You can listen in to Radio Noon over the net through the CBC website:
http://www.cbc.ca/radionoonnl
Back in August, I blogged about the possibility of using a USB footpedal and transcription software for doing transcriptions of digital material. You can read that blog post here
I found several online sources for the Infinity USB foot control, which I ended up purchasing through www.PCDictate.com. It retails for $58.50USD plus shipping (and plus another charge at customs) which brought it to around roughly $100CAD or so. I could find only one retailer locally, who did not have it in stock, though it was roughly the same price as having one shippped to Newfoundland from PCDictate.
The unit is pretty basic: three pedals and a USB cable. The pedal unit comes with no software of its own, so I installed the free PC Express Scribe Transcription Playback Software from NCH Software. Instructions for configuring the foot pedal using a handy installation wizard can be found on the NCH website.
Plugged in, and software installed, click Options/File Type to set the software to play whatever digital file type you need (I used MP3 for my test), then click the LOAD button on the software to load in your file.
I loaded in a copy of the interview I did with Red Bay, Labrador resident Alice Moores, who I blogged about here and whose interview you can listen to here. I opened up MS Word, and then transcribed a short bit of the interview, as follows:
***
DALE JARVIS: When your mother hooked rugs, what did she use them for?
ALICE MOORES: Traditionally rugs were hooked for the Grenfell mission, and most of the rugs that she did, she did for that, but they also did rugs that they put on the floor as well, just rugs to throw down around. Mostly what I would see my mother make is poked mats.
DJ: OK, so what is the difference?
AM: Well, those two types of mats are very fine as you can see. [ALICE INDICATES MATS SHE HAD PRESENT DURING THE INTERVIEW]. The traditional Grenfell mat is hooked with a silk material, or t-shirts or whatever they could find, but the poked mat was just large pieces of rag poked through large holes in large brin. So they would just take a hook which didn’t have the hook on the top, but was just straight, and they would poke the piece of material through the hole, so that it was tight. It wouldn’t come back, but it would have long pieces of rag on the top. And so that, they would throw on the floor. But those here were more used, or more hooked to be used as displays, or people put it on their chests, or things like that. Sometimes it was used on the floors but not often.
DJ: And where would people get the brin?
AM: The brin I guess was found… I’m not sure where they would find the brin, back then. I guess it was potato sacks and some of it, well, first when the mats were being made it came about because of Sir Wilfred Grenfell, who thought it would be a good way for the women to add to the income of the household, because the men were doing what they could with the fishing, and he found that this was a way that the women could, in the beginning, get clothes for their children. Because what was happening was, people were very poor and it was very difficult to be able to get things for their families. So they would do the mats for Sir Wilfred Grenfell and the Grenfell Mission and in turn they would send in clothes and different things the women could use for their children. Now a little bit later they started to get paid for them. And so he would send in materials and probably in the beginning he was sending in the brin as well, but then as time went on they probably used potato sacks and they would wash those out and clean them up, and they would use that.
***
All in all, a very handy combination of tools for anyone transcribing oral history/intangible cultural history interviews. One note: you do NOT need the foot pedal to use the software. You can load a file into the software, and then use hotkeys in place of the footpedals (F9 for play, F4 for stop, etc). For researchers and students on a budget, you can simply use the software without having to purchase a foot pedal, though for longer transcriptions, I can see where the foot pedal is useful. I got the hang of it very quickly, and know I'll be using it for interviews. The NCH transcription software runs in the background as you type, so you can use whatever word processing/blogging/email software you want to enter your transcriptions into.
The provincial ICH strategy recognizes, as a guiding principle, that the inclusion of multiple voices, including those of youth, is important in all work relating to Intangible Cultural Heritage. Intangible Cultural Heritage is kept alive and is relevant to a culture only if it is regularly practiced and handed down from one generation to the next. One of the key areas we must address as our work with ICH continues is the inclusion of youth in our thinking, planning, and celebration of our living traditions.
Over the past two years, storyteller Mary Fearon and I have been working on a youth storytelling project at Holy Cross Elementary in St. John’s. In 2008, Mary worked with grades K-3, while I worked with grade 4-6. Students in the younger grades worked with Mary on rhymes, stories and story songs, and then also worked with puppetry intern Darka Erdelji to develop shadow puppet plays based on nursery rhymes.
Students in grades 4-6 worked on traditional folktales and local legends, learning the basics of how to tell a story. For the second year in a row, the usual public speaking competition was replaced with storytelling, as kids competed at the classroom level in their telling of traditional material, from memory.
This past weekend, I gave a workshop on Intangible Cultural Heritage at the annual meeting the Museum Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (MANL) in St. Paul’s, Gros Morne. Concerns were raised about including youth, and what some participants saw as threats posed by new technology.
My response was to talk about the Holy Cross Storytelling project, where kids were introduced to traditional storytelling, but which also made sure that new technologies were embraced. At the end of the project, many of the stories were collected in digital MP3 format, and podcasted on the web. They are available for download at http://holycrosselementary.blogspot.com.
Programs to share traditional knowledge, art and craft with the youth of Newfoundland and Labrador could truly help some of our youth find their passion and make it work for them, and for the good of our communities. Incorporating public performance, digital technology, and new media helps to maintain traditional ways of doing things while keeping it current and more meaningful to youth.
Tomorrow night (Thursday, October 23, 2008), ten youth from Newfoundland, all under 17, will take part in the St. John’s Storytelling Festival, including five of my students from Holy Cross. The young storytellers also include Tamsyn & Naomi Russell, daughters of Newfoundland fiddler Kelly Russell, and granddaughters of the late Ted Russell of Pigeon Inlet fame. They will take the main stage at The Lantern on Barnes Road, and show that while traditions may change and evolve, storytelling is far from a dying art.
Young Storytellers at The Lantern: A Concert of Young Voices Telling Tales
Thursday Oct. 23
The Lantern
35 Barnes Road, St. John's
7:00 p.m.
Tickets $5 regular / $2 student
Doors Open began in Glasgow, Scotland in 1990 under the cooperation of the Scottish Civic Trust. A year later it was launched as a Council of Europe initiative. In 1998, 19 million people had visited 28,000 sites throughout Europe making it the world's biggest festival of the built environment.
This year, Doors Open St. John's is heading into its 6th year with its largest event to date! 28 sites are participating including some of our most popular sites and 11 new sites. As part of the event this year, several site will showcase and give visitors opportunities to take part in intangible cultural heritage activities. Some of these include:
The need for such an international publication was one of the significant outcomes of the 2004 Triennial General Conference of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) held in Seoul, Republic of Korea, on the theme “Museums and Intangible Heritage”. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Republic of Korea agreed to provided support for this Journal through the National Folk Museum of Korea.
The printed editions are supplemented by an electronic edition in PDF format at http://www.ijih.org.
As part of this strategy, HFNL is conducting an online survey through the web-based Survey Monkey to determine the types of assistance community organizations require in safeguarding their ICH. The survey will take approximately 10 minutes and all results will be confidential. A summary of final results will be posted on the HFNL website.
To conduct the survey online, visit:
http://www.heritagefoundation.ca
Follow the link to “ICH Survey”
For more information on the survey, telephone Barbara Gravinese at 709-737-3582.
The Veterans History Project relies on volunteers to collect and preserve stories of wartime service. The United States Congress created the Veterans History Project in 2000, with a primary focus on collecting first-hand accounts of U.S. Veterans from World War I up to the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts.
For me, one of the interesting programs they deliver is a short, half-day introductory course on interviewing techniques for community groups, seniors' homes, high- and middle-schools who are planning on doing recording projects with veterans in their own communities.
The Veterans History Project also makes good use of online resources, including a Veterans History Project Field Kit which can be downloaded from the Library of Congress website. The kit includes items like data and release forms, and audio, video and recording logs.
The website also offers good introductory level information for groups (and individuals) on preparing for and conducting interviews.
Oral storytelling is the art of using language, vocalization, and/or physical movement to reveal the elements and images of a story to a specific, live audience. "Telling" involves direct contact between teller and listener. A central, unique aspect of oral storytelling is its reliance on the audience to develop specific visual imagery and detail to complete and co-create the story in their minds. The teller's role is to prepare and present the necessary language, vocalization, and physicality to communicate the images of a story effectively and efficiently. The challenge, in the 21st century, is to take this most ancient of art forms, and recreate it in virtual settings, where some of the physical intimacy between teller and audience is lost. Storyteller and folklorist Dale Gilbert Jarvis will present some thoughts on virtual storytelling and the impact, and potential, of the digital age on intangible cultural heritage.
It is small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, and it is an easy to handle, straightforward recording device with no extra knick-knacks. It works well with external microphones. The built in ones are fairly good, or good enough for recording of speech, yet, they are not good enough to make a high-end music/sound recording. The internal software version 1.3 (downloadable from the Edirol website) allows for the use of a 8GB SDHD card, which provides 12hrs of CD quality (16 bit, 44.1kHz) recording (with SanDisk Extreme III (6) 12hrs 50min). It takes Ni-Mh rechargerables or AA batteries. The only disadvantage is the machine's overall flimsyness. It is not very robust and needs carefull handling, i.e. I wouldn't suggest to drop it on the floor. The cover for AA-battery bay and the SD-card needs careful handling. In the slightly larger new version, the "Edirol R-09HR" this problem has been fixed by placing the battery bay on the back of the recorder - the "Edirol R-09HR" has an overall stronger casing.
When I first began my folklore studies back in the early 1990s, the hand-held cassette recorder was the way to go when it came to field recordings. While that compact gadget saw me through university, I lately realized that I would have to move into the digital age. After some searching, I recently bought a Zoom H2 and I’m impressed with its usability and recording quality. The Zoom H2 is compact, lightweight and has the capacity to record on four built-in microphones for 360 degree recording. Recording length varies by the size of the memory card you use and the format you choose (WAV or MP3). Recordings can be saved to a PC or Mac. The Zoom H2 comes with great accessories, including a tripod stand, microphone adaptor and wind screen. It also comes with an AC adaptor, but two AA batteries will provide 4 hours of recording time. I have used the Zoom H2 for voice recordings only, but it can also be used to record multi-instrument performances. The variety of menu options was daunting at first, but one read through the instruction booklet provided the basic knowhow I needed for voice recordings. For the student or researcher on a budget, the Zoom H2 offers great recording at a low price. I purchased mine at a local music shop for under $250.00.
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Dale Jarvis is well known to many of you as the man who walks the streets at night leading the Haunted Hike. Dale is also an avid storyteller and the author of several books of tall tales and ghost stories. Dale Jarvis has worked for years in various roles at the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador. Now he has a new gig there...one he says is a dream job. Dale Jarvis is the first Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Development Officer for the province. And maybe the only one in Canada. Listen to this audio feature.
When I was a kid the way I first heard the idea of “thing-a-ma-jig” was “doodle-daddle for stirrin’ doughb’ys.” It was always like that, the whole phrase, and it came out together like one long word. If my father had something in his hand like a big bolt that I didn’t recognize, and I asked him what it was, and he didn’t care to go into it, he’d say, “This is a doodle-daddle-fer-stirrin’-doughb’ys.” I understood that what he meant is the same as “thingie,” but I must have been 20 before I separated the words out in my head and understood the word “stirrin’” as “stirring” and started to get an image of a utensil stirring dumplings -- a doodle-daddle for stirring dougboys. - Lara Maynard, Torbay, 2008.So now that you know what it is, why doodle-daddle? I've chosen the word as the blog title in part because of its wonderful, poetic alliterative quality, in part because it is one of those old Newfoundland expresions that in themselves are worthy of conservation as pieces of our intangible cultural heritage, in part because it is the type of word that generates discussion, stories and smiles, and in part because it is a word about words, which links the things that we create with the culture that creates, shares and transmits the ideas about those things.