Imagine you took a snapshot of this exact moment. What would it look like? A bunch of bored students listening to some girl speak? A teacher who is vigorously jotting notes and playing close attention to the nervous student speaker? Regardless of the outcome of the picture, that image can be preserved for years. In the future, that photograph will be in a textbook showcasing the average 21st century classroom. This one snapshot will serve as a time capsule, thanks to the invention of the camera.
This civic artifact brought a new world of conserving historic events. From groundbreaking scientific findings to everyday selfies, each picture holds a piece of the past.
-Each photograph is a fragment of the commonplace of record keeping, which holds communities together.
-This new form of record keeping maintains languages, cultures and lifestyles from extinction.
-To different cultures, cameras can mean different things: In China, they are a reminder of oppression by the constant surveillance. While in America, it usually has a positive connotation due to the idea of using cameras to capture “good” times
-Prior to this invention, hand writing and drawings were the only means of documentation.
-Cameras added visual aids, and gave a deeper understanding of the history it shows.
-Cameras also allowed new forms of communication to arise, such as movies and news programs
Without these forms of communication, our culture would not be the same today. These pictures and videos have impacted society, and will continue to alter future generations’ lifestyles through looking back at history.
This powerful artifact continues to be a significant part of everyday life. The myriad of ways it preserves the past impacts not only the people of today, but the future generations as well. Although, it comes with different connotations, the commonplace of record keeping would not have involved into what it has today. Quite frankly, our culture could have been lost without it.