Learning to Create an Oral History

FamilySearch.org recently posted an excellent blog pointing to resources for learning to capture an oral history. Here is an abstract from that blog:

Online Resources for Learning About Creating Oral Histories

October 16, 2012 By Guest Blogger

Oral History Article

With the advent of inexpensive digital voice recorders, it is now possible to make a direct digital recording of your relatives’ stories and family history. Digital voice recorders are so small and unobtrusive that they can be carried in a pocket and used when the opportunity arises. But before you sit down with a relative to record a life history or talk about family events, it is vitally important that you are prepared. Fortunately, there are lots of online resources, some with detailed outlines, to help with gathering your oral history. The equipment needed to capture an oral history is minimal; a digital voice recorder and a digital camera. You could get more elaborate and do a full-blown video recording, but likely you will have to do some convincing with older relatives.

To begin to understand the terminology and references to equipment used in making audio recordings, it is a good idea to review a glossary of the terms used in digital oral histories. Here is a link to the Glossary for Digital Oral History (PDF file) from the Baylor University, Institute for Oral History.

Before you get out your voice recorder and push the record button, you just may wish to take some time in preparation. There are some tried and true procedures that will make any oral history a lot more interesting and relevant. It is also important to plan how you are going to preserve the files after they are on your computer. So making a successful oral history involves four steps:

Be sure to click here to read the full post at FamilySearch.org. There are plenty of links in the article to additional learning materials.

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