriate for capturing something without getting too much information at once.

Examining how context influences the way in which voices are represented and heard.

Context is important in the interpretation of oral history. The context can be internal or external, and it can influence a voice’s representation and hearing by way of its relationship with other voices in an interview or series of interviews. It is crucial to examine how context influences the way in which voices are represented and heard so that they make sense within their own personal narratives as well as within broader social histories.

How to make certain that people will be willing and able to talk, and why they should want to participate.

There are a number of ways to get people to talk, but there are also some considerations that need to be taken into account. The first is how you will approach your interviewees and what questions you’re going to ask them.

• How do I approach my interviewees?
• If possible, use a traditional introduction: “Hello Sir/Madam, my name is [insert first name here], and I’m interested in speaking with you about [enter topic].” This may sound awkward if this is your first time doing this type of thing, but it shows respect for the person’s time while letting them know that they’re important enough for someone else who doesn’t know them personally yet (like myself) care enough about their story or their life experience as an immigrant/refugee/etcetera etcetera et cetera..

Considerations for oral history practice

• Mention and explain the six considerations for oral history practice.
• Humanness of the interviewees. You want to make sure that your subject is treated with dignity, respect and compassion during the process of recording their story. You can do this by asking yourself questions like: Is there any way I could be disrespectful? Do I need to be more sensitive about how my words are used in this recording? Could I have a better understanding about who my subject is before trying to understand him/her better through an interview or rather just reading about them online (e.g., Wikipedia)?
• Authenticity of voice: This means that you need to get close enough so that your subject feels comfortable enough with you so he/she may open up more than if they were talking with someone else whom they did not know well beforehand; therefore giving them more trust towards you as well! However; remember not just anyone could do this either–it takes experience plus confidence which comes along naturally over time spent together getting comfortable around each other 🙂

Conclusion

The goal of oral history practice is to represent the voices of people in their own words. The knowledge gained from researching and writing a project can also be used to help others in their work as well. For example, if someone has a story about someone else’s life, they may want to find out how best to include these details into their own writing or public presentation.