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Training Modules for The Covid-19 Oral History Project
The COVID-19 Oral History Project Links to an external site. is a rapid response oral history focused on archiving the lived experience of the COVID-19 epidemic.
We have designed the project so that professional researchers and the broader public can create and upload their oral histories to our database.
All the data that participants collect and produce will be open access, open source and shared with researchers and the public through the IUPUI Library and the A Journal of the Plague Year: A Covid-19 Archive Links to an external site..
The dataset will serve as
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an historical archive that compiles oral histories about the experience of living through the COVID-19 pandemic.
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a tool that allows individuals and communities to express their understandings, hopes, beliefs, and values about the COVID-19 pandemic.
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a resource to help researchers, policy makers, activists, artists, and communities interpret and respond to current and future pandemics.
Based at IUPUI, this project emerged from the collective efforts of graduate students in the IUPUI Public History and American Studies Programs. The COVID-19 Oral History Project is housed at the IUPUI Arts & Humanities Institute Links to an external site.. We are a partner project of A Journal of the Plague Year: A Covid19 Archive.
Please note that the materials included in this course are sample materials and that you should contact the Director of the COVID-19 Oral History Project to discuss participating in the project.
Beginning the Course
This training module was designed for individuals who would like to participate in The Covid-19 Oral History Project by conducting oral histories.
If you would like to be interviewed by The Covid-19 Oral History Project, please fill out this form Links to an external site..
If you are a teacher interested in integrating oral history into your course, you are welcome to use these modules. If you would like to have your course participate in The COVID-19 Oral History Project or Journal of the Plague Year: A Covid-19 Archive, please contact us at iahi@iupui.edu.
Course Modules
The course is divided into a series of modules that can be completed in sequence or individually.
- About Oral History
- How to Record an Oral History
- The Pre-Interview
- The Interview
- Processing Interviews
To view all of the modules, click here or on the Modules link in the left navigation bar.
Reminders
Please keep in mind that these training modules are meant only to be an introduction to oral history--an approach to history with a deep history, a rich methodological tradition, and a focus on ethical practice. After participants complete our online training modules, we encourage you to take the next steps in your training by
- Completing a course in research ethics, such as the Human Subjects Research/Social-Behavioral-Educational (SBE) Links to an external site. offered by Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI).
- Reading more broadly in the field of oral history by accessing articles in the Oral History Review or the Journal of the Oral History Society. There are also a number of excellent books on the subject, such as
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- Ritchie, Donald A. Doing Oral History. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
- Sommer, Barbara W., and Mary Kay Quinlan. The Oral History Manual. 3rd ed. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2018.
- Thompson, Paul, and Joanna Bornat. The Voice of the Past: Oral History. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.
- Taking a course in oral history such as those offered by Baylor University Institute for Oral History Links to an external site., the University of California Berkeley Oral History Workshop Links to an external site., or the Columbia Center for Oral History Research Links to an external site..
We will continue adding topics to this series, so stay tuned for upcoming modules focused on
- advanced undergraduate/graduate classes
- implementing an oral history project in secondary school
- knowledge co-production with local communities
Resources
Professional Organizations
- Associaçao Brasileira de História Oral (Links to an external site.)
- Asociación de Historia Oral de África (AHORA) (Links to an external site.)
- Asocación de Historia Oral de la República Argentina (Links to an external site.)
- Asociación Mexicana de Historia Oral (Links to an external site.)
- Canadian Oral History Association (Links to an external site.)
- Czech Oral History Association (Links to an external site.)
- Greek Oral History Association (Links to an external site.)
- International Oral History Association (Links to an external site.)
- The International Society for Oral Literature in Africa (Links to an external site.)
- Iranian Oral History (Links to an external site.)
- Japan Oral History Association (Links to an external site.)
- National Oral History Association of New Zealand (Links to an external site.)
- Oral History Association (USA) (Links to an external site.)
- Oral History Society (UK) (Links to an external site.)
- (Links to an external site.)Oral History Association of South Africa (Links to an external site.)
- (Links to an external site.)Oral History Association of Australia (Links to an external site.)
Listservs
Journals
- Oral History Review (Links to an external site.)
- The Journal of the Oral History Society (Links to an external site.)
Contact Us
The Covid-19 Oral History Project is directed by Jason M. Kelly, Director of the IUPUI Arts & Humanities Institute and Professor of History in the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI. If you have a question about the project or the training modules, please send an email to iahi@iupui.edu.
The materials in this course were developed by Jason M. Kelly, Rebecca Wingo, Carmen Coury, Victoria Cain, Cheryl Jiménez Frei, and Mark Tebeau.