All I can say is WHOA………………
My introduction to the “modern age” of oral history really came when I was trying to help a student with a project and stumbled across the Bracero History Archive. This archive is not just an oral interview collection, but a living history repository and crowd sourcing project, rich with related materials (videos, still images, documents, interpretations, maps, etc.) that provide an in-depth ‘experience’ of the ‘guest laborer’ program that lasted from 1942-1964.
The Bracero History Archive sets a standard, but history (seemingly in any form) reflects the perspective and needs of the person or group creating it. History is the queen of the humanities because it adapts and changes reflecting the human spirit and human endeavor. There is nothing as powerful as the human voice expressing deeply felt and connected human experience. Technological tools are increasingly making this aspect of humanity publicly accessible. Specific tools, such as the Oral History Metadata Synchronizer; by indexing, providing the metadata for citation and presenting the interviews in forms that can be easily utilized by researchers makes a huge leap in terms of expanding human dialogue and connection.
The impact of the technological innovations on oral history are extended beyond the production aspects. Because production and transcription s easier and better; more people can be interviewed. Now the crowd is increasingly speaking for itself in sites like Story Corps. 
This has created an astounding opportunity for “the common voice” to be gathered. The voice of the crowd prior to this period, was delivered primarily through the voices (and mediation) of reporters. Oral history is providing a new way to capture history. In sites such as the Nevada Test site, Baltimore Rising and the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank 
the crowd is invited to tell its own story. Stories and perspective are more varied. A clearer picture of work places the dangers, the pressures, as well as the parade of “American industry” emerges. Sites like American Folklife 
capture of the sources of endurance and community like music, poetry, crafts, mementos that might differ from those in categorized as “Great Art”. This explosion of voices is fracturing the ideal of a single “American Way”, which really never existed. A fuller awareness of the complexities of the ‘real America’ is causing division and fear, similar to growing pains.
Technology is demanding more from us. It is forcing us to examine issues differently. In my project and others, there is a need to reflect on the voices that have been included and how we present them. New sources always lead to new interpretations. …
