breather

I'm done with the onslaught of proofing-- at least for the moment. Today, I've got plenty of chores to keep me busy, and the time has come to restart transcription.

One change in the walk, when I start up again in about two months, is that I plan to leave out the part about "this is purely for transcription purposes" when I ask people whether I may record their voices. I agree with the commenters who've said that it might be easier just to upload the audio files and worry about transcription later. I'm not sure how many people will consent to having their voices put online, but I'm hoping that people who speak with conviction about religious issues will be willing to stand up publicly for what they believe-- whatever that belief might be. And if those folks don't consent to having the audio of their responses online... I'm hoping they'll at least allow an audio recording so that I can make a transcript later on.

I don't know what sort of equipment to buy to increase the audio quality of the interviews; I have a clip-on mike that works pretty well, but I think I need another one, plus some sort of splitter, so that (1) I can plug two mikes into the same recorder, and (2) both my voice and my interlocutor's will come out crisp and clear. If I happen to be interviewing a group (and the next transcript you see will be from a group interview-- the good folks at the Metanoia Peace House in Portland, Oregon), I might need some sort of omnidirectional mike... but here, we get into the question of how bulky such equipment is. Anyone have any ideas about how I can travel light, swift, and deadly?

So there we go: these are the questions preoccupying me this weekend. As always, constructive comments are welcome.


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