Web Galleries to the Rescue

Last time I expressed the view that no foolproof mechanism for long term preservation of digital images seems to have emerged. For that matter, the same problem remains unsolved for ALL forms of digital data. Just how should one archive one's files for the medium to long term, confident that the digital media itself will have survived and that means will still be at hand to interpret the file and storage formats?

Well the answer is .... I don't know!!!! I just hope that someone else, much smarter than yours truly, DOES - or if they don't, that they soon will. It is a huge problem getting still larger by the minute.

Traditionally we viewed our images on photopaper, usually stored in photo albums. Once closed, the album storage format enables our prints to be protected from light and history shows that they can be preserved for very long periods indeed. Perhaps long term preservation of important images should remain in that form - on long life paper, in long life inks in books. But then just what do we mean by "important".

Going down through the ages, past our children and grandchildren, we reach descendants who will never have actually met us, interracted with us, spoken with us - or indeed have especially much interest in us and our lives at all. To them, pictures of our overseas trip to Bali in 2009 (including pictures of me posing next to the colourfully dressed hotel doorman) will hardly loom large in importance. Is it really so vital that such images survive? Beyond our lifespan and perhaps our children's, will anyone ever want to look at them again? In the final analysis, who are our images FOR?

The answer, of course, is that they are mostly for us - OURSELVES. Most especially they are for our twilight years when we will have the time for indulgent nostalgia sessions and when images of our early years and those of our forbears acquire a meaning and importance they never had during the hustle and bustle times of youth, early parenthood and career building.

In truth, most of our personal "good time" pictures can safely die WITH us.

Pictures of our children and grandchildren however, will need to live on down the years to be enjoyed and appreciated during the twilight years of SUBSEQUENT generations. Perhaps therefore, our only real image obligations are to our children. We should merely be obliged to ensure that our CHILDREN get the pictures that will remain of interest to them. Let THEM battle the vagiaries of future data storage/archive systems.

In any event, are images becoming less and less important as a whole?

Our generation comes at the end of a series of generations for whom photographs were a relatively precious commodity. Not everyone owned or used cameras. Professional shoots, film and processing cost real money. In my youth, significant occasions with my family are remembered by one or two images at best. Some significant relatives like my Uncle Earnest are remembered by one or two images IN ALL. The images which remain of such times and individuals are relatively few and commensurately valuable.

These days it seems quite different. EVERYONE has a digital camera. There are cameras in mobile phones, for heaven sake. Images arrive by phone call and email everyday - "Here's me and my new boyfriend hanging out at Tim's party" - "Here are sixteen pictures of the new puppy" - "Here's a dozen pictures of the new car" - "Look who we just ran into, down at the mall ... Sandra ... haven't seen her in days" - "Look at Bob's funny hat" - "Here's Sue spilling an ice cream on her new sweater".

Effectively, images today are FREE and so we capture them with total abandon. Most such pictures are intended for immediate viewing and disposal. In our present culture, images grow more and more numerous, more transient, more trivial and less treasured. The trouble and time associated with printing, mounting and preservation can often seem pointless.

When a photograph was taken in days of yore, it was taken with intent. All of them were important. If it hadn't been important we would never have taken it in the first place. Today things are decidedly different. Nonetheless even today's youth may eventually have sober moments and decide that certain images have a value beyond the moment. What should they do with them?

Web based galleries seem the way to go. They are becoming immensely popular and as a concept seem destined to survive the next human generation or so. Today it is possible to establish FREE galleries. Some gallery sites offered guaranteed preservation of uploaded images. Some sites like Pbase seem perfect for hobbiests whose pages can be highly customised and (like all web galleries) offer instantaneous display to international enthusiasts.

With web galleries, any relative in the world can immediately see all the images of our grandchild's birthday party, last Tuesday. Masses of old family photographs can be displayed for any relative to download or share. Our memories can be preserved no matter how quickly the bushfire comes to destroy our home. All of our artistic image attempts can be appreciated by others (anywhere in the world), who can upload encouraging comments as well.

Maybe - just maybe - web galleries are the preservation and sharing medium of choice ... at least for now .... I hope.