Oh...It's Actually Work

What I lacked in skill

I made up for with enthusiasm...

              I was very excited to start my transcription work this week (did you catch the past tense?) I had grand schemes it finish it faster than expected and then apply to transcription jobs online… However, I quickly realized I lacked certain apparatuses and experience. Nevertheless, I had a plan of attack.

                My plan started with research. I read about formatting, deciding on the Chicago’s Manual of Style (which made the most sense for an internship in history). I looked up tools and programs, realizing that I didn't have access to any of them (which I thought was okay since they all seemed to be superfluous aids).  Finally I queued up the audio-recording, opened a new word document, sipped my cup of coffee and began.

It did not take me very long to realize several things:

•           The audio recording devise used by celery soup is out of date and not compatible with computers which makes it difficult to adjust the speed of the audio file (so that it is easier to keep up with).
•          My lack of a foot pedal (to pause and restart the recording at will) forces me to pause the audio with my hands. This sounds incredible lazy of me. I am too lazy to reach over and press a button, but the time added to my transcription process because of this (moving my hands away from the keyboard, replacing my fingers on the keys, etc…) is significant. Perhaps as much as 25-30% of my transcription time is wasted on this simple task.
•           Transcribing takes a lot more attention and time than I originally assumed. In my head it was a much simpler task. The more time I spend transcribing, the quicker I become. When I started and was still developing my process it took an hour to complete 3 minutes of recorded audio. Now I can finish 12 minutes of recording in the same amount of time, yet I am still very slow for professional transcribers who are expected to process 15-20 minutes.
•           Transcribing an interview where I was not present will be much more complicated and difficult.

At this point I have transferred 40 minutes of the interview into a 14 page, single space script and I have 80 minutes left.

           I am still enjoying my task and excited for learning new skill set, but this undertaking has lost the first fine flush of delusional expectations.

            The picture above is taken from the back yard of the couple we interviewed, and was planted by General Sanford. I will go into more details on that in another blog entry.

A Brief Review of an Interview

This week my schedule is settling into a rhythm and I am beginning to feel comfortable with my assignments. I am working on several tasks, the first of which is:

 Interview and Transcription

        This semester my task is to direct interviews and then transcribe our interviews into Microsoft Word for future access. The staff of Celery Soup are familiar with this process of interview and transcribe. However, it has never been streamlined into a time-efficient process. So, in addition to transcribing I am in charge of writing the instruction manual for the transcription process. This manual will include the insertion of keywords for clear archival and retrieval as well as technical rules on how to treat different phrases and pauses, etc…  I believe that working on both the transcribing and the transcription guidelines simultaneously will allow me check and edit the manual in order to make the process as clean, clear, and quick as possible.

        This week I conducted my first interview, and it was a delightful experience. A week before my interview, Trish gave me a transcribed copy of her previous interview with this couple so that I would have an understanding of prior discussions. Reading through that old interview was incredibly useful since it provided an example of what Trish was expecting, helping me compose questions for my interview. On Wednesday we spent the morning with Betty and Don Reagan, Sanford Artists. Don uses the lathe to create wooden tea pots, or "tree pots" which have been sold all over the country and displayed in the Smithsonian.
       
During the interview they gave Trish and me a tour of their historic home (previously the property of General Sanford). Together we discussed their vocations, family, neighborhood, and travels for art shows.  Their lives have been quite interesting although they have always lived locally, either Sanford or Oviedo for their entire lives.

         This coming week, I will be working on transcribing the interview into a word document from the audio file and creating a transcription process. 

A New Day Means Another Awesome Opportunity

Perhaps the greatest misconception about history today is that names and dates play a central role. It isn’t. The most important thing in History the passing of pique emotions or trivial trials and defining moments. History is sharing life from one generation to the next in an intimate and memorable way. History is Storytelling. At this point I am tempted to leap into a lecture-like iteration of how and when stories have played important roles throughout history, but that is the act of a researcher, not a storyteller.

                My first history teacher knew how to paint with words. His “lectures” wove finely spun threads of folklore and fact into a fantastic tapestry. Remembering the lives which have lived parallel to our, displaced by a century or two. When you learn history like it is real (of course it is real, but very few teachers present it as though they are discussing real lives and existing souls) it has a way of arresting, fascination, and inspiring. As I say, if you do not like history, you never had a good history teacher. This teacher, and every great history mentor I have ever had has truly been a storyteller. As one well respected professor, C. S. Lewis, aptly noted in his book The Horse and His Boy: story-telling (whether the stories are true or made up) is a thing you're taught, just as English boys and girls are taught essay-writing. The difference is that people want to hear the stories, whereas I never heard of anyone who wanted to read the essays.

                Before my grandmother passed away four years ago, she gave me many stories. She never told them to me, though. She was embarrassed to talk about them, or perhaps she thought they would not interest me. Whatever the case, she passed on my heritage in the antiques she left me. Bobbles and books and gewgaws and diaries and dolls – the list is endless. Each of those items had a story to tell it has (and continues) to be my aim to seek them out and listen. Then this form of listening has led me to Celery Soup, a charming company in Sanford. Their aim is to send out listeners (or line catchers as they title them) into the community to gather what they can, to absorb what locals have to offer. Then they spin those gathered threads and weave them into plays to present back to the community. It is a perfect cycle of listening and telling which strengthens the community and demonstrates living history.

                Soon I shall be a line catcher; next week I am scheduled to conduct an interview. However, my first task has been to read through the present play (Touch and Go) and sift through prior interviews to dig up questions, ideas, and hopes to bring up in our conversation.  Throughout the semester, I will conduct several interviews, transcribe them, and identify stories which we shall incorporate into the next play. One thing I will be learning well this semester is that a mastery of storytelling and history requires significant preparation, yet is worth every effort in the end.