Oral History School – 8

Content editing of oral history should be close to the interviewee’s style

Compiled by: Maryam Assadi Jafari
Translated by: M.B. Khoshnevisan

2024-10-22

According to Oral History Website, Dr. Morteza Rasoulipour in the framework of four online sessions described the topic “Compilation in Oral History” in the second half of the month of Mordad (August 2024). It has been organized by the Iranian History Association. In continuation, a selection of the teaching will be retold:

Significance of “technical edition” in compiling oral history

From one viewpoint, edition is carried out in three stages. The first step is to cooperate and get along with the interviewee while preparing the work. In the next step, the interview should be corrected and revised in terms of whether the logic of communication in the interview topics has been observed or not. Finally, the interview should be prepared in terms of writing style and technical principles. Previously, the institutions responsible for printing and research organizations were limited. For this reason, a researcher took the trouble of a book and then, the publisher was responsible for complying with the scientific and technical standards and preparing the book for publication, but now different institutions do the preparation and editing steps. In the field of oral history, I rarely see one person who is able to conduct interviews and publish a book independently; they mainly contract with various institutions and publish their books, or if there is a competent and expert staff in the field of editing, they undertake the task of revising and editing the oral history activities and correcting the text.

Now we go to the stages of editing oral history works. Sometimes we check the editing from a technical viewpoint, which includes recognizing and following the script. That is, the text must be uniform. The editor must be familiar with orthography, Arabicization and how to set references. Registration of announcements; both Farsi and English should be the same. For instance, an English word should not start with a capital letter in one place and with a small letter in another place! In oral history interviews - especially those with a historical aspect - you need a series of photos to add evidence. One of the best sources is the interviewee himself. Most of the interviewees have photos of the topics discussed. These photos are the best evidence to support their statements. Sometimes, they don't have documents. You have to get the relevant items from the document centers and proceed with your work. Another way is virtual space. It's rare to search the internet and not find anything.

The next step, which some do not consider as part of the editing process - but I do - is the design of the work. It is very important that the documents are considered in the middle or at the end of the book and its appropriate place is designed.

The next point is that you should have an introduction according to the volume of the content. For instance, when you have a 50-page interview that will turn into 20 pages after editing, you don't have the right to write a 10-page introduction. For a 200-page book, the introduction should be written at most in four or five pages. We should not ignore this proportion. In the introduction, you should explain about the topics of discussion, the number of meetings and the interview space, the necessity of addressing this topic and the reason for choosing the title of the book. Introduce the interviewee briefly so that his position and dignity are clear to the audience. Many people choose the book by reading the introduction, seeing the table of contents, the title on the cover and the decoration of the book collection and become interested in the text. When you do not observe these issues while preparing the book, you will not provide an attraction to read it.

“Content edition”

The next step of editing is “content edition”. Here, we have to do a delicate and precise work. We should pay attention to oral history according to our freedom of action and our limitations. This work is not like writing a book where all the existence and content of the book is the result of the author's mind. In oral history, we are limited to the statements of one person. Therefore, we cannot get out of this range, do arbitrarily and spend time and change the interviewee's style. That is why every interview has its own rules. It is not possible to edit the content of all interviews in the same way. For example, an interviewee's style is quite conversational. Your text and editing style should be close to the conversational style. That is, follow the written language and criteria, but you must write very simply. The expression of a university professor is completely different from that of a marketer talking about his job. This type of expression should show itself in content editing. When you are organizing their speech, you should have a consistent writing style.

Each work represents a specific style and the speech of the owner of the work should be seen in the writings. The editor has no right to give priority to his own writing style over the author's speech style. The criterion is the style that the interviewee imposes on us. Any linguistic deficiency or grammatical inaccuracy must be corrected. If you need clarification on an incomplete article, refer to reliable sources. You should correct grammatical errors and inaccuracies, but this should not harm your writing style.

Politeness demands that the editor should send the edited text or at least some pages of it to the interviewee and ask for his opinion. Be honest in the text. Because maintaining the interviewee's dignity in terms of expression and speech style is an important necessity, but in general, we follow official and standard language in the writing style.

There are many points in content editing, and deleting some phrases is one of them. The things that only increases the volume of the work or comments that may not be valid, should be removed with the interviewee's permission. If he doesn't allow this, tell him, this will damage my credibility and I can't quote you anything that has no validity and justification. Here you have to show a strong character from yourself. The interviewee may have made a mistake, but it is you who loses credibility.

Repetitions, unnecessary marginal cases, expressions of unconventional issues, inappropriate compliments and subjects in which the person did not play much role, loose and unfounded comments, undocumented contents and where there is song and dance, should be removed.

The next point in content editing is "reducing and summarizing" and "moving the items". Evidence, redundant quotations, and verbiage should be summarized. Also, the subject of each part of the conversation should be transferred to the related parts in order to achieve the coherence and integrity of the text. Sometimes we speak sporadically. Sometimes the quotation should be in the footnote. For example, the interviewee explained about an issue that should be transferred to the footnote in order to maintain the logic of verbal communication in the text so that the continuity of the subject is not lost.

The next topic in content editing is "transformation". In some cases, in order not to take up much of the reader's time, we need to bring direct and long quotations in the form of quotations to the content of the text. In general, verbiage in the text is not appropriate. There is no reason to bring the same topic in a conversation. Sometimes you can express part of it and then refer.

“Correction and modification”

The next point in content editing of oral history interviews is correction and modification. Sometimes, definite comments or considerable lawsuits require induction and reliable evidence. We cannot bring such issues from the interviewee's words without mentioning the reason and document. You have to go to the available evidence. Sometimes there is evidence that you have to go to. Sometimes people's comments in the interview need to be explained, and to clear the ambiguity, we must explain in the footnote.

Moreover, sometimes the text needs to be increased. When somewhere, the interviewee incompletely expresses a sentence or something from the words of an expert or leaves it out, you must complete it according to the understanding of the audience. If it is determined that an event or an expert's point of view needs clarification, it should be completed after coordination with the interviewee.

“Revision and correction”

Even in the works of people who are known for scientific accuracy, revision and correction are necessary. Sometimes a verse or poem, page number, years of birth and death or year of establishment of an institution are said incorrectly.

"Establishing order, arrangement and style of work" is the last thing in the field of content editing. Every point must be placed correctly. Terms and equations, alphabetical or subject order, year and time in the text must be the same. If there is such disorder in the interview, it should be corrected.

We should use reliable sources in content edition of the interviews. We should not get out of the main subject, prevent marginal issues and our expression should be clear. The subjects, structure, definitions and terms should be uniform. The text should be free of contradictions and on the whole, editing should add value to the text. An interview that is printed without editing does not have these vignettes. But you are preparing a text that can be cited in 50 years. This is the value that the edition gives to the text.

Final points

Lingual edition means removing grammatical errors. Correcting deviations from standard language, removing ambiguity and complexity to achieve clarity and soundness of expression, removing weak interpretations and giving dignity to words are among the actions in lingual editing. We cannot consider a single instruction or version for the linguistic editing of oral history. Lingual editing requires lingual knowledge and the use of lingual flair. You must show the character of the interviewee well. The reader should get a true picture of the interviewee. The editor should always keep in mind that every oral history text belongs to the author and is published in his name. Therefore, we do not have the status of an essay in editing oral texts, but we have added value to it and we can correct its grammatical errors. Correcting mistakes, removing additions, and observing Farsi grammar and rules does not mean changing the tone of the writing. You must observe the style, be trustworthy, avoid artificiality, strictness and obligation. Oral history is not a place for effusion. The ruling tradition that governs historical research has principles and they should not be exceeded.

The End