Mission Statement

In an effort to embody Dr. John Heritage’s commitment to his students, JHETA was designed to provide a structured introduction to empirical research in the realm of human sociality. All JHETA members have access to the entirety of the collection free of charge with the expectation that they will take an active role in enhancing the archive for future generations of students. JHETA shall remain owned and operated by graduate students who will ensure that it shall be maintained as an organized and creative environment for students who wish to gain hands-on experience with every stage of the Conversation Analytic research process.

The benefits of this ‘pay-it-forward’ modus operandi are many, but three deserve attention here: 1) Incoming UCLA graduate students who wish to pursue research in the field of Conversation Analysis will have direct access to a wealth of high quality data as early as their first term; 2) JHETA’s mandatory unified IRB protocol ensures that prospective JHETA members will complete all UCLA-mandated ethics training and receive an orderly introduction to the IRB process early in their graduate careers; 3) Under the auspices of JHETA, graduate students will gain first-hand experience collecting, transcribing, and storing data. In these ways JHETA stands to accelerate graduate student training and research.

With the aim of promoting diversity of inquiry, discovery, and thought, JHETA shall be maintained as a repository of variegated, contemporary data spanning a wide range of settings, populations, and languages. As time passes, graduate students’ contributions of contemporary data will age in cascading fashion and JHETA’s secondary utility as a source of longitudinal data will be realized. Over time, the archive will become increasingly valuable for training and research.

The express aim of the John Heritage Everyday Talk Archive is to stimulate graduate student research, to enhance students’ analytical skills, and to encourage both inter- and intradisciplinary collaboration among current students, as well as future generations who, like us, owe a great debt to the intellectual force of our professor, mentor, and friend, John Heritage.

UCLA graduate students who wish to become members of the archive may do so by contacting JHETA’s current graduate student Chair.