1. The use of video in oral histories of science, technology and medicine
Mark Stine
John Hepp
Wilkes University
Wilkes-Barre, PA, USA

2. What we do at Wilkes University
Wilkes is a small, primarily undergraduate university in Pennsylvania
We often combine our History and Video Production classes to have the students produce local history documentaries
At the core of many of these documentaries are oral histories conducted by our students
We have done documentaries on pharmacists, trolleys (trams) and trains

3. What we propose … Use video to record oral history interviews
Even if the interviews are not being used in a documentary

4. Traditional oral histories are…
Audio alone
Often transcribed

5. Video oral histories help to capture:
Emotions
Intonations
Pauses
Other meaning-conveying (and non- verbal) communications

6. The benefits of video include:
Capturing non-verbal communication
Allowing subsequent scholars to “read” the interview in its entirety
Allowing the subject to show and to explain objects
Humanizing the subjects

7. Disadvantages of video include:
Demands for greater technical proficiency
Greater barriers in making the interviewees comfortable and relaxed
Longer setup and take down times

8. The Pharmacists Student-produced documentary made in 2003
Collaboration between students in history of pharmacy and video production classes
Based on interviews with pharmacists from the Wilkes-Barre area

9. The value of short documentaries
Contextualizes individual events
Broadens understanding of complex scientific and technological concepts by presenting them in an approachable narrative
Provides (even for participants) a greater “world view” of specific events
Can be used at museums or historic sites (and on the web)

10. The use of video in oral histories of science, technology and medicine
Mark Stine
John Hepp
Wilkes University
Wilkes-Barre, PA, USA