AI for Oral History: Questions That Leave Room
Written by AZET 운영팀, the team at AZET, operator of azet.io. This is an illustrative guide for reference and creative exploration, not a demonstrated AZET feature.
기준일 2026-10-12
“What made that kitchen feel like home?” sounds gentle, but it already supplies a feeling. A relative might remember that kitchen as cramped, temporary, or simply where the sink was. We would start with a smaller question: “What do you remember about the kitchen?”
The hypothetical interview below concerns a relative's first rented room. Every person, memory, and answer in the example is invented for this guide. The aim is to prepare questions that leave the speaker room to disagree, pause, or remember something else.
Make the recording choices before the question list
Write a short invitation in your own words. Explain what you hope to discuss, whether you want to record, who would receive the recording, and whether you intend to use an AI tool with any material. These are separate choices. Agreement to a conversation does not settle the others.
For our hypothetical session, the relative agrees to private audio for two family members, declines online sharing, and asks to avoid an old workplace dispute. No interview material will be sent to an AI service. An AI drafting exercise can still use the invented topic brief and produce candidate questions before the conversation.
Keep a blank place for review arrangements. Decide together when the relative can listen, correct a name, or ask you to remove a passage. Describe what you can actually control; do not make sweeping promises about copies other people may hold.
Give the assistant a topic, not a biography to complete
Here is a hypothetical preparation prompt using only the agreed subject and boundaries:
Draft six optional oral history questions about a relative's first
rented room. This is a hypothetical planning exercise.
Known topic: the room and ordinary routines while living there.
Unknown: year, city, feelings, reason for moving, and housemates.
Excluded topic: workplace disputes.
Do not supply missing facts or assume the experience was happy.
Use one question per sentence. Include a neutral follow-up for each.
End with a question inviting the speaker to change the subject.A worked question sheet
The following is an authored hypothetical draft, not an output tested in AZET:
| Main question | Optional follow-up |
|---|---|
| Where would you like to begin with that room? | What comes to mind first? |
| What could you see from the doorway? | Which details are clearest to you? |
| What did an ordinary morning involve? | Was that typical, or one particular morning? |
| What objects do you remember keeping there? | Is there one you would like to describe? |
| What do you remember about leaving? | Would you rather stay with an earlier memory? |
| What have I not asked that you want included? | Is there another subject you would prefer? |
Suppose the relative answers, “There was a green kettle, though that might have been the next place.” Record that uncertainty with the memory. A useful follow-up is “Would you like me to keep both possibilities in the notes?” Asking “So the kettle moved with you?” would introduce a connection the speaker has not made.
Remove the answer hidden inside the question
Review every draft for assumptions about emotion, cause, and chronology. In this hypothetical exercise, “How did living alone make you independent?” assumes both living alone and a particular outcome. Replace it with “Who, if anyone, shared that space?” before considering a question about what changed.
Another failure mode is a polished follow-up that intensifies the story: “Was that the hardest period of your life?” Nothing in the room description calls for that comparison. Delete it unless the speaker has introduced the topic and wants to explore it.
Read the questions aloud before the visit. Cross out questions containing two or three tasks. Mark a few places where silence is an acceptable next step. The interviewer does not need a fresh prompt every time the speaker stops.
Review the record with the person who made it
After the conversation, separate the recording, a transcript if one is made, and your interpretation. Preserve a pointer to the relevant moment rather than rewriting uncertain speech into confident prose.
For the hypothetical kettle passage, a review note might read: “Green kettle; speaker unsure which home. Keep uncertainty. Do not assign a year.” That note is less elegant than a paragraph about starting a new life, and more faithful to the available material.
Offer the agreed review before sharing. Check names, access choices, exclusions, and any passages the relative wants withheld. If permission changes, update the copies you control and tell recipients about the change.
FAQ
Should I show the questions in advance?
Offer that choice. A person may want preparation time or may prefer a loose topic list. Let them remove questions without having to justify the decision.
What if two relatives remember the same event differently?
Keep each account attributed. Ask whether either wants to clarify their own memory. Do not ask an assistant to merge conflicting accounts into one apparently settled version.
Can AI fill a gap in the transcript?
Mark the gap as unclear and return to the recording if available. If you still cannot hear it, leave it unresolved. A plausible word is not a recovered word.
Our October 3 maker introduction described an email waitlist for the AI assistant. To follow that project, visit azet.io for the waitlist and current notices.