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Remixing Grandma's Voice
From Afi-Odelia E. Scruggs | 02:12
When Afi Scruggs digitized an interview with her late grandmother, she recalled truism about technology: every time a format changes, important information risks loss. This essay reflects on capturing and keeping memories - and what happens when original sources are lost.
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Conversations about data transference or archiving usually veer into discussions of technology and software. That was the mindset I was in when I digitized an interview I'd taped with my grandmother in Nashville, Tenn. on July 4, 1990.
As I listened to the interview, though, I recalled a lesson I'd learned from teaching Mass Communications: every time a format changes, important information risks loss. When I talked to my grandmother, I thought I was preserving a dying style of African-American singing. Instead I'd created an audio portrait that could bring ancestral voices to future generations - if they could access it.
My grandmother passed away in October, 2011, a few months after I created this essay. It is a meditation on transferring and archiving memories in the 21st century.
Ramadan Mubarak: The Science of Breaking the Fast
From Afi-Odelia E. Scruggs | Part of the Ramadan Mubarak series | 02:52
After abstaining from food and drink during the daylight hours of Ramadan, Muslims return to eating with a meal of dates, water or milk. The combination is traditional and nutritional. Afi Scruggs produced this explanation of the science behind breaking the fast.
After abstaining from food and drink during the daylight hours of Ramadan, Muslims return to eating with a meal of dates, water or milk. The combination is traditional and nutritional. Afi Scruggs produced this explanation of the science behind breaking the fast.