PSN Video Chat: Indicating Editing
By OHMA & COHAA
Date and time
Wednesday, December 10, 2014 · 10 - 11:30am PST
Location
Online
Refund Policy
Contact the organizer to request a refund.
Description
Indicating Editing
Wednesday, December 10th
1:00 - 2:15pm EST
Co-Facilitators:
Co-Facilitators:
- Amy Starecheski, Associate Director, Columbia Oral History MA Program; Member, Groundswell PSN Working Group
- Sara Sinclair, Program Manager, Robert Rauschenberg Oral History Project, Columbia Center for Oral History Research
As oral historians continue to develop their collective audio editing skills and editing audio at the request of a narrator has become feasible for many, an issue has arisen for which there seems to be no standard in the field. Should we show where an interviewee has edited a transcript or audio tape? If so, how? If not, why not? What if they have deleted content? What if the content is only closed for a period of time? Do we treat this differently from a permanent deletion?
This question raises questions central to the field of oral history in new ways. How do we balance the privacy and authority of the narrator with the researcher’s desire to know everything possible about how the document was created? Who keeps the unedited drafts of oral history tapes and transcripts, and why? If oral history is a primary source document, what part of the complex, drawn-out, intersubjective process becomes a source, and what becomes a secret? This topic also brings up a fundamental question that is especially relevant when doing oral history with communities that have been historically marginalized and oppressed: To whom are oral historians accountable and how do we balance multiple "accountabilities"?
Organized by
Columbia University’s Oral History Master of Arts (OHMA) Program is the first program of its kind in the United States: a one-year interdisciplinary MA degree training students in oral history method and theory. Through the creation, archiving and analysis of individual, community and institutional histories, we amplify the critical first-person narratives that constitute memory for generations to come.
If you have any questions about this event, please contact Fanny Garcia at fjgwriter@gmail.com.