In this essay (from 2011) Jeff Bezemer and Diane Mavers (posted at eBook references page) review how ethnographers are transcribing digital documentations (mostly video + audio tapes & combinations of the two) and how they represent these forms in their texts.
Theory of transcription
They set up a theory which represents the transcribing process as essentially interpretive. In fact, they make (what I think is a very smart point) that the act of transcribing places the transcriber in a position of juxtaposing semiotic (meaning making) systems associated with different modes = and thus is not only an interpretation, but an interpretation prompted by the kinds of modal/conceptual interactions (they use the term transduction for translating meanings from one mode to another) that are at the heart of generating new ideas. So we all need to make good use of your transcribing processes!
They describe transcription as semiotic (interpretive) work that do the following.
frame what it represents (that is, data is transcribed for a purpose, and this purpose sets up a frame for the transcription process that determines what and how material will be transcribed).
selects or samples not only from within a corpus of data, but from among myriad features of the data (i.e. audio recordings may select for words, volume, tone of voice, delivery speed, simultaneity etc etc). These selections are guided by the purpose for the transcript.
highlights or focuses the data through its visual presentation (pp 194-196)
The remainder of the essay discusses/analyzes transcripts that use a variety of modes: word/image/spatial organization to represent the events the ethnographers are discussing. Reading this might give you ideas about what kind of data you want to collect - and about how to represent it on your page.
This essay is written primarily about representing data in PRINT texts = so we will necessarily expand on it. At the same time, the clear analysis of how data representations work is wonderfully useful for our project.
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