Oral history, technological change & the AI revolution

As the final OHV ‘Talking about Listening’ event for 2026, and as an end of year celebration for Victorian oral historians, Oral History Victoria and the Royal Historical Society of Victoria bring you this conversation (in person and online) between two of the world’s leading oral historians. Doug Boyd and Al Thomson will explore recent technological, social and ethical developments in oral history, consider the opportunities and challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence, and respond to your excitements and concerns.

Save the date – registration will open soon.

Light refreshments will be served.

Professor Doug Boyd is the Director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky Libraries and is a recent president of the US Oral History Association. Boyd envisioned, designed and implemented the open source and free OHMS system, which synchronizes text with audio and video online.  In 2019 Boyd received a Fulbright Scholars Research Grant to collaborate with the National Library of Australia on innovative access to online oral history. He is the author of Oral History: A Very Short Introduction published by Oxford University Press in 2025, and co-editor of Oral History and the Digital Humanities: Voice, Access, and Engagement (2014). Find out more about Doug at: https://dougboyd.org/.

Alistair (Al) Thomson is Emeritus Professor of History at Monash University in Australia and was previously Professor of Oral History at the University of Sussex in England. He has served as President of Oral History Australia and of the International Oral History Association and has published thirteen oral history books about war, migration, family life and oral history theory and method, including Fathering: An Australian History (2025) and The Bloomsbury Oral History Handbook (2026).