Actress Eva Holubová in an unusual role. They search for seniors on the Internet
Fun instructions on how to easily search in online cadastres, registries, chronicles or old newspapers are part of the project We lived through this. It is an educational website mainly for seniors who are supposed to supplement or replace courses at the university of the third age. For example, for those who are not mobile or live too far from the university town, or are afraid to walk among many people due to the uncertain coronavirus situation. It focuses on the history of the 20th century, as history tends to be the most popular subject among seniors. The authors want to reach teachers and their students with their website.
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The author of the project, Martin Jemelka, got the idea when the pandemic broke out in March 2020 and he had to cancel a lecture at the University of the Third Age in Pardubice. “Everything possible was solved in teaching, but it did not reach the seniors. They were supposed to just sit at home, not go out and not associate with anyone. at the same time, he is known from his lectures as a very active person. I knew it couldn’t be left like that,” he explained.
When a call came from the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic for projects that eliminated the various impacts of covid on society, she applied for the website proposal This is what we experienced. The project just has higher ambitions than seniors in recent history.
“We would like to motivate them not to be afraid to use mobile phones, tablets and computers for active research. We show them what can be done with them,” outlined Masaryk Institute historian Martin Jemelka. The creators also attached worksheets, maps and quizzes to documentaries about floods, conscription, the Spanish flu or currency reform.
Online research can reach more people
Since they created all the film documentaries, instructional videos and worksheets in a team of only a few people, it took them a year and a half to prepare and they were done only now in September. However, according to Jemelka, it is not missed, because due to the energy crisis of some universities, I have to consider teaching online again. In addition, online research can reach many more people than commuting to a big city for courses.
“It took a lot of work to convince Eva Holubová to cooperate. At first she rejected us, saying that the Internet is evil and not by mistake,” explained Martin Jemelka. But then she finally agreed, and her initial skepticism about modern technologies and online research managed to be broken by the archivist Sonia Martinovská, with whom she filmed instructional videos.
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Source: Youtube
“Ms. Holubová is a great professional, so filming with her was a pleasure. She wasn’t afraid of new technologies, rather she distrusted them. She introduced some lines into the script herself, because she knows how distrustful older people react to modern news,” said Martinovská. When in front of the camera he helps the actress with the search in the electronic version of the cadastre, register or chronicle, he reassures her that she can’t do anything wrong even with clumsy handling and that all the recommended tools are free. “Look, it looks quite simple,” Holubová praises herself in the video.
In just a few steps together, they can find such details as the harsh winter in Jindřichov Hradec in 1929, about which Holubová’s grandfather told her, or how it used to look at the Malá Punčocha pond, where she used to go with her parents, and how it looks today. “I’m used to presenting things about archives in an understandable way. I was trained in this by older relatives, whom I advised on how to search in online registries when they are making a family tree,” noted Soňa Martinovská.
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The project has another important dimension. He would like to give Czech seniors confidence that they can overcome the current crisis. To show that pandemics, war fears, economic problems or weather vagaries were there in the recent past. “We want to show the seniors what they have been through and what rich experience they have in overcoming similar crises. In short, for them to say to themselves: ‘If we have overcome all this and endured, now we can also handle the effects of the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis,'” explained Jemelka.
“We put what is happening today in context with historical events. We will also be happy if we can convince seniors that a lot of interesting and useful things can be found on the Internet and that anyone can become a researcher,” added Martinovská.