Digging the archives

It was just a couple of weeks ago that I was watching a documentary on the life of Barack Hussain Obama, President of the United States, on a history channel. The ‘biography’ of the man presented a detailed account of how Obama has lived his life to date. The footages of the documentary were awesome. They must have sought help of some old library in order to gather so many historical movies and photos, I thought. However, when the credits were showing at the end of the documentary, www.archive.org was mentioned to have been consulted for movies besides names of different libraries and other institutes. Yup, I made a visit to it, then.

And, lo! What I got was a website packed all types of discourses related to ‘human knowledge’. Whether you wish to find an old tune related to Asian or African culture, want to cast an eye on how the technology evolved through centuries, seek to freshen up your soul, or crave for an important documentary, the site is for you! I could locate cartoon movies of my favourite characters, Casper and Popeye, as well. This is not all, though.

Media, being a strong moving force, has changed almost every aspect of our lives. Our outlook towards world politics, social issues, ancient cultures, etc has been changed exceedingly. Issues like feminist movements, eradication of caste-system and demand of equal rights for all human beings are product of awareness which media – in one form or the other – have been spreading. However, there remain certain ‘technical’ aspects of media and politics which need a careful study plus observation. Many quality videos related to such topics related to state, constitution, laws, forms of government and topics, such as, Faith in Exile: The Lesson of Tibet, and The Ground Truth: The Human Cost of War are offered to you on the site. Going through News & Public Affairs section will improve your judgment of world media and politics.

Turmoil which our country has been going through for many years now has ‘compelled’ people to take interest in news and current affairs sections of media. Political analysis programs are in vogue now and, that’s why, news readers and analysts are more famous than film stars these days. I feel that the youth of the country is now trying to trace history back to the partition of the subcontinent. But, is there any connection between mishandlings of the past and the present situation of our country? Well, the answer is not at all simple. However, Internet Archive can help you by providing the documents of that time, or discourses about what had happened then. Talks between Gandhi-Jinnah Talks and Verdict on India will surely interest you.

Audio section puts forth valuable audios related to different fields like religion, music, (audio-)books, news, etc. There’s a special feature namely Way Back Machine which will give you timeline of any website you enter into the field available through which you can see what changes have been made to that particular site over time.

The site’s layout is quite simple which makes it easy to locate what you are looking for. But, what seemed to me a drawback of the site is that it seems to be more English language- and America focused, i.e., it needs more content to add related to different countries and languages. However, there are many other features of the site as well which will prove to be an asset for students of all ages. To see how it can help ‘you’, log on to www.archive.org .

The Fourth Estate - Media

“We are being controlled. We are being force-fed lies. We don't even know it. I can't present truth, they don't allow truth, and they hide it well enough that I can't find it.” Chomsky’s words.

Media we call it! The sources that keep us updated with the events happening around the globe and spread ‘information’ everywhere. They reach to almost every single soul on the planet. We are impressed by the fact that media reaches almost everywhere in no time, and that they show us the ‘inside stories’ which seem otherwise impossible to get revealed. This, in short, gives them power to secretly herd us anywhere they want to.

And, the history bears witness, power corrupts.

Are we sure all media are true? When we witness that we are being literally flooded with information from all sides through media, shouldn’t we try to cast a critical look on news items or other snippets we are thrown at – question their authenticity?

Answers to both the questions are ‘No’ and ‘Yes’, respectively. The reason is that media influences us the most and, hence, we should not buy each and everything from them. You may ask: How to decide between what is true and what is false? Well, it merits a detailed answer and you can check it on Media-Awareness.ca – the site which has much to offer to judge objectivity in news.

This website maintains for you, along with their analysis, news, research, educational games and a body of different interesting assignments to enable you see the difference between ‘good’ and ‘evil’. For instance, the website operates on the word ‘cool’, which, I think, is the second most manipulated word after ‘terrorist’. The site gives a planned activity and a lesson-type discussion to do with the children and asks to “[R]einforce the idea that we tend to think of cool as an external thing, but the best kind of cool comes from inside.” That’s a wrap-up for you; details are on the site. I would also recommend ‘Junk for Jungle’.

It also offers you a set of activities, e.g. The Anatomy of Cool, Be a Tobacco Buster, etc. along with resources to carry out with your family and children so as to understand what actually lies underneath otherwise innocuous media messages. You can browse such activities and resources by clicking either For Teachers or For Parents, according to your respective status.

The section for teachers has a pack of information which will familiarise them with media studies, provide them developmental resources, and telling them how to handle on-campus net facilities. The last of which provides teachers to help youngsters realise importance of surfing safe. Besides, the section has a feature which is a bit more teaching related comparatively: the Lesson Library. It provides teachers option to find a lesson related to media divided in grade- and subject-wise. This would definitely be proved to be a good asset for teachers to let their students be aware of media issues.

Media means not only news and current affairs programs. Advertising, video games and movies can also be considered parts of media. And when it comes to video games and movies, the site argues, also inculcate in youth violent and deviant behaviours. Parents should move to stop their children from getting content which is violent, stereotyping and, the unfortunate of all, adult rated. We should worry because they are not only a span of a couple of hours; it’s a matter of what they’d grow up to be.

Well, a separate section has also been ‘reserved’ for girls in the site. It will provide almost the same information but with a girl-specific perspective. For example, you’ll find a small article on video games where they encourage parents to make it possible for females to buy games which either have no men and women stereotyping or are in line with their very nature – it may include, the site has it, the ones requiring problem solving or strategic skills, and involving interaction.

Although the site’s focus seems to be on youth, the site has a lot to give to adults in its researches and discussion section where they can have material suitable for their ager level. For example, they must be tempted to know ‘How to Detect Bias in the News’. Well, for all the aforementioned stuff, log on to http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/index.cfm.