Before Google Reflection

Before Google was one of the more difficult assignments that we have had this semester. It was challenging for me because I am completely reliant on Google for everything. I turn to Google for answers for the simplest and for the most challenging questions in my life. I would say I use my Google search engine more than the average person. Whether I am looking up how tall an actor/actress is, or what medicine to take for my cold, I am dependent on Google for the right answers. This assignment, in a way, asked for us to beat the machine. How can we possibly know more than the all-knowing entity that is Google? I started in the Emory archives because I figured something from the time before Google must have slipped through the cracks and avoided the internet. I was shocked at how much existed in the archives that was not on Google. This includes the personal journals, papers, letters, and photographs etc. of persons whose life’s works have been donated to the MARBL library. These people have avoided the machine. However, since I had not heard of them (most likely because I could not find them on Google), I found that I was not as interested in their papers as I would have been with the papers of a public figure. I found two beautiful portraits from the 1960’s of fathers and sons at civil rights protests. These were great and powerful photos, but I could not find the story behind them.

This assignment reminded me of the Finding Vivian Maier documentary. In this documentary, John Maloof, the filmmaker essentially did what I could not. He used Maier’s 150,000 negatives, undeveloped film photographs, to rebuild her life and piece together her narrative. He uncovered the mystery that was her life through her work, which he had happened upon and purchased at an auction. All of her images had been previously unseen, not only by the public, but by Maier herself. She hid these images from the world, however, after her death, she gained recognition and became the subject of a documentary. Whether or not she would have wanted the fame is an important ethical question. Maloof profited from her work and she has become a business venture. Her images and her life story are now found on Google, revealing her most intimate details without her knowledge or permission.