On Monday I attended the launch and first public lecture of the Swansea University’s centenary celebration Swansea 2020 and the launch of the Centenary Essays site.
At the lecture, Sam Blaxland, the historian appointed by the University to write the history of the University’s first 100 years, gave us an excellent overview of the highlights of that centenary and how he went about writing the book which will be released in June.
Twitter 1920?
On Wednesday, in the lead up to the LTHChat (wakelet), my Twitter colleague Simon Rae asked me how I thought the original academics who welcomed the first 80 odd students to enrol in 1920 might have viewed Twitter:
https://twitter.com/simonrae/status/1220073803126116358
To which I replied:
https://twitter.com/cpjobling/status/1220074148074020865
This led to this interesting conversation between Simon and Sam (tweeting as @Swansea2020) which I include in full:
https://twitter.com/simonrae/status/1220089291449290753
https://twitter.com/Swansea2020/status/1220258605905207296
https://twitter.com/simonrae/status/1220373883666280450
https://twitter.com/Swansea2020/status/1220385428940959746
https://twitter.com/simonrae/status/1220440801127342084
https://twitter.com/Swansea2020/status/1220442950653698061
https://twitter.com/simonrae/status/1220733403882041344
Oral History and Podcasting
Sam’s approach to writing his history included the use of oral history and he has interviewed hundreds of people over the three-year project. He has adapted these skills further by hosting the University’s Exploring Global Problems Podcast an excellent series that is worth a listen!