I had a hard time deciding what type of visual aid I could make that would enhance my project that is already so visually based. I thought of a timeline that sort of describes my relationship with one of texts might a good way to do this, and it might sort of model to the students what one goes thru when one is creating/experiencing/talking about nostalgia.
This flip book (or timeline) shows not only the history of the text, but also my history with the text. My hope is that this would sort of explain how nostalgia works in real life. Wizard of Oz wasn't just a movie I watched whenever I was sick (although it was that, as well). It was a movie we talked about as a family, convinced, as explained in the flip book, that my Grandmother was the star (she wasn't, but this didn't stop me and the older cousins from propagating this rumor).
This specific flip book allowed me to see how nostalgia works for me. I don’t generally liken myself to someone who looks at things from point a to point b, but this project forced me to sort of do that. It was interesting to see where it all began, and to add personal highlights in there as well, for that is where the nostalgia comes from. This really made me look at the text(s) from a historical standpoint, which is something I might not have done otherwise. I thought the re-release in 1949 was key as was the television premiere, and subsequent viewings.
The flip book I created via dipity.com is something that I would use in class to show not only how my personal relationship with this film has evolved, but how the film has left it's mark on our cultural landscape. This is a very rudimentary example, and I could have gone deeper including memes, tattoos, other films this film has inspired and so on. It's cultural reach is almost infinite. But rather than focusing on that I chose to focus on my personal relationship since nostalgia is such a huge role in this project.
This specific visualization method could be used as we work through the project, or as a final project of sorts. Students could pick their own text and create a timeline on how this has informed their cultural existence.This was a rather easy visual project to put together, especially for a luddite like myself (I am way better at reading about technology than I am at applying it). This is also something that was easily done on a computer and could be accomplished by less experienced researchers over the course of a couple of class periods.
One drawback of this method, is that I can't seem to figure out how to edit my timeline. However, one of the plusses is that if this is a topic you are meaning to keep up with, you can set up searches that will automatically add to your timeline for you. This might be a good way for students to keep track of a topic their interested in, or just their writing progress in general.
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