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Oral istory Society

Experiment, share, revise: Learning through oral history and digital storytellingAuthor(s): Martin Bazley and Helen GrahamSource: Oral History, Vol. 40, No. 2, REFLECTIONS (AUTUMN 2012), pp. 109-113Published by: Oral History SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41806362.

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Experiment, share, revise: Learningthrough oral history and digitalstorytellingMartin Bazley: In ConversationIntroductionNot o ong go school roup antingo doanoralhistoryroject ould ave sed taperecorder.avingompletedhe nterviewsheemphasis ould robablyave een n tran-scription. ny diting or hepurposes fdisplayould ave ad obedone y profes-sional. igital as, f ourse,hangedll this.Martinazleys a key igurendigitalearningformuseumsndheritagendnmy iscussionwith im e outlineshe ubtleynamicsndpossibilitiesorearningreatedy ral istoryand torytellingithheupportf igitalech-nology.ossibilitiesreated reciselyy hecapacityndigitalor IY recording,ditingandpublishing.etBazleylsosignals fewnotes f aution:he onflictsnherentnwaysinwhichxperimentaligitalearningits ithininstitutionalT nfrastructuresnd he eed orteachersrfacilitatorsoframeasksppropri-atelyatherhanmplyingotalreativereedomtotheirtudents,nlyo have o rein hemnlater. everthelessazleyrgueshat hewaysinwhich ralhistorynd earningnteractrebeingadicallyeshapedy igitalnd ossibil-ities remultiplyingllthe ime.HelenGrahamMB:[email protected])HG: HelenGraham,earningditor, [email protected])MB:Mymainnterestn ral istorynd igitalstoryelling ould e intheir otentialorlearningin couple fways. Tie rocessfcollectingralhistory,eflectingnyourxpe-rience,ust alkingas it sformenow is a

learningxperience.he theride sconsump-tion f hat ral istory,nd hatn tselfas hepotential o be really seful or earning,whetheristeningowar eterans,r student'sgranayinghattwas ike ogo o he deon.But hat istinctionetweenroducingndconsumingsbeing lurredin goodway.nthe ense hat ou anhave earners creatorand earners consumernd he wo annowconnectlittleitmore. or xample,groupfchildrennd dultsnterviewingthereoplewhethert s ntergenerationalr not is anactiverocessf ngagement.thinkhat'sheareawhich ostnterestse.HG: Howdoyou hinkigitalas ffectedthat?What asdigital ade ossible?MB:There re ots fwaysnwhichigitalhasmade teasier orecord,tore nd hare.Andwith lltheseWeb .0servicesnd heapcamerasndmicrophonest'smade t ll ess fa big eal odo, nd t's pened pnewwaysflearning. group f chool hildrenan dowhateverheyrtheireacherecideodo. ntechnicalermsherere obarriers,nd thinkthat's akingnenormousifference.HG: There re wo eallynterestingnglesthere.he irststhe ifferenceo he ualityflearninghichomes romnenquiryasedmodelwhich ou anseegoing n ntheseprojectsndthe econd s that heprojectdoesn'tend'as such ndWeb2.0gives hepossibilityf ngoingontributionseyondhelife f he roject.MB: thinkheres n nalogyere ith ebpages. ot fpeopletill hinkn ermsf hewebsites a publication.nd heremighteelementshatremoreike publication,ut

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110RAL ISTORYutumn012even henheyreopen odialoguend venmore o because fWeb .0 where ontentsbeing yndicatedround heweb and thenconsumedndifferentlaces. eoplere tart-ing othinkfwebpresencess more erme-able nd istributedhroughoutheweb. t's hesame ind f hing ith ral istorynddigitalstorytelling.fyou redoing projecthent'squite ice ohavenoutcome,t's ice ohavea showcasend or hewiderudience.ut hatis ust ne tagef he rocessnd he ptionsthereor ou o efinet, or therso ontributeand ll thewhileearningsgoingn.Againthinkhat'sreallyositiveffectfwhat igitalhasdone.In ermsf heearner-as-creatorodelhereare bviouslyensionsetweenhe reedomougive articipantsnd he roductionalues fthe utcomendnotust he roductionaluesbut,fyou ike, ow onmessage't s. Obvi-ouslyf heres fixed essagehent s deci-sion or he roject.t s a trap eopleftenallintof ou aven'tone hesehingsefore.ougo nd ay,you uysan o nythingouwant,I don'twant oconstrainou'.And hen fterthe irstit fwork,ohno, didn'teally eanthat'. henheyeel eignedn.And ometimesit can enhancereativityfyougive uitedefinedrief.ramet romhe tartn ermsfthe ind f hingsouwant hem ocome utwith.t sworthettinghe arametersighttthe eginning.o do that eeds uite bit freflectionnyour art.People ften avenmind certainrea nwhicheople ill perateut hatheyftenailtodefinereven ealise hemselves:hetherthat's topic,ttitudermessage.nthe lddays,museums ould ut hingsnlineusthopinghathey ould e nterestingecausetheyindt nteresting,ut hatshappeningessnownd hiss functionf igitaloo, ecausefeedbacks sorapid,nstantnd ervasive,t shard oget awaywith hatkindofthinganymore.ut thinkhatsthe hing eopleneedto be more wareof and makemoreexplicit:he onceptualrea hey ant heirparticipantso xplore.HG: And hat anbe done hroughiscus-sionwith he eople ouwork ith?MB:Exactly,ut ou ave ome irectionnmind efore ou et hemff, ould emysuggestion.HG: Youmentionigitaltorytelling.hatwould ou ay he ifferencesere etweenralhistorynd igitaltorytelling?MB:Frommy oint fview,'mnot urehowmportantt sto definehe ifference.remembertime hen he ame ind f iscus-sions ere oingn n elationo -learning.'vetried o side tep omany iscussionst thebeginningfwhat ould ave een n nterest-ing ay fpeople, ith eopleayingthe irst

thing e have o do s define-learning'.yviews, et's ee omexamples.don't nowfa really efiniterescriptiveistinctionshelpful.igitaltoryellingas risen ecauseof he ossibilitiesfdigital.toryellingasbeen round or while thinkfyou hinkfa Venniagram,heyre wo verlappingircleswithnoverlapn hemiddle,ut ot he amething.Oral istoryegins ith he dea f omeonetelling ouwhathappenedrhow hey eelaboutwhathappened ith very ersonal,singleoice ointfview. igital toryellingcould nvolvemultipletorytellersithinsecondf he ecording.ral istorysverylex-ible ntheong erm.ntermsfdigitaltory-tellingas withnythinghen ourombiningdifferentngredientsifyouwant o startdeconstructinghemurtherown he ine t'snot oeasy.HG:Thinkingbout ral istorynrelation-ship odigitaltorytellingsreallynterestingbecauset akes ralhistoryut f he riginalheritagef ralhistoryhichsabout,n onehand, istinguishingtself romualitativeresearchnd n the ther,istinguishingtselffromrchivalistoricalesearch.othe istinc-tive ontributionf ral istoryasbeen boutthe ife istorypproachincontrastootherqualitativeethods)nd hen lsovoices ndexperiencesotust ocumentsin ontrastoarchivalistory).igitaltorytellingmphasizesdifferenthings. ften igital torytellingprojectsmphasizewnership,uthorshipndcontrol.Indigitaltorytellingeoplecriptheirtory,recordhe tory,dit,hoose hotos,can hemin hemselves,se Movie odevelophe igitalstory.nlike raditionaledia rojectsheretheremighte collaborationnterms f hefilmingnd hen he ilmsbroughtack ordiscussiono he rouptroughut tage.heideawith igitaltorytellings that ou'rencontrol f hewhole rocess.t s not akenaway orditinglsewhere.MB: That s a great oint nd hasmanyimplicationsorhewaysnpeopleearn.HG:Akey hingsthatwhen ralhistoryemergedswas radical ethodologyecausetassumedhat eoplemight ave omethinginterestingo ay...MB:Yeah,which as prettyadicaldeaHG: Nowyou on't eed rofessionalkillsto ecordr dit udio r digitaltoryogether.So there'somenterestingonfluencesetween'tellingstory'ndauthoringstory'.Perhapsnotherifferences deas f ength.In ome ersionsf ral istoryheres a sensethatt ould ake ays odo the ecordingndthat o imeimithouldepiltn he nterview.Butwithigital*herestheoundite,hehreeminutelip, he hing hich orks nFace-



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112RALISTORYutumn012book, ndthe tructurefwhat savailableshapeshe ditinghatmightoon.MB: thinkhat's really oodpoint. orlearning,or veryonepart romesearchers,the dea f hunkinghingsown asbecomeverymportant.t s good hingngeneral.heflipide f hat,eoplemightay,t's symptomof n ttentioneficitociety.hen'm ookingtodothingsike his'm hinkingwo r hreeminutes,utots f wo nd hree inutelipsmakingp greaterhole.t's oingomeonethe ourtesyf hoppingtup nto ittleits othatt s easier o nteractitht.So theyanconsumet s awhole,ut avingt hunkedpmeansheynow hereheyre oing.HG: You've oundhat elpswhen eopleare sing ebsites?MB:Yes,nfactt's ne f he umbernethingso focus n. nfact t alsohelpswithGoogleankings.emanticonsistency.he deathatpage as clearitle,ummarynd ubti-tles. oogleakes ote f hatnd learlye sreaderso swell. hat oes orudio nd ideotoo.And ealisticallyhe nly ay ou andothat or udiovisualediasto hopt nto its.Doesn't ean ou an't onsumet sone hing,just syou anwith playlist.ut fyou rethinkingbouthingsobeused y he eneralpublic,hortsgood.Awebsite s a good analogy f that.Awebsites more han he um f tsparts. otthinkingboutt ntoo inearway.fyou'vegot longnterviewf soldierecentlyackfromrance,hatmightake lace vermanyhours. oyou'll ant sense f equence,utthatoesn't ean ou an'thoptup ntoittlebits.HG:Areallyracticaluestion.fyouwerea teacherookingor platformhattudentsmighte ble ouse hemselveso dit nd hareoral istory,here ould ou o?MB:There re oads f hem nd heyrechangingll the ime. udio oo, here'slsoAudio arm.ound loud.WithPadio ou ango straightromphoneall obroadcastiveon theweb,which ounds bit caryo me.Mustmake ureyoudon't eave iton bymistake ut reallyleverdea.Anothernewhich can'tgo withoutmentioningsRadioWaveshich asbeen sed lotby heImperialarMuseum.ou an o t ive utt'smostlyimed t udio rvideowhich asbeenrecordednd dited.Wordpress.woflavoursfWordpress,'.com' nd .org'.t's asiest oget oing ith'.com'. t allhappensn theweb. o withinfew econdsou anhave websitendwithina few econdsou anupload ideo.I useWordpress.comorprototyping.Recently've eenworkingithhe shmoleanMuseum f Art ndArcheologyn someresourcesnJohnuskinor -leveltudents.

We ilmedtudentsn he alleriesrawingirdsand ocksnd tuffnd henut lipsnlineorthe eacherndotherso reviewo we couldrefinet.As prototypingool,Wordpress.comisgreatecauset s soeasy ochangendnotonly nepersonanchanget anyone ouchoose anhave ccess. oyou anhave ots fiterations.thinkterationskeyodigitalearn-ing,okeep oingack nd efining,nd hat'swhy loveWordpress.com.here re oads fothers,logger,umblrutWordpress.comasbeen roundorwhileothere'sots f upportavailablenforums.Ifyouwantpermanentresencehen.com'probablysn't heway ogo.Wordpress.org.salso ree. ouneedweb pace hat ounstallton to nd little it f echnicalous ogettgoing. rettyuchhe ame s .com' utyouhave lotmorereedomver ow t ooks ndhow tworks. nd t smore table.Recentlywasdoing projectwith narchivendwe hadbeen evelopingesourcesfor chools.t seemsikeWordpress.comaveupdatedheirmage alleryunctionality,o tlooksreally ice.However,t doesn't owprovideccess o he eallyig ize mageize.And eachersith heir hiteoardhey ightwanto oom nto particularrea nd hat'ssomethingeknow ereally ant oprovide.So there'snexamplefhowWordpress.comisn't s stable or erious ebsites.ut t seasytoget pand unning,ogreatorgile evel-opmentrprototyping.HG: One f hemagicalhingsbout igital- at he isk f oundingbit vangelicalisthepossibilityorust oing-it-yourselfMB: I've got coupleof buts'. gotomuseumsndsay why on'tyoudo Word-press'? nd heyayourTdepartmentsavebanned sfromsingWordpress'.fcoursetheyan till o head ut henhey'reorriedonce 'vefinishedelpinghem heTdepart-mentwon't upportt. like o seedigitalresourcessanexperiment,indingut syougo ndhopefullyomeearningoingn longtheway, ithinhe rganisationswell or he'learners'. t'sthe amewith ralhistorywebsites: hree ears own he ine t ooksdated ryouwant odo t n differentay.Onereasonstaynwork,s the eed obackand oprojectsor he ame eople.t's otre-doingt',ike publicationit's eepinghewebpresencelive nd volving.fyouremakingbeautifulublicationor rint,ike coffeeablebook, ou on'twantny rrorsrcopyrightissues tc.Butfyou repullingogetheromeresources or chools nformalearningtdoesn't attero muchnmy iew. hat's neissue.Theotherbut'.You were ayingowfreeingt s.But hereremanynstitutionshoare oncernedbouttundermininghe uthor-itativeoice f he uratornd he nstitutions.



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Autumn012RAL ISTORY13I would ay hat susually good hing it'sabout eing isruptivendopening pnewwaysf earning.ut ou an ee he therointofview. uite ftenhis omes pwhen douser esting.did ne ecentlyor he odleiana thingalledTreasures f theBodleian*.There's facilityor thereople ocommentand obe ble o aywhatheyhinkreasuresandwhichsthe est reasurendwhy.nd t'snot ncommonor eopleo ay,mnot nter-estedn hat.'m nterestednwhat he uratorhastosay'.Theyre ayinghey ant roperopinions,nformedpinions.HG: That's hathe sers re aying?MB:Some, es, ut t'snot he revailingview. ots fpeoplerekeen ocommentndreadother eople's omments.here's necalledYour aintings,elatingo a series fprogrammesn theBBCrecently.hePublicCatalogueoundationave een oingprojecttodigitiseationalrt ollections,eptnbuild-ingswhichmost eople ever ee.The leverthingheyre oingsgettingeopleo ag ndcommentn these aintings.omethingssimples has rees'.Yellow'.Style:Landscape'.You're etting00s f hese ommentsnd t'sbuildingpa reallysefulody f nterpreta-tion.Reallynterestingearningctivity.t'sencouragingou ofocus ndetails.nterestingproject.oreason hy ou ouldn'tothe amethingith ral istoiy.et eopleogo hroughand dd heirwn nnotations.eminds e fa greatnteractiveebsiteased nChurchill'sIron urtainpeech, here ouhaveayersfinformationungff heudio,s well s a tran-script. ou coulddosomethingimilar ithcrowdsourcedomments.HG: One f he heoreticaluestionseopletalk bout, oes echnologyhape ociety,rdoes ocietyhape echnology?ig uestionutwaswonderingow ou eflectn hatn erms

ofdigitalearningnd lso ral istory.MB: mplicitly,ou re hangingouriewsall he ime. thinkigitalasmade he phereof earninguchmore lastic,ntermsf hekinds f hings ou an do and thekinds fthingseopleredoing,nd t pens p ots fpossibilities.hemain ocusson how eoplearedoing earningndshiftingt towardsengagement,ultipleoices ndparticipationas a wayof earning. ygotsky'snternaldialoguend ctualizingourhoughts.hereare ll kindsf videncehathinkinghingsthrough,xternalizinghemnyourwn rwith thers,s a really oodway f earning.Digitalsreally elpings todo that.Whichschanginghich? oes the ailwag he og?They ag ach ther,sNewton ouldell s.Ina way, would ort f seedigital s theprimary ovingorce. ralhistoryasbeenaround or while,igitalsreallyhangingtveryapidlyndf ouncludehingsike igitalstoryelling,t's ard eallyo eewheretwillbe n wo r hreeearsime. ifferentypesffunctionality.utpeoplewillbecatchingpwithhe ossibilitieshichrebeingffordedby igitalools.t's otust he igitalools hatare hanging,t's ur ccumulatingkillsasenbeingware fwhatwe cando. Some eoplesay,'mnot nterestednthis rowd ourcedinformation.hat's oingochange. ndf tdoes hangehenhe indsf hingsou an owill hanges well.And hat'somingboutbecause fdigital.t'schanginghewayweinteract ith ews, hewaywe relateo thenews,hewaywerelateo nd alidateources.You could aydigitals the tronger ovingforcet hemomentifyou ad o aywhichschanginghich,'llhave ogofor igital.HG: Well hat'lle brilliantast ine o heinonversation'.MB:Yes, oingor igital


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