Info 202 Fall 2011

I saw these two articles via
nytimes.com both pertaining to interesting implementations of
archives that give new life to events long past. The first article
discussed Fugazi's endeavors to make available all their live
performances from their entire career. Apparently the band are great
documentarians and obsessively recorded every live performance they
gave over the 15 year span of their post-punk tenure from their first
show in 1987. Fugazi's career is marked for its staunch DIY attitude
and their archive aligns perfectly with that creed.

The methodology behind Fugazi's
musical archival project would fall under the “piler” category
with entire shows recorded as long as there was tape to record it on.
As Fugazi undertook the task of creating the archives, there also
came hours of sifting through recordings to identify unlabeled tapes.
There is no attempt to edit the content and the recordings are
augmented by fliers, tickets and photographs. However unedited the
organizing may be, it definitely caters to die-hard fans of the band
who would want most likely prefer a richness of resources documenting
an ephemeral live punk rock show than a “golden document” (Guy
Picciotto) of a more formal institution.

The second article in the Times talks
about a Renaissance history Oxford graduate utilizing Twitter to
re-enact World War II. Under the Twitter feed @RealTimeWWII, Alwyn
Collinson recreates the events of World War II as if it were
happening now. It is not a novel way of retelling history, as there
already exists “live action” accounts of the Battle of
Gettysburg, the American Civil War, and even of 9-11 (though short
lived—wonder why?) to name a few. Historical education aside, the
retweeting of events aims to allow people to understand the war from
the perspective of those who lived through it, providing an emotional
tie to something that happened a seemingly long time ago.
Unfortunately despite the theme of the Tweets the scope of its
historical lens is largely biased towards the European theater. As
the tweets themselves are being translated into multiple languages as
it gains international attention, there is potential for including
international participation and input which would create a more
inclusive telling of the Second World War, creating a truly global
historical recount.

These disparate articles piqued my
interest in their abilities to take ephemeral events and recreate
them in ways that allow people to experience newly. Unedited
Fugazi recordings accompanied by digitized memorabilia recreates live
concert going experiences any fan of the the band would appreciate
especially since the band's indefinite hiatus since 2003. Meanwhile
Twitter allows history buffs to also relive the past via real-time
Tweets of World War II. New and cheaper technology have allowed for
these revivals to take occur, without which, World War II buffs would
have to gather in real life to play out their favorite battles and
independent punk bands would need the help of formal institutions to take active
interest and investment in preserving their work (which would likely
end up be inaccessible to their fans). A innovations arise and lessen the cost of existing technology people will become increasingly self reliant in (re-)creating, publishing, and archiving original content.