Our Digital Journey

Our Journey: Oral History and Technology

Some early audio projects

History as we knew it

What does this mean for our oral history practice?

Australian Generations Oral History Project

http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/australian-generations/

'School Days': http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2010/05/hht_20100509.mp3

VicRoads: Themed audio documentaries

https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/about-vicroads/our-history/stories-from-the-past

'Life on the Road' https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/~/media/media/utilities/media/5-lifeontheroad.ashx?la=en

St Mary’s Primary School Dandenong Centenary History

http://www.stmarysdandenong100.com.au/index.html

'Community Spirit' http://www.stmarysdandenong100.com.au/audio/Theme_2-Community_Spirit.mp3

• When we started, our work was only in print format
• Books and exhibitions
• Technology played a small role
• Oral history interviews were for research purposes only
• Very little research done online
• Today, our histories take on many forms, from websites to iBooks

• Oral history can be used more than ever to communicate the past

• We can be creative in how we do this

• But we have to pay much more attention to our oral history skills - the way we interview (how we ask questions) and the way we record our interviews (how we use the technology)

• We have a responsibility to record at the best possible quality so that our oral histories can be used in as many ways as possible in the future

Oral history and Technology

• Oral history and technology go hand in hand
• Early oral history was a written record of an aural exchange
• Important invention was the tape recorder

So what did this mean for us?

We embraced new technology - but mostly the recording equipment.

Combining audio & film

Monash Engineering Website

http://50years.eng.monash.edu.au/

'Recollections of early Monash': http://50years.eng.monash.edu.au/monash/campus/index.html

Victorian AIDS Council

http://undertheredribbon.com.au/

'Early Days' digital story: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mwgzc9yd86zs8uw/VAC%20the%20beginning.m4v?dl=0

'Behind the Grim Reaper' film: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dan2mweyrg0ens4/Behind%20the%20Grim%20Reaper.mp4?dl=0

Wasn't until the Australia Generations Pilot that the applications of oral history and technology for communicating the past became clear to us.

Then there was VicRoads.....and the rest, as they say, is history.

Engaging the community

Our Stories: Sephardi Association of Victoria

https://ourstoriessephardivic.wordpress.com/

‘Hannukah’

‘Jewellery box’

History in Place Project

http://www.waybackwhen.com.au/blog/2015/7/9/history-in-many-places

'Gulf Station'

Who are we?

Why make digital histories?

http://www.waybackwhen.com.au/

• Dynamic, interesting and engaging
• Highly accessible
• Engages communities in the history-making process

Recording Oral History

Initially within universities - recording equipment was large. Interviewees had to come to the equipment:

http://www.abc.net.au/local audio/2011/03/16/3165261.htm

Then, as technology gets better, tape recorders get more portable and we can take them to our interviewee and go out into the field.

The rise of social history - oral history the great leveling primary source.