Appendix: Practical tips on recording interaction

A full-scale discussion of the many practical issues one encounters when recording human interaction would require an entire book. In this appendix, I will limit myself to a few practical tips that should allow students to avoid some commonly made mistakes and hopefully guarantee a minimum quality of recording. Students and fieldworkers who intend to become more knowledgeable in this area should consult other existing sources, especially Jackson (1987) and Goodwin (1993). I will start with a few tips on how to get ready for recording sessions, followed by tips on how to use a microphone, record on audio tapes, and record on video tapes.

1.Preparation for recording

Getting ready

The use of any type of recording equipment other than pencil and paper requires special attention to the preparatory conditions for recording. Machines need special care and must be routinely checked to ensure their best performance during recording. In addition, it is important to develop a set of steps to follow before, during, and after the recording session.

1.The day before recording, check all the equipment to make sure it works properly and make sure that the batteries are fully charged.

2.Develop a check list of all the things you must remember, including a list of the different pieces of equipment you need to take with you. After the recording session is over, you can use the same list to make sure that you take back the same pieces you brought to the site.

3.Whenever possible, bring with you extra tapes, batteries, and various pieces of equipment. If you arrive at the site and discover that, for some reason, your microphone needs a new battery or your camera is jammed, you want to be able to rely on back-up equipment.

4.If possible, check the site ahead of time and try to get some information on what the activity is going to be like.

5.Explain what you will be doing to the people who will be there and get permission to record. Find out how you can be present without being in people’s way.

6.If you are working in a team, divide up the tasks ahead of time (for example,

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one person could be in charge of sound recording and ethnographic notes, while another could be totally occupied with the video recording). If you work by yourself, try to understand from earlier experiences what you can handle at any given time and prepare accordingly (for instance, it might be the case that you cannot attend a tape recorder and a video camera at the same time and trying to do too much might affect the quality of your work).

Microphone tips

1.Whenever possible, use an external, unidirectional microphone, placed as close as possible to the participants – if you are forced to make a choice, as might be the case with a large group of people, place the mike close to (or directed toward) those participants whose speech and other audible actions (e.g. singing) are of particular interest to you.

2.If the participants are stationary (e.g. sitting around a table or on the floor of a room), duct tape the wire of the mike on the table, on the floor or dangle a mike from the ceiling. If participants are moving, sling the tape recorder over your shoulder and point the microphone in the direction of the people who are moving.

3.If the participants move around a lot, you might consider a wireless mike attached to the person whose talk is the most important for research purposes.

4.Always make sure that the microphone has a fresh or active battery before you start recording.

5.Always carry with you extra batteries and extra tapes.

6.Always bring with you earphones to listen while you are recording. This is the best way to ensure quality and to find out whether the microphone is still working!

Recording tips for audio equipment

1.Place fresh batteries in the recorder or make sure the extra ones are charged (if rechargeable).

2.After putting a tape into the tape recorder, plug the microphone into the “mic” jack input and plug a pair of earphones into the “phones” input, turn the tape recorder on and press “pause” and then “record” to test the quality of the sound.

3.Once you release the “pause” button and start recording, make sure that the tape is actually running.1

4.If possible, keep earphones on at all times to monitor the quality of recording.

5.Remember to take out batteries after finishing recording.

6.If possible, use stereo equipment.

1 An alternative to steps 2 and 3 is to do a test run before starting to record.

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Appendix

Tapes (for audio and video recording)

1.Use good quality audio tapes, 60 or 90 minutes long (longer tapes tend to stick and can break more easily). For video equipment, if you can afford it, use the best quality video tapes available on the current market.

2.Label tapes before session with date, names of participants, place.

3.Sequentially number each tape to keep track of chronology and maintain a sense of how much you have been recording.

4.After you have finished recording, make copies of originals for listening and transcribing. If you used Hi-8 video equipment, you may want to use regular 8 mm tapes for work copies (they are cheaper) or even VHS format. If you have access to an editing deck with a keyboard for titles, create titles on the copies with information that will be useful later on to match the tape with fieldnotes (e.g. about the place and time of the recording, name of the camera person).

5.If working in a humid place or in a rainy climate, do your best to keep tapes in a dry and cool location. (Use silica gel or hot locker if necessary.)

6.Keep a record of the contents of each tape. The best way to do this is to create your own labels (see figure A1) and have a content log in a separate place (e.g. in a file in your computer) (see figure A2).

Figure A1 Video label produced with Hypercard (originally an audio label modified by Charles Goodwin)

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Tapes can be coded by the number on the counter or by time. The former method, which is the only one available on certain recording machines becomes problematic when you change machine. Coding by time is the best method. On video tapes that have time code on them, the time on the screen is a constant (i.e. remains the same every time one plays the tape). If one uses the counter, however, there could be discrepancies across different viewings. The best method is to first transcribe and then go through the transcript adding time notation at regular intervals (e.g. every minute or every five minutes).

Time	CAM/Place	Action/talk
00	parking lot	woman pushing woman in wheel chair
00:15	Pan to hall	360 pan on empty tables and tables with chairs
00:50	CUT
	Church	Sunday school classes are sent to their teachers
1:35	inside hall	students and teachers arriving
		Three teachers, K., J., and F., arrive
2:30		S. is asked by Teacher J. to say the prayer
	Zoom on S.
	praying
	table with	Teacher J. is talking
	students
3:20		S. is asked to move up
3:50		What day is today?
		Teacher K. comes to the table and sits down while Teacher
		J. is talking
4:20		Everybody turns to page ... 51 ...
4:50		two other students come in (M., P.)
	CUT
	other class in	E’s class (younger kids)
	other corner
5:28	Pan back to J.	girl is asked to read, while boy sitting in back seat
	& K.	gives money to Teacher F. for collection
6:36		“Next one ...” (each student is asked to read a passage)
		Teacher K. takes sheet from girl and reads it
7:20		Teacher J. threatens to hit student while saying “listen!”
		Teacher J. is reading.
		Teacher J. asks question and students raise hands
8:00	PAN to	reading the pi tautau (alphabet table)
	younger group	Teacher T. holds up the poster with letters and
	of students	pictures – N. is in the group
		Teacher T. reads alphabet (she reads “re” instead of “ro”
		and child corrects her),
		etc.
	Figure A2 Log of video tape of a Sunday school lesson in the
	Samoan community in Los Angeles

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