Amy Starecheski

This class provided the 'how to' for becoming an oral historian. There was a lot of information helping us to plan and execute our oral history interviews. This was a very methodical and pragmatic approach to proceeding with our plans. The class was not ideological (we learned multiple perspectives on how to approach certain questions of legality, ethics, etc.) and we could take into consideration alternate viewpoints.

How to conduct oral history! Recording, archiving, indexing, researching, metadata. Understanding OH as different from the fields I thought it similar to when i started the program--journalism and anthropology. In particular, I learned about the broadness of the field today. Oral history does not look one way. Being exposed to so many project designs, peer oral history recordings etc showed the amplitude of this.

There's a lot that I feel I've learned in this course, broadly and deeply in terms of knowledge, skills and perspectives. In terms of skills, I feel confident operating professional audio equiptment, creating transcripts and indexes, and designing legal release forms for specific projects. In terms of knowledge, I feel that I'm able to conduct oral histories within OHA guidelines and that I really do understand what oral history is. In terms of perspective, I am leaving with a wide range of perspectives to pull from in developing my own style of oral history, from anthropologists to journalists to historians.

How to conduct an oral history, the best way to approach the field, what it means to be an oral historian, nuances critiques on the field

Fieldwork strategies, some theory and history for the field, some comparisons to other fields. We engaged with a few different cultures and socio-economic groups and types of sources and analysis.

I learned so much about how to actually do oral history as well as all of the many different approaches one can take. I think I really developed my interviewing skills and now feel much more confident and comfortable doing fieldwork and not only asking open questions but also the process of consent, thinking about co-creation, the physical act of recording (equipment), how to take meaningful field notes, transcription/indexing/metadata/archiving, etc. etc. etc. !

I learned about how to use audio equipment, how to listen to audio for quality, the kinds of asks that need to be made to narrators in their spaces in order to ensure good sound quality and how to approach those things. I learned about consent, legal releases, and different kinds of copyright. I learned about the lineages of oral history and engaged with some of the questions being asked in the field. I learned about the time and relationship building executing oral history projects takes, both in terms of correspondence with narrators, the interview itself, and the "post-production" proces (transcribing, indexing, decisions around the afterlife of the interview etc). I learned about archives and oral historians roles in the production of histories.

Many things! I learned about the history of the oral history field, the many and varied approaches to collecting oral histories, interview techniques, transcription, varied philosophies on archiving, the nuts and bolts of project design, practical recording skills, and much more.

Dr. Amy Starecheski's class provided me with the know-how to complete a thorough, well-prepared project design. She was patient in reviewing the PD with me and helpful in providing suggestions for the legal document. I also learned how to create a data management plan, and was delighted to see the document one it had been completed. Other skills gained in this class included the following: how to: operate state of the art recording equipment, conduct oral history interviews; provide constructive feedback; and produce and recognize quality audio.

I learned a lot about theory relating to oral history (different approaches and ethical related issues), and plenty of skills for practical oral history work (technical issues, project design, archiving and more).