Finally signed on so I can add comments - first time to blog.
I had agreed to write discussion questions about this Web Site's How-to Guide. Find the site at http://www.sohp.org/ and then find the bottom labels. Click on "How to". Or, go to Outreach and then select "How to Guide & Forms".
What a great place to brainstorm some ideas for possible projects. 1. Much of the material is old (SOHP was founded in 1973 and has 3800+ interviews)and rich with history. Where on this site are the most current entries? I found that the Calendar has Spring 2008 events listed but none current. 2. Because some materials are outdated, such as the Budgeting for equipment itemized in March 2000, this site is best used selectively. What type of project would best use the actual interviews on this site? 3. The "How to Guide" includes "Ten Tips for Interviewers". The last tip is to "Remember, 'good interviewers never shine-only their interviews do.'" What practical suggestions can we share with each other that help us to keep the focus on the interviewee? Do news anchors today just keep the focus on the interviewee?
**JACOB LAWRENCE EXHIBIT** The "migration" story telling is tonight, Tuesday, Sept 23,not Thursday as I originally thought. Here is the link to the Golden Belt art gallery exhibition of Jacob Lawrence's Migration series of 60 paintings.
Like Diana, I appreciated the SOHP site but felt that it could use some updating. Or did both of us miss the more current listings? I'd love to know what the SOHP is up to these days.
RE: recording equipment. For this beginner, I found an Olympus Digital Voice Recorder on Amazon for <$60. It seems to work fine and the sound quality is better than I expected even without the optional mic. It's about the size of an iPod and sound files can be loaded onto a Mac which is a constraint with many models.
I believe that the Bruce Jackson was extremely fun and informative to read. I think his suggestions give me a good model for interviews. Obviously, he is someone who has learned from many years and many conversations on the field. His encouragement and direction to remain as transparent, authentic, and patient(comfortable with the silence) are very helpful. He calmed me down when i started to think about interviewing people who i did not know very well and who could perceive me as this outsider with a machine to record. If you stay calm and positive the people you interview will also flow within that space you create. I love the whole aspect of discovering that whole book, A thief's primer, from his "side" conversations in the dentist office. The inclusion of photography was so interesting to think about. Overall, this chapter inspired me further to speak with people and record their stories. Good for you Jennie that you went and bought a recorder! Hope to be in your shoes soon.
How do you reconcile feeling like you are getting more out of the exchange than your interviewee? Sometimes I get this feeling like i am using people just because i know they might make interesting subjects.
Here are some questions to think about as you read this article:
1) Jackson draws a fine line between conversation and interview. On the one hand he says to make the difference between interview and conversation as unobtrusive as possible and on the other hand he warns against participating in a conversation with your informant. What strategies might you employ to achieve the appropriate balance here?
2) How do you balance the pre-interview preparation (deciding what questions to ask and in what order) with Jackson's advice to let the informant lead the conversation? How does letting the informant lead play out when you're interviewing multiple subjects on the same topic - won't you have to exert more control over the interview in order to keep the various subjects from going off in all sorts of different directions and leaving you with a lot of material that's very hard to organize ? How fluid should your set of questions be, e.g, should you stick with the same original questions for all interview subjects or should you add new questions for interview B based on what you learned from interview A?
3) Jackson talks about the recorder and the impact of its presence on the informant. How might your list of questions and notes you take as the interview progresses have similar impact on the person being interviewed in terms of affecting his perception of what's interesting/important and what isn't?
4) How do you decide what expectations to set with your informant about how the material might be used ? If, as Jackson says, subjects often couch their responses to address an unseen audience, how do you communicate that to your subject? What if you decide post-interview to go in a different direction - do you have an obligation to go back to the interviewee and inform him ?
5) Jackson quotes Walker Evans, the photographer who worked with Agee on "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men". Do you agree with Evans' view of photography as "harmless" (in contrast with Agee's angst about interviewing the destituite farmers)?
6) Jackson talks about asking specific questions in order to get the informant to discuss things that are so "obvious" to the informant that he may not think that an outsider might need to know them. Is there also a danger that you, as an interviewer, might bring too much knowledge into an interview situation and fail to ask questions you already "know" the answer to? How can you avoid that?
6 comments:
Web site, SOHP How-to Guide
Finally signed on so I can add comments - first time to blog.
I had agreed to write discussion questions about this Web Site's How-to Guide. Find the site at http://www.sohp.org/ and then find the bottom labels. Click on "How to". Or, go to Outreach and then select "How to Guide & Forms".
What a great place to brainstorm some ideas for possible projects.
1. Much of the material is old (SOHP was founded in 1973 and has 3800+ interviews)and rich with history. Where on this site are the most current entries? I found that the Calendar has Spring 2008 events listed but none current.
2. Because some materials are outdated, such as the Budgeting for equipment itemized in March 2000, this site is best used selectively. What type of project would best use the actual interviews on this site?
3. The "How to Guide" includes "Ten Tips for Interviewers". The last tip is to "Remember, 'good interviewers never shine-only their interviews do.'" What practical suggestions can we share with each other that help us to keep the focus on the interviewee? Do news anchors today just keep the focus on the interviewee?
**JACOB LAWRENCE EXHIBIT**
The "migration" story telling is tonight, Tuesday, Sept 23,not Thursday as I originally thought. Here is the link to the Golden Belt art gallery exhibition of Jacob Lawrence's Migration series of 60 paintings.
http://www.goldenbeltarts.com/newsEvents_byMonth.php?month=9&year=2008&ord=1
NONE = Peter Rumsey
Like Diana, I appreciated the SOHP site but felt that it could use some updating. Or did both of us miss the more current listings? I'd love to know what the SOHP is up to these days.
RE: recording equipment. For this beginner, I found an Olympus Digital Voice Recorder on Amazon for <$60. It seems to work fine and the sound quality is better than I expected even without the optional mic. It's about the size of an iPod and sound files can be loaded onto a Mac which is a constraint with many models.
I believe that the Bruce Jackson was extremely fun and informative to read. I think his suggestions give me a good model for interviews. Obviously, he is someone who has learned from many years and many conversations on the field. His encouragement and direction to remain as transparent, authentic, and patient(comfortable with the silence) are very helpful. He calmed me down when i started to think about interviewing people who i did not know very well and who could perceive me as this outsider with a machine to record. If you stay calm and positive the people you interview will also flow within that space you create. I love the whole aspect of discovering that whole book, A thief's primer, from his "side" conversations in the dentist office. The inclusion of photography was so interesting to think about. Overall, this chapter inspired me further to speak with people and record their stories. Good for you Jennie that you went and bought a recorder! Hope to be in your shoes soon.
How do you reconcile feeling like you are getting more out of the exchange than your interviewee?
Sometimes I get this feeling like i am using people just because i know they might make interesting subjects.
Bruce Jackson: Fieldwork
Here are some questions to think about as you read this article:
1) Jackson draws a fine line between conversation and interview. On the one hand he says to make the difference between interview and conversation as unobtrusive as possible and on the other hand he warns against participating in a conversation with your informant. What strategies might you employ to achieve the appropriate balance here?
2) How do you balance the pre-interview preparation (deciding what questions to ask and in what order) with Jackson's advice to let the informant lead the conversation? How does letting the informant lead play out when you're interviewing multiple subjects on the same topic - won't you have to exert more control over the interview in order to keep the various subjects from going off in all sorts of different directions and leaving you with a lot of material that's very hard to organize ? How fluid should your set of questions be, e.g, should you stick with the same original questions for all interview subjects or should you add new questions for interview B based on what you learned from interview A?
3) Jackson talks about the recorder and the impact of its presence on the informant. How might your list of questions and notes you take as the interview progresses have similar impact on the person being interviewed in terms of affecting his perception of what's interesting/important and what isn't?
4) How do you decide what expectations to set with your informant about how the material might be used ? If, as Jackson says, subjects often couch their responses to address an unseen audience, how do you communicate that to your subject? What if you decide post-interview to go in a different direction - do you have an obligation to go back to the interviewee and inform him ?
5) Jackson quotes Walker Evans, the photographer who worked with Agee on "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men". Do you agree with Evans' view of photography as "harmless" (in contrast with Agee's angst about interviewing the destituite farmers)?
6) Jackson talks about asking specific questions in order to get the informant to discuss things that are so "obvious" to the informant that he may not think that an outsider might need to know them. Is there also a danger that you, as an interviewer, might bring too much knowledge into an interview situation and fail to ask questions you already "know" the answer to? How can you avoid that?
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