Collect the content, then share your project! You need content for a Life Story project. Not just the content you’ll generate yourself in the recording or the shoe box of old photos you have stashed under the bed. You also need that photo album you’re Great Aunt has stashed away. Or the old Super 8 […]
Collect the content, then share your project!
You need content for a Life Story project. Not just the content you’ll generate yourself in the recording or the shoe box of old photos you have stashed under the bed. You also need that photo album you’re Great Aunt has stashed away. Or the old Super 8 films Uncle Bob shot back in the ’60’s. But you also want the new digital images your grandchildren are taking on their new fangled smart phones. You have an idea of what you want to create but you have to pull it all together to make it work. Producing the Life Story is for later but how do you collect the scattered information?
Herding Cats
Getting information from relatives is akin to herding cats. Everyone has their ideas of what they want to do. What works for me is to give them clear and concise instructions of what I want depending on the skills of who I’m talking to. For some people you may need to go to their home and scan the photos, while others can use email and online sharing services.
* What do you want?
* Who has it?
* What form is it in?
* Can it be digitised?
* Can they convert it to digital?
* How do you want it shared?
* Do they have the skills to share it?
* Do others near them have the skills?
* What are the alternatives?
And if all else fails you may need to travel to them and do all the work in gathering the information.
Sharing the finished Life Story Project
Once you’ve finished your masterpiece of this persons Life Story you’ll eventually want to show it to everyone involved so the same will apply but in reverse.
Types of information
First of all you need to decide what information you need, what’s available and in what format…
Physical – Analog
Tapes, cassettes, films, photographs
Physical – Digital
CDs, DVDs, Thumb Drives, Hard Drives, SD Cards, Floppy discs, In built memory in cameras, etc,.
Once you’ve decided what you want, who has it and where it is you have to decide how you’ll get access to it for your project.
Transfer methods
You know what you want and where it is, now you have to get it to you using one of these systems.
Physical
Post or hand deliver the physical items to who needs the information.
Email
Limited size of attachments could need multiple emails for a project. Okay for a couple of images.
Digital internet transfers
Digital transfer services for large files such as DropBox etc.
Internet and Web
Place the content to share with others on various sharing services. Some have ability to have private accounts while others are public only.
* Everything – Archive.org, Facebook, Google+.
* Images – Flickr, Panorama, Photobucket & many others
* Video – YouTube, VIddler, Vimeo.
* Audio – SoundCloud.
* Everything – Your own website.
* Everything – FTP. (If you don’t know what it is don’t worry, if you do,
You need content for a Life Story project. Not just the content you’ll generate yourself in the recording or the shoe box of old photos you have stashed under the bed. You also need that photo album you’re Great Aunt has stashed away. Or the old Super 8 films Uncle Bob shot back in the ’60’s. But you also want the new digital images your grandchildren are taking on their new fangled smart phones. You have an idea of what you want to create but you have to pull it all together to make it work. Producing the Life Story is for later but how do you collect the scattered information?
Getting information from relatives is akin to herding cats. Everyone has their ideas of what they want to do. What works for me is to give them clear and concise instructions of what I want depending on the skills of who I’m talking to. For some people you may need to go to their home and scan the photos, while others can use email and online sharing services.
Physical Digital Media Systems …via By Danny Nicholson on Flickr
And if all else fails you may need to travel to them and do all the work in gathering the information.
Once you’ve finished your masterpiece of this persons Life Story you’ll eventually want to show it to everyone involved so the same will apply but in reverse.
First of all you need to decide what information you need, what’s available and in what format…
Physical – Analog
Tapes, cassettes, films, photographs
Physical – Digital
CDs, DVDs, Thumb Drives, Hard Drives, SD Cards, Floppy discs, In built memory in cameras, etc,.
Once you’ve decided what you want, who has it and where it is you have to decide how you’ll get access to it for your project.
You know what you want and where it is, now you have to get it to you using one of these systems.
Get DropBox for easy file sharing
Physical
Post or hand deliver the physical items to who needs the information.
Limited size of attachments could need multiple emails for a project. Okay for a couple of images.
Digital internet transfers
Digital transfer services for large files such as DropBox etc.
Internet and Web
Place the content to share with others on various sharing services. Some have ability to have private accounts while others are public only.
Using variations on these systems could also be used for sharing your finished project.
Collecting and sharing your project is about communication.
Take the time to consider who you want to communicate with. What do they have in what system. Do they have the skills needed and change your responses to suit the different people involved. Maybe they can’t use the technology but they know someone who can help.
At the end of the day you can always go for a visit, grab a cup of tea, have a chat and share the information you’re after.
If they have the skills (or someone can help them), my preference is the amazingly convenient DropBox. It’s free up to 2 GB (more with this link) and can be used for far more than just sharing a few files with friends. If that’s too much of a struggle then the old email or going for a drive and doing the leg work at least guarantees results but it’s time consuming and nowhere near as convenient as DropBox. WeTransfer is good for a one-off situation but inconvenient if it’s an ongoing situation.
When it comes to sharing the finished project using systems like SoundCloud and YouTube is a great way to get it to people but there is nothing better than watching their reaction when they watch the video with them.
I think the best system to share to the masses is to use the one stop shop in your own free WordPress.com web site where they can get to your production as it suits them.
Click thu to iTunes
Use some of the ideas in the e-Book Recording Life Stories. Just sign up for it in the side bar form.
To get a kick start, get the Quick Start Guide to Your Life Story by clicking hereand be underway in just an hour.
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← If you want to hear some other great stories about the interesting lives that people have, listen to my other podcast at Your Story or on iTunes.
…Or have a look at some other great shows available at LifeStyle Pod Network→
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