I assume that I am not the only one with doubts about her future professional goals. While we made it to this collegiate land of knowledge and promise, we only prolonged the inevitable realization that we are, in fact, grown up. While Clarkson graduates are known for getting good jobs (refer to the Clarkson article below for statistics), I find that thinking about post-graduate life is a little intimidating. I have that general idea of where I want to end up - behind a camera, doing field work, and in museums or universities. But where I can find something like that is more problematic.
As a Social Documentation major, I am getting two Bachelor's degrees in History and Communications. While I really like what I do and how cool it sounds to have two Bachelor's degrees by the age of twenty, I am constantly told by peers and prospective employers what few options I have at a school mainly focused on STEM fields. There has been constant talk about the downturn in students' knowledge of the Humanities and Social Sciences (reference the New York Times article below). Those trained in the communication field are also unappreciated and underemployed in today's very left-brain professional workplace. However, I feel like I have skills applicable to the real world. It took a bit of persuasion from the faculty members associated with the Social Documentation program. But I am now a very happy and academically challenged student learning the skills of a documentarian.
As a Social Documentation major, I am getting two Bachelor's degrees in History and Communications. While I really like what I do and how cool it sounds to have two Bachelor's degrees by the age of twenty, I am constantly told by peers and prospective employers what few options I have at a school mainly focused on STEM fields. There has been constant talk about the downturn in students' knowledge of the Humanities and Social Sciences (reference the New York Times article below). Those trained in the communication field are also unappreciated and underemployed in today's very left-brain professional workplace. However, I feel like I have skills applicable to the real world. It took a bit of persuasion from the faculty members associated with the Social Documentation program. But I am now a very happy and academically challenged student learning the skills of a documentarian.
We should probably discuss what Social Documentation is while we are at it. From my experience, Social Documentation majors learn about the social and cultural events in the past and present as well as the skills to create and promote media focused on these topics. The first recognizable form of large-scale documenting began with the invention of the camera. This allowed an audience to see what the creator saw rather than interpret the words of an author. While photographs can be just as manipulative as a written account, social documentation was founded on the principles of telling some sort of truth. While there is always bias in the work of a documentarian, the ultimate goal of the documentary was to educate the public and express the creator's activism through some form of media.
For example, Dorothea Lange's photo Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California (left) was taken in California during the Great Depression in the 1930's. Working with the Resettlement Administration of California, she used her artwork to confront the strain put upon migrant workers during a time in American history when stability wasn't something many families had.
For example, Dorothea Lange's photo Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California (left) was taken in California during the Great Depression in the 1930's. Working with the Resettlement Administration of California, she used her artwork to confront the strain put upon migrant workers during a time in American history when stability wasn't something many families had.
Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California (1936) by Dorothea Lange Image source: http://media.npr.org/assets/ img/2010/04/28/lange1_custom_custom-476731ac7043e64e47c7d30efedbe45fff0c566e-s6-c30.jpg | A lot of documentation is of ordinary people and communities because they are the voices rarely heard in textbooks and historical accounts. The developments in film, video, audio, digital, and web technology have completely restructured the format of documentation in post-modern times. However, the principles are still the same, and the goal is still to showcase powerful cultural content. But how does this relate to my major? |
Fast forward to twenty-first century technology, specifically HD cameras, HTML web design, and a lot of Adobe products. This past week, I have filmed and edited a three-minute skit, coded a simple website, and designed the layout of a future website with Photoshop. This is not the same technology used by Jacob Riis or Nanook of the North. The three-minute skit was created for my Video Production I class and the websites are for my Communications internship for the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. While those sound very technical and sometimes tedious, they require a background in the Humanities and Social Documentation. | |
Take for example the video above. This was the skit my group and I produced for Video Production I. It had a set script, but we could do whatever we wanted with the creative elements. We chose to make it into a humorous depiction of how tutorials usually go when learning about something you are not experienced in, such as the girl watching these experienced swing dancers in order to learn how to swing dance. There were hours of planning, filming, and editing that went into just those three minutes. This specific project was in the purely communication-based subject of digital video production. But I previously applied these same skills in a social documentary. In the class Documenting Social Activism which I took last year, we were required to pick a piece of activism that we felt was important to us and make a documentary out of it. My project was called "The Butterfly Effect", an examination of the culture surrounding sex offenses. I examined the stigma placed upon the sex offenders, the victims of sex offenses, and the families of sex offenders in a corrupt system. While researching the history of sex offenses in America, I was also learning video and editing techniques useful in media production.
I learned how to design and code webpages using the HTML and CSS web languages last year in the class Intro to Web Design. While this doesn't seem like a skill I would need in the Humanities, it has become an effective medium in the communication of my work. During the same semester as Web Design, I was taking the class Voices of the Past, a history class on the theory and practice of oral history. While most of the students used the oral history interviews they conducted to write traditional research papers, I incorporated my interviews and historical research into a photo documentary and website on my subject, the history of the Frederic Remington Art Museum in Ogdensburg, NY (link to the website listed below). The days I spend coding out the website were worthwhile because the final product effectively communicated what I had learned during the process of creating an oral history and photo documentary.
And these skills, such as video editing and web design, are how Social Documentation will be useful to me in the future. I am using my communication skills to make a difference in the world. This semester, as part of my Communications Internship for the HSS department, I am designing websites for oral history projects, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and the Smart Housing opened in Woodstock Village. I am promoting clients' work through social media on topics like African procurement and corruption in the government. I am filming and editing actors in my video production class for the purpose of documenting important cultural concepts. This blog is a piece of social documentation, no question. These are my experiences and my point of view in today's cultural environment. So for those of you who think a major in the Humanities and Social Sciences won't be worthwhile, I strongly disagree. I understand that it isn't clear to everyone what the purpose of the Humanities and Social Sciences is, but I feel that my education is very relevant to our current culture. I definitely got the picture last week at the Career Fair as literally no one asked for an interview unless it was in Public Relations or Human Resources. In the future, I don't know exactly where I'll be. But I know what I'll be doing. I'll probably still be sitting behind this computer creating documentaries for the purpose of cultural education. And I can't wait.
The Social Scientific Method will be updated once a week with posts involving the happenings on campus, in the HSS department, and my experience as a student. Please comment, share, and enjoy for many weeks to come!
I learned how to design and code webpages using the HTML and CSS web languages last year in the class Intro to Web Design. While this doesn't seem like a skill I would need in the Humanities, it has become an effective medium in the communication of my work. During the same semester as Web Design, I was taking the class Voices of the Past, a history class on the theory and practice of oral history. While most of the students used the oral history interviews they conducted to write traditional research papers, I incorporated my interviews and historical research into a photo documentary and website on my subject, the history of the Frederic Remington Art Museum in Ogdensburg, NY (link to the website listed below). The days I spend coding out the website were worthwhile because the final product effectively communicated what I had learned during the process of creating an oral history and photo documentary.
And these skills, such as video editing and web design, are how Social Documentation will be useful to me in the future. I am using my communication skills to make a difference in the world. This semester, as part of my Communications Internship for the HSS department, I am designing websites for oral history projects, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and the Smart Housing opened in Woodstock Village. I am promoting clients' work through social media on topics like African procurement and corruption in the government. I am filming and editing actors in my video production class for the purpose of documenting important cultural concepts. This blog is a piece of social documentation, no question. These are my experiences and my point of view in today's cultural environment. So for those of you who think a major in the Humanities and Social Sciences won't be worthwhile, I strongly disagree. I understand that it isn't clear to everyone what the purpose of the Humanities and Social Sciences is, but I feel that my education is very relevant to our current culture. I definitely got the picture last week at the Career Fair as literally no one asked for an interview unless it was in Public Relations or Human Resources. In the future, I don't know exactly where I'll be. But I know what I'll be doing. I'll probably still be sitting behind this computer creating documentaries for the purpose of cultural education. And I can't wait.
The Social Scientific Method will be updated once a week with posts involving the happenings on campus, in the HSS department, and my experience as a student. Please comment, share, and enjoy for many weeks to come!
Article on the statistics of Clarkson graduate employment: http://clarkson.edu/news/2014/news-release_2014-09-15-1.html
New York Times' article on the Humanities: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/opinion/sunday/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-english-major.html
More information on Dorothea Lange: http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=3373
My oral history/documentary the Frederic Remington Art Museum: http://people.clarkson.edu/~bakerer/comm341/fredericremington/
More information on Clarkson's Social Documentation major: http://www.clarkson.edu/catalog/10-11/curriculums/social_documentation.html
Note that any writing or opinions on this blog do not reflect the views of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences or Clarkson University.
New York Times' article on the Humanities: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/opinion/sunday/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-english-major.html
More information on Dorothea Lange: http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=3373
My oral history/documentary the Frederic Remington Art Museum: http://people.clarkson.edu/~bakerer/comm341/fredericremington/
More information on Clarkson's Social Documentation major: http://www.clarkson.edu/catalog/10-11/curriculums/social_documentation.html
Note that any writing or opinions on this blog do not reflect the views of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences or Clarkson University.