Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?
Bussell, Mark. “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2017,
A man named Zeke Schein purchased a photo that he thought depicted the blues music legend, Robert Johnson, who was prevalent in the 1930’s. Since this claim, forensic experts have had disagreements as to whether or not this photo is of Robert Johnson. The age and grain of the paper the photo was printed on indicated that it is from the 1930’s, but the style of suit, the zoot suit, is not typical of that time period. Another discrepancy regarding the photo is that Johnson appears to be holding the guitar as though he was a lefty, even though he was actually a righty. However, the guitar is stringless meaning that it was probably a prop for the photoshoot so Johnson may have been indifferent to which hand he held the guitar in. Two of Johnson’s close friends David “Honeyboy” Edwards and Robert Lockwood Jr., didn’t recognize Johnson from this photo. However, Johnson’s son confirmed that the photo was of his father. Vanity fair published an article that shed light on the everyday man, Zeke Schlein, and his photo of Johnson which began the criticism of Schlein and speculation that these claims were for financial gains. Schlein countered this criticism by saying “They were accusing us of only being in it for money, which was never the goal for either of us. I needed to at least explain my position, why I cared so much about trying to put out a musician’s image who affected me.” As investigations of this photo continue, it is still unclear if this photo is of Johnson, or Schlein’s motives behind this claims.
This article is relevant to society because Robert Johnson impacted music and history. Johnson was working in the 1930’s so only two confirmed photographs of him exist, and a third photo-documentation of this legend would be an incredibly important historical document. It is also interesting how the process of investigating the photograph involved knowledge of fashion trends throughout history, and details about Johnson’s own life, such as his dominant hand.
This article is well-written. It is concise and easy to understand. The article would be better if the beginning focused more on speculations of Mr. Schlein because it would have made the article seam more relevant and pressing. This article also did not explain who Mr. Schlein was, and I had to do further research to realize he was an everyday person.
18 comments:
Maggie Miller
December 12th, 2017
Current Event Comment 11
Bussell, Mark. “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2017,
https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/is-this-really-the-bluesman-robert-johnson/?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%20Science&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection
Martha Thomas submitted a review of the article “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” The article, which Martha did a wonderful job explaining, was about the investigation of a photo of Robert Johnson, that’s authenticity is under question. Martha also gave an excellent critique of the article, stating what might help the focus of the article be more interesting to readers. Lastly martha did a great job connecting how this article is relevant to society because of how Robert Johnson impacted the music world.
However, I found the topic of the article to be very close to the border of relevance to our forensics class. We have yet to talk about photos, and the investigators didn’t do any tests or scientific work on the photo that Martha told of. Also, judging by Martha’s review, it seems the article didn’t have much scientific information involved, however a better use of quotes could have benefitted the review.
Nonetheless, this article was very interesting to me because it is a topic I have not yet heard of before, and I am interested to learn of more ways to test the authenticity of this photo.
Zixi Chen
Mr. Ippolito
Forensics AB Odd
14 December 2017
Current Event 11
Bussell, Mark. “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2017, https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/is-this-really-the-bluesman-robert-johnson/?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%20Science&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection
Martha Thomas’s review of the article “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” by Mark Bussell is very well written. First of all, she provided very detailed explanation of the background of the case. She also clearly introduced everyone that is related to Robert Johnson who helped in the process of recognizing the photo. Also, she used a lot of direct quotes from the article, and this established the credibility of this review. As readers, we believed in her more when we see the quotes. Furthermore, she did some outside research in order to provide a detailed and complete review for the readers. This enabled her review to include opinions from many sources.
Even though this review was very interesting to read, there are some areas of possible improvements. First, it would have been nice if she included an explanation about the reasons that so many investigator are interested in this photo. After reading this, I still have the question: why does this photo matter so much? Second of all, she should use better transitional sentences between paragraphs to make flow of her review more smooth.
This review is very interesting to me because I did not think about the amount of information a photo can bring out. There are so many possible points of investigation inside one small photo-- they can analyze the type of paper, the fashion styles, and the background. A photo can provide so many pieces of information for the investigators.
Lucy Rizzo
December 12, 2017
Forensics
Current Event 11
Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?
Bussell, Mark. “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2017,
https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/is-this-really-the-bluesman-robert-johnson/?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%20Science&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection
For current event number 11, I read Martha’s summary of the article “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” I really liked Martha’s style of summarizing the article. She included important background information and transitioned her thoughts very seamlessly. I also liked how she incorporated her own thoughts and opinions into the piece. Martha also did a really good job connecting how the article connected to society and its relevance today.
To improve, Martha could have included some direct quotes to enhance the summary and bring more of the article back in for the second hand readers. I also think that if the article had not incorporated much scientific information about the photo analysis, Martha could have critiqued this flaw in the article,
However I thought Martha did a wonderful job, and I was very interested in her topic because photo analysis is not something I have learned about yet. I am interested to see how forensic analysis can impact the identification of photos for future cases.
Hayley Berry
December 13, 2017
Current Event Comment 11
Bussell, Mark. “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2017,
https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/is-this-really-the-bluesman-robert-johnson/?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%20Science&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection
For this current event I read a review written by Martha Thomas of an article called “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” Martha did a wonderful job of explaining the overall point of the article. She gave a lot of detail in her explanation of the photo that was being examined. Another thing that I thought Martha did a great job of doing in her review was a connection to the music world. She connected present day to Robert Johnson who very much impacted the music world. Lastly, I thought Martha did a great job of critiquing the article and adding her own views.
One thing that I thought Martha could have done better was finding some quotes that could have helped the explanation on why there was an interest in the photo that was being investigated. Another thing that Martha could have improved and critiqued on was the relevance of the article to the forensic class. She did a great job connecting it to the music world but not so much the forensic world.
Overall, I thought that Martha did a great job reviewing the article. I thought it was varying interesting to see how a photo could impact an investigation so much. I was very pleased to have learned something that I have not learned about and I am excited to learn more about this in the next couple of months in forensics hopefully.
Olivia Lewis
12/13/17
Current Event 11
Ippolito
Bussell, Mark. “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2017,
https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/is-this-really-the-bluesman-robert-johnson/?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%20Science&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection
Martha Thomas posted a review of the article “Is this really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” This article discusses the argument over the authenticity of a photograph allegedly depicting the blues legend Robert Johnson. I think that Martha did an amazing job of summarizing the article and the opinions of both sides of the argument. I also think that Martha did a good job of explaining how the question of whether this photo was authentic is important to society today. Finally, I think that Martha’s ideas for how the article could be improved were well thought out and true.
While Martha’s review of “Is this Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” was very good, I think that if she had included some of the methods that could have been used in order to authenticate the photo would have helped relate this article more to the forensic world. I also think that it would have been helpful if she had included quotes in her review.
Overall, I think that this article was very interesting as photo authentication is something that we have not learned about yet in class and it is also interesting to see how this case is creating so much impact.
Timmy McGrath
Forensics Current Events
Bronxville School
December 12th, 2017
Bussell, Mark. “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2017, https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/is-this-really-the-bluesman-robert-johnson/?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%20Science&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection
Martha reviewed the article “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” For starters she provided a very clear and well stated description of the case. It made it easy for the reader to understand what was going on. She did a great job showing how this case represented the music world now because of how much of an influential character Robert Johnson was in the music world. I thought Martha did a great job connecting her thoughts into the review.
Martha could have found some more quotes to incorporate into her article. This would have helped the reader understand the author's point of view. She also could have connected this a little bit more into the forensic world.
Overall I thought martha did a great job in review this article and I learned a lot while reading it.
Bussell, Mark. “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2017,
https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/is-this-really-the-bluesman-robert-johnson/?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%20Science&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection
Martha’s review of “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson” was a very interesting review. First of all, it really helped that she stated all of the discrepancies that showed the picture really wasn’t of Robert Johnson. In addition, the fact that she had David “Honeyboy” Edwards and Robert Lockwood Jr.’s opinions in her review, as well as Johnson’s son, gave me some additional information about this topic. Finally, Martha did a really good job on going even further into the topic and talking about why this topic is important for our society, talking about how only two confirmed photographs of him exist, and a third photo-documentation of this legend would be an incredibly important historical document..
Although this review was very interesting, one way it could have been made better is that Martha could have gone back through the review and added a quote from the article to make her review even more captivating. By reading it over, she could have avoided this problem and made her review more thorough. Moreover, I would have added more information on who exactly Robert Johnson was as at first I was a bit confuse. By adding one or two sentences about that topic she could have made her review even more thorough.
Overall, this review was captivating and thought-provoking. I had never heard about this problem regarding pictures of Robert Johnson, so I was intrigued when I read Martha’s review. Thus, learning about this was very enlightening and taught me many new things. Reading this review made me realize that many factors come into play when determining the authenticity of different things.
Justin McCarthy
Mr. Ippolito
Forensics 12H
Current Event 11- Commenting on Martha Thomas’s review
Due December 15th 2017
Bussell, Mark. “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2017,
https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/is-this-really-the-bluesman-robert-johnson/?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%20Science&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection
Upon reading Martha Thomas’s review on the New York Times’ author Mark Bussell regarding “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” the overall impression that I took away from reading Martha’s article was that I was impressed with multiple factors that were present in her review. However, there were three factors that stood out to me in particular. The first factor that I really enjoyed was that Martha did a great job at hooking her reader by establishing the main theme of her article regarding the problematic questioning of Robert Johnson. “A man named Zeke Schein purchased a photo that he thought depicted the blues music legend, Robert Johnson, who was prevalent in the 1930’s. Since this claim, forensic experts have had disagreements as to whether or not this photo is of Robert Johnson” (Martha Thomas). By emphasizing this point, Martha not only educates her reader but gives them interest to carry on reading because there is a conflict present between law and science. A second factor that I thought Martha did a great job at was her descriptive imagery when it came to reflecting what the main theme of this article was. I believe this was important since there were multiple times where Martha was able to make outside connections from our world to the horrible case that transcended in the 1930s. A third factor that I enjoyed from reading Martha’s review was that she did a great job at her sentence structure as well as providing evidence by using quotes from the author. I believe that this was key because by using citation it adds more validity to her work as well looking more professional.
While Martha did multiple things very well in her review, I do believe that even the best can always improve because the reality is obtaining perfection is unientable. Thence the first factor that I think Martha can improve on is perhaps finding more background information on Robert Johnson as well as the new possibility that new evidence has not been presented yet to his long closed case. “Some also have suggested that the photo was reversed, since the man in the light suit wore his watch on his right wrist and the man in the dark suit has a pocket square on the right side of his jacket, rather than the left” (Mark Bussell). By establishing this perspective, Martha could add a possible two point of views as well as more verification to her work. Another factor which I also think Martha could improve on is perhaps her sentence structure. I believe by doing this, it helps transition your articles because it can be used as a link from one sub topic to another in your reviews.
Despite your two minor issues, I, overall believe that you did a very good job working on this article and I was very impressed with the connection that you made with our world with the world back in the 1930s. Therefore the impression that I took away from learning this article is that because based on the possibility that evidence the photo provided back then, it makes it extremely likely that mistakes can be made because the technology was so limited back in the 1940’s. Thus I was very intrigued by how much a forensic investigator or in better words a photograph investigator can detect for evidence in such a small photo that is present. I chose this article because I thought it was unique from the others that I have read this year as well as I am very intrigued by the stories that the New York Times makes available. Thus the overall impact that this article had on me is that it made me aware that even the smallest details of photos taken could be when analyzed properly be keys to identifying who the suspect as well as the victim is in a crime.
Bussell, Mark. “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2017,
https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/is-this-really-the-bluesman-robert-johnson/?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%20Science&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection
Martha’s review of the article by Mark Bussell, “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” was very well written. I thought that she did a good job in providing background to what the article was about, making it easier to understand the topic. She also did a good job in connecting the issue of determining whether or not the photo was of the person it said it was, to modern society discussing its importance in both history and forensics. I thought that Martha did a good job discussing both side’s opinions which was also helpful.
Although Martha’s review was overall well written, I thought that there were a few things which she could have incorporated as well. I thought that it would have been helpful if she had incorporated more quotes from experts to expand on the forensics portion. I also thought that it would have been more helpful to include more details regarding the forensic process of confirming the person in the photograph.
Overall, I thought that Martha’s review was very interesting to read and equally informative. From reading her review of the article, I was able to learn more about the identification of a person from a photograph.
Hana Eddib 12/14/17
Forensic current event 11
Bussell, Mark. “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2017,
https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/is-this-really-the-bluesman-robert-johnson/?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%20Science&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection
Martha’s review of her article was very well written. Martha did a good job of summarizing her article and providing the right amount of details to provide context to readers. It was also smart of her to use quotes in her review to provide first hand knowledge and a close perspective. Martha’s connection to society was very thought out and I thought she provided good points.
There were two aspects Martha could improve on in writing her review. I wish she would’ve expanded on the importance of the photo and why it wasn’t being discussed. I also wish she could’ve created a forensic connection to the article since we are taking a forensics class.
Overall Martha did a good job and I was very interested to learn about photo authentication and its effect.
Ayten El-Hennawy
Current Event 11
Bussell, Mark. “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2017,
https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/is-this-really-the-bluesman-robert-johnson/?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%20Science&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection
Martha’s review of the article “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” was very well written. I liked how Martha summarized the story for us and made sure the reader knew what was going on. I also like how she stated why this article was relevant to our society. Lastly, I liked how she stated how Robert Johnson impacted the music industry.
Although Martha’s review was straightforward, I think she could’ve done a better job by including more quotes from the article to strengthen her review. I also think that she could have done a better job relating this article more to forensic science.
Overall, I think Martha chose an interesting article to talk about, I’ve also never heard about photo authentication and would love to learn more about it after reading this review.
Andy Goldbaum CE 11
Bussell, Mark. “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” The New York Times, © 2017 The New York Times Company, 10 Nov. 2017, lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/is-this-really-the-bluesman-robert-johnson/?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%2BScience&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection.
Martha Thomas did an excellent job at taking a complicated piece from the New York Times, titled “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” written by Mark Bussell, and giving only the most relevant information about who Robert Johnson was and why it was important to photographer Zeke Schein, the difficulties Schein encountered by different people having different opinions on whether the man in the photo is actually Johnson and contradicting details that indicate different time periods, and the bigger controversy about how some believed Johnson was exploiting this quest for the truth of the matter of the photo simply to make money while Johnson claimed it was simply the love for the music; however, Thomas did not include the confusing and unnecessary details such as how the “black edges” shown in the online photo were actually negatives, the type of paper indicating the time period, etc. that would be too difficult for non-photographers to understand and would distance itself from the investigation at hand and what it would have to do with forensics. Another aspect of Thomas’s article that was well written is that the summary was in a logical order. For example, she first stated who this bluesman was and how the story started with Schein purchasing the photo, then she continued on to how there are many details that do not add up in the photo and how that caused so much disagreement among the forensic expert, friends and relatives of Johnson; and she lastly explained the controversy surrounding Johnson’s quest and how many believed he was out to make money, as well as the remaining portions of the puzzle Schein and others are still solving. What makes this a logical sequence is that it follows in the same exact pattern as how the article was written. Lastly, Thomas’s second paragraph on how the content of this article affects either humanity or her life answers the prompt by describing what aspects of the article are important to humanity, which is basically the relevance Johnson has to history as well as the trends humanity took part in during a certain time period being key knowledge to analyzing the photo.
Some aspects of Thomas’s article that could use improvement include describing the relevance of this piece to forensics and including supporting examples in her final paragraph. For example, when talking about the relationship between the article and humanity, she could have described how the specialized knowledge a forensic expert might need, such as fashion trends of a certain time period, may not have been thought of as relevant before taking the class and how she realized how this sort of random-seeming knowledge reflects how big the field of forensics has become the more esoteric cases need to be investigated in society. This would have added nuance outside of merely repeating the contents of the article. Secondly, Thomas’s evaluation paragraph needs more supporting details: When Thomas describes that the article was “well-written because it is concise and easy to understand”, she should cite something specific from the article that made it easy to understand, like the sequencing of information or the strength of the explanations, etc.
What surprised me about the contents of this article was that the investigation wasn’t about a criminal case that needs to be cracked. The forensic expert was merely hired because she also has extensive knowledge on identifying people from photographs. This taught me that as the sophistication of crime cases increases as the problems of humanity become more complex.
Gordon Hoffman
12/14/17
Current Events Review
Bussell, Mark. “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2017,
https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/is-this-really-the-bluesman-robert-johnson/?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%20Science&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection
Martha’s review of “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” was very well written and she did a good job of it. She included a good amount of background information that helped the reader a lot. She also incorporated her opinions very well into her review which made it more interesting to read. She also did a great job of connecting the relevance of the article to modern times which made it more interesting to read.
It would have been nice if Martha explained why the photo was being investigated as I was confused on that at first. It also would have been nice to include some quotes from the article.
Despite that Martha did a great job and I learned a lot from her review about an interesting topic. It would be nice to learn more about the photo analysis in the future as it is something I didn’t know alot about until reading her review.
Damian Kaminski
December 14th, 2017
Ippolito Forensics D-Even
Current Event 11
Bussell, Mark. “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2017,
https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/is-this-really-the-bluesman-robert-johnson/?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%20Science&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection
Martha’s review of “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson” was a very interesting review. First of all, it really helped that she stated all of the discrepancies that showed the picture really wasn’t of Robert Johnson. In addition, the fact that she had David “Honeyboy” Edwards and Robert Lockwood Jr.’s opinions in her review, as well as Johnson’s son, gave me some additional information about this topic. Finally, Martha did a really good job on going even further into the topic and talking about why this topic is important for our society, talking about how only two confirmed photographs of him exist, and a third photo-documentation of this legend would be an incredibly important historical document..
Although this review was very interesting, one way it could have been made better is that Martha could have gone back through the review and added a quote from the article to make her review even more captivating. By reading it over, she could have avoided this problem and made her review more thorough. Moreover, I would have added more information on who exactly Robert Johnson was as at first I was a bit confuse. By adding one or two sentences about that topic she could have made her review even more thorough.
Overall, this review was captivating and thought-provoking. I had never heard about this problem regarding pictures of Robert Johnson, so I was intrigued when I read Martha’s review. Thus, learning about this was very enlightening and taught me many new things. Reading this review made me realize that many factors come into play when determining the authenticity of different things.
Jack Harwood 12/19/17
Bussell, Mark. “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2017,
https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/is-this-really-the-bluesman-robert-johnson/?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%20Science&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection
Martha’s review of “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” was very well written and she did a good job of it. Martha did a great job summarizing the story and providing lots of background details on utilizing graphics and technology. She also supplied the reader with very informative details and specific statistics. Lastly, I felt that you did a great job at explaining why it is relevant in modern society by explaining what forensic scientists could do wrong.
I believe your review could have been significantly better if your writing flowed better. It was slightly choppy and it felt like you were just listing facts. However, that being said, it allowed me to remember and understand your review more clearly. Also, I would have like to see more quotes from the author. It validates your points and with ethos, it makes your review more credible.
Overall I thought that Martha did a great job with the article and this was a very interesting read. I’ve also never heard about photo authentication and would love to learn more about it after reading this review.s.
Mairead Cain
Mr. Ippolito
Forensics
22 December 2017
Bussell, Mark. “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2017,
https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/is-this-really-the-bluesman-robert-johnson/?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%20Science&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection
Martha did a very nice job with her current event review on the article “Is This Really the Bluesman Robert Johnson?” from the New York times. I decided as the title made me curious as to who Robert Johnson was. There are many good techniques she uses throughout the report. One example is how she explains why some forensic scientists do not believe that the picture depicts Robert Johnson. Her focus on this factor of the original report is important as it shows exactly why there is a disagreement between Forensic investigators. Another aspect of Martha’s writing that was done rather well was when she explained how some of Johnson’s closest friends did not recognize him when looking at the picture. She explained how this continued to baffle investigators. Lastly, I appreciated how Martha discussed why this case is relevant to modern day forensics. She explained that if the picture is, in fact, real then it is an important historical document that must be maintained.
Overall, Martha’s report was extremely interesting and informative, however there are some details that she could tweak and add to make the current event report even that much better. I recommend that she explains who, exactly, Robert Johnson was and why he was important during the time period. It would have been beneficial for her to go into some detail about this because it would have given readers an insight on the information being discussed. Also, she could have included more quotes from the original report as it would have showed readers the research and tests being performed on the picture.
Martha’s report was very informative and I learned extensively about the debate happening concerning this picture of Robert Johnson. Before reading the report, I had little knowledge about how people’s opinions were split concerning the picture. It is important that some sort of technique is developed to determine whether or not this picture is actually of the late Robert Johnson.
This article went into trying to uncover the nature of a photograph of a very famous blues singer from the 30s, Robert Johnson. The owner of the photograph claims that it was in fact him in the picture, while several signs point to it being someone else. In this article and its analysis the facts are laid out. I liked how she summarized the information very simply and put it in a way which made the analysis very digestible and easy to follow. Something else that was good was that they included some information and trivia about the time in which he was famous and other information, such as commentary on what types of suits people wore. Finally I enjoyed it because it was a completely different look on forensics than what I had seen before. It did not have anything to do with death or crime or sexual assault; just uncovering a piece of history and I found this to be quite endearing. It was lighthearted but still interesting.
There are a few things that they could have done differently to improve upon their analysis. One of this is that they could have included quotes from the people, since quotes provide better context and information about a case or a subject. It also gives the reader a more personal look into the case. Something else that they could have done is to provide information of how the investigation of this photograph started. It sounds like there must be a story in there.
This was a very good analysis, i enjoyed it thoroughly. The biggest thing I took from it was that forensics is not just specific to crime and murder and all of that. It can be used on a historical context or a music history context so the applications of the field are far more far reaching than what I had originally suspected it to be. This revelation about how malleable it can be was very pleasant.
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