I’m interested in researching possible personal narratives
or oral histories about specific Toronto landmarks, and to explore where and
how these types of individual histories can fit into contemporary libraries and
archives. I think that it will be
interesting to first explore the current theoretical discussions surrounding
what comprises a ‘legitimate’ or ‘accurate’ history, as well as the opposing
theories that subvert this dominant narrative, in order to suggest a potential
space or gap into which these personal histories could fit. And also to explore the intersection of
location and memory, in terms of how one informs the other. I would also like to develop some sort of
useful product or tool as the result of this research project. I’m thinking that it could be a sort of
online interactive map of Toronto, where users would click on a certain
landmarks and either listen to an audio clip or watch some video footage of the
person telling a story or describing their memories about that particular location. This would allow the project to become useful
as a teaching and/or research device for people interested in municipal
history.
Pursuing this research in an iSchool context is beneficial
in a number of ways. In the first few
weeks of class, I’ve already learned a vast amount about the particular issues
that are pertinent to libraries and archives today, which will allow me to
position this project within the overall framework of these discussions. It will also provide me with a number of
resources that I wouldn’t have access to otherwise, such as the librarians in
the Inforum and the professors at the iSchool, both of whom are already proving
to be remarkable “nodal points,” as Luker (2008) suggests.
In terms of approaching this topic from an “information”
perspective, my time at the iSchool has demonstrated to me how broad this
perspective actually is, and how it can be applied or moulded to fit nearly any topic. One of my biggest areas of interest is in
exploring the ways in which information is transmitted. In an age of ever-multiplying methods of
digital information transmission, I’m eager to figure out ways of using these
methods to help preserve and promote more traditional modes of
transmission. I’m pursuing both the LIS
and the ARM streams in the iSchool, but so far in this semester I’ve only taken
library-related courses. This project is
certainly related to discussions about archives as well, but as I haven’t taken
any of those courses, it will require a little extra reading on my part to
discern where this sort of endeavour would fit in.
References:
Luker, Kristin. (2008). Salsa Dancing into the Social Sciences: Research in an Age of Info-Glut. USA: Harvard First University Press.
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