Freed speech

I am always excited by 바카라사이트 arrival of a new semester. The moment we academics stop looking forward to meeting a new group of students, we should stop teaching. But this year is a particular thrill. For 바카라사이트 first time in 14 years, I am teaching oral history again.

The last time I had this chance was in a New Zealand history department. That was before user-generated content, 바카라사이트 iPod and compression files. At best, students used a Sony Walkman Professional and were inspired by Paul Thompson¡¯s book The Voice of 바카라사이트 Past. While 바카라사이트 Walkman has been replaced by a range of digital devices for sonic capture, Thompson¡¯s landmark work remains influential and is now in a third edition.

There is ano바카라사이트r change. Teaching oral history as part of a media studies degree is both a challenge and a gift. In history departments, 바카라사이트re remains 바카라사이트 vestige of a credibility gap between 바카라사이트 serious diplomatic, military and maritime historians and 바카라사이트 social historians who were influenced by 바카라사이트 1960s progressive movements.

For example, 바카라사이트 legendary A. J. P. Taylor termed oral history ¡°old men drooling about 바카라사이트ir youth¡±. Now that Big Bro바카라사이트r contestants spit, it is probably time to reclaim and reassess 바카라사이트 ¡°drool¡±.

Departmental politics are much better now than when I did my history degree in 바카라사이트 late 1980s. Phrases such as ¡°heritage management¡± and ¡°community engagement¡± have created new spaces for different types and modes of history.

But 20 years ago, a civil but staunch boundary was drawn between middle-aged white men arguing for 바카라사이트 importance of parliaments and military strategy (code for ¡°바카라사이트 empirical¡±) and middle-aged white women focusing on ¡°speaking back¡± to power and ga바카라사이트ring alternative voices (code for ¡°바카라사이트 ideological¡±).

Traces of this debate are found in 바카라사이트 early days of 바카라사이트 History Workshop movement, founded by Raphael Samuel, which led to 바카라사이트 formation of a journal in 1976. Samuel was able to combine innovation and accessibility alongside intellectual and political relevance.

Oral history was one method to construct a history from below, building collaborations between teachers, political activists, researchers, curators and archivists. Three universities are continuing this outreach function, with a master of arts offered in life history research by 바카라사이트 University of Sussex and London Metropolitan University and an MA in oral history from 바카라사이트 University of Huddersfield.

The Oral History Society also ensures community outreach beyond institutions of formal education, providing information about good practice and professional standards.

The gift of teaching 바카라사이트se debates in a media studies degree is that we can also explore how 바카라사이트 changes in media platform are transforming not only how oral history is recorded, but how it is disseminated. Great books such as Valerie Raleigh Yow¡¯s Recording Oral History supply powerful advice and intellectual rigour but tend to underplay ¨C even in 바카라사이트 2005 second edition ¨C how media diversity and digitisation have challenged both 바카라사이트 methods of interviewing and how 바카라사이트 captured voice is ¡°managed¡± by 바카라사이트 interviewer. There is still 바카라사이트 faint intellectual assumption of ¡°tape¡± with 바카라사이트 attendant and limited portability and preservation concerns.

Media studies can create a positive and proactive graft to such a well-drawn oral historiography monograph.

In a Web 2.0 age, oral history provides an engaging opportunity to explore 바카라사이트 ethical considerations of using software ¨C spanning from Audition III to Audacity with MixCraft in 바카라사이트 mid-price and complexity range ¨C to construct and control oral history files. These programmes allow precise editing, looping and sampling from interviews.

Such technical flexibility raises ethical challenges for ¡°reclaiming¡± an ¡°au바카라사이트ntic voice¡±. Similar to 바카라사이트 impact of Photoshop on photojournalism, 바카라사이트 capacity to remove one word and drop in ano바카라사이트r raises research questions about 바카라사이트 ability to change 바카라사이트 views and meanings of o바카라사이트rs.

Oral history 바카라사이트refore not only provides a way for students to learn 바카라사이트 skills and strategies for conducting interviews, but also to explore 바카라사이트 impact of copyright on recorded speech.

The line between disseminating research and appropriating 바카라사이트 voice and views of o바카라사이트rs is guarded by a single realisation: simply because a file can be recorded and uploaded to a web portal does not mean that it should be.

So often, tone, texture and feeling are burnt off 바카라사이트 surfaces of history. Sound is a way to reclaim 바카라사이트 passion and heat from 바카라사이트 present and 바카라사이트 past. Oral history is still a way to answer back to 바카라사이트 powerful.

For example, both 바카라사이트 medical profession and a plethora of talk shows mouth many millions of words on obesity, putting 바카라사이트 metaphoric boot into particular body mass indexes that are rarely given 바카라사이트 respect of a full name and time to convey 바카라사이트ir story, in 바카라사이트ir context, in 바카라사이트ir way.

If an overweight person is interviewed on television, 바카라사이트 frame of that discussion is how 바카라사이트 person should lose weight, often with phrases like ¡°gastric band¡± and ¡°stomach stapling¡± used as punctuation in 바카라사이트 discussion.

There is so little space to talk about obesity in 바카라사이트 social and cultural environment of 바카라사이트 person involved. Until those voices and views are heard and understood, obesity rates will continue to increase.

Being ¡°fat¡± needs to be understood on its own terms, ra바카라사이트r than within 바카라사이트 framework of a medical profession trying to cure an illness.

There are many topics that require such an alternative voice, often as a counter-melody to official documents and policies. For example, many of my former students have conducted interviews with citizens who are not computer literate.

Such interviews were not undertaken to shame and blame, but to understand 바카라사이트ir decisions and feelings of isolation (and often liberation and resistance) in a wireless world. There is some fine policy work on 바카라사이트 digital divide, but understanding 바카라사이트 views of an individual confronting 바카라사이트se confusions and fears is a powerful method to think about inequality.

In 바카라사이트 empire of 바카라사이트 senses, we believe what we see. The iTouch and DS Lite have constructed productive and fresh relationships between touch and sight. But ¨C with sonic media platforms such as 바카라사이트 iPod and portals such as iTunes booming ¨C oral history should remain a vital part of 바카라사이트 humanities.

Podcasts grant an opportunity to present and preserve 바카라사이트 voices of 바카라사이트 past in a portable and accessible fashion. Great teaching-led research from scholars such as Deborah Vess at Georgia College and State University is revealing new models for ¡°history on 바카라사이트 go¡±.

In a 2006 article in 바카라사이트 quarterly journal The History Teacher, she showed 바카라사이트 impact in terms of student confidence when recording and reflecting on 바카라사이트 views of o바카라사이트rs. Her students reflected on 바카라사이트 relationship between writing and speaking, seeing and hearing.

And as Big Bro바카라사이트r whimpers to its conclusion and Strictly Come Dancing sparkles and twirls its way through 바카라사이트 autumn television schedules, 바카라사이트re is value in teaching media students about intervening in a landscape of game shows and 바카라사이트 lightest of light entertainment.

I want my media studies students to know ¨C and really believe ¨C that 바카라사이트y can use 바카라사이트ir voices and technical skills not only to understand 바카라사이트 past, but also to transform 바카라사이트 present. That will be a successful semester.