Older generations love to complain about the prevalence of technology in today’s society. It feels as if every other published think piece is about how technology keeps us further apart and distracts us from simple pleasures.
A Pew poll from 2013 found 44 percent of people older than 65 don’t use the Internet at all and 92 percent said they had no desire to use it. This is shortsighted thinking, and the British Library has just given us another reason why.
The British Library’s Discovering Literature website has recently uploaded hundreds of “literary treasures.” The latest batch of treasures covers the Romantic and Victorian literary ages, but the Library hopes to eventually have artifacts ranging from “Beowulf” to John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics the website.
Anyone familiar with the Library knows it has a vast inventory of amazing letters, handwritten speeches and other artifacts from the history of English literature.
Considering I’m a bit of a nerd, I once spent a whole day exploring what the British Library had to offer in historically significant manuscripts and artifacts, from Thomas Hardy’s original manuscripts to Shakespeare’s “First Folio,” and I hardly scratched the surface.
The new site has digitized about 1,200 more artifacts and is now giving previously unavailable insight to millions of fans of classic literature.
However, these artifacts would never be available to the vast majority of people interested in them if not for the technological advances and dedication of the Library. This is a perfect example of the benefits of the globalizing effect of the Internet.
The British Library started this process to help students today connect to the history of English literature, which, due to our common language and history, is taught in schools in the United States as well.
The Library cited a ComRes survey in the Guardian that stated 76 percent of students find it hard to relate to authors from previous centuries. This collection of artifacts and manuscripts aims to make the history of classic literature more relatable. Students aren’t the only ones who can benefit.
The British Library utilizes the universal and relative ease of the Internet to bring the past to the present.
Curious people of all ages, who would never have been able to see these artifacts in real life, are now able to access not only the artifacts, but also world-class commentary and analysis of these artifacts.
Technology continues to broaden the horizons of people all over the world and not just in literature. Technology is an incredible educational resource. Libraries and companies continue to find new ways to utilize it for the betterment of the population.
Anyone still resisting is only missing out.
jordrile@indiana.edu
@RiledUpIDS
