1. Were you aware of the work of the BBC's Community Programmes Unit before you became involved with this project? 

I was not aware of the CPU before I became involved. It would have been nice to be able to go to the Raven Row exhibition that inspired the project because it sounds like it was a really interesting event, but it has certainly been interesting to learn about it."

2. Are there any particular challenges associated with archiving oral histories?

Yes, so there are a lot of different considerations we have to make when doing oral histories. When we are working with people, we need to give them options for the way that we are approaching and recording conversations. We also need to consider the way that we are preparing to do that, and the documentation that’s needed behind developing all the different aspects. We need to make sure that when we are taking in oral histories it’s something that we can make accessible to people so they can learn from those oral histories. We must do the preparation work; making sure the participants are aware of why we’re doing this and are happy with the way we’re making these them available. 

There’s also the aspect on the back end of archiving where you’re looking at the ways of digitally preserving something. Whether we have hardware we are storing things on or whether that’s in cloud space. How we are making that available to people; whether they need to come into the archive to view it in person and take notes; or, whether we are letting people listen in the comfort of their own home as they are able to listen to it online. There are a lot of different considerations we need to take when we are looking at it. 

For us, we have hard drives that we store these on, and they also go onto our archive catalogue, and they are put on the universities open access repository. The repository is the place where people can log onto and listen from the comfort of their own home and do their own research. But we do give people the option of making that solely available in the archive. We currently have some oral histories and interviews where that it is the directive from the people involved as that’s how they want it to be listened to. Yes, there’s a lot of different challenges but they are worth doing as they give a very interesting perspective, and they fill a lot of gaps that physical records don’t capture and stories that may have been lost over time. They are very worth doing some of the extra paperwork and technology to capture."

3. What can we do to promote the archive, make it accessible, and ensure it gets used?

4. What has been your favourite part of being involved in 'DIY TV'? 

There’s so many. I, as a history loving person, am really interested in learning new things about past events, which is a lot of what the CPU was about. A lot of important things that were happening over a period of time which was not history at the time but has become history. It goes to show how important it is to capture these things as they are happening because it is so interesting to look back on these historical events which we would now often consider social movements. We can look back on that with the people who were actively collecting stories at the time. 

So, I think that is an interesting aspect to me: to be able to see the primary sources over that period of time is a really interesting aspect. It is also really nice to pull together people within the University of West London, which is a really collaborative environment. It is nice to be able to work on these projects which really showcase that, when you can get academics and staff and students all working together for the greater purpose and good. I think this is a really important experience and it shows how much archives can bring people together and how much they have to offer when we actively engage with them."