Abstract :
The focus for this paper evolved out of doctoral research conducted by the author with
incarcerated women attending a prison school. During that project, she hired an assistant to
transcribe audiotapes of interviews, participant observations, and field notes. In this paper,
one context-specific case is used to examine the complexities of transcription work involving
a person other than the researcher. Lave and Wenger’s (1991) “legitimate peripheral
participation” serves as an analytical framework to explore the learning experienced by both
researcher and transcriber as a result of their co-participation in the project. Transcripts of
four interviews conducted with the transcriber provide the basis for the investigation. The
findings disrupt simplistic notions of the transcription process and show how peripheral
participation can lead to educational experiences for those involved.
