Art Transcripts Worth It?

Transcription came up as a topic in one of our Monthly Drop-In sessions as both a contentious and important part of oral history practice. In this blog post, Charlotte Whincup from the Bunbury Oral History Group talks about how she became a transcript convert.

When I first started my oral history journey, I questioned the value of transcripts.

What was the point? They seemed like a lot of work for very little reward. Surely people would listen to the recordings if they were interested. Why spend hours turning spoken words into written text that might never be read?

It took me some time to change my mind.

Nine years on, I firmly believe transcripts are one of the most valuable parts of preserving oral histories. They do much more than simply put spoken words onto paper – they make stories accessible, searchable, reusable, and future-proof.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges.

The biggest advantage of a transcript is that every detail of an interview is at your fingertips. Rather than listening through hours of recordings, you can quickly locate a story, a name, a date, or a memorable quote.

Transcripts also make interviews far more accessible. Researchers can analyse them, people with hearing impairments can enjoy them, and they can even be translated into other languages, reaching audiences far beyond the original recording.

Another benefit is that transcripts help preserve stories for future generations. Technology changes rapidly, and audio formats can become obsolete. Written documents are easier to migrate to new systems and remain accessible long after recording technologies have changed.

I have also found that reviewing a transcript can highlight sensitive or potentially derogatory information that may have been overlooked during the interview itself. Having the words in front of you provides another opportunity to ensure the interview is handled ethically and respectfully before it is published.

Of course, transcription is not without its drawbacks.

Time is the biggest obstacle. A one-hour interview can easily require seven hours to transcribe accurately. For volunteer organisations, that is a significant commitment.

Artificial intelligence has helped reduce the burden, but it raises new questions. How accurate are the results? How secure are the platforms being used? Oral historians have a duty of care to protect interviewees’ information before publication, and that responsibility should never be overlooked.

Some people argue that summaries or keyword indexes are sufficient. They are certainly quicker to produce, but they lack the richness and detail that make oral histories so valuable. Others find reading a verbatim transcript uncomfortable because spoken language rarely follows the conventions of written grammar. None of us sound quite as polished on paper as we imagine we do.

Then there is the ongoing work of file naming, organisation, preservation, and backups. Good recordkeeping is essential if transcripts are to remain useful in the long term.

The Bunbury Oral History Group, which I belong to, was founded in 1994 to record, preserve, and share Bunbury’s social and cultural heritage. Since then, we have created a collection of about 640 interviews held at the State Library of WA, with around 300 now publicly available online.

We are a small group of dedicated volunteer historians. We interview people free of charge, follow recognised oral history ethics, and ensure interviewees understand their rights both now and in the future.

Most importantly, regardless of the length of an interview, we transcribe it.

That commitment has paid off countless times.

In 2024, Bunbury marked the centenary of its War Memorial. To commemorate the occasion, Bunbury Oral History Group worked with military historian Jeff Peirce, producer Sharon Kennedy and Bunbury Community Radio to create Our Wartime Heroes, a series of 61 short recordings, each three to five minutes long, sharing the wartime experiences of Bunbury’s men and women.

Without transcripts, producing the series would have been a much larger task.

We were able to search through interviews and quickly identify stories that were moving, amusing, and deeply human.

One favourite involved a British soldier, Percy Goring at Gallipoli who won a can of treacle in a raffle. Yes – who thought they had raffles at Gallipoli!

However, while he slept, an enemy bullet struck the tin, puncturing it and covering him in treacle. Fortunately, the shot hit the prize rather than the soldier. He survived the experience and enjoyed his sweet treat in a rather unexpected way.

That story could easily have remained hidden in hours of recorded interviews. Instead, it became one of many memorable moments we could share with the community.

Transcripts have also helped us develop a variety of projects with local organisations.

Life Stories, again with Bunbury Community Radio, we were able to identify interesting interview excerpts and transform them into short stories for public audiences.

Bunbury Museum + Heritage Centre exhibition, transcripts provided us the content for printed displays and audio recordings accessed through QR codes, helping bring local experiences to life.

For our group promotion at a Family History Expo, we located relevant interview snippets on a migration theme and combined them with historical photographs to create engaging presentations that reflected the experiences of people who shaped our community.

In every case, transcripts made the process quicker, easier, and more effective.

The future uses of oral history interviews are almost endless. Whether supporting research, exhibitions, publications, education programs, or community projects, transcripts provide a practical way to unlock the stories contained within a collection.

They are time-consuming to produce, and there are certainly challenges involved. Yet, in my experience, the benefits far outweigh the effort.

A transcript is much more than a written version of an interview. It is a bridge between the recorded voice and future generations – a tool that ensures the memories, humour, hardships, and experiences of ordinary people can continue to be discovered, shared, and remembered.

Charlotte Whincup, August 2026

Bunbury Oral History Group: bunburyohg@gmail.com