‘Archive Fever’

This week I was really intrigued by the Matthew Ogle reading as it really made me think about the importance of archives in today’s society. In particular, I liked how he linked Jacques Derrida’s claim that archives not only record an event but also produce an event to the impact that social media as an archive has had on society (Ogle, 2010). His assertion that we have all become digital archivists thanks to ‘real time channels’ like Twitter and Facebook really surprised me because I hadn’t thought that my tweets and updates could be seen as a record not only of my life but the society that I was living in. In addition, Ogle’s claim that due to using the ‘real time web’ like Twitter we have developed this attitude that only the now counts (Ogle, 2010) was thought provoking as I started to realise how people today seem more concerned about been up to date rather then looking back.

I like Ogle also think that these social media sites should make it easier for people to look at their archives and that we should start valuing the past instead of just thinking about the present. However, Ogle’s suggestions that social media should make past records more accessible for their users (Ogle, 2010) may detract from the immediacy that is so central to social media sites.

Another thing that I found interesting this week in the readings was the different types of archives found in the My School website, Apartheid website and the ABC’s cyclone Yasi page. When I looked at the My School website I felt that the archive had produced this highly competitive environment where schools were pitted against each other. In contrast, the apartheid and Cyclone Yasi archive created this space for people to relate to each other in such a human way without they’re being a sense of hierarchy. I think this relates to what Derrida said about archives having the capacity to produce as well as been able to keep records. Overall I felt that all the reading material this week highlighted the diverse nature of the archive and the ability it has to create social change which I had never really thought about before so it was great to look at something that I thought was pretty bland with wonder and appreciation. 

References: 

1) Ogle, Matthew (2010) ‘Archive Fever: A love letter to the post real-time web’, Available at: <http://mattogle.com/archivefever/> [Accessed 27 March 2011]. 

2) Anon. (2010) 'Arpetheid Archive Project' [online]. Available at: http://www.apartheidarchive.org/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=6 [Accessed 27 March 2011].

3) Anon. (2010) 'My School' [online]. Available at: http://www.myschool.edu.au/ [Accessed 28 March 2011]. 

4) Anon. (2011) 'Cyclone Yasi: Your Stories' [online]. Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/cyclone-yasi/your-stories.htm [Accessed 28 March 2011].