According to this week’s reading, I found that I have the same
view with Jacques Derrida about his theory of Archive Fever. What the theory
claims is that archives, which can be defined as a collection of documents and
records that include historical information and archive can also used to refer
to the place where it is stored. It also constructs the basis of the society
and its individuals.
Nowadays, People can archive most aspects of their lives
digitally, changing the way we express our personalities and personal histories
(Ogle 2010). Just considering this theory at the most basic everyday life level
proves it true to me. The record of history is what makes up me or my position
in the communities that I am involved in. The photos I have posted on my Face
book page shows others what kind of a person I have. When you look at my face
book timeline which shows the relationship between me and other people has
demonstrates the interactions I engage in with other people.
Actually, archive is not only the data collections on my
Facebook, I also have posted various of personal things uploaded onto a weibo, renren,
wechat and Instagram. Of course, there are all sorts of Meta
data that involve other people as well, and they also have their own
collections of data on the online platforms the same like me. Therefore, it can
be seen that we are all archives and just like food, archive too has always
been the most integral part of our everyday life. Without archives, it is
impossible for us to know who we are as a group and as individuals. It just
like what Derrida’s Archive has illustrated that the history is what makes up
the present that is quite universally philosophically true (Derrida 1995, p.
17).
Reference
List:
Derrida, Jacques (1995) ‘Archive Fever—A Freudian
Impression’, Diacritics, 25(2), pp9-63.
Ogle, Matthew (2010) ‘Archive Fever: A love
letter to the post real-time web’, mattogle.com, December 16, <http://mattogle.com/archivefever/>
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