Unit Two: Composing Community Memories

Project 2: Oral Histories with Westminster Village

Due Dates
Mon, Oct 5 (4:40 pm): Dinner with WV residents
At least one member of your group must
attend.
Fri, Oct 9: Interview questions
8-10. Blackboard. 10 pts.
Mon, Oct 19: First interview and transcript due
45-60 minutes. Blackboard.
Mon, Oct 26: Second interview and transcript due
Cumulative audio recording should be 90-120
minutes in length. Blackboard.
Mon, Nov 2: Rough draft
Print transcript of oral history. Blackboard. 30
pts.
Tues, Nov 10: Third meeting and feedback
Meet with residents to discuss feedback by this
date.
Mon, Nov 16: Final oral history
45+ minute audio file and print transcript.
Blackboard. 70 pts.
Tues, Dec 15: Field notes
Turn in with Final Reflection.
TBD: Presentation ceremony at WV
Sometime during finals week.

Background:
In the first part of the class, we began
thinking about the slippery notion of
community and about our own
memories of communities. For the
second unit, we will be working on a
group project focused on memory
making. Our class is partnering with
Westminster Village, a senior living
facility located in West Lafayette, to
conduct oral histories of the residents
for their families and loved ones. The
residents of Westminster have many
stories to share about their lives, having
worked as professors, business owners,
doctors, engineers, homemakers, or in
the military. The purpose of this
assignment is to apply the rhetorical
theories we learned in the first half of
the semester to inform a six week long
service learning project.
Specifics:
For this assignment, you will be
producing several deliverables: oral
history interview questions,
transcriptions, and audio oral histories
for a Westminster resident and their
families. The exact length of the oral
history recording will depend on what
you and the resident negotiate; at a
minimum you should expect to do at
least two interviews, and produce an
oral history 45 minutes in length.

Completing this project will necessitate flexibility and responsiveness on the part of your group to
meet your audience expectations (the Westminster resident and their loved ones). To do the
interviews, your group will have to draft some interview questions for the resident to review. Your
group will conduct the oral history interviews, write transcriptions of the interviews, edit the audio
files, and revise the files based on the feedback you receive from the resident, your peers, and me.
Your group will need to provide framing for your oral histories, which includes a beginning, ending
and transitions between parts. The oral histories will be presented to the resident on a CD, and
depending on our grant, a printed and bound history; you will thus need to design the CD (and
printed oral history) in a way that the resident can give the CD as a gift. Finally, your group will need
to deliver the final oral history project to the resident along with a thank you card. [please note that I
will adjust the project guidelines and deadlines as needed to be responsive to the Westminster residents].

Field Notes Expectations for Project Two

Entries of 200-250 words written once weekly during project two.
Adapted from Thomas Deans, pp. 293-295:
When working with other people, like residents of Westminster Village, it is useful and productive to
have a place where you can record the events of a meeting as soon as they happen or soon after they
occur. Field notes preserve experience; they can also help us see more clearly by prompting us to pay
closer attention to our surroundings.
Field notes should be concrete and specific. Avoid vague or abstract descriptions of behavior and
instead use detailed sensory descriptions. This is called thick description. You can also use the
field notes to reflect on your own reactions to the process of composing an oral history.
Your entries should:
focus on your interactions with the resident you are working with, as well as on the process
of composing oral histories
Address any issues that come up while composing your oral history, either as it pertains to
your community partner or your group members
Reflect on any memories of your own that arise from working with your community partner.
These entries should be typed out, as you will be turning them in through Blackboard during finals
week.