Code of Ethical and
Technical Practice
This Code exists to
promote ethical, professional and technical standards in
the collection, preservation and use of sound and video
oral history material
Archives, sponsors
and organisers of oral history projects have the
following responsibilities:
• To inform interviewers and people
interviewed of the importance of this Code for the
successful creation and use of oral history material
• To select interviewers on the
basis of professional competence and interviewing skill,
endeavouring to assign appropriate interviewers to people
interviewed
• To see that records of the
creation and processing of each interview are kept
• To ensure that each interview is
properly indexed and catalogued
• To ensure that preservation
conditions for recordings and accompanying material are
of the highest possible standard
• To ensure that placement of and
access to recordings and accompanying material comply
with a signed or recorded agreement with the person
interviewed
• To ensure that people interviewed
are informed of issues such as copyright, ownership,
privacy legislation, and how the interview and
accompanying material may be used
• To make the existence of available
interviews known through public information channels
• To guard against possible social
injury to, or exploitation of people interviewed
Interviewers have the
following responsibilities:
• To inform the person interviewed
of the purposes and procedures of oral history in general
and of the particular project in which they are involved
• To inform the person interviewed
of issues such as copyright, ownership, privacy
legislation, and how the material and accompanying
material may be used
• To develop sufficient skills and
knowledge in interviewing and equipment operation, e.g.
through reading and training, to ensure a result of the
highest possible standard
• To use equipment that will produce
recordings of the highest possible standard
• To encourage informative dialogue
based on thorough research
• To conduct interviews with
integrity
• To conduct interviews with an
awareness of cultural or individual sensibilities
• To treat every interview as a
confidential conversation, the contents of which are
available only as determined by written or recorded
agreement with the person interviewed
• To place each recording and all
accompanying material in an archive to be available for
research, subject to any conditions placed on it by the
person interviewed
- to inform the person interviewed of where the material
will be held
• To respect all agreements made
with the person interviewed
ORIGINS
The National Oral History
Association of New Zealand (NOHANZ) Te Kete
Körero-a-Waha o e Motu was established as a result of
the first national oral history seminar organised in
April 1986.
OBJECTIVES
• to promote the practice and
methods of oral history
• to promote standards in oral
history interviewing techniques, and in recording and
preservation methods.
• to act as a resource of
information and to advise on practical and technical
problems involved in making oral history recordings.
• to act as a co-ordinator of oral
history activities throughout New Zealand.
• to produce an annual oral history
journal and regular newsletters
• to promote regular oral history
meetings, talks, seminars, workshops and demonstrations.
• to encourage the establishment of
NOHANZ branches throughout New Zealand.
• to improve access to oral history
collections held in libraries, archives and museums.
National
Oral History Association of New Zealand
Te Kete Körero-a-Waha o Te Motu
P.O. Box 3819
WELLINGTON
2006
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