Oral History Interview & Importance Part 8

Required Equipment & Accessories

Hamid Qazvini
Translated by Natalie Haghverdian

2017-6-7

Oral history interviews require equipment & accessories and the scholar shall procure and prepare all such equipment prior to their departure for interview. In case of audio or visual interviews, proper and quality equipment shall be in hand. There are few considerations as follows:

1. Quality

Obviously, the equipment shall be of proper quality to conduct high quality audio or visual recording. Nowadays, technology development provides ever changing and advancing audio visual recording equipment. Oral history interviewer shall be considerate of such progress. In the past, not very far, journalism recorders and cassettes were the most advanced interview tools, but now, we don’t see them anymore and small digital recording devises with large memory volumes and higher quality have made life easy for the scholars.

In general, the oral history scholars shall always use cutting edge equipment to record the sessions with higher and acceptable quality. Don’t forget that each session might be the last change for us to record the memoirs of the narrator and any negligence might damage the reputation of the scholar and the narrator which inadvertently affect history.

1. Preparation & practice

One important issue concerning the interview equipment is responsibility of the interview team, preparation and practice with such equipment prior to interview. There have been cases where the interviewer or the interview team have realized a technical issue or equipment deficit after attending the interview session which has disrupted the process and violated the rights of the narrator and that of the project.

This is of grave importance when there are multiple users.

On the other hand, once the audio and visual recording groups is other than the interview team, proper coordination shall be made prior to the session in provision of required equipment and briefing on the context.

1. Accessories

Each equipment has accessories which are essential to be provided and prepared; for instance, batteries, chargers, memory cards, tripods, and other accessories of cameras, document filming equipment (if necessary), stationary, etc.

It is worth considering that once the equipment is developed in small sizes some accessories are eliminated. For instance, advanced audio recording devises do not require microphones.

Also, it should be considered that the narrator is willing to cooperate with the interviewer; however, any equipment deficit and requesting the narrator to compensate usually affects the narrators’ attitude adversely towards the interview team.

1. Equipment Volume

The volume and number of equipment shipped to the interview session shall not be a hassle or of concern for the narrator. In fact, equipment shall be compatible to the type of interview and the context and place in which the narrator is present. For instance, if the interview is conducted at home or work place of the narrator, the equipment shall not be in the volume of a TV station.

Also, if there is one interviewer, they shall not use equipment which affect their control and concentration and hurdle proper pursuit of the interview.

Oral History Interview & Importance Part 1 - Oral History, Path to Cultural Dialogue

Oral History Interview & Importance Part 2 - Characteristics of an Interviewer

Oral History Interview & Importance Part 3 - Selecting a Subject

Oral History Interview & Importance Part 4 - Narrator Identification & Selection

Oral History Interview & Importance Part 5 - Goal Setting

Oral History Interview & Importance Part 6 - Importance of Pre-interview Data Collection

Oral History Interview & Importance Part 7 - To Schedule & Coordinate an Interview