CCINTB Filing cabinets
The CMDA search engine currently holds data on c. 80 audio-recorded interviews conducted with participants reminiscing about their cinemagoing experiences in the 1930s, together with a variety of documents, such as letters and essays, sent to CCINTB in the 1990s, as well as over 300 questionnaires and selected items of donated memorabilia.
We have provided three search mechanisms enabling visitors to search the database by participant attribute (e.g. year of birth, location or gender), by memorabilia type, or to search by keyword.
For interviews and documents, search results will include a link to a ‘Participant Home Page’ which offers a detailed introduction to the participant as well as links to their interviews and/or documents and any memorabilia they may have donated. The searchable audio-synced versions of the interview transcripts are presented using the Oral History Metadata Synchronizer (OHMS), developed by the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History. Please select the ‘More’ link to see the technical guide for using this.
Technical Guide In addition to providing search functionality, OHMS also enables the playing of audio which has been synced at one minute intervals to the interview transcript; clicking on a blue timestamp on the left-hand side of the screen (see screenshot below) will play the audio from that point, and the audio player controls can then be used to fine-tune the start position.
OHMS screenshot showing timestamp link and footnote popup
Some transcripts also contain footnotes, some of which launch external links (for example to YouTube videos). If you hover over the numbered footnote and click on the blue link in the popup window (labelled ‘Scan of Victoria Hopper postcard’ in the sample screenshot), this will launch the link in a new tab. If you click on the numbered footnote itself, you will be taken to the Footnotes area at the end of the transcript, where you can access the same link.