Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Whose lives will be documented

In this age of email, blogging, Twitter, Facebook, I wonder whose lives will be documented and remembered and retold in the future. Just as in the past when most people could not read, let alone write; those who could are the ones whose records inform our sense of history. Nowadays, whose emails, for example, are archived? Presidents, movie stars, the uber-rich, etc. Do George Washington's journals and letters tell us everything there is to know about the Revolutionary War period? If we do not save and/or record our lives, reactions to the world around us, etc. in ways other than electronically, then our contribution to the history of our country, world, society, and general milieu will be lost...this will be a tremendous loss to future populations. Before the 1960's, history reflected and was based on the white, male perspective alone. Then came a new push- remembering and recording the history of women, immigrants, the average citizen and the poor, the other. We must make sure that that perpective is not lost in the electronic age.