Technological complexity and change characterise modern life. Yet
people often feel alienated from recent science based technology and are barely
conscious of its human content and implications. The richness of creativity
that has produced this technology is not commonly appreciated, and we do not
seem to attach as much value to this kind of creativity as we accord that
displayed in art or literature. This is a disturbing situation in a society so
dependent on technology, but in which so few young people are keen to enter
careers in science and engineering. Young people in particular are often
unaware of the significance of their technological heritage, and how important
technological change has been in influencing the lives of people in the
twentieth century.
In the living memories of those who shaped and used the
changing technology of the last fifty years lie the human stories of
technology. These stories allow technology to speak to us with a human voice.
They tell us how people have felt about, made sense of and coped with
technological changes. Ordinary people need to hear these stories if they are
to appreciate their technological heritage more fully; young people especially
need to hear them if they are to own, and participate in creating, the
technology of the future; academic historians need to give them due weight in
their explanations of social and technological change. But we risk losing the
oral heritage of mid-twentieth century technology if we do not act swiftly.
Those who lived with technological change in the 1930's and 40's are now
advanced in years. Within a decade most of these memories will be forever lost
if this precious archive is not captured and preserved.
Talking About Technology aims to capture some of this
vanishing oral history of twentieth century technology. It will use a novel
approach in which images and recollection are intimately related. It will give
the archive it secures a public presence which will help people to perceive
their technological heritage in a new and more human light. This project will
help people see that technology has as much to do with people as with things,
and to value this crucial component of their heritage.
Back
|