In this weeks readings, Derrida speaks of the great importance of Archives within society (Enzser, 2008). In reference to Archive Fever, he sees this as the different ways that archives are managed and the various impacts that archives can have on all aspects of our lives (Enzser, 2008). When actually taking some time out to think about archives, they are evident everywhere! Address books, contacts in mobile phones, photo books, book shelves, emails, ipod playlists, messages in phones, data from online social networking sites etc, etc, etc. The last few examples are more modern and display the different types of Archives available, always adapting and changing, as people get Archive fever and invest in the new mode of publishing to archive their lives.
Sharon Howard (2007) also speaks of our reinvigorated "want" to archive. She says that the web 2.0 has a great potential for organising and storing useful information that can be easily and efficiently accessed decades (if not longer) down the track (Howard, 2007). However, like Howard and Derrida, I think that because technology is constantly evolving, we are struggling somewhat to adapt, and as a result, what should be seen as archiving in its purest and most brilliant form, is just a collaboration of blogs, tags and computer codes that are seemingly impossible to manage (Ogle, 2010).
Howard stresses the need for ingenous ways to manage the web 2.0, and although I am not exactly computer literate (and in no way would suggest how), I most certainly agree (Howard, 2007). Because publishing has become a universal platform for anyone to embrace, the thought of trying to archive the trillions of publications that are constantly being uploaded makes me nautious. But if it could ever be accomplished, the information stored in the past, could prove invaluable to the future.
Now for some comical value
and to enable you to draw a comparison with an organised archive like the one
in the picture above...a picture taken of my own study and the books that I
own:
Bibliography:
Enszer, Julie R. (2008) Julie R. Enszer (personal blog), ‘Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression by 'Jacques Derrida', November 16, 2008, <http://julierenszer.blogspot.com/2008/11/archive-fever-freudian-impression-by.html>
Howard, Sharon (2007) ‘Reposted: Archive fever (a dusty digression)’, Early Modern Notes, September 25, <http://emn.sharonhoward.org/2007/09/reposted-archive-fever-a-dusty-digression/>
Ogle, Matthew (2010) ‘Archive Fever: A love letter to the post real-time web’, mattogle.com, December 16, <http://mattogle.com/archivefever/>
Stokes, Jon (2003) ‘Reading Notes: Archive Fever’, Ars Technica, June 27, <http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2003/06/130.ars>
> image taken from my family home in Wentworth Falls, from my camera.
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