August 20, 2014
In Australia, August marks our recognised National Family History Month.
Does one have a ghost in the cupboard, a tale to tell such as a fraud, murder of excommunication? A hair do, dress sense or social outing photograph that records that time and moment? Or are we ordinary folks going about the ordinary life and photographing those doing extraordinary things in our personal lives?
The big question is: How do we protect our images so we have access to them in 20 years’ time?
Documenting family moments via photographs, pieces in time, are precious and the most shared method especially at the moment with Social Media and sites such as Facebook.
#1 Make a second (or third if you can) back up of your image.
Social Media is an ever-changing front: once there was Myspace now there is FaceBook, tomorrow who knows what there could be? Make sure that your image is backed up at least twice!
#2 Share the image you have with another person.
This allows the chance of another copy being archived, even if only in low res form. Though not a foolproof backup strategy: it’s another safety net for your image. Tagging is a good strategy here as it may see it saved by the person tagged.
#3 If the image has been taken on your smart phone, email the image back to yourself for saving (see point #1 and #2) Start working in the Cloud. Dropbox is one simple tool you can use.
#4 Don’t let simple opportunities pass you by – that hug today may not happen tomorrow.
Image credit by David Alexander
#5 Dates are always important and everyone loves to remembered. Can you make a pictogram to celebrate an event that could be snail mailed, emailed or posted in recognition? A simple thing that shows someone you recognise them but allows others the chance to share and save a family history image in our modern digital world.
Let’s keep family images and history going!
More info
http://www.familyhistoryweek.org.au
Words by by Danielle Lancaster
Images by Danielle Lancaster and David Alexander
