Oral History
Each person will select a member or advocate for your ethnic group and capture part of their story about how their ethnicity has influenced their lives.
The Task:
1. Research 2. Make Time Line 3. Prepare Questions
4. Film 5. Edit 6. Submit/ Present
7. Send Thank You Note
The Task:
1. Research 2. Make Time Line 3. Prepare Questions
4. Film 5. Edit 6. Submit/ Present
7. Send Thank You Note
What is Oral History?
. Oral history is the systematic collection of living people’s testimony about their own experiences. Historians have finally recognized that the everyday memories of everyday people, not just the rich and famous, have historical importance. If we do not collect and preserve those memories, those stories, then one day they will disappear forever.
Your stories and the stories of the people around you are unique, valuable treasures for your family and your community. You and your family members can preserve unwritten family history using oral history techniques. Likewise you and your community can discover and preserve unwritten history large and small. Oral history is so flexible that people of all ages can adapt the techniques of asking and listening to create and learn about history and historical narratives.
Your stories and the stories of the people around you are unique, valuable treasures for your family and your community. You and your family members can preserve unwritten family history using oral history techniques. Likewise you and your community can discover and preserve unwritten history large and small. Oral history is so flexible that people of all ages can adapt the techniques of asking and listening to create and learn about history and historical narratives.
Prepare Questions
After editing, your oral history project should be between 5 to 10 minutes in length. In order to receive in-depth, detailed responses and fulfill the time requirement, you will need to prepare a 10 to 20 questions. Keep in mind when preparing questions, you will want formulate ones that are open-ended and give a bit of room for discussion. Also, you may want to formulate possible follow-up questions to accompany your more pressing questions.
Use the information you gathered from researching women's rights and completing the timeline to compose questions that will address specific events from the lifespan of the person you will be interviewing. After you are finished writing your questions, arrange them in a logical order, sequential order.
Tips:
Use the information you gathered from researching women's rights and completing the timeline to compose questions that will address specific events from the lifespan of the person you will be interviewing. After you are finished writing your questions, arrange them in a logical order, sequential order.
Tips:
- Plan the topic and form of your first substantial question after the "settling down" phase. Ask a question that will prompt a long answer and "get the subject going."
- Ask easy questions first, such as brief biographical queries. Ask very personal or emotionally demanding questions after a rapport has developed. End as you began, not with bombshells, but gently with lighter questions.
- Ask questions one at a time.
- Allow silence to work for you. Wait.
- Be a good listener, using body language such as looking at the interviewee, nodding, and smiling to encourage and give the message, "I am interested."
- If necessary, use verbal encouragement such as "This is wonderful information!" or "How interesting!" Be careful, however, not to pepper the interview with verbal encouragement such as "uh-huh," said at the same time that the interviewee is speaking.
- Ask for specific examples if the interviewee makes a general statement and you need to know more. Or you might say, "I don't understand. Could you explain that in more detail?"
- Ask for definitions and explanations of words that the interviewee uses and that have critical meaning for the interview.
- Rephrase and re-ask an important question several times, if you must, to get the full amount of information the interviewee knows.
- Unless you want one-word answers, phrase your questions so that they can't be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." Don’t ask, "Were you a farmer on Denny Hill during the 1930s?" Ask stead, "What was it like farming up on Denny Hill during the 1930s?" Ask "essay" questions that prompt long answers whenever you can. Find out not only what the person did, but also what she thought and felt about what she did.
- Ask follow-up questions and then ask some more.
- Be flexible. Watch for and pick up on promising topics introduced by the interviewee, even if the topics are not your initial list of questions.
Micah Schweizer's Tips
WNIN Radio Host/ Creator and Host of "The Trend" Radio Program
@micahschweizer on Twitter/ Email: [email protected]
Conducting an Effective Interview
Create a Narrative Arc
* Have a shape in mind (early life, then job, then relationship...
* Don't tick down the list of questions. (It will make it impersonal)
* Have first question scripted and know where you would like the interview to end.
* Details (You can get numbers from a textbook, but that one person's experience cannot be found in the books.
* It should feel like, "Here is my story."
* Prep them in advance. Give them an idea of what you will be asking so they can start formulating how they might want to answer.
The Interview
* Listen to the background. (What sounds do you hear, what sounds might you hear?
* Try to control as much of the environment as possible.
* Take a short video and look at the lighting and make adjustments as needed.
* Record a minute of nothing so that you can use it for transitions and cuts. (Will help with audio level.)
* Empathize: they want to know you are interested and that you care.
* Ask them on or off camera (you can always edit it out) what should I ask you about or what else would you like to tell me about?
* If you don't want to appear on the audio or video prep them to restate the question.
> You: Tell me about when you were a little girl.
> Answer: When I was a little girl...
> (It allows the audience to know what the question or idea that is about to be explored is.
Images and Artifacts
* Tell me about this picture.
* What is it that you're doing here.
* Who are these other people.
* What is that object? How would you use it?
* Have a shape in mind (early life, then job, then relationship...
* Don't tick down the list of questions. (It will make it impersonal)
* Have first question scripted and know where you would like the interview to end.
* Details (You can get numbers from a textbook, but that one person's experience cannot be found in the books.
* It should feel like, "Here is my story."
* Prep them in advance. Give them an idea of what you will be asking so they can start formulating how they might want to answer.
The Interview
* Listen to the background. (What sounds do you hear, what sounds might you hear?
* Try to control as much of the environment as possible.
* Take a short video and look at the lighting and make adjustments as needed.
* Record a minute of nothing so that you can use it for transitions and cuts. (Will help with audio level.)
* Empathize: they want to know you are interested and that you care.
* Ask them on or off camera (you can always edit it out) what should I ask you about or what else would you like to tell me about?
* If you don't want to appear on the audio or video prep them to restate the question.
> You: Tell me about when you were a little girl.
> Answer: When I was a little girl...
> (It allows the audience to know what the question or idea that is about to be explored is.
Images and Artifacts
* Tell me about this picture.
* What is it that you're doing here.
* Who are these other people.
* What is that object? How would you use it?
DO'S1. Be prepared.
* Don't be chained to your notes. Be open to go where that conversations goes. 2. Ask direct questions. * why, what, how 3. Ask simple questions...ones that start with why, how, and what. * Don't miss the simple/ obvious information. 4. Ask for details, examples, anecdotes. 5. Listen, listen, listen-carefully...quietly. * Your goal is to create an environment where the other person fills the space. 6. Keep your opinions to yourself. 7. Use silence effectively. * Allow the person to have a chance to fill the silence. 8. Ask questions that make people think instead of ones that make them react. 9. Don't be afraid to say, "I don't understand" or "Tell me more about that." 10. Ask the question the listener would ask. |
DON'TS1. Don't make statement. Ask questions.
2. Don't ask double barreled questions. 3. Don't ask long, rambling, overloaded questions. 4. Don't interrupt. * Let it keep going, you can always edit later. 5. Don't ask self-answering questions. 6. Don't use the jargon of your interviewee. 7. Don't be afraid of silence. 8. Don't settle for unjustified accusations. 9. Don't ask questions that begin with "was, did, would, had." 10. Don't listen out load, "OK...uh-huh" |