Megan Harris, Senior Reference Specialist, Veterans History Project, Library of Congress
Proposal Type
Roundtable
Seeking
- Seeking Additional Presenters
- Seeking Specific Expertise
- General Feedback and Interest
Related Topics
- Civic Engagement
- Oral History
- Place
- Memory
- Theory
- Digital
Abstract
We propose a roundtable discussion to build upo n oral history-focused panels at previous NCPH conferences by examining a f ew recent case studies, but more importantly, by opening a dialogue with th e audience members in order to identify common challenges, brainstorm poten tial solutions, and offer thoughts on a way forward.
Seeking
This Digital Age of transformative media opport unities and online framework prompts an evaluation of both the process and product of oral histories. Emergent enthusiasm for oral histories has yield ed a research environment of narrative abundance, as well as experiential l earning opportunities for its practitioners. This current state of the fiel d raises a myriad of questions, many of which center around issues of acces sibility. For an oral history project, is the interchange the most meaningf ul quality of an oral history, or the circulation of a narrator’s s tory? Should we rely on fixed media standards, or look to intuitive platfor ms and social media for public dissemination of these voices? How can we ad apt methodology, technology, or both, to the abundance currently facing res earchers?
We hope to use individual case studies to root the conversation, but also t o stimulate examination of these questions (and others!) that will take us beyond specific projects and towards a more general conversation.
Following an introduction of recent oral history projects, addressing both “born digital” and digitally reformatted narratives, we pro pose breaking the audience up into smaller groups in order to discuss a series of questions related to the current state of oral history .
Presently, we’re looking for panelists whose experience reflects re cent or ongoing oral history projects, as well as any questions and/or reac tions to the issues faced by both the creators and end-users of oral histor y recordings.
If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to share contact information for other people the proposer should reach out to, please get in contact directly: Megan Harris
If you have general ideas or feedback to share please feel free to use the comments feature below.
All feedback, and offers of assistance, should be submitted by July 3, 2016.
COMMENTS HAVE CLOSED. PLEASE EMAIL THE PROPOSER DIRECTLY WITH ANY ADDITIONAL COMMENTS OR OFFERS TO COLLABORATE.
Discussion
2 comments
Comments are closed.
Hi Megan I think discussing how to cope with the volume and best way to use or make available OH is a sound topic and also where is the real value (ie, is OH more history or therapy). There are two other OH proposals. Have you connected with either ELIZABETH GRITTER or MICHELLA MARINO? Both are doing community OH projects with Marino focused upon use of students and the interchange between academic and public history. I just wonder if the three of you might benefit by talking about how to join forces or either carve more distinct and separate proposals. Just my opinion, I’d probably not divide a panel session into separate smaller groups. Working Groups, on the other hand, seem designed for that sort of thing.
Hi Cameron! Thanks so much for your comment (and pardon the delayed response–blame summer vacation season). My colleague Owen Rogers–who would be my co-panelist on this–and I definitely plan to reach out to Elizabeth and Michella. This is the benefit of this preliminary topic proposal timeframe, since it’s so easy to connect with others who might be interested in the same types of topics. Hopefully Owen and I can connect with them to figure out how to craft an oral history panel that isn’t too niche, but also isn’t so broad as to be unhelpful (something that Owen and I have been pondering). We’ve also been trying to figure out how to balance a focus on case studies–ie, a panel presentation–with NCPH’s desire for more participatory sessions. Overall, though, I’m pleased to see so much overlap between our different proposals.