Oral history means many things. It is a record of oral tradition, compiled of stories handed down from one generation to the next, as well as the recording of personal history or experiences. It can involve a formal interview examining a particular topic, such as the history of the space telescope, or a moment in time, such as the partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island commercial nuclear power plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania, on March 28, 1979. A kind of oral history can also occur informally, when family members share stories around a kitchen table or when a high school student interviews his grandmother about immigrating to the United States. The task of categorizing oral history has become even more challenging in the digital age. It is possible to define online oral history, as resources are available via the Internet that are related to the collecting, cataloging, preserving, or sharing of oral history.
Oral history and historical memory in the digital age: gender perspective
