Identifying Narrators and Finding a Rapport: Tips for New Oral Historians (and Public Historians)
This short guide is primarily targeted to students new to oral history, who might not yet feel comfortable reaching out to strangers, or even friends, for an oral history interview. There are a number of tips in here that will make you more effective in the process of oral history interviews, but much of this information is more broadly applicable to public history practice and community engaged scholarship.
People You Know
Sometimes you will be asked to interview somebody you already know--perhaps a family member or a friend. These are often the easiest oral histories to schedule. Because the individual is already familiar with you, you likely already have some rapport and trust established. Because of this, they might be more willing to meet with you.
That being said, just because you know the person doesn’t mean that the oral history will be any easier to conduct. You will still need to do any necessary background research. And, you will still need to provide them the same professional courtesy and ethical conduct you would for any narrator.
Interviewing somebody you already know can also require even more work in the process of the interview. Because you already know the person, you might have shorthand ways of communicating, or you might have common assumptions or knowledge that would be unspoken in day-to-day speech. When you’re interviewing somebody you know, you have to pay close attention and articulate these unspoken codes so that future listeners will have the same context that you have. This may require follow-up questions on topics you already know quite well.
People You Don’t Know (Yet)
Contacting somebody you haven’t yet met might be a requirement for your project. While this means that scheduling your interview might take more time, it also means that you’re going to be learning more--both from the narrator and from the process of setting up the interview.
If you are a novice oral historian or public historian, learning how to identify and engage with potential narrators is an essential skill of the trade. Being out there in the public means constantly meeting new people, and regularly introducing yourself and your work in order to find community collaborators.
Perhaps you’re already the type of person who feels confident introducing yourself to people you don’t know. If so, great, but if you are the type of person who feels uncomfortable when meeting new people or who is reticent to introduce yourself to a new group, you may need to practice some techniques.
Below are some tips to help you become more effective at engaging with people you don’t know yet.
Identifying Narrators
Use your networks: Most of you are already engaged with an online social network. Ask your network of friends to help you identify potential narrators--to identify friends-of-friends. The great thing about using your social network is the fact that you will benefit from the preexisting relationships and trust established by your friends, which will help you secure an interview.
Find experts: There are many people out there who have expertise related to the topic you’re studying. Find their websites and do some research on them. If they look like good candidates, reach out to them.
Find community groups: Depending on your topic, there may be community groups whose members might be interested in participating. Reach out to the leadership and ask if they might be willing to circulate your request for narrators.
Use your digital search skills: Search the internet. Read online newspapers. Visit YouTube. Check Twitter and Facebook. There are likely dozens, if not thousands, of people out there who might be excellent narrators. If you don’t have their email address, contact them through their social media profile.
Rapport
Your job as an oral historian--and as a publicly engaged professional more broadly--is to benefit the communities you work with. It’s important that you make them feel comfortable and confident in your abilities. When engaging in conversations, there are a number of skills (they’re skills, because you have to practice them) that you can implement to make people want to engage with, learn with, and share with you. Practicing these skills in your daily conversations with friends and colleagues, in Zoom conversations, and even in your classroom interactions will make you more professionally effective.
Use your body language: Lean in, smile, nod your head, and make eye contact. These are all indicators that you are interested in the person you are speaking with. When you don’t do these things (and this is especially true in the online environment), you look uninterested and even hostile.
Actively listen: Pay attention to what the other person is saying--so much so that you are thinking of follow-up questions to learn more.
Be interested: Active listening is different from being interested (though, they are related). Being interested is taking care to understand and to empathize with the other person. Being curious and caring will help you better understand where the other person is coming from and help with follow-up questions.
Be positive: You don’t have to exaggerate, but remember that your attitude can affect others around you. You don’t want to be an Eeyore, pessimistic and gloomy. It will undermine your ability to engage productively with the communities you’re working with.
Know what people are asking: Pay attention to the contextual clues (situational, body language, tone, etc). to interpret what the person is saying. For example, most people who ask “how are you doing?” are not asking how you are feeling. They are prompting you to say something positive that will help get the conversation started.
Timing
Finding people to interview is not difficult, but it can take time. So, you need to plan ahead. If your oral history is due in six weeks, you should get started right away. You also need to remember that people may need to reschedule or back out of the interview for one reason or another. The sooner you get things scheduled, the more flexibility you will have if the unforeseen occurs.