John Biewen (above), Audio Program Director at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, spoke with our class Tuesday, March 9, 2010. He shared sections of his documentary piece Nuevo South with us. As a photographer that has only dipped my toe into audio, I was fascinated by the amount of fieldwork that goes into producing such a piece. John noted that he probably made 20 trips to Siler City over the course of a year to gather material. And that’s not counting editing all the audio.

John shared that two versions ultimately aired: a narrated version on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday with Scott Simon, and a non-narrative , which was published at American RadioWorks and can be heard here. We discussed the differences between narrative and non-narrative and the pros and cons of each.

In addition to teaching at CDS, John produces documentary work for NPR, PRI, American Public Media, and other public radio audiences. His work has received two Robert F. Kennedy Awards, the Third Coast International Audio Festival’s Public Service Award, and the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award, among others. He recently published a book, Reality Radio, which he co-edited with Alexa Dilworth.

Reading homework this week:
Barre Toelken, “The Yellowmen Tapes, 1966-1997″
Lesley Williams with Naomi Schegloff, “Ethics”
James Bau Graves, “Rules of Engagement: Facilitating Community Cultural Programs”
FolkStreams, from Making the Film, A Singing Stream

Additional recommended reading:
Art Spiegelman, Chapter Two, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale
Dorothy Noyes, “Group”, from Journal of American Folklore

We’re also supposed to:
1. Watch two documentaries pieces from WRAL’s Clay Johnson.
2. Read several project descriptions from the Southern Documentary Fund’s list of current projects and note which ones we find compelling and why.
3. Decide on an idea for a project and be prepared to discuss it at next week’s class.