How we work


On the road with Voces Oral History Project

Voces Oral History Project conducts dozens of interviews every year. Some take place in a studio within the Moody College of Communication, others are in an individual's home or office. But the majority derive from Multiple Individual Interview Sessions (MIISes). The MIISes are generally outside of Austin and are major productions, involving as many as 20 University of Texas faculty, students, and volunteers. At the end of the day, a MIIS may have recorded as many as 14 interviews: seven in a morning session and seven in the afternoon.

Step 1 - How we work

1.

The Oral History class researches an issue or era in U.S. Latino history and finds subjects to interview in a specific location. We schedule the trip, typically on a weekend.

Part 2 - How we work

2.

We arrange a location such a school, library or community center with rooms we can turn into temporary video studios. We usually rent a bus to carry the interview teams and our audio and visual equipment, lighting and backdrops.

Part 3 - How we work

3.

Students are assigned specific interview subjects in advance. At the site, students work with the subjects on a detailed pre-interview form that includes family background, education, military service, career history and more. Subjects often bring photos, military records and other documents, which we scan on site.

Part 4 - How we work

4.

The interviews typically last about two hours. We do up to 14 in a single day.

Part 5 - How we work

5.

In the past, we’ve written journalistic treatments of our interviews. In 2018, we turned away from writing stories and began producing short mini-docs, on audio or video, featuring interview clips. We are also beginning to post entire, transcribed interviews online.


Behind the scene with Voces

How we work

Interviews

We film our interviews with broadcast-quality, high-definition cameras. But that’s just the start; It takes a team to convert the interviews into multiple formats so they are easily accessible by researchers and the public.


Here's what's involved:

  1. The first step is to convert the videos into an editable video format.
  2. We send those files to the library for digitization and preservation - this is more than making a DVD or an mp4. It requires creating the interview in a format that will be accessible for many, many years, long after DVDs and mp4s are not being used.
  3. We create an online versions (mp4) for our website.
  4. We send either a DVD or an mp4 of the interview to each subject.
  5. We also may create short documentaries, audio stories or photo stories based on the interview and archival photos and documents the subject provides.
  6. Our goal is to post as much of the transcribed interview as possible online, making it useful to a worldwide audience.

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