Ideas

Oral history is enormously versatile so don't let your recordings gather digital dust by not using them. Take them back to community where you found them and beyond. Dig Where You Stand, a book of ideas produced by the Living Archive, lists the following as possible ways of using oral history: murals, books, dance, radio, town trails, re-enactment, festivals, exhibitions, video, plays, environmental theatre, music and song, sculpture, appliqué wall hanging, theatre in education.

EMOHA's Creative Uses of Audio Collections, which you can download as a .pdf, gives you plenty of ideas about how you might work with oral history, and sound more generally, across many different audiences.

Here are a few more ideas about how to do it:

Exhibitions

Either at the end or the start of a project. One idea is to advertise beforehand, set up a computer with a scanner and make copies of people's photos at the exhibition. This avoids the problems of lost photos, creates a lot of interest among visitors, and is a good way of making contacts for further interviewing. How about asking visitors to fill in a questionnaire about the area you're looking at e.g. favourite building or memory, hopes for the future etc.

Examples of EMOHA's many web exhibitions can be seen here.

Photos

Not only useful for exhibitions, but in conjunction with some interviews they might make a neighbourhood album.

Community drama

Whether it's a play or songs, oral history interviews make an excellent starting point for researching something dramatic. You may have a local writer or dramatist with experience of this, or you could hire one in.

Trails

Publish a local trail in the form of a map illustrated with memories and photos. This could be on paper or on the Internet. One example is EMOHA's audio trail in Leicester.

School

Why not involve your local school? This could be an ideal opportunity for older and younger generations to come together and exchange experiences. Have a look at EMOHA's learning resources for schools.