Social technology would definitely change history as we know it…immediate updates about world news and events would have had enormous implications on a bulk of the major historical events throughout history.
I personally think the JFK assassination would have dramatically changed from social technological sites such as twitter and etc.
Imagine that is was Friday, November 22, 1963 at 12:25pm. Thousands of Texans have their iPhones, Blackberrys, digital cameras capable of snapping 1,000 frames per second, or whatever technological handheld computer out now days…all ready to snap a picture and prove they were within the close proximity of the highly popular JFK. Before they know it, they hear loud gunshots and witness the mayhem of observing the assassination of the 35th president of the United States of America. “Witnesses” in Dealey Plaza would have immediately tweeted what they believe they saw, uploaded images they incredulously snapped, and/or recorded personal videos about the outrage they felt…everyone having wanted to establish his or her part in such a historical time. The whole conspiracy would have had an entirely new twist, if one whatsoever. Not to mention, an enormous amount of discussion groups/debates would have emerged, and I feel like the government would have had a lot more questions to answer/ “cover up.” Would a ten-month investigation of the Warren Commission have been avoided, or prolonged? Would the outcome of the 1966 poll amongst the American public regarding the findings against Lee Harvey Oswald have changed? Increased public awareness and attention through means of twitter and etc. could have had am enormous influence over results. Would there have been such a huge conspiracy if all of this digital technology existed? Would we have a better understanding of what happened that gloomy day in American history?
The video we watched this week focused on how social networking could navigate around government authority, and I think talking about "conspiracy theories" and technology is really interesting.
ReplyDeleteIn this scenario, regular citizens become not just observers of history, but active investigators in it. Investigating is a tremendous use of social networking and new digital technology.
Social networking would've been awesome in this situation. We only have one good film documenting this event. It would have been great had others filmed the assassination using cell phones etc as we would have a better understanding as to what actually happened that day.
ReplyDeleteI always thought that the Zapruder film was sketchy and if someone was there to film just one alternate angle that outcome of the investigation would have been wildly different. I just think its weird how the exact moment the president is shot, a pole is in the way, blocking the view of the camera. Having images of the actual shot could really clear up the controversy, and maybe show that there might have been additional shots. The real question is, would you want to know if your government was responsible for killing its own president?
ReplyDeleteAs the others have posted, there would have been a major difference in the events surrounding his death. Your blog portrayed a really vivid picture of all the evidence that could have been generated by technology during that time. With such a crowd, there would have been no way to avoid a flux of information. However, there is a possibility that the pictures could be edited to display a different "picture".
ReplyDeleteI think that it would have completely changed the investigation. I think that people would have been so interested in getting their "story" out, that there would have been a myriad of different angles of film, pictures, and other documentation. I think it would have quickly shown the truth behind the incident.
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