The aim of the workshop is to discuss methods of data collection (the “voices” of participants) looking at the ways in which they may affect the researchers’ observation and analysis. Data collection seems to be based on two traditional positions. Within the first position, as in e.g. research based on note-taking, the researcher is heavily involved, sometimes running the risk to compile pre-interpreted data. Within the second position, data are collected by the participants in the research (e.g. children directly involved in doing research), without a clear methodology and a possible bias in what the “observed” participants want to show. Recordings, video or audio, have sometimes been seen as the solution to get methodologically sound data, but methodologies may vary a lot depending on the purpose research is oriented to. This workshop will discuss methodologies based on audio or video-recording as they are used in research in different disciplines, sociology, history, linguistics. The contributions are focused on video-recording and audio- recording, connecting analytical methods, technologies and ways of archiving and disseminating collected and analysed data. The workshop is based on research by some teams working at the Department of Studies on Language and Culture (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia), using video-recorded data for different research purposes, i.e. educational interventions, visual data for dissemination in Public History research and annotation of audio-recorded data for interaction research.