History is simply the past, and the way the past can be saved from disappearance or extinction is only by recording it. Writing was initially created to record past events, inventions, achievements, sagas, and more, but what about the past that was not recorded in written documents? Or how can the present be recorded for future use? Unwritten records of the past had certainly reached people orally, and this method of passing down history was called Oral History. According to the Oral History Association, “oral history is a field of study and method of collecting, preserving, and interpreting the voices and memories of people, communities, and participants in past events” (OHA). Oral history is the systematic collection of people's living testimonies about their experiences, and is not folklore, gossip, hearsay, or hearsay. It's about turning people's memories into history by carrying out interviews with them, so basically memory plays an important and crucial role in oral history. Oral history is also for use in research, museum exhibitions, public presentations, documentaries, and more. According to the Columbian Encyclopedia, ancient societies depended on stories that were passed down to them orally in the absence of writing to learn about history and thus pass it on to the next generation. He further clarified that “In Western society, the use of oral material dates back to the early Greek historians Herodotus and Thucydides, both of whom made extensive use of oral witness accounts. The modern concept of oral history was developed in the 1940s by Allan Nevins and his collaborators at Columbia University” (CU). To produce an oral history, procedures need to be followed and there are many issues involved in making an oral history, but some of the most important ones will be clarified in the next lines. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Making an oral history is not easy and requires certain methods and steps to get a piece of oral history. It involves setting up a project with some procedures that interviewers must follow to ensure the success of this project. The first step is to narrow down the project's goal and make sure it can be achieved based on available resources because “too many projects have ended with little to show for their efforts, except boxes of tapes, unidentified, unprocessed and unusable” due to limited resources. Furthermore, one of the most important procedures or steps to follow is to do the interview. Interviews are conducted through a knowledgeable interviewer who questions people who participated in or observed significant events in the past and records their conversation in audio or video format. The interviewer's objective should be clear so as to add a historical record. Additionally, any casual recording or personal diary that lacks interaction between the interviewer and the interviewee is not considered an oral history. Historians have established rules and principles for dealing ethically with interviewees, but they make an exception for every rule because oral history is a very broad field of study and also to allow interviewers to become more creative in doing their interviews, as Ritchie explained. Furthermore, the number of people an interviewer needs to meet the needs of the research does not necessarily have to be many. If two informants manage to produce valuable information, it means that the goal has been achieved. On the other hand, the interview should not last less than one hour nor more than two hours to keep both the interviewer andthe interviewee concentrated, excited and at ease. There are various issues involved in doing oral history. At the top of the list is skepticism, there are many suspicions about the reliability or otherwise of oral history because of the different perspectives that people have or because people become biased towards or against a particular side or figure. When Thucydides interviewed the participants of the Peloponnesian War, he was skeptical about their testimonies and stated that "different eyewitnesses give different accounts of the same events, speaking with partiality for one side or the other or from imperfect memories" and this exactly means that each person has their own point of view on the events that happen in front of them as they have different experiences than other people (Ritchie 20). Another issue that historians care about when it comes to interviews is memory because "oral history interviews are often conducted years after the event, when memories have become inaccurate," so interviewing immediately after the event can glean information accurate about that event. Furthermore, there is skepticism regarding the accuracy of sources, whether they are classified as objective or subjective. Oral historians describe unchanged or unbiased information as “objective sources” while “subjective sources” consider them to be unreliable and therefore likely to change over time. Furthermore, an unbiased history could be written by gathering information from several people who experienced the events as they occurred. For example, in 1773, an English writer called Samuel Johnson argued that “a man, by talking with those of the different parts, who were actors in it, and putting down in writing all that he hears, may in time collect the materials of a good narrative.” . ” (Ritchie 20). Furthermore, issues relating to interviewers and interviews could have a strong impact on the shape of how oral history is presented. Interviewers must keep in mind that the location of the interview influences the type of answers given by the The best thing to do to nail the interviewee's satisfaction is to let him choose the location. Furthermore, interviewers should make sure that nothing can interrupt the interview is directly proportional to the psychology of the interview. interviewee and their willingness to answer questions. Furthermore, interviewers must possess certain qualifications to be able to prevent problems from occurring during interviews, such as communication and body language skills negative impact on the interviewer who would feel confused and hesitant and therefore the interviewee would not be able to explain further important information. An interviewee needs to be able to manage his emotions when asking questions because the informant may not be able to continue or may need some time to heal, and it should be completely okay if the interviewee asks to leave. Another point regarding the interview is that the interviewer may lose the tape or video of the interview that he recorded, and it should be fine if the informant refuses to schedule another interview. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers. Get a Custom Essay Similarly, when it comes to issues regarding oral history, the term “embargo” must be highlighted. How might this term be related to oral history? It's quite vague to understand at first, but this term is very related to journalism and news where interviews are a decisive approach. “If there is a possibility that the 2003.