Hi Zach, I agree that third-party recording programs and apps are vulnerable to privacy breaches. I find, though, that putting people on a connected loudspeaker or speakerphone while talking can have a negative effect on the interview subject because the technology makes voices echo or sound muffled. Do you like the feeling of being spoken to over speaker phone? It lacks intimacy and immediacy. The subject can feel vulnerable to others hearing them, or less respected than in a direct call. That can break down the interviewing 'cocoon,' as we all know. Attaching an internal recording microphone to your computer or phone is an option, but some of these devices fail. Grrrrr. The Olympus sounds promising, but it's good to have a back-up recording for safety, especially as you do not want to/may not be able to repeat the interview should something go wrong. My workaround for years may not be suitable for everyone but it has worked well for me. I use a physical recording device hooked into my landline phone PLUS an extra phone extension which I put in a quiet space away from the telephone I am speaking on. This cuts down on echo and muffling, which also makes transcription easier. I put the extension receiver on top of the recording device, an iphone in my case. I then go to a different space, and speak directly into the landline receiver to conduct the interview. This means the subject can hear my questions clearly, including any inflection, while I also get a very clear and clean recording from the other room. I have this as backup if the in-phone recording device fails or drops out. Good results can also be achieved with two handheld devices when using the speaker and the other phone etc. as a recording device. While the echo and muffling is less noticeable than when you use an external amplifier, it is still a factor to consider I think. The problem with using Zoom etc. is that no technology is free and typically comes at the cost of (unwillingly) sharing your information and/or recordings. Despite password protections, these services are still subject to spying by app companies, digital storage providers, kids, government and — hey —Russia. Good luck. Love to hear what other hacks are out there. Best, Paula *Paula Todd* LL.B. (J.D.), PhD (ABD) 647-466-7778 @paula_todd On Fri, Jul 17, 2020 at 6:11 AM Zach Bastick <zach.bastick@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi everyone,
Given these times of social distancing, a colleague and I are conducting interviews by telephone. We are looking for solutions to record the interviews locally (so that we can transcribe them), but also maintain the privacy of the interviewees. We have considered various options (from conducting the interview over loudspeaker with a recorder next to it, to using Google Voice, to using subscription services). We have decided against services that ‘join’ the call as a conference call participant and send you the recording because we would like to maintain full control over the recorded data (again, for ethical reasons). So, we were wondering what the experience of the community here has been. Are there any recent and reliable tools that people here are using? What have you found to work well?
Thanks!
Zach
Dr. Zach Bastick Postdoctoral Researcher in Political Science European School of Political Science, France _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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