For my final reflection for DTC 201, I chose to listen to the oral history projects from Jaclyn Erickson, Zach Larson, and Bethany Smyth.

While listening to Jaclyn’s audio story, it was interesting to get to see if her aunt had evolved from using the record player as a child, through her teenage years, and now when she is an older adult. As an audience, we got to hear how her aunt has started using other forms of technology for playing music but still has her record player and continues to use it.  We usually learn about how people and their favorite technologies evolve over time, since newer devices get created and sold, but Jaclyn’s aunt really stayed true to using her record player not only for the sentimental feelings it gave her but for her personal taste in the quality of music it showcased. This is a great example of how technological development has definitely changed throughout the decades but demonstrates how some people choose to not follow the developmental alterations to these devices, which is what Jaclyn’s aunt did.

The second oral history project, Zachary Larson’s, focused around the progression of cameras. The subject of the interview was Blake Gurney. One interesting thing that Gurney mentioned was how a lot of households used to only have one camera. I thought this was interesting because I was able to reflect on my upbringing and could relate to Gurney’s observation. A very relevant part of the interview was when Gurney mentioned how nowadays it seems as if everyone has access to a camera with them. This is 100% true to anyone who owns a newer version of a cellphone, laptop, etc. This interview was a great example of oral history because as a listener, I was able to understand and hear interesting topics of conversation and how they have impacted Gurney throughout his life.

For the third oral history project, I chose to listen to Bethany Smyth’s. Smyth focused her project around the process of getting music as a downloaded source and how the accessibility of it has changed over time. While listening to her interview, I was able to really look back and relate with the responses to how I used to get music on my iPod. It was really fun to get to think about that time of my life and see how much technology has changed. My friends and I would use pirated websites to download songs off YouTube and now we can pay about $5 a month to have unlimited access to songs. This was a great example of oral history, especially with people in the same generation, because everyone is able to share their own stories. It was very clear to the listeners how the upgrades of getting music impacted the interviewees.