Kristin Becker's DTC Classes at WSU

Milo Larson – It was interesting to hear Milo’s interview with his dad. Throughout this oral history report, Milo’s father talks about the many stories that involved the evolution of the telephone and television. It was very interesting to learn about how different technology has become in the span of as little as 20 years. Comparing the dates, Milo discusses in his reflection that the future for technology is truly unknown. Milo’s interview was done seamlessly and displayed a focused goal within the interview. Although Milo focused on the general topic of television and telephones, he was able to conduct an excellent oral history report.

Melissa Urueta – Melissa broke out of the box and decided to interview a WSU Alumni whom she’s never met. This was an interesting interview to listen to as the interviewer and interviewee had yet to establish a connection. As she mentions in her refection, once settling in the process become smother and she was able to build conversation. While again, this interview was about computers, I was able to see a different side to its use. In this particular cause, computers are used within the restaurant business and the interviewee discusses the evolution of this device and how it has benefited his career. The parts that Melissa chose to keep greatly benefited her purpose in creating more of a Story Corps type of report rather than an interview. While much of the content was expected, it was a well-executed oral history.

Christian Solovey – Christian’s oral history report was very interesting and I enjoyed listening to it very much. While I am greatly interested in the music field, this was the perfect interview for me to stumble upon. Stubblefield is one of my regular destinations so it was interesting to learn about the technology behind the sound. This interview continued to grab my attention as the content was continuously interesting. The development of DJing has come a long way throughout time, who knows where we will be in as little as 4-6 years from now.

For my final reflection for DTC 201, I chose to listen to the oral history projects from Jaclyn Erickson, Zach Larson, and Bethany Smyth.

While listening to Jaclyn’s audio story, it was interesting to get to see if her aunt had evolved from using the record player as a child, through her teenage years, and now when she is an older adult. As an audience, we got to hear how her aunt has started using other forms of technology for playing music but still has her record player and continues to use it.  We usually learn about how people and their favorite technologies evolve over time, since newer devices get created and sold, but Jaclyn’s aunt really stayed true to using her record player not only for the sentimental feelings it gave her but for her personal taste in the quality of music it showcased. This is a great example of how technological development has definitely changed throughout the decades but demonstrates how some people choose to not follow the developmental alterations to these devices, which is what Jaclyn’s aunt did.

The second oral history project, Zachary Larson’s, focused around the progression of cameras. The subject of the interview was Blake Gurney. One interesting thing that Gurney mentioned was how a lot of households used to only have one camera. I thought this was interesting because I was able to reflect on my upbringing and could relate to Gurney’s observation. A very relevant part of the interview was when Gurney mentioned how nowadays it seems as if everyone has access to a camera with them. This is 100% true to anyone who owns a newer version of a cellphone, laptop, etc. This interview was a great example of oral history because as a listener, I was able to understand and hear interesting topics of conversation and how they have impacted Gurney throughout his life.

For the third oral history project, I chose to listen to Bethany Smyth’s. Smyth focused her project around the process of getting music as a downloaded source and how the accessibility of it has changed over time. While listening to her interview, I was able to really look back and relate with the responses to how I used to get music on my iPod. It was really fun to get to think about that time of my life and see how much technology has changed. My friends and I would use pirated websites to download songs off YouTube and now we can pay about $5 a month to have unlimited access to songs. This was a great example of oral history, especially with people in the same generation, because everyone is able to share their own stories. It was very clear to the listeners how the upgrades of getting music impacted the interviewees.

For my final reflection I listened to five different audio stories and reviewed each one.

The first person whose audio story i listened to was Emily Burns. Emily interviewed her old house mom whom used to work at a telephone company. One point that stood out to me was when the house mom stated that the transition from one generation of using landlines over to smartphones caused people to view texting as a mainstream form of communication. The interesting part is that she stated that when she talks to someone she feels as if it will tell her more than if she reads it through text. Whereas, if you were to ask the majority of the current generation, they feel more comfortable speaking through text and feel that they can express themselves more freely. I had not thought about how technological advances can change societal norms within our culture. Furthermore, this was story was a good example of oral history because it not only touched on the advances on technology itself, but the cultural shift of norms that came with it.

The second audio story i listened to was Melody Huerta’s, who interviewed her brother on the topic of technology in education. One point i found interesting was that although Melody’s brother had been exposed to technological advances in school for so long, technology was not often a topic of conversation at his school. I figured it was because he grew up in a technologically advanced generation where new advancements were not seen as abrupt, but rather, the norm. I think this is a good example of oral history because it touched on the topic of technological shifts in school and how it affected students of different generations.

The third audio story i listened to was of Milo Larson, who interviewed his father on the different technological advances he has seen throughout his life. What i found most interesting is that Milo’s father mentioned how technology contrasted from when he was in college to Milo’s college experience. When Milo’s father was in college, personal computers were rare and only used as word processors for assignments like essays, whereas now, computers are the norm and used for nearly every aspect of education in college. I definitely think this was a good example of an oral history because it depicted the different technological advancements that occurred throughout several decades, and how they contrast from today.

The fourth audio story i listened to, was from Angela Basinger, her interviewed her grandma on the technological advances surrounding the healthcare field. Angela’s grandmother worked in different positions throughout her life in the healthcare field and had a lot of knowledge on the different technologies that raised throughout different decades. One aspect that was interesting was how she contrasted the different tests (Diabetes, blood pressure tests) which were used when she began her career in the healthcare field, to the tests available now, and how technological advances have helped make healthcare practices more accurate. This is a great example of oral history because it communicated the advancements in medical technology that have been made through several decades and how it has affected the population in a myriad of positive manners.

The firth audio story i listened to was from Chandhni Jayakanth, who recorded ambiance sounds from both Washington State University and New York City. I think the contrast of the two very different environments and the ambiance sounds recorded was most interesting. However, i do not think this depicted my idea of oral history because it combined contemporary sounds from two contrasting locations. I think it would have qualified as an oral history if she found sounds recorded from a different generation in either New York or at Washington State University and contrasted them with her contemporary recordings.

The first Oral History report I listened to was Emmalina Krist’s. The concept of her report was very good and provided great examples of the evolution of web design ranging from the 1990’s to now. One of the best examples that she used was of her mom describing the differences in creating web pages back in the 90’s compared to today. She explained how she had to actually physically write out the code for a website and upload it to finally see how it was going to turn out. She had to code everything down to even the colors of certain elements. She then explains how today, all she has to do is pretty much “drag and drop” what she wants which makes it much more efficient.

The second project I listened to was Ashley Cole’s. While the audio was a bit quiet the content of the interview was very informative. Her project touches on the evolution of the phone from the past couple decades till now. A great example she chose to include was when she was talking about the corded phone and the car phone. Her interviewee explains that in order to use the phone anywhere in the house, the landline would have 20 foot long cords so you could walk around with it, as well as having a Carphone to be able to communicate with the car. I found this interesting because I would have thought instead of making all these adjustments to technology to make them portable, they would have just focused efforts on making a portable phone in the first place.

The last interview I listened to was Jenna Walker interviewing her Grandmother on the differences between the typewriter and a computer. One profound thing that was mentioned was the idea of the backspace on a computer. Her grandmother states that she would much rather type on a computer because on a typewriter she doesn’t have to black out the errors that were made. It’s so crazy how we take something as small as the “backspace” button for granted. However, she also shows how the good parts of technology have been preserved over the years. She explains that she didn’t have to re-learn anything as the layout of a keyboard is the same as of a typewriter. She also explains how she would much rather have the tools we have today when she was in school as they make everything much more efficient. It made me think of how students today often think college is very difficult, but it would have been much harder decades ago.

All of these interviews are good examples of oral history. Although none of them were perfectly executed because of various things like sound levels, awkward jump cuts, and hard to hear words, they all show the evolution of technology through the years and the differences in technology between now, and past generations.

3 Interview synopsis and opinion on quality of oral history.

Melody Huerta Oral History.

Melody interviewed her younger brother who currently attends an alternative high school. The technical editing at the beginning of the interview could have been more seamless by taking out the long silent pauses and use of filler words like “Um” and “And”. The most relevant piece of information garnered from this interview is the implicit implementation and casual use of technology in the classroom. It is interesting to hear about the newer generation of high school students who have technology implemented extensively throughout their general education years. This is influencing our lives as schools implicitly mandate digital literacy and the use of digital tools and features. This makes for a more naturally technology savvy group of students. However, if explicit courses with time set aside to learn new features students who do not spend their free time using digital technology extensively may fall behind in classes as they are not being taught the skills, they need to succeed in a changing school system. This is an interesting concept that could be delved deeply into. However, this interview is not a particularly good example of oral history or storytelling. The interviewer and interviewee stick to information about school and do not get into the culture or experiences one has using technology in high school. Anecdotes of individual experiences would add personal flavor to this interview.

Seth Muck

Seth interviewed his friend and fellow student Katelyn Hamilton. This interview had music at both the end and the beginning. It was a little distracting because the music was very loud but the interview itself was more moderate to quiet sounding. Seth did a pretty good job of making this interview seamless and engaging technically. He left in some funny parts and allowed for lots of technical information but also some humor to liven up the discussion. The part of the interview I found most engaging was the use of apps, websites, and communication tools in our daily lives and how necessary they have become. Seth did not focus on this but went on to focus more on how music is enjoyed and stored. I think it would have been nice if he had been able to combine these two concepts in his interview. You could tell the interview had organically gone in the direction of technology in our daily lives, but the use of music apps and how they have been evolving is a little forced. The influence of technology on music has been immense from both its storage, sharing, and creation. Seth asked his interviewee if she though technology was ruining art. This was a very interesting question as well and could have been combined with the previous themes to dissect how necessary the internet and digital technology has become, how this effects entertainment and how art and culture are changing to fit this. Overall this was a technically stimulating conversation but did not have much anecdotal or personal stories to add. This makes for a dry oral history, if useful in a technological sense.

Emily Burns

Emily interviewed her house mom who was a generation older than her. Emily had a bit of an introduction superimposed over that of the interview to give it context. In some spots the technical editing could have been smoother as it did turn choppy. However, the interview questions and themes flowed together quite well. The technology that was being focused on were telephones and their development through time. Emily interviewed her house mother as she worked for a phone company as an installer in the 1980’s. This interview was very interesting as not only the technology of phones was discussed but the culture of the time as well. The interviewee describes some of the sexism that she faced as a telephone installer and a woman with a job even. It was not expected for women to work, much less work in field that requires technical know-how and manual skills. She had to accept the fact that there was discrimination from some customers and just had to do her job the best she could. The interviewee describes her love of technology and how much the internet and advancing forms of communication broadens one’s scope of the world. This is an interesting choice from Emily as she was able to get anecdotal information and actual stories from her interviewee while also holding a conversation about technology and its possible consequences for the future. This is an excellent way to form an oral history as we get the relatable stories, information about the past, predictions for the future, descriptions of actual technology and how it affected culture then and now, and a bit of a moral about technology. The interview went on to discuss such things as what future tech will look like, like visual uses in google homes. They also discussed how society might change with the growing influence of the internet, especially in business and the economy. They were able to discuss alternatives and changes from traditional in store shopping to how it might look like with a lot more goods and services being sold online.

The first oral history I listened to was Zachary Larson’s. In his interview, Larson interviewed Blake Gurney, who I believe was a young father judging by some of the responses he gave. Larson’s main subject had to do with the progression of cameras that Gurney had witnessed over his lifetime. In Gurney’s responses, he mentioned that in the past, most households only owned one camera, that was generally used sparingly and was often only used for special events. Today, however, he mentioned that almost everyone has access to cameras and documentation is frequent and almost inevitable in our daily lives. Gurney related a sense of apprehension of the amount of documentation we are exposed to today, in what we search for, listen to, post online, and record. He believes that a measure of privacy and freedom we had in the past has been lost to us today. I also particularly enjoyed the subject’s response to how the technology will progress over the years. He talked about how applications in VR may one day serve as corrective lenses for individuals with impaired eyesight.  These subjects were what I found to be most interesting and relevant for the progression of the technology over the years. These topics gave straight answers to the questions that were needed to relate an adequate history of this technology covered. This interview had a logical progression to it, and it covered some interesting viewpoints. I believe this is a good example of what an oral history should be; it gives a straight forward account of how technology has transformed over the years, through the subject’s perspective, and how he believes it will be altered in the future.

The second oral history I listened to was by Tori Bredy, who was interviewing her mom Patty. The editing work that Tori did, I thought was very good, her audio levels were great, and her song choice was perfect, it being a very relaxed song that was not abrasive or distracting. As far as the content, the most interesting and relevant topic was the change that Tori’s mom saw in regards to computers, in both their technology and use. Patty talked about how, when she was first introduced to computers, they were huge, slightly impractical things, that presumably not everyone was able to use or even own. She then spoke of the advancements that have been made with computers and how this generation has become highly proficient at manipulating and improving their devices. In Patty’s work and in the education of her students, the technology she uses has helped her to be more efficient and skilled in her work and more connected to her students. In all, I think her interview showed the progression of computers very well and in a positive light. It also went into great detail about how exactly it improved Patty’s professional life, which I thoroughly enjoyed. This is a great example of an oral history, because it deals with the progression of technology over the years as seen by someone of an older generation than the interviewer.

The final oral history I listened to was created by Issaya Saleumsay, who interviewed his mother Leisa. During the interview, the most relevant topics that I picked up on, were the progression in style and size of phones and how different generations use them. Lesia talked about the progression from the heavy brick phone of her childhood to the slim and sleek iPhones of today, she also predicted that phones will become increasingly portable, opting for even smaller, more translucent and minimalistic designs. She also related how her generation uses phones primarily for business and convenience as compared with the younger generation, who use them more for social media and entertainment purposes. In all, this was a good interview about the progression of phones over the years, and how it influences both older and younger generations. This interview was a good example of an oral history due to the relation of the progression of technology over the years through the eyes of an individual of an older generation.         

I listened to Jenna Walker’s oral history. She interviewed her grandma and the discussion began with where she studied and how she had to turn in her assignments. The grandma had a typewriter. She talks about the differences between the two and the advancements to adjust to the different types of writing materials. She also talks about how much she likes the advancements in writing tools and how she adapted in order to make her work easier. I thought that it was interesting that she said that she would rather use a computer because it made her life much easier. This is a good example of a oral history because she gave all of her feed back about the differences in writing technology and how she adapted and how she it influenced her life. The interview flowed really nicely and I liked how she shared a lot of thoughts in comparison to technology then and now.

I also listened to Milo Larson’s interview  and he interviewed his father and they discussed how technology has evolved for him personally.What i found interesting in his interview is how as a student he had to pay people per page to get a handwritten page typed up. It just shows how far technology had come in such a short amount of time. It went from having everything handwritten to easily typing and printing from the comfort of your home. In terms of technological development, it made things like computers and printer more accessible to everybody and made everyone’s life easier because of the connivence factor that they brought in. It was a good oral history because it discussed all about his father’s personal experience with the lack of school and it almost told a story about what it was like for him. The background music was a nice touch.

Finally, I listened to Emily Bruckner’s interview where she interviewed her father. They discuss the comparison that he had with in person university level educated and online school. What I found interesting was that her father earned one degree in-person and the second degree he earned a degree online. In terms of technological development this show how far technology in education has grown to be. He earned one degree in person in one time period and another recently in the comfort of where ever he wanted to complete his schoolwork. It was a good oral history because he talked all about his personal experience and how much it had changed in today’s society. It was cohesive and clear and it gave a lot of insight as to what his personal experience was like.

Shengjie Wu

Shengjie does a really great job of prefacing the interview with all the information that you need without anything extra; he gives us the interviewer’s name, the interviewee’s name and profession, and what they’re going to be discussing in the interview. It’s really well edited, and the music adds to the feel of the interview.

He does a really great job of giving all the context necessary for the interviewee to answer each question. This is somewhere I felt I was lacking in my interview that made mine a bit harder, since some of my questions were a bit unclear. It was hard for my interviewee to understand exactly what I was trying to ask, so I would have to try to rephrase the question after she answered. This led to me having to cut out/rearrange a lot of my questions/answers, and ended up being the hardest part of the editing process for me.

His questions give Janssen a lot of room to give really in-depth answers. He gets to really articulate his knowledge of the field, and speak to the ways that graphic designers operate today, specifically the students here at WSU that he teaches.

Rachel Lentz

I really enjoyed this interview in particular, since before this interview I didn’t know anything about commercial vehicle driving, or the regulations that come with it. It was interesting to hear about all the hoops commercial vehicle drivers have to jump through, and how regulations have changed over time.

I love to listen to people talking about topics that pertain to me specifically, but it was also really humbling and interesting to hear an expert discuss something that I don’t know anything about, just in a different way.

As for the interview itself, I think it was clear that the interviewer and the interviewee had a close relationship, which really makes an interview to me. I think the sound quality could’ve been a little better, but I think the quality of the conversation itself makes up for it.

Angela Basinger

It was really great to hear about the progression of medical technology. She seems like she not only knows a lot about the industry, but has strong opinions about what the industry should be about, and what values should be upheld in the industry. It was so interesting to hear her talk about all the different dimensions that there are to being a nurse/medical case worker. Rather than just viewing the job as a big paycheck, she really believes in putting the patient before all else.

The interview itself is recorded well. Even though there’s a bit of an echo, the audio is clear and sounds good. In addition, you can tell there were parts where she took time to think over her answers, and those parts were cut out for the sake of the listener, so I really appreciated that.