The fragility of memory

The phrase "memory is fragile" leapt out at me today when the class was reviewing the UNESCO Memory of the World project.  This form of information gathering and storage could become one of the truest, most ethical, most connected and informative uses of technology:  To guard against a "collective amnesia"; to ensure that somewhere, in lieu of someone whose memory is indeed fragile, collective knowledge and memory is stored to ensure truth.

 Memory is another moving target ... sometimes we have flashes; sometimes not.  Relying only on our memory can be fragile, it can leave us without the knowledge we need to move forward.  It can be suspect.  Maybe a failing technological system can be suspect as well, and the ability to change what I have said or written in this blog means I can constantly revise what I remember(ed), or what I did, or what I said.  Where's the proof that it wasn't different?

I have a memory of one of the first films I remember seeing.  I didn't have a lot of exposure to commercial films or movies in my youth, as movies were deemed to be "bad" for us.  But this was something we saw in school, and the story and action are still in my memory, although I've forgotten the teacher who showed it, and what we were supposed to learn from it.  Memory is fragile, at times it fails, at times it creeps back in.  I hadn't thought about this film until I saw the name 'Norman McLaren' in our first class.  I now have a different understanding about how McLaren's pioneering works and spirit help to develop the NFB and Canada's reputation in certain kinds of film production.

Watch Neighbours...
Neighbours by Norman McLaren

One of the excellent possible uses of technology, in all its splendour, will be to use it to remind ourselves and our students that we are not the only voices saying something, or remembering something, and we can use different media/technologies to track information, to gather it, and to remind ourselves when human memories fail.