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ORAL HISTORY IN THE UKRAINIAN Continuation COMMUNITY BY ANISA HANDZIA SAWYCKYJ Part 4 Transcription, Editing, Accessibility Once you have an oral history interview on tape, a number of new questions arise. These deal with such matters as trans cription of the tape onto paper, editing, indexing, storage and accessibility. The first question is whether to transcribe at all. The answer depends, of course, on the original purpose of your project. If you intended merely to record a conversation with your five-year-old or with an elderly member of the family for a family sound archive, then you probably would not be going on to the transcription stage of the oral history process. Similarly, if you had made the interview to be used on a radio broadcast, or as part of an audio-visual show, then your interest is probably more on sound than on transcription. However, in most cases, a transcription is needed. How to proceed, then? The first step is a precautionary one: assuming that you have already labelled your tape, you make a duplicate copy of the tape. You have spent a lot of time and effort on the project so far. Why worry about accidentally erasing the tape or damaging the original? It is easy to unwittingly push the "record” button when intending to play back the tape, thereby erasing the interview! In the transcription process, the oppor tunities for such mistakes abound as you run the tape forwards and backwards to replay a portion of the tape that yoii didn’t get a chance to transcribe accurately. As you begin to listen to the tape you cometo realize that the transcription stage is a kind of moment of reckoning as far as the quality of the interview is concerned. As you listen to the disembodied voices on the tape, you can more objectively and accurately assess your skills as an interviewer. Suddenly, all those superfluous background noises on the tape — those banging doors, all your ”uh-huhs", and incomplete sentences — all stand out in their full glory. There’s not much you can do about it now except wince and vow to be more cautious next time. You could try very carefully editing out the defective portion of the tape, but here you run the risk of erasing more than you intended, so it is best to avoid this practice if possi ble. The transcription stage reveals the verbal idiosyncracies of your oral autor as well. You become aware of such elements in his/her speech (especially if it is an elderly person) as slurred words, stuttering, a bilingual vocabulary, repetitiveness, etc. — things that were not at all apparent during the interview itself, when the oral author’s facial expressions, gestures and general body language spoke to you louder than words. This leads to the next question: how much should one edit while transcribing? Should the emphasis be on accuracy of transcription, with each phrase, incomplete sentence, cough or laugh indicated in the text, or shoul the emphasis be on smooth, flowing paragraphs which have been highly edited and polished for greater readability? While there are several schools The symbolic impact of the classroom arrangement was clearly not lost upon the children. As in the adult world which they are being prepared to enter, the division between male and female roles is clearly defined. The group play area, like the world outside the home, is the sphere of activity in which every thing happens, from art to science, sports to reading. In the hidden corner of the playroom, like in the home, are the babies and the brooms. The girls, like modern adult women, were expected — by the teachers and their peers — to function in both areas — family and general society. After putting in several hours over puzzles, paints and feeding turtles, they would take turns at putting dolls to sleep and dUsting imaginary domestic dirt. The boys showed little interest in ’’that girl stuff”; and, I would venture to say, should they have done so they would have elicited surprise, comment and even derision. But aren’t boys expected to grow up to be fathers? Isn’t the home part of human society — perhaps its most crucial component? Shouldn't a male learn to care for himself and others, if for no other reason than that he might be required to do so? Shouldn’t a boy be prepared to run a house^.old, since not all persons of either sex are so fortunate as to have a mate care for them throughout their lives? And, most importantly, aren’t we, the adults who control a child’s world, responsible for limiting their activities and interests on the basis of our own prejudices and without regard for their well-being? It was further interesting to note that the boys expected, even demanded, deference from the girls when the in teractions occured in the general play area. Watching the children respond to each other was a real eye-opener. At one point, a rather aggressive, tallish girl was told by one of her male buddies that he wanted the puzzle with which she was playing. She chose to ignore him, at which point he gave her a little shove and sneaked the toy over to his side of the table. Despite her physical advantage, the girl did’nt fight back; in stead, she tried a few tears and a little angry put: to no avail. As he happily pounded away at a piece of the puzzle that didn’t fit, oblivious of her disgruntled presence, she withdrew to the doll corner. A lady to the last exchange, she cast an aggrieved look in his direction as she cradled a doll in her arms. Scenes of this nature reoccurred continually; for example, a squabble over a stethoscope was resolved when the boy explained to the girl that he was the doctor, she the nurse and the stethoscope rightfully his. There is no question as to how the children learned their roles so expertly. The sex-bias and prejudices of their adult caretakers hung heavy in the room, and no attention was devo ted to the negative impact such attitudes would have on the children. A simple matter of lining up for lunch became a situation^ for underscoring the difference between the sexes: boys line on the right, girls on the left. Rather than breaking up an altercation with good judgement, the teacher stated that ’’boys shouldn't hit girls” ; and is the child to assume that boys should hit boys, or that girls should punch boys? To me, the most troublesome incident occurred when a cutie in pigtails stole away a firefighter's hat directly from a little boys’ head. As she ran about making gleeful siren noises, she paused mo mentarily to get approval from one of the staff. The teacher, a woman with 25 years of child care experience, smiled down at the proud, would-be firefighter and said; "You look very nice in that hat; its red and it matches (poking the kid’s shoulder) your sweater,” As the girl’s face fell in bewildered disappointment, my anger rose. Would the woman have ever encouraged a male child in this manner? To be continued 23
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