Starting off this study abroad experience in London has exceeded my expectations. I expected to have a disadvantage on this trip, since I am not a communications major. I thought that that I might not connect strongly enough with the discussions present nor the material that we would learn, but London has proved me wrong. From the British Museum where we began our journey to Sky News where we ended our London tour, I have developed a bigger appreciation for the communications world and how strongly of an impact the historical meaning of communications has been prevalent amongst our society.
Two of the main sites that really spoke to me included touring the Churchill War Rooms, discovering the secret history that lives underground in London, and Sky News, a multi-media news operation in London. As I was walking around the Churchill War Rooms, I tried to place myself in their shoes at the time, working continuously down there “in fear” of being found or bombed during the war. The communication prevalent and strategic ways in communicating and transporting information to one another to overthrow the Germans was very prevalent during my time visiting the Churchill War Rooms and how it contrasts heavily with modern technology seen on our tours at the BBC and especially Sky News. An aspect of the visit to the Churchill museum that really spoke to me included the time in creating one document or piece of information and the added time in transporting that one information from one person to another, especially in time of war, where time is of the essence. I look at my life today and wander how it was even possible to come out of this war with such limited technology in communicating, compared to the various social media sites and instant feed of information prevalent in our society today that is at the touch of our hands. Looking at the tracing of a map that must have taken hours to a cartoon of the war to a single copy of a letter emphasizes to me the importance of documentation and communication and its improvements seen today.
Touring Sky News was a whole different perspective. As it was much more relatable to the modern era, with social media and modern technology being so prevalent amongst the offices, it was clear how much faster news traveled at Sky News than during World War II but how it still has an everlasting stressful impact amongst reporters and news casters. The mass production was very concentrated at Sky News, contrasting with the 1940’s at the Churchill War Rooms. A very impactful moment for me was the acknowledgement on my part of how much security there was following picture-taking in the news areas on our part as tourists. I never realized how much our society and “the people” actually have an affect on media today and how news, like a simple picture we take at Sky News or BBC, could leak to various social media sites and essentially all over the world.
I really took notice of the contrasting differences between the two places, but in the end I noticed that communications and reporting will always have its stressful impacts no matter how much technology or modernity is produced through time. It is a 24/7 career that has a powerful impact upon history and our society everyday, and a part of life that we constantly depend on, something that I tend to take for granted.
- Tori Ford
Two of the main sites that really spoke to me included touring the Churchill War Rooms, discovering the secret history that lives underground in London, and Sky News, a multi-media news operation in London. As I was walking around the Churchill War Rooms, I tried to place myself in their shoes at the time, working continuously down there “in fear” of being found or bombed during the war. The communication prevalent and strategic ways in communicating and transporting information to one another to overthrow the Germans was very prevalent during my time visiting the Churchill War Rooms and how it contrasts heavily with modern technology seen on our tours at the BBC and especially Sky News. An aspect of the visit to the Churchill museum that really spoke to me included the time in creating one document or piece of information and the added time in transporting that one information from one person to another, especially in time of war, where time is of the essence. I look at my life today and wander how it was even possible to come out of this war with such limited technology in communicating, compared to the various social media sites and instant feed of information prevalent in our society today that is at the touch of our hands. Looking at the tracing of a map that must have taken hours to a cartoon of the war to a single copy of a letter emphasizes to me the importance of documentation and communication and its improvements seen today.
Touring Sky News was a whole different perspective. As it was much more relatable to the modern era, with social media and modern technology being so prevalent amongst the offices, it was clear how much faster news traveled at Sky News than during World War II but how it still has an everlasting stressful impact amongst reporters and news casters. The mass production was very concentrated at Sky News, contrasting with the 1940’s at the Churchill War Rooms. A very impactful moment for me was the acknowledgement on my part of how much security there was following picture-taking in the news areas on our part as tourists. I never realized how much our society and “the people” actually have an affect on media today and how news, like a simple picture we take at Sky News or BBC, could leak to various social media sites and essentially all over the world.
I really took notice of the contrasting differences between the two places, but in the end I noticed that communications and reporting will always have its stressful impacts no matter how much technology or modernity is produced through time. It is a 24/7 career that has a powerful impact upon history and our society everyday, and a part of life that we constantly depend on, something that I tend to take for granted.
- Tori Ford