[Air-L] Recording phone interviews

[PJ PJ]

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 at 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
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