ABSTRACT
Since the early days of the oral history profession when interviews were recorded on open-reel tape, through the various other analog audiovisual formats of the 1980s and 1990s and up to the CompactFlash or Secure Digital cards of our current digital age, one fact was constant: after the interview, we knew exactly where the recording lived. Now, in the era of cloud computing and online connectivity software, we no longer have this luxury. Distance not only refers to the location of the participants of an interview but can apply to our relationship to our precious raw media files as well. This fact alone should be enough to warn all twenty-first-century practitioners that proper preservation protocols have changed, and that all remote projects moving forward need to consider the impact of distance on proper planning and investment for preservation. Further, if one looks at what I like to call the core materials of oral history accessioning (interview data form, signed contract, and original recording files), it is easy to imagine multiple scenarios where the initial storage locations of each item differ wildly after a distance interview has concluded. While multiple choices and options for file management can certainly provide flexibility for a project, it also means much more time will be dedicated to understanding these possibilities and adapting workflows as needed. In this chapter I will provide a thorough overview of the systems now in place to aid you in the capture and organization of digital media and paperwork files, and explain the various new security and organizational challenges remote interview projects will introduce.
