iii.
Balance
However,
Humanities Computing and institutional repositories need to
think seriously about what this actually means in practical
terms and the socio-technical realities of many authors such
as myself. Different authors have different realities within
this medium depending upon their institutional and economic
circumstances. And historical significance is something that
is only understood in reflection and usually cannot be predicted
by an author.
In
other words Milkbar.com.au can only be historically significant
as an object if history deems it so. There are certain precautions
that an author can take to ‘future proof’ their work, but to
future proof one’s work often means that it must be technically,
conceptually and intellectually conservative. This is like ‘future
proofing’ your children by only sending them to middle class
schools with predictable and unwavering outcomes. Innovation
in whatever discipline requires risk and if it was not for risk,
then arguably network technologies would not exist today. Again
it is about balance.
This is like the communities in which we live; how do we recognise what is significant and balance this with what we keep and how we move forward? Just like deregulated communities with little local control, a commercial
global-based Internet free of regulatory frameworks can only move towards monopolies, can only move towards homogeneity and can only move towards the obliteration of local idiosyncrasies such as Milkbar.com.au.
As previously argued, the prototype SMAFE software utilised in this project coupled with interactive hypertextual techniques reveals some of the chaotic nature of historical authorships whilst still retaining some authorial
control over the material. However, some of this control over the material is given to the user of the site who can assemble the interviews is various ways and perhaps present the memories of the community in dissimilar ways. This divulges to the user not only the complex and contingent
nature of historical authorship but also the complex and contingent nature of local community identity.
Admittedly this is still a rudimentary attempt at interactive video for the Historian, but there is enormous potential to further develop tools such as the SMAFE prototype software used in this project. The SMAFE software was
not designed for Historians but was designed with media studies students in mind who require close analysis of pre-existing feature films. Applying it here has been a useful exercise in testing interactive narrative techniques for Historians, however in the future it may be more useful for
Historians to use tools that search by themes within a text-based transcript rather than by themes embedded within the time codes of the video itself.
This is arguably a much more efficient way of analysing and structuring the knowledge that the participants are imparting. There is software available to do this but cost and other institutional considerations did not allow the
use of this particular software in this project.
The Internet is perhaps the greatest archive that has ever existed. Not only are the majority of the major institutions in the world digitising some of their most important collections but also everyday people are digitising
photos of their grandmothers and trips to the beach. The recognition of the Internet as an archive will help to deepen human relations, rather than flatten them. Memories are basically what all communities are but memories just like history are never advanced in an orderly and logical
fashion.
Authored
by Craig Bellamy© 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
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