Recording...recording...recording...dead

26 June 2010
4:13 pm
The Attic

When things have to go right, they go left. 
When things have to go left, they stay to the left.
                                                                Anonymous

I conducted my first interview yesterday, from an expert who has a good chance of being heavily quoted in my dissertation. Before I launch into what happened at the interview, a small story behind the 'masterpiece of a thesis' will be helpful. After all, this dissertation determines my worth to obtain the Masters' degree at the end of the course. Which is what I came to Cardiff for, among other things.

Well, for my dissertation, I'm trying to explore (and sound fancy) the role of social networking sites (Facebook mainly, third largest country dude!) in promoting higher education institutes to overseas students. I chose this topic for several reasons. Firstly, it is about social media, THE media platform of the present and the near future. Having it as a part of my dissertation will help me understand the medium better. Secondly, and more importantly, it's personal. When I received an offer from Cardiff University, I was excited. And insanely curious. I was sure I was going to accept the offer, but I still needed to know a few things, that could give me further impetus to be part of the Welsh Dragon Land. I wanted to know my classmates. I wanted to know my seniors. I wanted to know what the residences were like. I wanted to know what Cardiff was like,a little bit about its culture, its people, its language. I wanted to know about the nearest grocery store, the coolest hangout zones, the cheapest cinemas, the restaurants, the closest getaways etc. Heck, I even wanted to know if the water was hard or soft! By virtue of the distance, coming to check the university before the date of joining was next to impossible. That's where Facebook played its charm. The university group for international students on Facebook almost made the uni one Big Friendly Giant. He was sweet, he was responsive, he offered information proactively, he was informal and he was friendly. And I thought, heck this is one hell of good PR!

Thus, here I am. Trying to understand how these friendly virtual spaces, much like the Garden of Eden, convince Adam to eat the Apple, in a positive way. And there I was, inside the administration office of my department, plugging in the telephone recording kit. I was to interview a high flying American lady, who has had over 30 years of experience in promoting American universities and education councils to a diverse audience, internal as well as overseas. It was my first interview, and I was, undoubtedly, slightly nervous. I called, the lady answered. A breathless, chirpy drawl said 'Hiii Suphreeyaa.' It was a smooth sail from there. She was chatty. She had just returned from a trip to India. She showed great passion for her work. She had a lot to talk about. We were talking (I was 'aahing' and she was using real words), and just when she was at the best bit of the interview, giving me quotes I could use verbatim, the great Fall happened. The Fantastic to the Fiasco. I realised my recorder had run out of battery. It stopped working. If looks could kill, the dead piece of metal would have been mashed into pieces. I had to ask her to stop, change the batteries, and repeat her statements. She was kind enough to repeat, and agreed to send her answer in email as well. But the moment was gone. She couldn't repeat the flow she had created before.

Nevertheless, it was a decently rickety start. Hopefully, things will stick to the right in future.