Documenting History’s Minutiae
By Jesse Singal - Jan 16th, 2009 at 4:21 pmEveryone should check out January the 20th.
The group explains:
We’re coordinating a massive journalistic project to document BARACK OBAMA’s inauguration. Observers across the country on JANUARY THE 20TH will track minutiae and seeming trivialities, creating a curious and comprehensive record of the day. We’re replicating Mass Observation, a movement of 1930s’ British intellectuals who believed the most revealing way to document an event was to report the peripheral activities surrounding it. THE MASS OBSERVERS carried out their greatest project on May 12th, 1937, when they dispatched more than 200 observers throughout London to document the coronation of KING GEORGE VI. To participate in this once-in-a-lifetime endeavor follow us on Twitter and post your observations on Inauguration Day. [all emphasis theirs]
More details after the jump.
Here’s how you can participate:
We’re coordinating a massive journalistic project to document Barack Obama’s inauguration. Observers across the country on January 20th will track minutiae and seeming triviliaties, creating a curious and comprehensive record of the day. To participate in this once-in-a-lifetime endeavor follow us on Twitter (username: januarythe20th) and tweet your observations, facebook message our group, email us at observations [at] januarythe20th.com, and pass on the word.
While we strongly encourage people who will be in Washington DC on January 20th to share their observations with us, there is no reason why you can’t participate from wherever you are reading this, whether in the United States or another country. But please note; this is NOT a forum to state political persuasions, to be cute, clever or irate. Click here for instructions on observing.
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