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I loaned Janet my video camera this morning. It was last minute, and I didn't have a blank tape to give her, so I started looking through some unlabeled tapes in my drawer to see if any had enough space for her to use. The first one I popped into the VCR had my shots of the WTC on fire. Strong stuff.
Disregarding all the emotional and political issues surrounding that specific event, what most struck me was the degree to which I was immediately transported back to that moment. I could literally feel myself up on the roof shooting that footage. Part of this total recall was, undoubtedly, due to the rather charged nature of that day. But another big part of it was that I took those shots. I don't think seeing someone else's footage would have quite the same effect.
Maybe this is something to be mined in terms of supporting personal media (personal publishing? weblogging?) Maybe one important thing about weblogging is that the process of recording events gives you much better future access to those events. In other words, it helps you remember. And not just because you could always go back and look something up on your site.
This is also connected somehow with the memory effect where I often forget people's names right after being introduced if I don't repeat the name out loud. "Nice to meet you John Smith." Maybe weblogging is like repeating important facts out loud so that you remember them.
I guess the counter argument would be that you are remembering your recording of an event, and not the event itself. Hmmm. Does this matter?