Online Scriptures
Over at LDS Tech, Tom Welch has posted an article on some of the power features of the online scriptures. Check it out.
Digital Media Peril: Redux
I received a number of thoughtful responses to my last post (Digital Media Peril) which discusses the dangers of having all of your pictures and movies on your computer rather than in shoe boxes in your closet. Folks should feel free to keep posting comments there, but I'm going to summarize some principles I see emerging in the thread and some additional thoughts I've had.
1. Start now. Some solution is better than no solution. The risking losing your pictures and videos is a very real danger. Get it fixed now. There is a risk that if you implement a sub-optimal solution with the intention to "fix it" later that you'll get complacent and never get around to fixing it. Or that the solution won't work in 10, 20, 50 years. It's better to do something instead of nothing and to continue evaluating your solution and looking for something better.
2. Redundancy. Implement multiple solutions to cover yourself in case one goes awry.
3. Online backup. I think online backup is a great way to go: Flickr, Mozy, .mac, whatever. You get the added benefit of easy photo sharing. There is a risk that you'll put all of your content up on some web site and that it will close down. 1) I think the likeihood that a mass storage web site will disappear with no warning, without someone purchasing the assets & customers, etc., is very low. 2) Create a redundant solution. I think this is a great solution.
4. Share, share, share! Share your media with as many friends, family, neighbors, or co-workers as you can reasonably do without irritating people. The more you spread your media out, the easier it will be to re-create your photo library if digital medial disaster ever strikes.
5. CD/DVD. CDs and DVDs aren't great long-term solutions, but they're fine in the short-term. You can buy software which will make them easier to recover if they fail, but you'll still want to make sure this is a backup, not a primary measure. Make sure you have a place to send discs that is away from your home (work, family home, etc.) Try to re-create your discs every few years as the long-term failure rate of this media is high.
6. Hard Disk. Some people just use hard drives in their home to back everything up. This is a quick solution which is easy to automate. It doesn't give you offsite archival, and hard drives can fail, just like discs can. But it's a great backup plan or redundancy strategy.
7. Prints. Pictures are still wonderful! Just because you're saving everything digitally, doesn't mean you can't make prints! If you make prints of your favorite pictures, you're no worse off than you were before you started this digital craziness.
Feel free to add your thoughts!
1. Start now. Some solution is better than no solution. The risking losing your pictures and videos is a very real danger. Get it fixed now. There is a risk that if you implement a sub-optimal solution with the intention to "fix it" later that you'll get complacent and never get around to fixing it. Or that the solution won't work in 10, 20, 50 years. It's better to do something instead of nothing and to continue evaluating your solution and looking for something better.
2. Redundancy. Implement multiple solutions to cover yourself in case one goes awry.
3. Online backup. I think online backup is a great way to go: Flickr, Mozy, .mac, whatever. You get the added benefit of easy photo sharing. There is a risk that you'll put all of your content up on some web site and that it will close down. 1) I think the likeihood that a mass storage web site will disappear with no warning, without someone purchasing the assets & customers, etc., is very low. 2) Create a redundant solution. I think this is a great solution.
4. Share, share, share! Share your media with as many friends, family, neighbors, or co-workers as you can reasonably do without irritating people. The more you spread your media out, the easier it will be to re-create your photo library if digital medial disaster ever strikes.
5. CD/DVD. CDs and DVDs aren't great long-term solutions, but they're fine in the short-term. You can buy software which will make them easier to recover if they fail, but you'll still want to make sure this is a backup, not a primary measure. Make sure you have a place to send discs that is away from your home (work, family home, etc.) Try to re-create your discs every few years as the long-term failure rate of this media is high.
6. Hard Disk. Some people just use hard drives in their home to back everything up. This is a quick solution which is easy to automate. It doesn't give you offsite archival, and hard drives can fail, just like discs can. But it's a great backup plan or redundancy strategy.
7. Prints. Pictures are still wonderful! Just because you're saving everything digitally, doesn't mean you can't make prints! If you make prints of your favorite pictures, you're no worse off than you were before you started this digital craziness.
Feel free to add your thoughts!
Digital Media Peril
In one of our wards in Seattle, a family's house burned down. Of all the needs that family had, the one that I remember was a request for people to come up with pictures of the family members.
This prompted many discussions in the ward and community about how to protect pictures, journals and keepsakes in the event of a fire.
We're faced each day with a growing, and increasingly more dangerous, threat to our personal memories: digital media. Digital media isn't just for techno-hobbyists anymore. billions of pictures are being amassed on the hard drives of people all over the globe. The only trouble is that too many people aren't being careful.
If we were to do a straw poll of ten individuals who have computers in their homes, I would wager (if I were a wagerer) that nine of the ten are taking digital pictures and that only three of those nine regularly backs them up. Remember, I'm talking about normal people now, not just nerds. Whatever the exact numbers, there are many, many people who are not backing up their digital pictures and it's scary.
My daughter had the chance of a lifetime to play the young Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker at probably the largest, most successful theatre in Salt Lake City. It was a big deal. We took many pictures before and after the shows: the cast goofing around, people getting their makeup on, actors posing for the camera, etc.
Recently we went back to look at the pictures, and they were gone. Somehow they had disappeared from the computer and I hadn't backed up since those pictures were taken.
The ending is a happy one--I found digital copies of the pictures on an old laptop I had copied them to for some reason, but the episode (and my near-death experience when I told my wife I couldn't find the pictures) reminded me to make regular and frequent backups of our digital pictures and videos.
I hope you are doing the same!!
Spread the word...
(Feel free to share your methods for archiving media in the comments section.)
This prompted many discussions in the ward and community about how to protect pictures, journals and keepsakes in the event of a fire.
We're faced each day with a growing, and increasingly more dangerous, threat to our personal memories: digital media. Digital media isn't just for techno-hobbyists anymore. billions of pictures are being amassed on the hard drives of people all over the globe. The only trouble is that too many people aren't being careful.
If we were to do a straw poll of ten individuals who have computers in their homes, I would wager (if I were a wagerer) that nine of the ten are taking digital pictures and that only three of those nine regularly backs them up. Remember, I'm talking about normal people now, not just nerds. Whatever the exact numbers, there are many, many people who are not backing up their digital pictures and it's scary.
My daughter had the chance of a lifetime to play the young Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker at probably the largest, most successful theatre in Salt Lake City. It was a big deal. We took many pictures before and after the shows: the cast goofing around, people getting their makeup on, actors posing for the camera, etc.
Recently we went back to look at the pictures, and they were gone. Somehow they had disappeared from the computer and I hadn't backed up since those pictures were taken.
The ending is a happy one--I found digital copies of the pictures on an old laptop I had copied them to for some reason, but the episode (and my near-death experience when I told my wife I couldn't find the pictures) reminded me to make regular and frequent backups of our digital pictures and videos.
I hope you are doing the same!!
Spread the word...
(Feel free to share your methods for archiving media in the comments section.)
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