let’s blog: Archives
’I have to write some blog posts for my Multimedia Writing class this quarter, and I decided I want to have my thoughts on here with the rest of my stuff as opposed to a blank lonely slate, i.e., a new Wordpress account. I don’t even remember the last time I actually wrote a blog post on here, but here it goes!
For class this week, I read about archives. Honestly, the only place I’ve ever seen the word “archive” was here on Tumblr -- it’s the page that shows everything you’ve ever posted on your blog. According to the Internet, an exact definition of an archive is a “collection of historical documents or records providing information about a place, institution, or group of people.” Seems like a pretty straightforward concept, at first.
In actuality, archives get more complicated. When conducting archival research, it may feel very isolating. You’re just flipping through and reading some pages in your lonesome, with no social interaction going on whatsoever, All you see in your immediate vision is you and the documents. It is important for one to not neglect archives’ social aspects, which are less obvious to see.
For instance, the UCSB archives are interpreted according to researchers’ experiences and expectations. Different researchers would come up with different interpretations for the archives. Research about the UCSB archives could be influenced be contemporary social events. For example, Chancellor Yang could decide to store the archives somewhere new -- somewhere far -- and this decision could potentially let some documents get lost, prevent researchers from accessing the archives at a further location, and the list could go on. Creating the UCSB archives was a social event because the creators choose to include certain things into the archives and to exclude others. The same thing goes for the assembly of the archives: the UCSB archives only has what it has either because that was all that could be found or because that was all donators chose to donate.
The UCSB archives are created and read through many filters set by many different people, including authors, subjects, collectors, donators, readers, etc. They are also shaped by the past’s, present’s, and future’s spontaneous events. These all lead to unwanted holes in the archives, which is why it is important for archival researchers to take as many notes on gaps as possible.
The archives can not only be seen as a social concept, but it can also be seen as a rhetorical figure even. The UCSB archives can seem to serve the purpose of storing and preserving the university’s history. It holds so many documents and more, one would think it contains nearly all of UCSB’s important information from the past! But since we established that archives are greatly influenced by social forces, we can confidently say that the UCSB archives are sure to be missing a lot of information or sure to be interpreted differently than what it really means. It’s nice to have the archives kept at UCSB because it gives many a people that peace of mind that we have UCSB’s “history” preserved, and as long as a natural disaster or some other tragic event never happens, we will supposedly have it preserved forever. But really, since the archives have that major flaw of being greatly shaped by social forces, they can pretty much be seen as a rhetorical figure. We don’t have the full, 100% accurate story, so the archives are there pretty much there for the looks -- “for the record.”
With all of this being said, breaking down archives one step at a time, I’m going to start my own writer’s archive. If you think about it, nearly all of us create things to add onto our writer’s archive every day... Through social media! Social media is a significant platform that contributes to our writer’s archive, especially since so many of us use it a lot. It is an easy way for us to combine writing with other media and put it out there for the public (or just our friends) to see. A good amount of us also use Photoshop, Indesign, etc., which also allows us to add on to our writer’s archive. For my personal archive, I will mainly start preserving my posts from my Instagram and Tumblr. My Instagram reflects the effort I am willing to make to capture a great shot and then edit with great care and attention. I’m not going to lie, I love creating media that makes my life seem exciting or at least interesting. My Instagram also reflects my enthusiasm for a great, sometimes clever caption (although some people tell me some of my captions are a bit lame). I also love taking the time to think about a nice, heartfelt caption directed to a certain person or certain people, probably because I like showing my followers how much I care about those particular people. I honestly usually create media that I believe my followers will like too. This doesn’t really apply to my Tumblr though, since I share my Tumblr with less people. I create media with a thinner filter. Although I don’t use Tumblr that much anymore, I still add more posts to it all at once than I do with Instagram. I create whatever I want, which is what makes me laugh or makes me feel good, whether it be purely text, aesthetic images, videos, sound posts, etc. I think my Instagram and Tumblr are generally a good peek at what pleases my mind.
