You remember Access Folk, don’t you? You know, the project running from 2022-27 at the University of Sheffield – the one, “exploring ways to increase and diversify participation in English folk singing.”
Well, they’re well and truly up and running and they’re in need of people to help them gather information.
The all-new ‘Ask a Friend’ research project invites anyone over 18 to sign up as a co-researcher and record interviews with people within their social network, the idea being that interviewees tend to be less guarded if they’re chatting with a friend than an official person with a clipboard. You don’t need to be a qualified researcher or interviewer; by signing up you’ll get guidance on how to perform the role, including instructions on what to ask and hints on how to ask them. The interviews need only take 30 mins (excluding the time it’ll take you to arrange it), and all you’ll need to do is record your discussion, fill out an interview report form, and then upload everything to an Access Folk online location.
What’s in it for you? Well, the chance to chat about folk music with friends and family (which, let’s face it, you probably do anyway if you’re a regular on this website), happy in the knowledge that you’re helping to understand and improve the world of folk singing in the 21st century. Oh, and there are shopping vouchers up for grabs, too. You’ll get a £10 voucher on receipt of the goods, and you can submit up to five interviews. That’s £50 to the enthusiastic folk co-researcher! Form an orderely queue; no pushing at the back.
For more info on Access Folk and the ‘Ask a Friend’ project, watch this video with Esbjorn Wettermark chatting with Fay Hield, and then hit the official website.
