I just found a new tool to combine information online (Storify.com). Here I collected some YouTube videos about London and its history.
Watch and enjoy ...
Samstag, 28. Mai 2011
Donnerstag, 14. April 2011
News and Region
The way we consume information and get our daily news changes rapidly.
Newspapers lose their monopoly and information becomes much more 'ad libidum'.
In such a time we can get in contact and talk with likeminded people at the other side of the world. But at the same time we lose our common ground to talk to our neighbour.
Twenty years ago you greeted a neighbour in the morning discussing todays headline in the newspaper.
You no longer can do this nowadays, because in the rare case he still reads a daily newspaper, you most likely read another one or do not at all.
For two people with the same basis of information to meet in real life gets harder from day to day. But it does not really cause problems. We still have the weather and climate to talk about.
Perhaps that is the reason why climate turns out to be the most discussed topic in all groups of society nowadays. Nothing else is of so much concern to all of us.
Newspapers lose their monopoly and information becomes much more 'ad libidum'.
In such a time we can get in contact and talk with likeminded people at the other side of the world. But at the same time we lose our common ground to talk to our neighbour.
Twenty years ago you greeted a neighbour in the morning discussing todays headline in the newspaper.
You no longer can do this nowadays, because in the rare case he still reads a daily newspaper, you most likely read another one or do not at all.
For two people with the same basis of information to meet in real life gets harder from day to day. But it does not really cause problems. We still have the weather and climate to talk about.
Perhaps that is the reason why climate turns out to be the most discussed topic in all groups of society nowadays. Nothing else is of so much concern to all of us.
Donnerstag, 7. April 2011
Documenting our Times in Film
I am a fan of "Spooks" so please excuse, that I speak of this series here more than of any other.
But in my opinion "Spooks" also does a great job in documenting our time.
Not that the events shown in the parts of this series are real events. But they show, what people fear most today. What they see as a likely event and crisis and how such a crisis could be stopped.
So "Spooks" in a way does much more than being a show of fictional events.
It even does mcuh more than any series centered around personal relationships of their protagonists. Those series mostly show scenereies, relationship topics which are well apart from real life and anything the viewer can really acquire.
Though in general sceptic about future historical documents about our time, I even give "Spooks" to some extent authority to document our attitude towards crises and political situations.
What impresses me about the "Spooks" series is, how closely they reach to portrait real events and still be fictional. The line in between documentary and fictional is a very slim one in this case.
Due to this fact, the "Spooks" series allows a multitude of conclusions. For example it opened my mind to see more clearly how our time would act and react in cases of emergency, what we see as likely crises to occur and how we nowadays would try to cope with them.
The series also reveals a very deep ingrained distrust in politicians, which I never saw as clearly manifested as in this series, though it is common ground for people on the street.
The series achieves to really portrait our times, which is an exceptionally well done work by the writers and the whole film crew of "Spooks"!
As a result, "Spooks" is able to reveal a great deal of attitude, common opinion and ways of living of our time.
Though not a real historical document, it is able to tell a great deal about our generation.
But in my opinion "Spooks" also does a great job in documenting our time.
Not that the events shown in the parts of this series are real events. But they show, what people fear most today. What they see as a likely event and crisis and how such a crisis could be stopped.
So "Spooks" in a way does much more than being a show of fictional events.
It even does mcuh more than any series centered around personal relationships of their protagonists. Those series mostly show scenereies, relationship topics which are well apart from real life and anything the viewer can really acquire.
Though in general sceptic about future historical documents about our time, I even give "Spooks" to some extent authority to document our attitude towards crises and political situations.
What impresses me about the "Spooks" series is, how closely they reach to portrait real events and still be fictional. The line in between documentary and fictional is a very slim one in this case.
Due to this fact, the "Spooks" series allows a multitude of conclusions. For example it opened my mind to see more clearly how our time would act and react in cases of emergency, what we see as likely crises to occur and how we nowadays would try to cope with them.
The series also reveals a very deep ingrained distrust in politicians, which I never saw as clearly manifested as in this series, though it is common ground for people on the street.
The series achieves to really portrait our times, which is an exceptionally well done work by the writers and the whole film crew of "Spooks"!
As a result, "Spooks" is able to reveal a great deal of attitude, common opinion and ways of living of our time.
Though not a real historical document, it is able to tell a great deal about our generation.
Spooks is both "History and Fiction".
Mittwoch, 30. März 2011
History and Future
The headline seems like an anachronism. But what I often wonder is, how future generations will do research of our time.
Not much information about daily life will be available any longer, as bills, notes, etc. are either thrown away, digital and deleted after a while or technically no longer available.
So I think that future generations will have to research our time through secondary documents like films, interviews, discussions, recorded TV broadcasts of shows, etc. These formats are much more likely to be transferred into future technical formats.
This will be a very selective and for one without a TV set not very fitting way to get a real impression of our time.
Historians in earlier times often also documented their present time.
E.g. Venice did a great job in documenting their history in a way they wanted it to be remembered. With all the multitude of current material I still think that our time in future will be a badly documented time for real life activities. Politics and main events on the other hand will be well documented in news and film.
Blogs are a good way to write about current life, but their future availability in the long run is uncertain. Their multitude also makes them a hard kind of historical document. One also can drown in too much to research and their relevance, connections and backgrounds are unclear and mostly not further researchable.
Here only time will see, what future historians will make of our time.
Not much information about daily life will be available any longer, as bills, notes, etc. are either thrown away, digital and deleted after a while or technically no longer available.
So I think that future generations will have to research our time through secondary documents like films, interviews, discussions, recorded TV broadcasts of shows, etc. These formats are much more likely to be transferred into future technical formats.
This will be a very selective and for one without a TV set not very fitting way to get a real impression of our time.
Historians in earlier times often also documented their present time.
E.g. Venice did a great job in documenting their history in a way they wanted it to be remembered. With all the multitude of current material I still think that our time in future will be a badly documented time for real life activities. Politics and main events on the other hand will be well documented in news and film.
Blogs are a good way to write about current life, but their future availability in the long run is uncertain. Their multitude also makes them a hard kind of historical document. One also can drown in too much to research and their relevance, connections and backgrounds are unclear and mostly not further researchable.
Here only time will see, what future historians will make of our time.
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