To Do

Try one (or all) of the following activities to heighten your awareness of the role and significance of records in your life.
Activity 1 Test your capacity to accurately convey information orally by organising a group of 15 or more people to play a game of Gossip, also known as Chinese Whispers. The object of the game is for a message to be orally repeated from person to person with total accuracy. All participants are to do their best to listen and then whisper the message exactly as they understood it. The message is only spoken one time to each person. The first person devises and writes down or receives a written 1- 2 sentence message. Some good messages to test are: Mary has a blue-eyed ewe that won the ribbon for best of breed at last year’s Easter Show. George Swan won thousands of dollars using his knowledge of trivia. His winning answer was Coo-ee. Or make up one of your own with similar complexity. The first person memorises, then whispers this message to the next person ensuring that other members of the group cannot hear it. That listener then whispers exactly what was heard on to the next person and so on down the line until the last person receives and writes down the message. The last person then repeats the message out loud to the group. The first person then reads out the original message and the group compares them. Group discussion following might analyse what sorts of errors occurred and why; what factors could impede or improve the accuracy of transfer; the relative merits and disadvantages of oral versus written communication.
Activity 2 Imagine that it is your first day at a new job/school/college/university. You are asked to introduce yourself to a group at lunch. What do you say?
1. Write down the first few points that come to mind then compare your response with the sample ones. Some possible responses:
2. Now, if you had to PROVE that what you claim is true, how would you do it? Did your answer involve using records? Compare your response with the sample ones. Some possible means of proof:
Activity 3 Have a discussion session comparing meanings understood when a phrase is written and then spoken in several different ways. It is helpful to see that humans often need written and spoken language, often with expression and gesture added to communicate fully. Language also lends itself to variation and play. There is a difference between writing poetry, for instance, and reciting poetry. A poem can take on numerous meanings dependent upon the oral presentation. Indeed, language does affect how we think, the shape of our ideas. For example, many of us have felt (emotionally) something, but when asked to describe it aloud, we were unable to. However, some find that if they write what they are feeling, especially in verse, they are able to describe the color and texture of emotions they could not verbalise. Writing allows for the time to craft words in creative ways. Another activity might be to read and experience examples of the emotion-evoking work of the American poet E E Cummings at http://www-scf.usc.edu/~thier/ee/.
Activity 4 Reach into your pocket or purse and place those items that you rely on most in conducting your everyday life on the table or desk before you.
1. Choose 2 or 3 of the most important of these items, name them and explain what you use each of them for and why they are very valuable or important. Some possible responses:
2. In a few phrases, explain how you obtained the most important one of those documents? What processes, transactions and proofs were required? Again, compare your response with the sample ones. Some possible responses: BACK