My interview essay is to find out why one might purchase a cell phone and how it feels to own a cell phone. To accomplish this I have interviewed a classmate, Bret W. She agreed to be recorded for one hour and answer particular questions concerning why she has a cell phone and how it feels to have one. As a note the first part of this paper will be a description of the transcribed excerpt from the interview and my findings. The second part will be the experience I had during and after the interview.
The interview took place in the University of Vermont media resources classroom; the mood was laid back and easy. The atmosphere was dry and seemingly uncomfortable. The method I used was a single stage omni style microphone with an old tape recorder. We were both seated across from one another and the interview lasted 100 minutes.
My findings were not exactly what I expected.
The only really useful information came at the very end of the interview. The first 90 minutes were very tact and almost seemed rehearsed. The most important part of the interview is transcribed into three pages where too- is myself asking questions of the interviewee noted as -. See transcription last three pages of paper.
The interview turned to a more important thesis type question than the first. I found that the question, "So would you think there is a novelty in having that capability of calling back someone you don't know?" the most thought provoking. This is where certain feelings of how it actually feels to use and have a cellular phone are answered from the participant.
Following the interview in chronological order this question elicited many feelings. I will note that this was not my intent but the normal flow of the interview. I found that caller ID was a thing of curiosity and that for Bret she did not need to know who was calling to answer the phone. This is interesting because I was under the presumption that most people screen their phone calls.