History of the Database

Contextual Exhibit

(AKA Primary Source Show-and-Tell)

Deadline: Varies, depending on the class you sign up for

For this assignment, you’ll prepare a (very!) brief class presentation about a primary source of your choice. It’s designed to give you practice

  • identifying evocative primary sources.
  • interpreting those sources.
  • conveying sources’ import clearly to others.

Pick a week and identify which technology or technologies we’re discussing that week.

Identify a primary source (meaning a document that emerges from the same time and/or phenomenon as the technology we’re discussing). It could be an ad, a magazine article, a commercial, a technical paper, an archival source, or something else!

The source should exemplify something that you think is interesting about the technology. For example, the source might:

  • reveal interesting assumptions underlying the technology.
  • demonstrate that people used the technology in unexpected ways.
  • suggest interpretations that support or contrast with theories of technology we’ve read in class.
  • show us what kinds of people the technology’s authors imagined would use it.
  • or do something else!

Ideally, the source tells us something that you think is important, surprising, or thought-provoking about that week’s technology.

Bring the source to class (either on paper or digitally) on the week we discuss the relevant technology. In 5–10 minutes, explain to your classmates what you found, how you found it, and why this source is interesting.

Your brief presentation should:

  1. demonstrate how you did your research
  2. show us how and why you settled on the object you chose.
  3. clearly explain what you noticed about the document.
  4. concisely explain why you think this document is worth taking time to examine.
  5. End with a question for class discussion.

Notes

Remember, “primary source” is a relative term! A document becomes a primary source when you use it as evidence to document a phenomenon of your choice. It may be more helpful to think of the source as an “exhibit,” using the BEAM/BEAT framework.