Social media came up repeatedly throughout the day. Things are gonna be bad, so you just have to figure out the best way to make things work. ![]() Malaysian national archivist Dato Sidek, when asked about his optimism in a famously complaining profession, simply stated that you have to stay positive in the archives. In Brian Thurgood’s talk about international standards, he noted that a lot of interest in recordkeeping standards has been coming from developing nations. Issues of translation - both linguistic and cultural - and recordkeeping and heritage initiatives in the developing world kept coming up. I enjoyed hearing about UNESCO initiatives the World Digital Library and the Memory of the World Programme, as well as a presentation about the MotW Jikji prize winner, the National Archives of Malaysia. This year’s theme was Preserving the Memory of the World and featured folks from a variety of institutions all over the world. Yesterday was the second annual symposium of the UBC chapter of the Association of Canadian Archivists. These kinds of skills are at least a bonus effect of projects like the films Gondry is proposing. Though I doubt I’ll ever have to make another apron out of paper bags, OM taught me team work and brainstorming skills that I use on a daily basis. In this creative problem-solving competition, a team works together to write and perform a skit that incorporates certain requirements. The creative problem solving that Gondry describes reminds me of my own dorkalicious time on Odyssey of the Mind teams as a teenager. This sort of meaningful collaboration can develop through all kinds of activities, not just film. The goal is to make and watch a movie with a group that then becomes a community. He alludes to individuals who have since gone on to other projects, but the goal is not. He also acknowledges the ambiguous value of the products of the - these films are not great art, and may be limited to the enjoyment of the persons who worked on them. His distress when teachers interfere with their students’ collaborations, or when professional filmmakers attempt to circumvent the protocol are tender and authentic. He describes with great detail some of the specific groups he observes going through the process. Gondry is particularly interested in how people create together, and ensuring participation and equality between contributors. They always rise to the occasion, which is the easiest way to get the best of people: no management required. When people are given a chance to achieve something fun, they don’t need the hassle of authority to stay focused. The rules let people focus on a single moment, while simultaneously ensuring that all the efforts produced add up to the desired result. The system to which I am referring is more like an ensemble of imagined rules that allow a participant to achieve a certain outcome. Well, not the big and vague entity that seems to run the world against everyone. These guidelines are intended to maximize collaborative creativity: ![]() Gondry organized a gallery space into a set of film sets, and brought individuals and groups in to create films using the protocol laid out in the book. The book is, among other things, a guide to a particular approach to community engagement and collaboration. Utopian Tourette’s: That is my precise condition – utopias burst out of my imagination without warning. I say it’s an odd book because he writes things like this:Īnd my utopia was once again tickling my brain. Gondry is a filmmaker, the director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Be Kind Rewind and others. On the recommendation of my buddy Kathryn, I’ve been reading Michel Gondry’s odd little book, You’ll Like This Film Because You’re In It: The Be Kind, Rewind Protocol.
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