Oral History Project
Training Guide
What is oral history? Oral history is a recording of a person’s memories, stories and experiences. Oral history can capture someone witnessing an extraordinary event or simply give us an insight into their everyday life. The interviews you record can be saved as a digital file and preserved for future generations to listen to in the Dorset County Archive, based at the Dorset History Centre, for our Walking in Their Shoes project. The public will also be able to access them through our blog and website, or by visiting the Dorset History Centre. Oral History is usually recorded and preserved as a wave form audio file as they do not go out of date and can be converted to an mpeg file to make it easier to share online. Recorders usually have the option to select wave or mpeg.
world war 1
What is our project “Walking in Their Shoes” all about? We are a Heritage Lottery funded project based at Dorset Youth Association. We are a group of young volunteers aged 15-25 who are supported by a number of helpers and organisations listed at the end of this guide. Our aim is make an interactive geocache history treasure hunt “Walking in the Shoes” of a 1st World War soldier as he trained along Dorset tracks. (We will also “Walking in the Shoes” of an Anglo Saxon pilgrim). So we need to learn about what it was like for World War 1 soldiers training in Dorset and we want to collect story snippets that people can listen to via their mobile phones on our treasure hunts. Who can tell us these stories? The war touched every family in Dorset, but it started in 1914 so everyone who took part is now dead. So we cannot collect first hand stories, which is the most reliable form of primary source evidence (the Dorset County Archive has only two such primary source recordings). But we can interview people about stories passed down through their families and these are valuable to preserve as secondary sources. A person would have to be at least 92 to have a mother or father in the war, but they may have had a grandfather or great aunt who told them stories of experiences on the battlefield or life back home.
How to record oral history interviews Before the Interview
1. Read the WW1 briefing document Check you know the basic information about the war before you start (Appendix 1)
2. Remember you wil be interviewing older people Some older people are vulnerable so you need to safe guard their wellbeing by working to these standards: ● Do not ask for or accept gifts ● Keep personal information confidential ● If you’re recording as part of the WITS project, report any safeguarding issues to Project Officer Lorna Johnson (077788203003) or your own supervisor ● Do not be in contact with the person after the end of the project without your project leader or Lorna Johnson being aware ● Maintain awareness that some of the war memories may be upsetting for the person to talk about. The interviewee may need to pause or even end the interview. You will need to check if the person has someone to support them after the interview if this happens
3. Have a list of questions ready (See next page) Read them through a couple of times before you start
4. Read through the Dorset County Archive for suggestions on do’s or don’ts They contain suitable suggestions for what to do when interviewing
5. Be mindful of the elderly We are asking older people to remember things they may have been told long ago, so allow pauses and silences to give them time to remember
6. Practise with the recorders Make sure the microphone is set up to record wave files and that you have enough battery power and memory space. Think about whether or not you want to use a stand
7. Look at the interview space you are using Do you have enough chairs? Do you want to use the microphone stand? Will there be too much background noise? Are everyone’s mobile phones switched off?
8. Have the meta data forms ready Meta data is information about the person you are interviewing and the details of what they talk about. These forms also give us permission to store and share interviews and personal information, so they are very important to fill out!
Finding a person to interview Begin with something along the lines of ‘I am helping the Heritage Lottery “Walking in Their Shoes Project” and we are asking people who live in Dorset if any older family members told them stories about the First World War. Do you have any memories and would you like to share them with us and the Dorset public, and have them preserved in the Dorset County Archive?’
When you begin the recording • Say where you are • Give your name • Ask the person you are interviewing for their name, age, date of birth, place of birth, address and occupation • Ask the questions from your list and any follow up questions you think are interesting • When the person mentions other people in their interview ask them for their full names and dates of birth, places of birth and occupations
Examples of questions to ask in the Interview • Do you know any stories or experiences about the First World War connected to your family? • Can you tell me more about any relatives who were in the First World War? • How did they get involved with the First World War? Were they conscripted or did they volunteer? • Where were they recruited and trained? • Do you know what family life was like back at home during the First World War? • Were there any surprises in the stories you heard? • What difference did the First World War make to your family? • What would you say to your relatives if they were alive today? • Do you have any photos, letters, postcards or artefacts connected to these memories?
After the interview 1. Explain you now need to fill out some forms and that it will take about 10 minutes. 2. Make a note of the audio file number, who you interviewed and the duration of the interview on the interview log. 3. Thank the person and talk them through a follow up leaflet which will explain what will happen next to their interview and how our project will use their stories.
Storing, editing and making an abstract or transcript 1. The file needs to be downloaded from the recorders and saved as a wave file labelled with the name of the person interviewed, before being stored on the project memory stick and the hard drive of the project computer. 2. When we give the interviews to the Dorset County Museum to place in their archive we need to give them an abstract which is a document with the basic details of the interview and a summary of topics talked about in the interview. This is important because this information will be put on to the archive data base. This will enable members of the public to search and find for example, their Uncle Fred’s story, or stories about Dorset soldiers who fought in the Battle of the Somme because we have provided this information and subject headings. 3. To make an abstract: Write on the top line “Interview” and the date of the interview On the next line, write the name of the person interviewed, their date of birth and their place of birth Below, write the name of anyone mentioned in interview along with their date of birth, place of birth (if known) and what relation they are to person interviewed On the following line write “Name of interviewer” and your name The next line should be a title for the interview, e.g. “ Family member memories of the First World War” On the next line write “Memories Include” and make a list of the main topics covered, e.g. The Battle of the Somme Finally, list underneath any other topics talked about in interview 4. It is very useful to have a full transcript of the interview, but these take a long time to prepare. The Family History Society are able to provide volunteer transcribers, please see http:www.dorsetfhs.org.uk/ for more details. 5. If we are going to use a clip of the interview we may need to edit it using the free downloadable tool called Audacity and convert it into an mpeg file. It is important when editing someone’s story that the meaning is not changed. If you want to, you can deposit the file with the Dorset County Archive and keep a copy of the unedited version. 6. Sharing and borrowing interviews with others. The person who recorded the file may want to share it with their family or make recordings about other topics or memories. This guide will help a person do this or help family members, carers or activity coordinators support them in doing this. They can also borrow our recorders by contacting Lorna Johnson by email at lornajohnson@dorsetyouth.com or by calling the Routes Youth Café in Dorchester on 01305757027. Alternatively, they could contact a professional from the Dorset History Centre. Files can be sent via email as a mpeg file or shared using social media sites, as along as the person is fully aware of what this means and has given their signed permission. This is a good way of preserving memories in a vivid way and could give, for example, a commentary to a family photo album to go in to the family memory chest. We hope a legacy of this project will be that young and older people will get together and share memories using the easy-to-use recorders, tools and guides we have prepared. Young people can share their technical know-how and in return learn and preserve memories about some of the exciting, important and sometimes dangerous things their older relatives got up to!
The Do’s and Don’t’s of Oral History! Before recording day... DO • Have a list of questions you will ask and a reserve list to cover all eventualities • Keep your questions short and clear, and use plain non-controversial words • Have your list of questions and topics ready beforehand and be familiar with them • Test your equipment beforehand and get to know how it works • Practice using your equipment before the real interview • Make a checklist of things to remember to do before, during and after the interview • Choose a quiet area for the interview to take place. When setting up, listen for a moment and make adjustments, e.g. shutting a door or window to cut out background noise • Set up the seating and recording arrangements beforehand. Sitting side by side in an informal arrangement will be more relaxing for the interviewee. Make sure that you are near enough for your sound equipment to record properly and for you to maintain eye contact. Don’t sit so close that they will be anxious about body space On Recording day... DO • Introduce yourself • Try to get people talking and put them at ease before the interview starts. Make conversation about weather, their journey to the session etc • Explain what the interviews are for, make sure they understand the purpose of the interview and what is going to happen to it • Be reassuring as they may be nervous about being interviewed • Open by stating your name, the date of the recording, and then ask for the interviewee’s name and date of birth (check they are happy to give this information before you start) • Be a good listener. Show interest in what the interviewee is saying through eye contact, smiling and nodding to encourage them and give the message ‘I am interested in what you are saying’ • Use these non-verbal pointers to acknowledge what is said - avoid too many verbal acknowledgements (see next page) • Be relaxed, unhurried and sympathetic • Speak one at a time and allow for some silence as sometimes the interviewees need time to think • Wait for a pause before you ask the next question • Ask one question at a time • Use open rather than closed questions • Start with the easy, less probing or possibly controversial questions
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• Follow up your current question thoroughly before moving on to the next one • Ask for specific examples if the interviewee makes a general statement and you need to know more. You might say, ‘Could you explain that in more detail’ • Ask for definitions or explanations of words you don’t understand and that have a critical meaning for the interview • Re-phrase and re-ask questions if the interviewee doesn’t understand or you want to get the full amount of information the interviewee knows • Try to explore motives and feelings as well as facts • Be aware that some issues may be controversial and people have strong feelings about them • Be flexible, watch for and pick up on promising topics introduced by the interviewee, but steer back through using your set questions with interviewees who have veered right off topic •Be aware of tiredness - talking and listening can be exhausting! • End as you began with lighter and gentler questions as a winding down. • Get the interviewee to sign the permissions declaration – this could be done before or after the interview, depending how your recording session is set up DON’T • Don’t ask leading questions or suggest answers with your questions, e.g. ask ‘How was that?’ rather than ‘That must have been terrible, yes?’ • Don’t ask closed (‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer) questions, except to clarify points of detail • Don’t speak over or interrupt interviewee, or finish their sentences for them • Don’t ask too many questions • Don’t be afraid to ask more questions, but don’t jump too abruptly from one subject to another • Avoid commenting on interviewee’s responses with your own views - your aim is to get them to talk, not to talk about or to yourself • Don’t contradict and get into a heated debate. Do respect other people and their opinions even if they differ from your own • Don’t try to interview too many people at once (two max) • Try to avoid saying ‘yes’, ‘mmm’ and other verbal affirmations too much as these can unconsciously lead the interviewee (as well as being potentially irritating for someone listening to the recording!) • Don’t be afraid to ask!