Final Project: Freedom of Communication

The THEME of our final project was how inventions and advances in technology since the 1970s have given us more freedom of communication. Cell phones, email, and audio storages like cassette tapes and CDs are just a few of the many inventions that enable people today to communicate efficiently and quickly.

In our project, we used large floppy disks, Post-Its, a casette tape, a computer mouse, GRC's typewriter ribbon, high-density diskette, pager, vinyl record, Radio Shack cassette recorder, and studio projector light bulbs. All of these items and advances made to these items since the 1970s allow us to have more freedom of communication today. Floppy disks, casette tapes, the diskette, vinyl record etc...have allowed us to store information and data. Post-its, as well as email and cellular phones (which we had pictures and quotes for), have made communication more efficient. In a matter of minutes, news can travel from person to person or even from the government to the public. The items on our box are only a handful of the many technologies that were used since the 1970s that have improved communication.

To obtain items, my group members and I looked around our houses, before asking relatives. In addition, Ms. Sanderson helped us by passing around a box with very useful items in it that were donated or even hers! (Thank You!!!!!!!!) Every time the box came around, it was like Christmas all over again. :)

Next time, I would start the project earlier. Also, I would pick a more interesting arrangement of our boxes.

My advice for future found artists would be it's okay to procrastinate...FOR ONE DAY MAXIMUM. Then you really need to start finding items and boxes to cover and put together. Check the wonderful cardboard box mentioned above, but also ask everyone (parents, relatives, teachers, etc...) for items. Get more than ten and stick more than ten on your boxes. Make it colorful. The right yellow or red or green can make people very happy. However, make sure they match.

Make sure you have pictures and deep quotes.

Tamara Chang
Period C

We are produts of President Ronald Reagan's presidency

For our project, we chose to focus on President Ronald Reagan. This is because he was a major president during the time period (1980-1989). We focused on the things that he did during his presidency for our items.
We took a picture in front of the pieces of the Berlin wall because during Reagan's presidency he gave a famous speech that demanded that Gorbachev tear down the Berlin Wall. We also brought a Newsweek magazine that talked about what he was doing during his presidency. WE also included a program from a Stanford commencement because the guest speaker for that day was Sandra Day O'Connor. She was important because she was the first woman to be appointed to Supreme Court. She was nominated by President Reagan. We also found many political cartoons from the time period which included President Reagan
We got our objects by visiting elderly neighbors, looking on the internet, and searching through many boxes in the garage.
I would have chosen a different topic because the topic that we chose was very narrow, so it was very hard to find specific things.
I would advise people to collect their items early. If they can't find enough items, simply switch your topic! This is because without your items, your project will look blank.

We Are...

We chose technology to understand its blooming role in the seventies and on. It came to be a significant part of what defined human society, from its implications and possibilities to its negative effects on the environment. Technology became our choice as a theme mainly because of how relevant it is to our lives.

The items that we chose represented things more closely associated with normal life; we did not look for mainframe computers or large lab technology because it did not apply to the sense of everyday living that we wanted to convey. The computer mouse was a revolutionary device for all Americans with personal desktops; the record was a common source of entertainment that almost everybody had. We had quite a few computer-related items because the computer today is one of the most widely used tools today; it is one of those things without which our society would completely fall into shambles. We wanted to explore and indicate the budding of the computer and its premature state before coming to dominate modern society.

In finding our items we used many resources provided by our teacher. In addition we found old devices around our homes we knew we had. We were somewhat short on items; we didn't think of many of the interesting things we could have brought till the end. If given another chance I would have searched for technological advances in the very beginning and chosen the most interesting to bring.

The best piece of advice I could give to future students who will do this project is to start assembling the project outside of class; the one period given to assemble is not enough time to make it nice.