Nuts and bolts of the project:
Ann: The youth used the Troy Public Library and The Sage Colleges Library (both within walking distance of the Ark) to research the history of the Underground Railroad in Troy. They learned how to load and view micro-film looking at primary sources from the 1860's. Youth also looked at documents from the Historical Society. A several local historians came to the Ark and shared their research, including a walking tour of sites in Troy.
We would try to set aside the last fifteen minutes of the WYRED session for the youth to write an entry for the electronic journal. So often it feels as though we are always trying to get things finished and move on to the next project and we don't create enough space for reflection. This electronic journal was an attempt to try to create that space. Not entirely successful. Despite our best intentions it got lost in the shuffle as the year progressed and things got more and more hectic. I'd like to give it another try though, I think it would be a useful tool. Perhaps having more directed questions would help -- not just what did we do today, but "How did is using a computer different than reading a book. What is different about going to the library for information and browsing the web? Also it would be important to create a better framework like having youth create a more private electronic journal and then edit from that source pieces they would like to post to the web.
Thinking behind the project:
Ann: Raymond Williams' book Television, Technology and Cultural
Forms helped me nail down a hazy grasp of the history of electronic media.
It was extremely useful for me to go through his time line for television and
discover that Caselli was transmitting pictures over wires in 1862, that
Braun invented the cathode tube in 1897, and that in 1911 Swinton drafted a
proposal for an electronic camera. I had no ideas that the roots of television
went back so deep. It is fascinating to think of these technologies lying
dormant for so many years until the right circumstances prompted them to
flourish. I tend to think of new technologies in a future sense, as if they are
ahead of us waiting to be discovered, when sometimes they are like
dormant bulbs sitting on a dusty shelf waiting for the right economic soil.
To stretch the garden metaphor, I do like the idea that I could have the
power to replant some of these technologies in new soil and surprise myself
with what blooms. In a similar sense, historical information is like a dormant bulb. In the Underground Railroad project, youth delved into the past events in Troy then examined this historical material in relation to their present lives. It was exciting to see how history bloomed in the art work they created for this project.
Looking ahead:
Ann: This idea of breathing life into old technologies is especially powerful when directed at both form and content. I worked with a grassroots community group in Indian Orchard fighting contamination in their neighborhood from UniFirst/ Interstate Nuclear Services an industrial and nuclear laundry. The elderly women in the group used the question "What has been lost?" to generate material for a pirate radio broadcast about how their neighborhood has changed in their lifetime. I will continue to explore these possibilities in the upcoming media workshops with member groups of Citizens Concerned about Corporations.
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