Over the past week I have formulated a much clearer idea for my final project.

In compiling together different footage, I have realised an interesting theme that has emerged. I have been preoccupied with the idea of avoiding the old and new media binary throughout this semester and I have found a way to reflect this, and that is by looking at domestic archives within my household over two generations.

In collating together all the different media in my household, I have noticed that while older generations may not engage with as many media technologies as younger generations, there are in fact a number of similarities between domestic  engagement with media as entertainment and archival practises over generations.

I have found research which has aided my exploration of this idea – Tacchi researched engagement with domestic audio technologies and found that while young people believe that radio’s “golden age had already passed” (p. 233, 2014) they also noted frequent engagement with audio technologies like podcasts and streaming audio (p. 234, 2014) not realising that these technologies are something of an evolution from traditional analog radio.

In relation to my project, I have edited together examples of how my parent’s engagement with media parallels my own. I have related collecting books to collecting DVD’s, and physical photo albums with 35mm film stills with digital archival of photos on external hard drives and on social media platforms.

Similarly, Schutt, Berry and Cianci explored the Facebook group ‘Lost Melbourne’ which archives old photographs of Melbourne on to social media, finding that it is “inherently a hybrid activity, drawing from a range of practises of traditions.” (2014) This is of interest to me in regards to my project as I explore archival of personal moments on social media and how this could be considered as an evolution of practises which my parents may have engaged with, i.e. sharing photos with family members.

However, my project has also been focused on presenting the differences between media engagement through time and over generations. While filming I have taken into account different aesthetic considerations which show the discrepancies between analogue and digital media. While showcasing the bookcase in my home I have made sure to provide slow pans of the books and close ups (as pictured below) which note the detail of the age of these books. In doing so there is the acknowledgement of the age and fragility of these items.

In contrast, in collating together the media technologies which I own and are central to my archival practises (external hard drives, smartphones, iPod, USBs, as pictured below) I have also sought to note the more sanitised feel to these items. In including the sound of the items hitting the table it can be shown that their materiality is much different to that of the books. The viewer can understand that while we should avoid the dichotomous categorisation of technology, there can be a case made for how digital hardware have lost their “richness” – a similar notion to the “trope of death” (2008) which Yochim and Biddingers explore.

In conclusion, my project so far is focused on media engagement over generations in regard to both entertainment use and personal archive. I’m looking to see how media technologies can be related irrespective of age or “old/new” binaries while also acknowledging the perceived lost sense of materiality.

References 

Bessire, Lucas, Faye Ginsburg, and Daniel Fisher. Radio Fields, edited by Lucas Bessire, et al., NYU Press, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/lib/RMIT/detail.action?docID=1057772. [Accessed: 25th May 2017]

Schutt, S, Berry, M, and Cianci, L. “Lost Melbourne: A Digital Ethnography of a Facebook Local History Group.” 2014. Available at: http://oicd.net/ge/index.php/lost-melbourne-a-digital-ethnography-of-a-facebook-local-history-group/ [Accessed: 25th May 2017]

Yochim, E & Biddinger, M 2008, ‘”It kind of gives you that vintage feel”: Vinyl records and the tripe of death.’ Media, Culture & Society, vol. 30, no. 2. Available at: Old’s Cool Media Factory Blog. [Accessed: 25th May 2017]