SpokenWord

What Is This?

These can be a way to get a warm, human impression of who's in the space and why, and/or for anybody's future documentary, and/or part of NB archives, and/or as a way to hold certain people accountable for certain things, and/or a clever way to expose people who are exploiting NB.

It's also really fun, and a nice way to make friends! I hope and suggest others do more of these.

Guidelines

   The idea is to aim for a one-to-two minute interview.
   It's not a criminal investigation. It's a fun conversation.
   Approach people you feel like interviewing. Ask them if they are willing to do a two-minute, totally optional interview. Giving their real name is also optional. 
   Find a quiet place, keep the microphone close to their mouth, don't overload your meters.
   Keep your questions visible, if you need help remembering. The format is loose, but the questions i recommend are these. (I did not ask all questions in every interview, and that's fine.)
       "This interview will be one to two minutes long. It is optional and voluntary. I will erase any part of this interview that you request. Please keep your answers brief.
       "Do i have your permission to edit, share, and reuse this recording without limitation, as long your words are not misrepresented?
       "How did you find out about Noisebridge?
       "What is the purpose of Noisebridge, or Why was Noisebridge created?
       "What project are you working on, or what's your next project going to be?
       "Which Noisebridge resources are you using, or do you plan to use in the future?
       "How did you get access to the space?
       "What's your name? (optional)
   Keep it brief! Don't be shy about asking them to keep their answers brief:
       "I need to stop you there."
       "In one sentence, please tell me...."
   Gear you need:
       Audio Recorder: A computer with a simple sound recorder (built into Windows and Mac, prolly Linux too) or a digital audio recording device of any kind, any quality.
       A microphone, external or use the one built into your computer or device
       Optional: an audio editor. If you keep your interviews short, this is not so necessary. You can trim out the mistakes and off-topic chatter. If you're advanced and a perfectionist, you can add music, do noise-reduction, do fades, accelerate playback speed (to shorten listening time, i used 1.5x) etc. I use the advanced and powerful Reaper editor (much better than Audacity, imo).
           Some simple cutters for Windows (i have not tested these):
               http://free-mp3-cutter-and-editor.en.softonic.com/ (1 MB)
               http://free-wma-cutter-and-editor.en.softonic.com/ (780 KB)
               http://shuangzsoft-audio-editor.en.softonic.com/ (800 KB)
               http://www.mp3-cutter-splitter.com/mp3_speed.html (playback-speed changer, 2 MB)
           Full-featured editor:
               http://www.cockos.com/reaper/ (7 MB)
   Upload your interviews to your pony space, soundcloud, internet archive, etc, etc.
   Share your link with Discuss.