So I’ve been mulling over this issue for a long time. As the self-appointed family archivist, I’ve assembled the collection of artifacts, images and articles but have never settled on a way of handling them. It’s an issue I’ve pondered over for a long, long time. Such a long time in fact that the contents of the loft are thinking of falling through the floor, or tumbling down the steps.
Putting some serious attention into this blog however has focussed the mind and gradually, during wide awake moments at night, and in the time gifted me by Boris the Buffoon, I have crafted a strategy and a plan; an approach to follow that will gradually reduce the amount of stuff whilst preserving what is important – our family legacy.
I have to admit the initial thought came in a completely different way. Almost a separate project; but I don’t need that at the moment. That idea was sparked by a conversation I had with Jenny about the shops around her house as she was growing-up which in itself had been initiated by the series “The Corner Shop” on TV. If you haven’t seen it – you should. It goes alongside the series on the life of a house in Newcastle through the ages “A house through time” as brilliant pieces of social history that chart how we came to be where we are today. Anyway, I did some initial thinking – old photos and maps of Prince Consort Road – getting Jen’s thoughts down in an interview, etc. However this was just starting something new up without resolving the essential problem – what is the best way to archive stuff?
So focus your thoughts! It has to be digital. It has to be in a format that can itself go off net if technology moves on. It has to be reproducible. In other words it has to be future-proofed as much as possible, or at least in a format that could be migrated.
So we arrive back here, on this blog. I could port it on to a separate machine – if necessary. It’s a technology I know which is so well-known it will always have an army of support, and will always have an exit-strategy. It’s evolving to be able to handle new technologies and become more user-friendly. [I’m writing this on my iPad using the new Gutenberg editor.] It’s a technology I don’t have to learn!!!
So over the days, months, years ahead you can expect the following. All the archive material currently stored on my Google drive will move slowly through Lightroom, where it will be properly catalogued and restored if necessary, onto a separate hard disk and that which is of real interest moved onto this blog. I’ve already started to use some of the Plugins which I use on my Photography blog here, and this will continue. The emphasis must now be on the content, not the technology. The scanner will get red-hot and feed images into Lightroom where it will follow the same route as previously scanned material.
I will create galleries of “moments”, and I encourage you to do the same – I’ll show you how. I will try and write more “stories” about our family, starting with our mums and dads, and then onto our grandparents, and hopefully Jane, Jen, Di and Roy can chip in as well.
I hope one or more of you would want to carry this work on. Remembering the past becomes both more important, and yet more difficult as you get older … unless your name is Jenny. Her memory is incredible.
That’s the plan. This place is our place. I want to make it an important place for us all, a real family affair.
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