Digital archiving; Preparing for the worst… preparing for the futureWritten by Jay Corrao – Copyright 2005
What would happen if one day basement flooded, or God forbid, your house was to burn down or any other natural disaster were to strike your home? You may have homeowners, fire, flood, or disaster insurance. Your home may be rebuilt, furniture and appliances replaced; but what about you’re precious memories; photos, slides, personal videos, home movies, audio, and important documents? They could be gone forever. In fact if you were to ask anyone who has ever experienced such a tragedy they would tell you that most painful part of surviving such a disaster short of losing a loved one is loss of precious memorabilia. Fortunately I have not had to endure this kind of loss first hand but I have had friends who have experienced such a loss. It soon struck me how important it really is to for people to protect what is truly important in their lives…they’re memories.The answer to this dilemma is really very simple. Digitally back-up your precious photos, videos, documents and other items dear to you and store them in a safe place. I know this is easier said then done. Many people don’t have time, energy or know how to undertake such an endeavor. That’s where services of an experienced digital archiver can be invaluable. Professional Digital Archivers can take your valued memorabilia and save it digitally to high quality, long lasting DVD media which has an estimated shelf life of 75 years or more. Securing your precious memories from disaster is not only reason to digitally archive your precious memorabilia. Wouldn’t you like to keep all of your cherished photos, slides, videos, home movies and documents intact and unchanged for generations to come? Digitally archived items remain unaltered. What is saved today will look same years from now. Paper documents yellow, photos fade, and video deteriorates. You cannot count on these objects to survive test of time but you can count on you’re digital archive to.
| | Using Your Camera as a Digital Archiving ToolWritten by Jay Corrao – Copyright 2005
It is age of digital camera, a wonderful device that not only allows you to take great pictures but also allows you to digitize all that is sacred to you. But even if you don’t own a state of art digital camera and are still using film you can use your film camera to digitize all that is important to you. Cameras are used to take pictures and most people take pictures of other people, places and events but if you think outside box you start to move beyond obvious uses and begin to realize true potential of this versatile device. For example you can take pictures of documents, artwork, musical instruments, your valued collections, toaster; anything that has sentimental value to you that may not endure test of time. You may be asking yourself is author nuts, why would I want to take a picture of my toaster? We’ll get to that later. In meantime let’s look at some interesting ways to use your cameral as a digital archiving tool. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a collection of your most important personal documents; wills, living wills, insurance information, investment information all in one safe and secure place? If you take well lit, focused snapshots of documents with your camera at high resolution you can then import images to your PC or Mac and burn them onto CD or DVD media; that way your documents can be stored in one place and easily accessible. If you don’t own a digital camera or a computer for that matter don’t worry, you can simply ask for your images to be put on a CD when you get your pictures developed. Once your pictures are on CD they can be saved and output later if needed. Photos that have been digitized in this manner remain intact and unchanged. They do not fade, yellow, or degrade with age. And since CD media is said to have a shelf life of 50 years or more when stored correctly you are basically future proofing your images as well.
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