The Project
Unlike standard textbook histories, which focus on major figures
and describe events generally, oral history focuses on ordinary people who participate
in historical events as they happen and illuminates the effects of those events on their daily
lives. Thus, the CSI English Department Oral History Project provides a way for veterans and
their family members to tell others what it was like to participate in a major
historical event.
For this project, we ask a series of questions of military veterans who have served
in the Iraqi war after they've returned home. We record these interviews and make them
publicly available in several ways. For one thing, we place CDs of the interviews in the CSI Library
Special Collections room. We also send copies of the interviews to the Library of Congress
Veterans History Project. Finally, streaming versions of the interviews are available on-line
through this website. In the future, we hope to interview family members of veterans who
have served in the conflict; wives, husbands, and relatives of those who serve during
wartime have stories to tell too, of course, of what it's like to live with the consequences
of history.
What's on this site?
Although the "Project Links" in the sidebar to the right are pretty much self-explanatory, a bit of
explanation seems in order. The "Personnel" link leads to a page with brief descriptions of
the major players in the project and their interests and qualifications. The "Interview Log"
presents a listing of the interviews we've conducted: the page presents the dates of the
interviews and the name and service branch of the narrators. The listing also provides links
to the Recording Index of each interview; the Index is a summary of the general subjects the
narrators touch upon and corresponding time marks. The listing also provides links for
listening on-line to the interviews. If you want to see the Library of Congress Veterans History
project website, click the "Library of Congress Veterans History Project" link to the right.
How to Participate
We're looking for several kinds of people to get involved with the project: veterans who fought
in the Iraqi War, their family members, and students. Obviously, we're interested in vets and
their family members as potential narrators. If you are a veteran or a family member of a veteran
and you'd be willing to be interviewed, contact one of the project personnel through the e-mail links
listed under "Project Contacts" in the menu to the right. If you know of someone who might be
interested in participating as an interview narrator, send one of us an e-mail with the person's
name and how to contact them.
If you are a student, we're always looking for people to help support the project. This might include
helping with the clerical end of it, assisting at recording sessions, and possibly being trained to
operate the recording equipment or conduct interviews. Use the e-mail links to the right under "Project
Contacts" to let us know you are and how to contact you.
Technical Minutiae
Interviews take place in the CSI Canyon Building Television Studio. The
interviews are mic'd with a single boom-mounted Behringer B-2 phantom-powered condenser
microphone mixed by a Broadcast Electronics AirTrak 90 console. The console
output runs through a line-level shifter to adapt its +4dBm, 600-ohm balanced output
to the -10dBm, high-impedance analog signal suited for the unbalanced line input of the
Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live! sound card in the project computer.
The recording software is Sony's SoundForge, version 6. Master recordings are saved as WAV files
with 44kHz sample rates and 16-bit samples. In keeping with current philosophy
shared by many modern practitioners of oral history, recordings are minimally
processed. Because of the fan noise rife in the studio, recordings are filtered with
the Sony Noise Reduction package, version 2.0. Recordings are burned as Red Book Standard CD Audio
with Sony's CD Architect; the drive is a Plextor PX-716A. Streaming versions are created
with Microsoft's Windows Media Encoder version 9; the resulting wma files are encoded at a 64kbps
CBR bitrate for streaming on high-speed (DSL) connections. The wma files for streaming on a
modem connection are encoded at a 32kbps CBR bitrate.
