[Ohiodig] FW: Revealing Voices: Oral History Digitization and Access, A Challenge Worth Tackling

Tue Oct 22 10:06:16 EDT 2024

May be of interest.

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Janet Carleton | Digital Initiatives Coordinator | Digital Initiatives | Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections, Preservation & Digital Initiatives | OHIO University Libraries | Alden 333 | Athens, Ohio | 740.597.2527 | carleton at ohio.edu<mailto:carleton at ohio.edu> | https://media.library.ohio.edu<https://media.library.ohio.edu/> | she/her/hers

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Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2024 8:32 AM
To: Carleton, Janet (she/her) <carleton at ohio.edu>
Subject: [External] Revealing Voices: Oral History Digitization and Access, A Challenge Worth Tackling

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Revealing Voices: Oral History Digitization and Access, A Challenge Worth Tackling<https://public-api.wordpress.com/bar/?stat=groovemails-events&bin=wpcom_email_click&redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fsaaers.wordpress.com%2F2024%2F10%2F22%2Frevealing-voices-oral-history-digitization-and-access-a-challenge-worth-tackling%2F&sr=0&signature=735817e129708ad97cdf59ebf9630d15&blog_id=72555918&user=101364802&_e=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&_z=z>
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By bloggERS! Editors on October 22, 2024

Carolyn Friedrich

Managing a grant project to digitize an at-risk media format can be a challenge, but one well-worth undertaking to preserve and make accessible the voices of migrants and immigrants to Pittsburgh’s Steel Valley. While Pittsburgh’s history has been shaped by immigrant groups since its founding in 1758, 20th century migrants and immigrants lack a strong voice in the archival record. The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) Recordings and Risk grant supported a University of Pittsburgh Library System (ULS) project to reformat 350 oral history interviews captured on 304 audio cassette tapes. As the Digital Collections Coordinator, I joined a team of ULS staff members and students contributing to the project.

The interviews were sourced from five collections held by the ULS Archives & Special Collections.
·        Southern Blacks’ Migration to Pittsburgh Oral History Project<https://saaers.wordpress.com/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=63bdb1424c44e5ec8d10656d878ad0111f8a49b53b5c2cdf5fbdce9e8a60402a&blog_id=72555918&post_id=3883&user_id=101364802&subs_id=587193&signature=fe7ed02b31b4efd67619db9cb0fb4775&email_name=new-post&user_email=carleton@ohio.edu&encoded_url=aHR0cHM6Ly9kaWdpdGFsLmxpYnJhcnkucGl0dC5lZHUvY29sbGVjdGlvbi9zb3V0aGVybi1ibGFja3MtbWlncmF0aW9uLXBpdHRzYnVyZ2gtb3JhbC1oaXN0b3J5LXByb2plY3Q> – first-hand accounts of Black migrants who relocated to Pittsburgh during the Great Migration.
·        Pittsburgh Renaissance Project: The Stanton Belfour Oral History Collection<https://saaers.wordpress.com/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=9abd0d206fb32f133a2576bbeb6ddf080641793e7d23674fed3f85b5a6c7c34d&blog_id=72555918&post_id=3883&user_id=101364802&subs_id=587193&signature=585dec6608ac43b986f758b2160a3826&email_name=new-post&user_email=carleton@ohio.edu&encoded_url=aHR0cHM6Ly9kaWdpdGFsLmxpYnJhcnkucGl0dC5lZHUvY29sbGVjdGlvbi9waXR0c2J1cmdoLXJlbmFpc3NhbmNlLXByb2plY3Q> – interviews with civic and political leaders about the Pittsburgh Renaissance that took place between 1949 and 1953.
·        State and Local Government Archives Oral History Collection<https://saaers.wordpress.com/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=71ebebdd1153a3ba8a781703d0b0a2fbaa58f4b07b983d49340b553d1422893c&blog_id=72555918&post_id=3883&user_id=101364802&subs_id=587193&signature=dc25b9f0233238707b1056c46685ec09&email_name=new-post&user_email=carleton@ohio.edu&encoded_url=aHR0cHM6Ly9kaWdpdGFsLmxpYnJhcnkucGl0dC5lZHUvY29sbGVjdGlvbi9zdGF0ZS1hbmQtbG9jYWwtZ292ZXJubWVudC1hcmNoaXZlcy1vcmFsLWhpc3RvcnktY29sbGVjdGlvbg=> – created in 1997 to document memories from politicians in Western Pennsylvania.
·        Homestead Album Oral History Project<https://saaers.wordpress.com/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=052688c1900ba87caa36f1dedce1d0a960733970c901297f8bcf67e39176a19c&blog_id=72555918&post_id=3883&user_id=101364802&subs_id=587193&signature=be668461d24a590d745651d08e4edded&email_name=new-post&user_email=carleton@ohio.edu&encoded_url=aHR0cHM6Ly9kaWdpdGFsLmxpYnJhcnkucGl0dC5lZHUvY29sbGVjdGlvbi9ob21lc3RlYWQtYWxidW0tb3JhbC1oaXN0b3J5LXByb2plY3QtcmVjb3Jkcw=> – recorded between 1976 and 1977 about life in the Homestead area from the turn of the century through the 1970s.
·        Ethnic Fraternal Organizations Oral History Project<https://saaers.wordpress.com/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=526382a1988e71906a735d31294a4e35707f3cc455800433fbe92a20359de54b&blog_id=72555918&post_id=3883&user_id=101364802&subs_id=587193&signature=5e914ecde7147ec0e932b867d80ce87f&email_name=new-post&user_email=carleton@ohio.edu&encoded_url=aHR0cHM6Ly9kaWdpdGFsLmxpYnJhcnkucGl0dC5lZHUvY29sbGVjdGlvbi9ldGhuaWMtZnJhdGVybmFsLW9yZ2FuaXphdGlvbnMtb3JhbC1oaXN0b3J5LXByb2plY3QtY29sbGVjdGlvbg=>  – the largest collection by far, this documents the influence of ethnic fraternal organizations in Pittsburgh.

These five collections, residing on obsolete media and recorded between 1971 and 2002, required digitization not only for long-term preservation of their content, but also to ensure better access via ULS online digital collections.
[https://saaers.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/southern_blacks_migration_screenshot.jpg?w=636]<https://saaers.wordpress.com/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=a3c9cf4b176400e5bfad9b5f1b0712a2c4ef9d996aa91c6d990ad2a2e5ae20ed&blog_id=72555918&post_id=3883&user_id=101364802&subs_id=587193&signature=3d92a7f2b403c7d5634da8ace629daaf&email_name=new-post&user_email=carleton@ohio.edu&encoded_url=aHR0cHM6Ly9zYWFlcnMud29yZHByZXNzLmNvbS93cC1jb250ZW50L3VwbG9hZHMvMjAyNC8xMC9zb3V0aGVybl9ibGFja3NfbWlncmF0aW9uX3NjcmVlbnNob3QuanBn>

Technical and project challenges abounded as the 304 audio cassettes ballooned into 876 digital audio files plus associated software-generated, full-text transcriptions created by our vendor, The Media Preserve. Project leads Miriam Meislik, Media Curator, and David Grinnell, Coordinator of Archives and Manuscripts, revised guidelines and hired, trained, and managed students to edit the transcripts. The transcripts were generally accurate, and students performed minor edits such as capitalization, corrections to spelling of names, and adding a header to each transcript, all while maintaining the integrity of the recordings. The reformatted audio was also reviewed, and anomalies in either audio files or transcripts were referred to the project leads for correction.

Preparing the content for ingest posed additional challenges. Each completed digital object consisted of at least three files and utilized at least five applications or tools throughout its preparation for final ingest. The proofed and edited transcripts had to be converted from text into WebVTT files to meet accessibility requirements. Grouping files added more complexity as interviews ranged from a single cassette tape side to those spanning multiple tapes. In some cases, more than one interview was recorded on a single tape or a cassette tape was mislabeled, requiring further detective work to identify the correct interviewee.

One collection presented a unique change to our workflow. Our case files showed that the original interviewer’s agreements with interviewees included a clause that they would only be identified by their first names to semi-anonymize their oral histories. As such, we had to carefully review the audio and transcripts to remove any reference to an interviewee’s last name, which we felt appropriately honored the agreement made at the time of creation.
[https://saaers.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/homestead_album_screenshot.jpg?w=640]<https://saaers.wordpress.com/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=0878843629b9484b2809c92af7b3cb1cbeeca606bfd811636797dda30b726398&blog_id=72555918&post_id=3883&user_id=101364802&subs_id=587193&signature=bec5f0242171eab2ff233f1f1d17e026&email_name=new-post&user_email=carleton@ohio.edu&encoded_url=aHR0cHM6Ly9zYWFlcnMud29yZHByZXNzLmNvbS93cC1jb250ZW50L3VwbG9hZHMvMjAyNC8xMC9ob21lc3RlYWRfYWxidW1fc2NyZWVuc2hvdC5qcGc>

Another moving part of this project was ensuring discoverability. This required the creation of a massive amount of metadata. Due to technical limitations, each audio file representing a tape side was ingested and appears as an individual object in the digital collection, requiring a brief description summarizing that portion of the interview. A planned future upgrade to our system will allow us to bring these individual files together into cohesive interviews. Anticipating this, our metadata creation workflow included generating parent records to reunite the interview segments into single digital records.
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Tracking files and moving parts through each step of the process was certainly a challenge. Perhaps understated was the challenge of coordinating people across departments and maintaining clear communications throughout the project. As the project progressed, we utilized filenaming and foldering systems to communicate the status of files. Working in batches, tackling low-hanging fruit, and celebrating milestones along the way helped keep spirits high when the volume felt overwhelming.

No grant project runs exactly according to plan, and this one was no different. The system that supports our online digital collections operated in such a way that the normal workflow for adding materials online could not be employed to ingest oral history content. For assistance, we partnered with a ULS IT systems developer. He rewrote software to account for data in new formats, reformatted metadata and even some data, restructured files, and debugged the inevitable errors. As a final step, the digital preservation librarian ingested any edited audio files, all edited transcripts, and metadata created during the project in our digital preservation system, joining the original reformatted files from the vendor.
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At the end of the day, the ULS’s CLIR Recordings at Risk grant successfully made 350 oral histories more accessible through our digital collections, and the reformatted files are preserved in our digital preservation system, Preservica. The interviews have been used by students, professors, and community members in research and other projects exploring people and places within Pittsburgh. In working through the many challenges presented by this grant project, ULS Archives & Special Collections developed workflows and honed timelines that are already being utilized in new audio digitization projects and grants to reformat additional at-risk media.

________________________________
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Carolyn Friedrich is the Digital Collections Coordinator responsible for overseeing the digitization lab and online digital collections for the University of Pittsburgh Library System. She has worked in non-profit archives since 2012, including that of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and several local history repositories. Over the past decade, she successfully executed multiple grants to establish a public facing digital repository and to digitize fragile materials and at-risk media formats. Carolyn is a member of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference and editor of its quarterly publication, the Mid-Atlantic Archivist.

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