Derrida says that archives constitute the most fundamental level of social and individual institutions and practices. He explains that archives lay the basis for authority, what is considered "inside" and "outside" the culture, and the history and future of the public. Any arrangement of principles and concepts that arise from different organizations have been drawn from past records which are stored in archives. Thus, it is these archives that dictate the future possibilities and the potentials of us all.
Is it any wonder that the library is the most important building on any given university campus? The library rests as the focal point of knowledge, research and ideas for any research or academic institute. This is where the most historical text is stored but also where the innovative technologies of the computer lab are held. Where does the inspiration come from? What dictates the success of the research?
Derrida focuses his ideas on archive fever. Different forms of publishing form different modes of living, institutions, organizations, etc. These varying forms of publishing all have some kind of archive. And as stated before, these archives dictate the possibilities of the future because they record the significance of the past. We are all struck with "archive fever," according to Derrida because we all have a constant desire to play with archives. (pg 19, course outline).
Aside from Facebook and other mediated networks, we all have constructed our own archive. The farther back we archive, the more of our future can be dictated. That is to say that archive fever might have some kind of 'sling-shot effect.' It will be interesting to see who from our generation will be able to run for a political office without their archive coming back from the past to haunt them. With our lives all perfectly digitized online, we all have a paper trail of our youthful indiscretions. Not just a paper trail, but a tagged picture, blog post, tweet. So many haunting, impulsive moments will follow us into our careers. Will this generation's contagious archive fever be what limits our future?
Personal reflection:
For as long as I can remember I have archived art and graphic design into blank books that can be purchased at any art supply store. What they are actually intended for, I'm not sure. But for me, these black books represent a place for me to store what inspires me, from movie stubs and funny disposable pictures to unique business cards and flyers... these books have no rules. I make them as I see fit in that given moment. I referred to it as my "ARTchive" for years. I use it as my inspiration, a vessel for new ideas. But it is through this old record, this archive I have created, that I generate new ideas and new inspiration. In a sense, I have created a sense of my self (my inspiration) through this archive.
Below is a picture of the mess I create when creating these books. This photograph was taken by me with a disposable camera in October 2011.
Another idea that sparked from this reading is my obsession with photography.
My most recent photography portfolio: http://student.tcu.edu/cratelle/
Aside from my Flickr (which I consider a work in progress photo-blog that I update regularly), I have published a few final versions of photography projects. It is interesting that although I have published a recent version of a final portfolio (as linked above) that I continue to save over 10,000 images on my hard drive. In itself, the folders on my MacBook are an archive--why else would I spend so much time backing them up on external hard drives? Why don't I delete them ever? Why do we save every version of every project?
The fear of "just-in-case." Must be a symptom of archive fever.
Sources:
ARTS 2090 Course Outline, Week Five
http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2003/06/130.ars
http://emn.sharonhoward.org/2007/09/reposted-archive-fever-a-dusty-digression/
storage constitutes the most basic level of organization and social practices and individual and what is said to be able to help us understand. friv 7
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