The more time I spend learning about Digital History, the more I become convinced that what makes the digital world such an important tool for the Public Historian, is that it allows us to give the public access to materials they otherwise would not easily be able to view. That being said, it still has been difficult to try and understand both the theoretical and practical components involved in actually doing digital history; nothing has motivated me more to continue to acquire more digital skills, than CBC’s Archives.
The CBC Archives website is attractive to look at while still being simple and user friendly; more importantly, the content of the site is so powerful and interesting that I have often been drawn into it for hours. The CBC’s Archives contain numerous audio and video clips from CBC’s vast archival collection, which depict all aspects of Canadian life. This website appeals to the general public as well as to long time CBC fans, because each a/v clip comes with the name of the program and the interviewer, a description of how this episode played into the climate of the time, while still emphasizing the effect it had on the company and particular interviewer.
The best feature of CBC’s Archives is the way in which clips are arranged and categorized. Immediately upon entering the site the visitor notices On this Day which features a past video or radio clip that had aired on this same day in CBC history. Underneath that section is my favourite portion of the site: Great Interviews. These clips feature CBC’s most famous and notorious interviews, most of which I have watched over the course of the last couple of months. Some of the people interviewed are extremely famous individuals, others I have never even heard of before. Due to my love of music, my favourite clip is Peter Gzowski’s interview in 1977 of Iggy Pop, who had been one of the founders of the punk rock movement in the 1960/70s. Interestingly, after watching this clip I realized that one my favourite post rock bands, Mogwai, has made use of this archival footage and used this particular interview in the background of their song “Punk Rock”.
If visitors are not as interested in the interviews as I am, one can easily use the site’s search engine or choose a specific clip category that appeals to them. Essentially, the visitor gets to decide for themselves what portion of Canadian or CBC’s history they are most interested in, which includes a wide range of topics such as interviews with Playboy Bunnies, radio reports about the world wars, or coverage of the past Olympic Games. Regardless of what they choose, users are able to engage with historical materials they otherwise would not be given access to. In this way, the CBC Archives are an example of how Digital History can be used to educate and entertain the public.
No comments:
Post a Comment