Media Options for Transmission
Marina Keegan’s essay is an interesting case when considering the best method of preservation and dissemination. On the one hand, it has been widely disseminated in its original form online when it was published by the Yale Daily News. Lesser known but still significant has been the book form of her essay and other works, published posthumously by Marina’s parents two years after her passing.
I am working within essentially the same framework as Marina’s parents did just five years ago; not many media options have been added since then. In this assignment, I consider two media options – website and manuscript edition – and conclude that since Marina’s essay has already had the greatest reach and preservation on online platforms, continuing with a website version of her essay is best for my purposes of public preservation and dissemination. However, I recognize the value of manuscript as a “keepsake media” for those who were closest to her.
When she first wrote her essay, Marina’s audience was the Yale community reading print copies of the Yale Daily News, and readers at the online YDN platform. After her death, however, her words of inspiration “resounded around the globe,” receiving 1.4 million hits in 98 countries and “transforming her into an icon for her generation.” A major benefit of digital technology like the YDN page and the Opposite of Loneliness blog/website is its incredible reach. In such little time, Marina’s essay received worldwide recognition and attention. Even today, using a web search is how most people discover Marina and her essay. Platforms such as blogs and newspaper archives exist untouched by the elements for much longer than “legacy” technologies.
However, I really value manuscript as a way to preserve Marina’s words in a way that reflects their specialness and beauty. A “special edition” manuscript, similar to the Opposite of Loneliness book published by her parents, could include images of Marina, letters/essays/poems/artwork from fond readers, and of course, her original essay. A limited number of these manuscripts would be printed and shared, I imagine primarily to Marina’s family, close friends, former teachers, etc. Although this manuscript would have a very small audience/reach, such a technology instead has a different kind of long-lasting value; it exists to be cherished and to visually and kinesthetically celebrate Marina’s beautiful words.
For my purposes, I favor an online media, such as a blog or website. My goal is for other readers, especially young/college-aged people, to discover Marina and her words, and the majority of my target audience would do this most easily online. I may also utilize social media, such as Instagram, with selected quotes and images of Marina or her handwriting to direct viewers to the website with the full text. If given the opportunity and resources, however, I would really enjoy the project of creating a manuscript for her family and friends, because I think such a gesture would be a more directly important way of demonstrating that Marina is not forgotten and her legacy and impact lives on, even in the lives of people who, like me, never knew her.