1southernbooklady
I have been given charge of 5 large boxes of photos, photo albums, letters, and old family documents with the directive to get everything scanned, identified, and cross-referenced into some kind of an online archive the rest of the family can access. I have some ideas about how to begin, but I thought I'd see if any of you have ever tackled something similar and had any tips or any tools you like to use.
I'd like to make it as easy as possible for family to see and use, since many of them are not computer savvy or interested in creating accounts for platforms like ancestry or family search. I would also like to make it simple for them to leave comments, since many of them also have a wealth of stories and family knowledge, and may be able to tell stories about the things in these photos.
I'd like to make it as easy as possible for family to see and use, since many of them are not computer savvy or interested in creating accounts for platforms like ancestry or family search. I would also like to make it simple for them to leave comments, since many of them also have a wealth of stories and family knowledge, and may be able to tell stories about the things in these photos.
2Keeline
Probably you have some kind of scanner now that you will use. Lately I have been using a CZUR Aura book scanner for most of my document imaging work. On books it can flatten the page images which is a big time saver.
Although you may want to save high-resolution page images locally, for distribution you may care to make PDFs. These can be read on any modern computer. If the items are typed, you can use OCR (optical character recognition) to make them searchable.
Plan a naming convention that will help you to find the files easily. I like to start the names with a date in YYYY-MM-DD format. Then you might include some of the relevant terms that apply to the file (location, surnames, type, etc.).
For correspondence I tend to name files with the date as above, the sender, and the recipient. If I have a bunch of these, I can follow a thread of conversation and read them in order.
Don't use spaces in your file names. Use a hyphen or underscore to separate words in the file names.
If your genealogy software gives a number to individuals, you may want to include this in the name but that depends on a lot of factors.
James
Although you may want to save high-resolution page images locally, for distribution you may care to make PDFs. These can be read on any modern computer. If the items are typed, you can use OCR (optical character recognition) to make them searchable.
Plan a naming convention that will help you to find the files easily. I like to start the names with a date in YYYY-MM-DD format. Then you might include some of the relevant terms that apply to the file (location, surnames, type, etc.).
For correspondence I tend to name files with the date as above, the sender, and the recipient. If I have a bunch of these, I can follow a thread of conversation and read them in order.
Don't use spaces in your file names. Use a hyphen or underscore to separate words in the file names.
If your genealogy software gives a number to individuals, you may want to include this in the name but that depends on a lot of factors.
James
3southernbooklady
>2 Keeline: My first computer used a DOS OS, and to this day I still name files in a standard pattern of "ddmmyyy_author_name" or something equivalent. I thought I was the only one who still did that! Friends and co-workers laugh, but it drives me nuts when people send me files with names that have spaces and special characters in them!
The scanning proceeds slowly but steadily. Mostly I'm wondering about cloud-based archive solutions. I don't want to upload a bunch of things to an application that is going to go defunct or get absorbed by a bigger fish in the near future. Right now, I'm creating an archive on Google Drive, on the theory that Google is as close to permanent and ubiquitous as you can get in cyberspace. But it isn't ideal.
The scanning proceeds slowly but steadily. Mostly I'm wondering about cloud-based archive solutions. I don't want to upload a bunch of things to an application that is going to go defunct or get absorbed by a bigger fish in the near future. Right now, I'm creating an archive on Google Drive, on the theory that Google is as close to permanent and ubiquitous as you can get in cyberspace. But it isn't ideal.
4amarie
Complete a full inventory of the physical items and write it up in summary. This should give you a good idea of the coverage of time and place, and also the volume in different formats. It will also provide a kind of master list for anyone identifying the contents in new forms or after distribution. You can buy archival supplies like folders and boxes to keep a variety of materials well-supported and safe from acid transfer, mold, and water. A good store is Gaylord Archival. Best practices include not folding back any existing folds to straighten (weakens paper) and removing metal fasteners (could rust) before storing in acid free folders. This is the preservation element, whereas digitization is mostly about increased access.
As for hosting or long-term storage try for the 3-2-1 rule of thumb. Three copies in at least Two different mediums (i.e. cloud AND hard drive) and One being in a separate geographic location in case of natural disaster (or hosting company failure). Cloud storage is fine as long as it's not the only copy since its definition is "servers you don't own". Another rule: LOCKSS or Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe. Use the advantage of digital that perfect copies are easy to make.
One possible solution includes M-Discs, which are optical discs that are written with actual engraving technology. A few different brands exist and many disc burners are compatible (look for explicit support for M-Discs). Discs come in DVD and Blu-ray sizes. These things will not break down like other digital media. The biggest problem is having a disc drive!
As for hosting or long-term storage try for the 3-2-1 rule of thumb. Three copies in at least Two different mediums (i.e. cloud AND hard drive) and One being in a separate geographic location in case of natural disaster (or hosting company failure). Cloud storage is fine as long as it's not the only copy since its definition is "servers you don't own". Another rule: LOCKSS or Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe. Use the advantage of digital that perfect copies are easy to make.
One possible solution includes M-Discs, which are optical discs that are written with actual engraving technology. A few different brands exist and many disc burners are compatible (look for explicit support for M-Discs). Discs come in DVD and Blu-ray sizes. These things will not break down like other digital media. The biggest problem is having a disc drive!
5amarie
There's also this newish book Creating Family Archives that looks good, published by the Society of American Archivists.
6Keeline
>3 southernbooklady: I think that Google Drive is probably a product that they will maintain for the long term (at least 5 years). However, they have had a number of projects that they started but then became bored with and stopped updating much (like Google Books) or practically broke (the Google newspaper archive). Needless to say, it should not be your only copy of these.
My YYYY-MM-DD file naming convention is intended to let the items be sorted by name in chronological order. The one you mention, ddmmyy, would not do this. Here are the first few entries in a search for "Starr" from my correspondence file. ES is the main subject, Edward Stratemeyer, so I don't repeat the name in full in the names.
This works well for me.
James
My YYYY-MM-DD file naming convention is intended to let the items be sorted by name in chronological order. The one you mention, ddmmyy, would not do this. Here are the first few entries in a search for "Starr" from my correspondence file. ES is the main subject, Edward Stratemeyer, so I don't repeat the name in full in the names.
1909-01-16-JohnWStarr-ES-1.tif
1909-01-16-JohnWStarr-ES-2.tif
1909-01-16-JohnWStarr-ES-3.tif
1909-01-16-JohnWStarr-ES-4.tif
1909-12-19-JohnWStarr-ES-1.tif
1909-12-19-JohnWStarr-ES-2.tif
1909-12-23-ES-JohnWStarr-1.tif
This works well for me.
James
7southernbooklady
>6 Keeline: I see this as a two-part project. There is the archive itself, which I'll probably build a database for since what's the point of an archive if you can't find anything or look at a list of what is in it?
But then there is the family access. Because there is also no point in an archive if no one can use it. My generation is fairly comfortable with apps and file sharing, my parents' generation thinks in terms of hard drives, compact discs, and emails. I even have an uncle who isn't online, and just uses my aunt's computer when he absolutely needs to send an email.
On the other hand, it was that same uncle who happened to mention casually that he remembered a conversation with a great uncle about his time in the Navy, and that was enough of a clue to allow me to trace his military career in WWII, and place him at some fairly significant events. (Something he apparently never spoke of to his kids).
So it's important to me to create, in this 3-2-1 scenario, an interface that will allow people like my uncle to click on a link and view a set of pictures, and perhaps even add comments (or at least get my cousins to add them). I think Google Drive might be the best for that, since it is such a ubiquitous system.
Then it would be on me, using the 3-2-1 rule, to take those comments and all that ad hoc information, and update the archives accordingly.
But then there is the family access. Because there is also no point in an archive if no one can use it. My generation is fairly comfortable with apps and file sharing, my parents' generation thinks in terms of hard drives, compact discs, and emails. I even have an uncle who isn't online, and just uses my aunt's computer when he absolutely needs to send an email.
On the other hand, it was that same uncle who happened to mention casually that he remembered a conversation with a great uncle about his time in the Navy, and that was enough of a clue to allow me to trace his military career in WWII, and place him at some fairly significant events. (Something he apparently never spoke of to his kids).
So it's important to me to create, in this 3-2-1 scenario, an interface that will allow people like my uncle to click on a link and view a set of pictures, and perhaps even add comments (or at least get my cousins to add them). I think Google Drive might be the best for that, since it is such a ubiquitous system.
Then it would be on me, using the 3-2-1 rule, to take those comments and all that ad hoc information, and update the archives accordingly.
