IT History Society Blog

By the time one gets to the interview process itself, there has oft been so many occasions to interact with the interviewee that (s)he is no longer an object of research but almost a collaborator to the research. You might fall under the charm of the modesty of a pioneer who underestimates his/her contributions. Or you might feel aversion against an interviewee who looks down on you as just a silly researcher asking questions about topics (s)he judges you not expert enough to understand. At the very least interacting with the interviewee fakes things up as far as your scientific distancing is concerned. Yet you can deal with this, if with your pride hurt. You will return to the transcript to try analyse and get rid of your undue own input. What is oft forgotten is that interviewees too are affected by interviews. At the very best, you have exploited the interview to collect addresses and information about past friends and colleagues to contact back after a 20 years or so delay. Also, (s)he is likely to have now in mind ideas of other stories long forgotten. Or maybe (s)he is rethinking his/her own role in the story you have just recorded. At the very least you will have been giving feelings of joy for reminiscing at the good old days, and of pain for reminding them of what has been lost since those good old days. Some feeling of guilt often gets awakened too, about things lost or undone. And then YOU somehow feel bad for making an older man or an older lady coming back to past painful days.