Before Google Reflection

I went to Emory Rose library Archive this Wednesday for the Before Google assignment. I only had a broad idea that I’d like to look for some photographs and negatives. Since I’ve never been to Rose library before, I asked the front desk to help me with what I needed. She showed me all the categories of documents that Rose library has via computer, and taught me how to searched for photos and negatives in the Archive. Since I didn’t know any of the authors listed, I randomly chose the first one, Rebecca Ranson, a playwright, and required a reserve for it.

I was led to a specific room where students can take a close look at the documents they required. It was quiet, bright, and solemn. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the room very much and behaved more seriously and carefully toward the materials of Ranson Rebecca I was looking at. They are collections of photos, negatives of her and her family members, stage photos of plays she wrote, promotional materials of her plays and activities she had been actively involved in. I spent most of the time trying to look closely into those film negatives, but I finally realized that, due to lack of introduction and background knowledge of these photos, I was not able to build a connection with Rebecca, but instead, I felt more close to the photographer through noticing different shooting angles and distances he used while photographing the same subject and seeing the people decades ago through the photographer’s view.

Overall, this experience did not change my relation much to search engine, because I still need to use computer and Internet to target the object I was looking for and submit the request to see the document, which is still the same mechanism with the way we use google to search for things. Though this “Before Google” assignment aims to make us experience how to search for useful materials without Google, what the real experience finally taught me is that today, even the seemingly remote archives have been tightly incorporated with the modern technology and it is hard to get back to the life when people could only rely on their own forces to look for things.