Archive Fever (Week 5)

The week 4 readings (for week 5 tutorial) revolve around what Jacques Derrida calls 'Archive Fever'. This term has taken on different interpretations but it is commonly regarded to mean a neverending sense of requirement that keeping an archive produces, one which borders on obsession. Several of the authors this week look at this definition and link it to their own experience. The most interesting of these I found was Matthew Ogle's "A love letter to the post real-time web" in which he discusses taking a holiday from the internet, particularly real-time web (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr - websites which, in a sense, archive the now and produce real-time events and results). He took this trip because he couldn't remember a singal day without accessing Twitter. Ogle explains how difficult it was to break away from the shackles of real-time web - a direct example of Derrida's 'Archive Fever'. Furthermore, Ogle explains how when he arrived home, accessing other archives such as email and maps was a quick transition back to normality, while returning to real-time web was more difficult, akin to learning to ride a bike again. The explanation given for this, and I have found it in my other readings as well, is that archive fever has many dimensions. From the librarian who spends their entire work day sorting, checking and archiving materials, to the humble 'Facebooker' who logs two to three mundane events of their day, archive fever can affect anyone and everyone. Ogle's example supports the point that archives are important for recording our very existence. With changing technology, archives have also had to change. It is obvious through the readings, however, that the latter is falling behind. In the past, archives of battles, court findings, medical reports etc. were kept in files or books on shelves, to be accessed relatively easily at any time. Now, with the advent of sites such as Twitter and Facebook, there is a need to prioritise - often at the expense of the past. Real-time web means now. While these sites certainly have the capacity to archive our thoughts, movements and beliefs of a particular time (e.g. March 2008), we as basic archivists do not have the same capacity to find them at a later date. It is difficult without programming nous to find out what I was doing on the 22nd April 2010, although it was almost certainly recorded on Facebook. And therein lies the changing nature of Archive Fever. Whereas in the past it was perhaps about the obsession with accessing history and keeping records of current events stowed away for future reference, today archive fever is more about recording what is happening at this infinitesimal moment. And then again in five minutes when my new laptop arrives. Then in 15 minutes when I can't understand how the laptop works...