Research Blog#4-Junction Triangle Digital Memories

Research Blog #4: Junction Triangle-Digital Memories

On Saturday evening, P.J. and I booked out a camera and started filming an interview for Inuit Blanche within the Junction Triangle. I want like to give some background details about the geographical nature of the Junction. The "triangle" shape of the neighbourhood is formed by the three sets of railroad tracks on the north, west, and east sides. The community is literally bordered by train tracks, as a train roars by this small community every three minutes. We interviewed a local filmmaker (Jeff Winch), who used his documentary about “electric trains”, to create social change within his community. The Junction is facing a political uproar, as members of this working class community are becoming upset about the incoming locomotive traffic that is whistling by their town. A rail committee is set up on their website to promote the environmentally friendly use of electric trains. The increased diesel traffic surrounding the border can create health problems for the families who are living within the border. A website was developed to help fight the excessive use of diesel traffic and to give community members a voice, via the World Wide Web. This relates to our research question, as PJ, Joe and myself would like to examine the use of social media and how it preserves the history of a community.

However, we also developed a second part to this research question, as we would like to incorporate digital archiving and digital memories into our collaborative research project. For our documentary we would like to examine “memories” and what constitutes a memory through digital history. Our next step is to interview a local resident from the Junction community to give us a brief history of the Junction, along with a walking tour of the three intersecting railroads. We will ask him specific questions, relating to the use of archiving and how their history will be preserved for future generations to come.