After the Interview
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Communicate with the narrator.
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Send a prepared email thanking the narrator again for their time and sharing their story with you. Attach a Deed of Gift form, if appropriate to the project and not already signed.
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Transcribe the interview.
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You may do this yourself, or if budget allows, send the file to a service like Rev.
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Machine transcriptions can provide a starting point for a full transcription. If interviews were done over Zoom and recorded to the cloud, a machine transcription is automatically generated. For other files, YouTube can be used to generate a rough transcript. See "Using YouTube to Generate Free Automatic Transcriptions."
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Send your narrator a copy of the transcript to review.
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Index the interview.
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Indexing an interview helps arrange the interview into chronological or thematic sections. Yow Appendix I and Appendix J have sample indexes for reference.
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The Oral History Metadata Synchronizer (OHMS) application can be used to create a searchable online index, synched with the audio file.
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Consider creating excerpt clips and highlight stories.
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Excerpt clips are self-contained short excerpts that capture interesting sections of an interview. The Chicago History Museum's SoundCloud has many such clips.
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Highlight stories are typically 2–5 minutes long and highlight the main themes or notable elements within or across interviews.
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StoryCorps showcases a mix of excerpt clips and highlight stories.
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The free software Audacity can be used to create clips and stories.
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Provide researchers/public access to audio files, transcripts, and/or indexes.
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If archiving your collection, transfer materials and Deed of Gift forms to the archive.
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A website or SoundCloud account can also provide public access to the audio files. OHMS repositories can be hosted on a website. However, use these options only if your narrators have consented to public access.
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Key Resources
- Yow: Chapter 11"Analysis and Interpretation"
- Yow: Chapter 12"Conclusion of the Project"
