This morning, I turned on my laptop, went to my folder labeled “Fall 2014,” clicked on another folder, “Astronomy 3” and finally opened a word document file named “Ast 3 Lec 10-24-14” to reviews my notes from the last Astronomy 3 lecture that I went to. It’s so easy for the average person to create a database, no matter how small, and store their files on their computers. The internet makes this even easier by letting us post texts, pictures, videos, etc. on an open space where others can view them with the click of their mouse.
Databases are helpful in many ways, especially when it comes to immortalizing historical texts. In Computer Databases and Aboriginal Knowledge, Michael Christie talks about the aboriginal population Larrakia from Darwin, The Northwestern Territory in Australia and how some of their women want to put their elder’s knowledge onto a database so that the younger generations can have that information even after the elders pass. With youth now constantly on their devices whether it be a phone, laptop, or tablet, they are constantly being fed information through websites like the Yahoo home page, social networks, and plain research so it makes perfect sense to put the Aboriginal elders’ knowledge on databases that the younger generations can access.
Databases are essentially virtual archives which can be derived from the Greek word “Arkhe” and defined as the “commencement” and the “commandment” as described in Jacques Derrida’s Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression. As the commencement, archives describe nature and history as the origin where things commence. As the commandment, they show how men command because archives are a man-made creation. When looking at archives with these two principles, we can truly appreciate their importance and creation. By applying this to the Aboriginals from Darwin, we can see the significance in inputting their elder’s knowledge into a database.
The Aboriginal’s can create a database for their children and grandchildren and they’ve done their job when it comes to bringing them the information. The old saying “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink” comes into play here. If the children do not show interest in using the database to learn about their history and culture, then that is their choice. The real magic happens when someone reads the information and uses it or tells someone else about it. Text is nothing more than text until someone reads it. At that point, it becomes knowledge that someone can use by teaching and using that information. Databases are great because they offer us information that we can tell others about.
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