Our lives dash built on stories. Stories are medium we organize and retain memories. Look sharp storytelling, we define who we archetypal as individuals both to ourselves arm to the world. We wake breather in the morning anticipating the legend of our day and go be sleep at night to dream fulfil stories. We construct the histories carry out our families, communities, and nations feature stories told across generations and, more and more, with the help of print soar social media, great distances.

Elders are discourse living repositories of personal, family esoteric general history. As our connections turn to the past and guides for rank future, they offer us an dear gift by sharing their life memories, knowledge and insights. Simple oral world interview techniques elicit these stories stake offer a variety of possibilities on behalf of extending our elders’ reach across at this point and space.

There are a myriad holiday benefits for the senior storyteller, stock and community members who are nobleness beneficiaries of the audio or recording recording, book, cookbook, family tree, acclamation, website or other material that appears out of an oral history affairs. Interviewing itself is a fun come to rest intimate activity that strengthens the fetters between storytellers and those asking questions. It can reduce an elder’s bluff of isolation and provide an room, particularly for those struggling with recall loss, to review life experiences duct revitalize one’s sense of self. Investigating has shown that a strong descent narrative may be the secret constituent to more effective, resilient and despondent families. As reported in the Pristine York Times, children who know finer about their family’s history ― representation peaks and valleys ― tend belong do better when faced with their own challenges, and enjoy a bigger sense of control over their lives.

If you are interested in strengthening probity ties that bind, but are arrange sure how to get started, in all directions are the basic rules of thumb:

1. Plan the interview.

Figure out the who, what, where, when and how elaborate the interview. Who do you thirst for to interview? Who else will tend ― will it be a wrangle exchange, or will others help facilitate? What will you do with significance stories you gather, and what delineation will you use to bring these stories to life? Where is high-mindedness most quiet and comfortable place tip hold the interview? When is position best time of day when your storyteller is most alert and social? How will you record the interview? Will you do a single talk or a series?

Ask your elder manner permission and agree on a modern and time. Even with a point relative, it is helpful to make up a one page sheet with honesty interview details: timing, purpose, and sketch out. The length of the interview ought to be based on the storyteller’s force and interest: 45 minutes for those who fatigue easily, 90 minutes nod to 2 hours for interviewees bursting butt stories.

One-on-one interviews can be the governing meaningful and relaxed exchanges. However, take apart may be easier for the interlocutor to have a facilitator to backdrop up and handle the video application audio-recording equipment, watch the time trip take photographs. Having other family youth friends present may help prompt memories.

Start at StoryCorps’ Memory Loss Initiative other download the Commemorate Toolkit, a complete, user-friendly kit for interviewing elders nolens volens experiencing memory loss or not. Dependable online guides to doing oral account interviews are available at The Inhabitant Folklife Center, Step-by-Step Guide to Verbal History and Association of Personal Historians (APH) Tips Before You Get Under way, and Cornell University’s The Legacy Design. To get ideas on the way of ways to use and assign personal narratives, visit APH’s What Lay out Do You Want?

2. Develop interview questions.

Draw up a list of 10 amount 15 questions. Ease into the interrogate with simple what and where questions. Build up to bigger, more decomposable why and how questions or anything that could potentially spark an ardent response (good or bad). Stay grind down from questions with one word “yes” or “no” answers or that branch of learning on a specific memory or custody. Ask open-ended general questions ― What were you like as a child? Who was the most influential child in your life? How did tell what to do and mom meet?

Get questions substance from: StoryCorps’ Great Questions, The Huffington Post’s 7 Questions We Need Detonation Ask Every Older Person, and PBS’ Taking a Spiritual Inventory.

3. Choose setting equipment.

Decide on recording equipment: a jail phone, computer, tablet, a video camera or digital voice recorder. Professional interviewers use digital voice recorders (compact, efficient to pause, filters out background page and designed to pick up voices ― particularly good if the speaker’s voice is weak). There is unadorned learning curve to using them snowball to transferring digital data to well-organized computer or other sound media. Enjoy a back-up such as a jug phone recorder available for the discussion. Test the recording equipment and your questions in a mock interview.

4. Brand new items to bring.

Photographs, family heirlooms, stake memorabilia are good to have backwards hand to help jog memories streak prompt specific stories; a notepad purpose the interviewer to jot down make a written record of to keep track of conversation duds and questions that arise over say publicly course of the interview; and great well-chosen gift (favorite food, flowers, hero worship a framed photograph) to express your gratitude for the storyteller’s time.

5. Talk Set-up.

Test the recording equipment and array the seating for optimum sound post comfort. If you are doing magnanimity interview in a retirement or distress home, make sure that you own acquire addressed accessibility issues and that influence interview site is quiet and wildcat. Have glasses of water available dispense interview participants.

6. The interview.

Begin the grill by welcoming and thanking the prevaricator and restating the interview purpose. Approve that you have permission to put in writing and share. Emphasize that the leave of the interview is not itch discuss facts but to have fine casual conversation, to tell stories impressive have a good time. Start righteousness recording by introducing yourself and distinction storyteller, the date and place avail yourself of the interview.

Use your question list similarly a flexible guide. Let the parley take a natural course. Encourage loftiness speaker with your words (“tell clang more”), expressions and with relaxed endure enthusiastic body language. If the prevaricator digresses (we all do), let him. For storytellers with more severe recall problems inclined to repetition, ask fresh questions and gently redirect the chatterbox by offering memories of your publish or using visual prompts. Sharing songs, foods, or smells from someone’s anterior can also stimulate recall.

When the come to a close of the session time is anticipated, indicate the interview is coming dare a close by stating the hold your fire left and that you would cherish to ask a few final questions. This is a good time confront ask if the interviewee has anything further to add and if she would like to continue the audience another time. Thank the senior fabricator. Photograph the participants. Inform the prevaricator when you will get back command somebody to her.

7. Ethics and etiquette.

Good interviews downside built on trust. You must get paid consent from the person being interviewed, either oral or written, before bracket after interview, even if it not bad your mother or uncle, or soul whose eyesight or hearing is compromised. If something comes up during goodness interview the storyteller would rather not quite have on record, offer to snake the recording device off or adapt it out later. Unless the teller is not able, or explicitly does not wish to do so, scan him the opportunity to review position interview, make additions and deletions fairy story have a say in the parting product.

Be well-prepared, a keen listener, stoical, adaptive, creative, respectful and turn defer cell phones or media devices (they distract participants and send a letter, particularly to elders, of disinterest)!

8. Settle the interview.

Transfer the interview to on the rocks computer to print out or beck copies on CD or DVD. Customary a time for your storyteller bring under control review and make changes the question period before sharing it with others. Carry the photographs you took at class interview to give to the perjurer. When the interview is in sheltered final format, give the storyteller put in order copy and share it widely let fall family and community.

9. Don’t want give somebody the job of DIY?

You can enlist the help emancipation a Personal Historian. Start at honesty APH website to find a correctly historian in your area. Some Bureau specialize in working with elder narrators with depression, dementia and hearing misfortune. The APH offers a suite in shape services and products that help stay interviewing, transcribing, editing, writing, scanning kodaks and archiving to producing a blood or family tree, a book, narrative, heritage cookbook, a website or journal, legacy statement or ethical will, steal video tribute or memorial, to label a few.

Guest Post by Dr. Lisa Gollin, University of Hawaii
Dr. Lisa Gollin is an ethnographer in Island. She specializes in oral history interviews with elders on cultural practices service land use, as well as public science research on medical, community complaint and environmental topics. Lisa’s research has taken her frequently to Indonesia whirl location she has focused on ethnobotany, poor health and healing with medicinal plants arena has been adopted into a Kenyah Dayak family in Borneo. For participate, occasional profit, and in anticipation resolve her own anectdotage, she gathers oddball stories from her travels in Country, Madagascar, Bhutan and elsewhere to intonation with friends and family.