Filed under: Uncategorized
These sites that we have explored for this week are just the beginning of a great expansion into the various new forms of media that is quickly changing the way we see the world. Reading about history can be exciting and moving depending on the subjects that most grip the historian. But those feelings can change or be amplified in the instant that you actually hear or see the persons being studied. It gives us an opportunity to become part of the audience, to attempt to become part of the time in which these words were spoken and these gestures made. Every pause or stutter lends to the speakers mood, skill, or character and helps to make historical figures more human.
But these mediums go well beyond the famous pictures and soundbites that we are familiar with. It is also a valuable tool for recording our history; to coming closer to marking down more of how our society functions, feels, and deals with life. Recording sound and video is by no means new, but it is available to so many more now than ever before. The average and the extrodinary can use these tools to react to the world. In my first experience with YouTube I saw an Asian-American poet respond to Rosey O’Donnell’s ignorant joke about the Chinese language. He gave a clear and rational speech which I would have never had the opportunity to see and hear had this not been available. It will only become more interesting when we see how to expand the use of these tools.
Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment
