ERIC Number: EJ835195
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0047-2395
EISSN: N/A
The Medium and the Message: Oral History, New Media, and a Grassroots History of Working Women
Meyerowitz, Ruth; Zinni, Christine F.
Journal of Educational Technology Systems, v37 n3 p305-318 2008-2009
In the Spring of 2000, Ruth Meyerowitz and Christine Zinni began collaborative efforts--inside and outside of academia--to enhance a course on The History of Working Women at SUNY Buffalo. Videotaping the oral histories of women labor leaders, they later teamed up with Michael Frisch and Randforce Associates--a research group at SUNY at Buffalo's technology incubator--staff at the Educational Technology Center, and The Uncrowned Queens Institute for Research and Education, Inc. to input and present diverse voices of working women into a new media program called "Interclipper." To the group's knowledge, this was the first attempt to apply this new software technology in a university classroom setting for a course on labor history. Rendering oral histories as primary sources of service in the classroom, the new media format provided students with an alternative lens on working women's experiences--perspectives not normally gained in traditional text-based history courses. In the following narrative dialogue, Meyerowitz and Zinni trace the process and progress of their experiences with these technological applications for oral history use over 7 years time. Strengthening collaborative and decentralized aspects of classroom activities by allowing for more personal choices, involvement with the material(s) and active learning, the authors submit a multi-media, multi-perspectival approach to oral history intensified emergent and dialogical qualities of classroom interactions for students, instructors, and interviewees alike. (Contains 3 figures.)
Descriptors: Oral History, Class Activities, Learning Activities, Employed Women, Labor, Active Learning, Course Descriptions, College Faculty, Personal Narratives, Educational Technology, Web Sites, Computer Software, Internet, Electronic Publishing, Computer Mediated Communication, Video Technology, Primary Sources, History Instruction
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: New York
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A