Words from xl, experiencing technical difficulties:
I took this picture last Saturday when I was visiting the Old State House in Boston. This is posted on the wall of an exhibition hall on the third floor. It helps us to see an insider’s view on preserving, collecting, and displaying, which we have been discussing for weeks. As shown here, three reasons for things get displayed: visual tastes; interests in particular historical topics, and personal connections. Of the three, the last one troubles me. I understand that is very important to these individuals. Well, how could general public pick up the connection there? I won’t consider it as good information design because users/ visitors are not considered.
Politics of cultural heritage: The short article from subReal in 1999 intrigues me a lot because it is related to my seminar paper for the course I am going to write. I see the importance to compare and contrast eastern and western views on the nature of archives and the role they should play in the society at a point in history. It is interesting to see how political, social, economical, historical, and ideological factors shape and constrain the existence and development of archives in these countries. Even as the article suggests, in east Germany and Romania (two former socialist countries before the fall of the Berlin Wall), the nature, function, and content of archives changed immediately after the social structure changed. Another point is that the article was published in 1999 and it was before Internet and other information technologies were as widely available to general public in these countries as they are today. The social change was so radical and people were not prepared on how to respond in the 1990s. Besides, it takes time and courage to accept the revolutionary transformation of an institution especially when the institution has traditionally been negatively viewed. Acting upon whim has already caused valuable documents being dumped as trash.
I took this picture last Saturday when I was visiting the Old State House in Boston. This is posted on the wall of an exhibition hall on the third floor. It helps us to see an insider’s view on preserving, collecting, and displaying, which we have been discussing for weeks. As shown here, three reasons for things get displayed: visual tastes; interests in particular historical topics, and personal connections. Of the three, the last one troubles me. I understand that is very important to these individuals. Well, how could general public pick up the connection there? I won’t consider it as good information design because users/ visitors are not considered.
Politics of cultural heritage: The short article from subReal in 1999 intrigues me a lot because it is related to my seminar paper for the course I am going to write. I see the importance to compare and contrast eastern and western views on the nature of archives and the role they should play in the society at a point in history. It is interesting to see how political, social, economical, historical, and ideological factors shape and constrain the existence and development of archives in these countries. Even as the article suggests, in east Germany and Romania (two former socialist countries before the fall of the Berlin Wall), the nature, function, and content of archives changed immediately after the social structure changed. Another point is that the article was published in 1999 and it was before Internet and other information technologies were as widely available to general public in these countries as they are today. The social change was so radical and people were not prepared on how to respond in the 1990s. Besides, it takes time and courage to accept the revolutionary transformation of an institution especially when the institution has traditionally been negatively viewed. Acting upon whim has already caused valuable documents being dumped as trash.
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