When to produce interview text? – 1

A challenging question for oral history scholars is when to produce or transcribe the interview recorded content? Is it to be done after the interview process is over or start parallel to the interview course? Undoubtedly, most responses will indicate that once the interview is complete and the audio text is transcribed and narrators consent is obtained over the transcription then editing and production of the written literature begins. In this approach, there are two distinct procedures: interview and production.

Photo & Oral History

In the past, historians were more likely to use the text and written documents, which changed considerably with the advent of oral history. For example, through oral history, information and new aspects of historical events were discovered for researchers that they had previously neglected. In the course of this process, in recent decades, pictures have been considered by some historians as one historical data. The important point is that an image can provide multiple data to the researcher.

Closed & Open Interviews

The first news interview in the new method was published in April 1836 in the New York Herald. The interviewer was a prominent journalists of the era and interviewee, was a man who had discovered the body of a murder victim. In the same decade, European journalists started conducting interviews to collect information to assess the relationship between industrial workers and their social network. This trend continued throughout the second half of the nineteenth century in various social sciences.

It is Released

Expert and Practical Manual of Style of Holy Defense Oral History

"Expert and Practical Manual of Style of Holy Defense Oral History" is title of a book that was produced and compiled in Documents and Papers Organization of Holy Defense. This book was published with 500 copies and 116 pages in octavo by Foundation for Preserving Relics and Publishing Values of Holy Defense in fall of 2017.

Oral History Interview & Importance – Part 30 (Finale)

Archiving

The final phase in the oral history interview process is archiving the transcription and audio, video files and all other relevant documents. The objective is to preserve the interview and provide easy and quick user access. This phase requires detailed and applicable and cost-effective planning conducted by a specific method.

Oral History Interview & Importance – Part 29

Transcription Control

One of the final steps in an interview is control of the audio and video file and its compatibility with the transcription. This step has to be conducted with outmost care since many users do not refer to the original file for various reasons and study the transcription. Hence, the transcription shall be precise and authentic.

Oral History Interview & Importance – Part 28

Transcription

Once the interview is conducted then it has to be transcribed. The final goal of transcription is not to produce a final content but to write down the words of the narrator in the form of raw material to facilitate archiving and exploit. The following are to be considered in this effort:

Oral History Interview & Importance – Part 27

Additional Questions

Once the interview is complete, the oral history scholar shall review the content and identify any ambiguities and weaknesses. Accordingly, additional questions shall be designed and recorded to conduct a complementary interview. As the name suggests, a complementary interview is not an individually independent interview but an attempt to complete the original interview conducted. At this stage, through studies and research of new information, more questions might emerge to the interviewer which shall be added to the previous questions.

Oral History Interview & Importance – Part 26

Interview Report

Once the interview process is over, it is essential to draft a report on interview status and methodology; the report shall contain the data on idea emergence to narrator identification and contact and interview conduct which shall be archived as the background of the project and submit it to relevant organizations. This report shall be drafted by the interviewer and it is important to inform the project sponsors and beneficiaries.

Oral History Interview & Importance – Part 25

Ending the Interview

Oral history interview like any other activity has an ending. The ending is as important as its beginning. It is not an exaggeration to compare it with a musician who starts a piece in lento and then progresses to allegro and then back to lento at the end. In oral history interview, the beginning shall be slow in a natural pace to maintain its framework and assist the narrator in recalling memories.
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Book Review

Kak-e Khak

The book “Kak-e Khak” is the narration of Mohammad Reza Ahmadi (Haj Habib), a commander in Kurdistan fronts. It has been published by Sarv-e Sorkh Publications in 500 copies in spring of 1400 (2022) and in 574 pages. Fatemeh Ghanbari has edited the book and the interview was conducted with the cooperation of Hossein Zahmatkesh.

Is oral history the words of people who have not been seen?

Some are of the view that oral history is useful because it is the words of people who have not been seen. It is meant by people who have not been seen, those who have not had any title or position. If we look at oral history from this point of view, it will be objected why the oral memories of famous people such as revolutionary leaders or war commanders are compiled.

Daily Notes of a Mother

Memories of Ashraf-al Sadat Sistani
They bring Javad's body in front of the house. His mother comes forward and says to lay him down and recite Ziarat Warith. His uncle recites Ziarat and then tells take him to the mosque which is in the middle of the street and pray the funeral prayer (Ṣalāt al-Janāzah) so that those who do not know what the funeral prayer is to learn it.

A Critique on Oral history of War Commanders

“Answering Historical Questions and Ambiguities Instead of Individual-Organizational Identification”
“Oral history of Commanders” is reviewed with the assumption that in the field of war historiography, applying this method is narrated in an advancing “new” way, with the aim of war historiography, emphasizing role of commanders in creation of its situations and details.