When Nations Remember

Event:
When Nations Remember - An International Conference on Memory

Date :
11 & 12 October, 2010

Please check out the program schedules "here" .

Mr Lam Chun See, Blogger, "Good Morning Yesterday"

At 58, Mr Lam Chun See is one of the oldest bloggers in Singapore. He started his blog, Good Morning Yesterday (http://goodmorningyesterday.blogspot.com) in September 2005 to share stories about life in Singapore in the ‘kampong days’. Since then, he has posted more than 400 articles to his blog and has a regular following of readers who actively participate in discussions in his blog. Several of them, including readers from overseas have shared their stories as guest bloggers. Some even sent him their old photos of Singapore from as far back as the 1940′s.

Mr Lam’s blog has been featured in the local media several times – Today, Lianhe Zaobao, 938Live and the New Paper. He has also been invited to share his blogging experience with senior citizens through talks at the National Library and RSVP Singapore. He has inspired a number of other senior citizens to start similar nostalgia blogs.

Currently he is in the process of writing a book about growing up in Singapore in the 1950′s and 60′s.

Mr Char Lee, Blogger, "Second Shot"

Char Lee is a professional in the IT industry. Since 2008, he has started a blog 2ndshot (http://2ndshot.blogspot.com) on his humble attempt at PHP (precision heritage photography). The blog also records his grandiose adventures locally and overseas in searching for little nuggets of history and heritage. When free, he can be found wandering along our streets and elsewhere, trying to uncover their geographical past. Char Lee is a FOYer (Friend of Yesterday.sg), a group of heritage enthusiasts who regularly blog on heritage-related topics, under NHB’s social media platform. In 2009 he made it to front page of My Paper for his work on PHP.

Synopsis for Presentation
(Tuesday, 12 October 2010, 9.00 am – 9.30 am)

Capturing memories through blogs

A session by two Singaporean, Mr Lam Chun See and Mr Char Lee, who have chosen to capture and share their memories of Singapore through blogs.

Mr Lam started “Good Morning Yesterday” to reminisce about the ‘good old days’ with readers of his generation and to educate younger Singaporeans about life in Singapore between 1950s to 1970s. His blog is a vibrant exchange of his memories and his readers, through topics such as ‘Kampong Life’, ‘Places that no longer exist’, ‘fun and games’ amongst others. In this talk, he will share whether his objectives have been reached and the impact of his blog in Singapore.

A black-and-white photo of a Sook Ching screening station during the Japanese Occupation in Singapore sparked Mr Lee’s curiosity: ‘Who took the picture?’, ‘Under what circumstances’ and ‘Where did the photographer stand?’. Thus, the blog “Second Shot”, was started as his passion for “Precision Heritage Photography” and interest in Singapore’s history was fuelled. Mr Lee will share, in this talk, his experience in heritage blogging from the perspective of the younger generation not in the field of heritage research as well as his objectives of making history a little more fun, engaging and exciting.

Sypnosis for “Up-Close” session
(Tuesday, 12 October 2010, 1.45 pm – 3.00 pm)

Participants to discuss and brainstorm on the following questions:
a. Why we need to get more people to blog about the past?
b. How to get more people aboard?
c. What are the challenges; e.g. older people have strong resistance to using
blogs?
d. How to overcome those challenges?
e. Conclusion