L'Ús pedagògic de la fotografia històrica = Pedagogical use of historical photography

Abstract

This paper aims at exposing some pedagogical possible uses of historical photography. The pedagogical proposal is based on an original method to study photography. The paper is divided in two parts. The first one is dedicated to present a method to study photography, which lays the foundation for the pedagogical proposal to be formulated in the second part of the paper. The proposed method operates according to the following principle: the photography should be interpreted as a fragment; a fragment of time and a fragment of space. As a result of this interpretation, the mentioned fragments are studied from an archaeological point of view, just as a ceramic fragment is. Consequently: 1) every fragment contains meaningful information and relationships; a perceptive observation is required to take out from its details that information and those relationships. 2) But the fragment needs also to be immersed in an external information solvent, because by means of a kind of osmosis with the contextual information, the information provided by the fragment will be consequently enriched. 3) As a fragment, it may be fitted in with other fragments; so when we fit one photo as a time fragment with another photo the result is not two instants but one process; hence the change can be perceived compared to only two instants. In the same way, it is very expressive to join two or more photos as space fragments because, as the author tries to demonstrate in this paper, this makes easier to pass from singularities to abstract concepts. This first part of the paper does also deal with relationships created into a picture considering that the picture is the result of a look and not only the product of viewing through a viewfinder.
It is easy to deduce from this method for the analysis the photography a number of possibilities to be implemented for educational purposes. In the second part it is tackled this transfer of the method of analysis to the pedagogical practice; furthermore two original computer applications are set out to work the photography by this method in education. These applications can be used at every educational level.