Research Note 1. An initial response to my solicitation for contribution of literacy narrative to the DALN:
"Shyam, . . . I am happy to hear about the brilliant work that you are doing, but I must tell you that I don’t feel like doing videotaped interviews. I am sure you won’t misunderstand me."
Research Note 2. My email to fellow members of an English language teachers association:
.... On a different note, I’d like to ask you all to find the time to record the multimodal literacy narratives that I described during our Skype conference today. I am attaching the proposal that I presented to the editors, along with the information they provided when approving it. You don't need to read it but just in case you want to know more.... That is, I am requesting you to upload your stories—multimodal if at all possible—to the DALN.... Remember, as I said today that you don’t need to edit/polish your videos—just turn your camcorder on and talk to it about your experience/thoughts/ideas about becoming literate and educated… You can look at some samples here: http://daln.osu.edu/
Research Note 3. Providing technical support (my email):
So, to reduce time and hassle on your part, I am asking a friend of mine in Kathmandu, [Raj], to make an appointment with you so he can come to your home or office whenever you are ready. It’s okay if you want to record your story yourself but I am trying to take away the jhanjhat part and let you just talk. He will provide you with a digital copy so you can upload it yourself--but we can also ask him to create an account and upload videos for everyone.... Let me know what'd best for you.
Research Note 4. A contributor's positive response:
Shyam, do the literacy narratives have to be in video? I am quite savvy with movie-editing and such but you know the constraints here. We have electricity for more than ten hours again, but it’s going to be tough to transmit the video. We can talk about it when we talk next time—just wanted to warn you about the difficulties here.
Research Note 5. A contributor on internet speed, video quality, etc:
Shyam, I have recorded my video myself using my own video camera. I am giving it to RC today in a pen drive. I cannot upload it to the archive with the speed of internet here these days. Why don't you upload it for me--or maybe your friend can find a cyber cafe that has enough bandwidth and do it for me. The footage quality is not so good... but as you said, I hope it's okay to upload such a rough thing on the web....
To a friend providing technical support for contributors:
[Raj], … It’s the same process. Go to [Dr. Giri's] place to leave the camera overnight and pick it up after he records or go back the next day. Please take a printout of the attached resource file and give it to him. . . . Again, thank you very, very much, my dear friend!
Response about internet speed:
Giving [Raj] the video in a flash drive is great. I will ask him to help you upload the video... I think I will ask him to create one account from which all videos can be uploaded. If that’s not possible, I will ask [Raj] to transfer the videos using an online service (e.g., dropbox.com). He will return your pen drive. Thank you very, very much for helping me out again.
Research Note 6. Support from curators of theDALN:
Dr. Selfe, Attached is a file that contains the information that I received from 4 different individuals who had previously uploaded their literacy narratives under one account, here:... Please use this information to create separate accounts and upload their videos.... Thank you. -Shyam
Research Note 7. How-to tips in one of the solicitation emails:
From your perspective as narrators/ contributors, your work involves just sharing your story about becoming literate and educated on the Digital Archive of Literacy Narrative. Let me give you some suggestions on how to plan and create the video, then how to upload it to the archive, for which I can ask Ramchandra to help you if it takes time or trouble. 1. Have a look at some literacy narrative samples at http://daln.osu.edu/, and if you have time, also see my project proposal and the editors’ approval (attached). 2. Jot down a few points to help you talk, unless you want to write a draft/outline so you can actually read to your camcorder. 3. Turn a camcorder on and record your thoughts. 4. Transfer the video to your computer, go to http://daln.osu.edu/register to create a profile, and upload the video. 5. If you’d rather have Ramchandra to send or upload the video, please ask him to wait while you record or return another day to pick it up. He can help you create an account and upload the video. As I’ve indicated in my email, it can be a very, very rough video of you talking about your personal literacy history, what education meant to you and/or your community as you grew up as a learner, how your own as well as the Nepali society’s worldview about literacy/education has changed over your lifetime, with maybe a focus around a particular event/incident that helps you exemplify/illustrate your point, what your parents or community said believed about education and how that might have influenced your literacy life, what field of education you opted and why, etc, etc, etc, ANYTHING, ANYTHING.... Don’t worry about quality and such... as long as your tape is rolling and you are speaking about learning/literacy/education....