Week 7 Dig: Oral history

Interview technique — how to find former maintainers, how to approach them, and what you learn that no artefact can tell you.

5 April 2027

Before the dig#

Investigate who contributed to your dig site:

1. git shortlog -sn gives you the contributor list ranked by commit count
2. GitHub profiles, personal websites, blog posts, conference talks — what can you learn about the top contributors without contacting them?
3. Are any of them still active elsewhere? Have they written about the project?

If you plan to contact a former maintainer, draft your message before the session. The course’s oral-history ethics guidelines apply: introduce yourself, explain the course, ask permission, and make clear that participation is voluntary and they can withdraw at any time.

In the session#

Discuss approach strategies as a class. What do you say to a stranger whose abandoned project you have been studying for six weeks? What questions are productive and which are intrusive? What if they archived the repo on purpose and do not want it discussed?

Role-play an interview with a classmate playing the maintainer.

Afterwards#

If you contacted someone, write up what you learned. If you did not — they were unreachable, or you decided it would be inappropriate — write up what you found from secondary sources: blog posts, talks, mailing list archives, and what questions remain unanswered.