Module 3:
Documenting interviews
Once you finish recording your oral history interviews, your attention will turn to how to document and manage the recordings. Documenting your interviews helps to make them accessible and easier to use, whether you are intending to use them for your own purposes or make them available to others.
Electronic file management
As soon as possible after you have finished recording an interview, import the digital files from your recording device and save them.
Name your files carefully so they can be found easily, and use the same file naming convention for all the interviews that are part of the same oral history project. For example, the name of an audio file might be ‘[interviewee name], [project name], [date of interview]’. Use the same naming convention for other documentation related to your project. For example, ‘[interviewee name], Consent Form, [date of interview]’.
Save the files in at least two locations if you can, such as your computer hard drive, an external hard drive, or a cloud-based service, such as Google Drive or Dropbox. If using a cloud-based/online platform for storage, make yourself aware of the security risks and take care to ensure extra precautions where you can (for example, using two-step password verification).
For example:
Jane Smith, Smith Family Oral History Project, 1 January 2025.wav
Jane Smith, Consent Form, 1 January 2025.pdf
Post-interview summary
You may wish to write some notes about each interview directly after you complete it. These notes should be made as close in time to the interview as possible, and might detail some of the themes that emerged in the interview, or some of the key quotes from the interview.
It might also include additional information about the interview that does not come across in the recording, such as challenges you encountered or things you observed that impacted on the interview. For example, another person may have been in the room, meaning that your interviewee did not feel comfortable to speak freely. Or it might have been a particularly hot day, so you were unable to turn off the air conditioning. Or your interviewee may have become upset, which required you to take multiple breaks or change your approach.
It might be helpful to create a post-interview summary template, particularly for large oral history projects with multiple interviewers. If appropriate, a post-interview summary could be archived alongside an interview recording and other documentation related to that interview.
Post-Interview Summary Example
Date of Interview: 1 January 2025
Interviewee: Jane Smith
Interviewer: Brenda Kelly
Date and time written: 1 January 2025
Location: Melbourne, VIC
How did that work as an interview? (Location, events occurring before the interview, weather, emotional health, equipment)
Interviewed at Jane’s home. Good location, quiet setting, nothing to note.
What factors impacted the interview? (Think of this not as positive, negative or neutral but rather, noise in the room, other people present or not, home or workplace, personality, age, gender, distractions, sickness, mood)
Nothing of note. Interviewee was reluctant to sign consent form until she has reviewed transcript. She was nervous about the interview and seems unsure of how her interview will be used so I think more information when the transcript is available will help.
What were your initial impressions of the interviewee’s responses?
Well considered, very articulate, great amount of detail. Two instances of emotion but interviewee seemed ok and recovered well.
What do you think were the key themes from the interview? (Consider too how you drew these out – emotional, sensory, physical responses, other work that informed these ideas)
Great level of detail about working life. Good memories of family and childhood growing up. Has lived in the area all her life. Emotional about losing mother at a young age, but keen to share memories of her.
Is there any sensitive or risky material in the interview (for example, about illegal activity, or anything potentially defamatory) that needs to be reviewed before the interviewed can be used?
Nothing to note.
Are there any potential privacy or access considerations that need to be discussed further with the interviewee?
Interviewee wishes to review transcript before signing rights agreement form.
Transcription
A transcript is a word-for-word (‘verbatim’) record of everything that was said in an interview. Interview transcripts can be extremely useful, but there are limitations to be aware of. Some of the reasons for and against transcription are:
Pros
- A transcript allows you to easily search a document to find themes and whole, direct quotes.
- The interviewee can easily review a transcript, provide corrections, make changes if they wish and approve the interview for use/archiving. See Ethics, legalities and rights.
- A verbatim transcript is the closest you will get to documenting exactly what was said in the interview.
Cons
- A highly accurate, verbatim transcript is time-consuming and potentially expensive to create.
- A transcript does not capture the nuances of someone’s voice, and the emotions they are feeling as they speak, which can only be heard. For example, indicating that an interviewee has laughed does not convey whether that laugh was due to amusement, nerves or discomfort.
Think about creative ways to reflect the nuances of a person’s voice and story in the transcript, such as using capital letters or italics or bold type to indicate emphasis, exclamation points to indicate animation in a person’s voice, or ellipses to indicate when an interviewee paused, perhaps because of hesitation or needing a moment to think or reflect. There are some ideas on the Columbia Oral History Master of Arts website on how to approach transcription poetically. For other examples of transcriptions of oral history interviews, have a look at the Australians at War Film Archive and the State Library of NSW Amplify platform.
Transcription tools
If you are transcribing an interview yourself, Express Scribe is free software that allows you to control the playback of audio files. Microsoft Word also provides a free translation option via its dictation function. Be prepared that transcribing audio word-for-word takes time. Another option is to hire a professional transcriptionist, who will charge a fee.
There are also many automated transcription services that will transcribe an audio file for you quickly for a small fee, including Rev, Otter, Notta, Temi, Trint, Whisper/MacWhisper and Dropbox. These services will not transcribe 100 per cent accurately, and your transcripts may need some editing, but they are a good starting point. Some also offer transcription in multiple languages. Note that some of these online transcription tools may store your audio files somewhere else for a period of time or be accessible to third parties. Make sure you are familiar with the terms and conditions of the service you’re using. While there are security concerns to be aware of, artificial intelligence (AI) technology is developing rapidly and has great potential for oral history. To stay up-to-date on these developments, keep your eye on the work of National Library Australia, Doug Boyd and the American Oral History Association.
Audacity is free software that allows you to do basic editing of audio files, including removing sections, combining files, boosting the volume and removing background noise. There are online tutorials to show you how to use it. You can also use Audacity to create audio documentaries using oral history interviews. If you are needing more sophisticated editing software, Final Cut Pro is a good option (though it isn’t free, apart from an initial free trial period). Note that you should not remove anything from an interview recording unless explicitly requested to do so by the interviewee. The original recording is the primary record of the oral history interview.
Timed summary
Instead of (or in addition to) transcribing your interview verbatim, you may choose to create a timed summary. This summarises the key words, topics and themes talked about for each consecutive segment of an interview, typically around every 1 to 5 minutes. The benefit of a timed summary is that it is somewhat faster to complete than a transcript. A timed summary will also enable researchers to search an interview using keywords (or themes) that were spoken about in the interview and which may not appear in the transcript. For example, an interview may cover a lot about a person’s childhood without using the word ‘childhood’ in the actual transcript.
Interview overview
An interview overview is another option that can complement a transcript or provide future users with a concise summary of key themes, topics and interview content. An interview overview can also be very useful for collecting institutions as a way of describing the interview in a catalogue system. If you intend to store your interviews with a collecting institution, consider asking what information would be helpful to include in this interview overview.
Translation
Undertaking an oral history interview in an interviewee’s native language is always the best option as it will not only be the language that the interviewee is most comfortable speaking, but is likely to result in the most authentic material. However, this is not always possible, and without an accurate translation it can also mean that the interviews are not as accessible as they could be. For this reason, a translated transcript should be produced by the interviewer as soon as possible after this type of interview.
Undertaking an oral history interview with the aid of a translator is another option, but presents other challenges such as:
- How will the translation of your questions and the interviewee’s responses be affected by the introduction of a third-party?
- How will your interviewee feel with a translator sitting in on the interview?
- Is there a translator your interviewee has worked with in the past that they would feel comfortable working with again? Is this person a professional or a relative or friend? How will that impact the interview? (For example, if the translator is known to the interviewee, will the interviewee feel comfortable opening up?)
- Will your project budget accommodate the costs of involving a professional translator? Is there an oral historian who speaks the language of your interviewee and who may be better placed to do the interview?
- What language will the final transcript be in? If possible, the final transcript should be in the language used in the interview.
Translating interviews from one language into another is another option. There are a variety of online tools that can help with this, as well as professional services. Microsoft Word also has a translate function that is included free with the software. If using online translation tools, make sure you are informed about where and how your interview files are stored and what third parties might have access to them. Some online platforms are not secure.
Where possible, translated transcripts should be produced as a collaboration between the interviewer, the interviewee and the translator, taking care not to misrepresent or distort the interviewee’s original meaning or expression in the transcription process. Translation may involve understanding particular cultural or linguistic nuances, dialects and/or accents.
In the case of translating existing oral history interviews where the interviewee is not available, extra care should be taken to ensure that the translator understands the context and any additional information relating to the interview.
The language in which the interview was originally recorded should always be made clear in the transcripts of translated interviews, as well as at the start of the interview as part of the introduction to the recording. If only certain parts of a transcript have been translated, those sections should be clearly marked.
Metadata
Metadata is essential information that makes oral history interviews (and other collection items) more accessible and easier to manage. It is important to provide as much metadata as you can, but at a minimum you should consider providing the following information for the archive or collection in which your oral history interview is being stored:
- Descriptive metadata: provides context and information that may help the interview recording become more discoverable across search platforms.
- Rights metadata: provides all the information relating to how the interview can be used and accessed, as well as its copyright status and any restrictions governing use.
- Technical metadata: provides technical information such as file formats.
Descriptive metadata includes:
- Interviewer (who conducted the interview)
- Interviewee (who was interviewed)
- Translator (if applicable)
- Description (a short blurb about the interview)
- Subject key words (helpful terms that will help future researchers find this interview)
- Date (when the interview recording was created)
- Place (town or city where the interview was recorded)
- Number of audio or audiovisual files for each interview
- Whether there is a transcript, timed summary or interview overview available for each interview.
Rights metadata includes:
- Copyright holder (usually both interviewer and interviewee – see Copyright page)
- Access conditions (any restrictions or conditions to accessing the interview recording/transcript).
Technical metadata includes:
- Type of resource (sound recording/mixed material/audio visual recording)
- Format
- Audio – WAV (Waveform audio file format – best suited for archival storage), MP3/MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 (compressed format – best for sharing but not long-term storage)Video – AVI (Audio Video Interleave, uncompressed), Windows format, MOV (QuickTime), MP4 (compressed file)
- Language (what language the material is in).