Comprehensive Photogallery of Ancestors

ericjonathansmith
New Member
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2008 12:48 pm
Location: Rexburg, Idaho, USA

Comprehensive Photogallery of Ancestors

#1

Post by ericjonathansmith »

So almost 200 years ago, your great, great, great, grandpa had his photo taken. When he died, the photo went to his oldest child, and on and on. Now, grandpa has 30,000 descendants, and still only one photo somewhere in the world, in a dusty box.

I've been searching for photos of my ancestors and have had great luck, but there are a few left that I have never seen. I KNOW they exist, but I'm afraid they're in an old dusty box in someone's attic somewhere, and
I may never see them.

Wouldn't it be great if there was a forum for posting those photos, where each of the 30,000 descendants could have access to that one photo? It could be linked to family search results, family tree, and on and on. the applications for that one photo are boundless. Is it possible?
Eric J Smith
techgy
Community Moderators
Posts: 3183
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:48 pm
Location: California

#2

Post by techgy »

The hardest thing would be to advertise just where that photo is being kept. If the photo was properly identified then hopefully a search engine would pick it up and make it easier to locate.

Individuals can build their own web site for a few $$ per month. There's also Google Picasa where you can post that special photo in a public gallery for all to view.
User avatar
ajames
New Member
Posts: 26
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 4:36 pm
Location: Dover, DE

FamilySearch Life Browser

#3

Post by ajames »

As soon as I read your post I remembered a project I used to look at by FamilySearch Labs (http://labs.familysearch.org) called Life Browser. While this is a discontinued project, I would be surprised if the idea itself has been abandoned. I believe that this would be a worthwhile application to keep a focus on family history and not just genealogy (dates and places).
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34384
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

#4

Post by russellhltn »

As storage becomes cheaper and cheaper, that might be explored. For now, I think there might be some nFS add-ons that may try to tackle that function. (Doing a mash-up of commercial web site photos to nFS data.) I don't know as the church would sponsor such a thing since it would cost a lot of money and it's not central to the three-fold mission of the Church. So it may be left to private enterprise to fill in.

Another issue would be to select -a- photo. Certainly if you go back far enough, all you find are professional portraits. But even in the late '20's there's amateur photography. If one does not limit the number of photos, then storage costs skyrocket.

And then there's the issue of copyright. Professional portraits are covered by copyright (with the copyright holder being the studio/photographer), and I'm not sure how long they last. I'm sure the ones shot some 30 years ago are still valid and could cause grief to any site operator.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
rparker
New Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Jun 12, 2008 12:16 pm
Location: San Antonio, TX

Isn't that already available ...?

#5

Post by rparker »

Through the Family History Centers, we now have access to FootNote.com. After playing with it a bit, I can see how this would be a strong supplement to the (eventual) addition of the FamilyBrowser features of nFS.

One of FootNote's core focuses is dumping your personal shoebox of photographs and documents into their repository, so that the documents can be crosslinked and shared with others. With their recent addition of personalized pages, with an initial stab taken from the Social Security Death Index, it is a fairly straightforward process to go from an ancestor's social security number, and link them to life events, including military, immigration, and even census images. Adding family photographs here would allow a simple way for others to locate the same ancestor and be able to access the image.

Of course, there's all the small print about any image you post to FootNote's servers as now being public domain, and that anyone can have access to do with it as they wish, so you should make sure you have adequate rights to the photograph (or other documents) before posting.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34384
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

#6

Post by russellhltn »

RickParker wrote:Of course, there's all the small print about any image you post to FootNote's servers as now being public domain, and that anyone can have access to do with it as they wish
:eek:

Public Domain? It was sounding good up until that. I've got no problems with others having "fair use" but PD strikes me as kinda extreme. Unless one is the actual photographer, I'm not sure how one would get the rights to put something in PD anyway. I'm not sure how copyrights might get inherited.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
User avatar
ClarkeGJ
New Member
Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:06 pm

Hosting of Family Media

#7

Post by ClarkeGJ »

There are many consumer oriented services for hosting photos. Some make it possible to select who can see them and the resolutions of the images. Flickr, bubbleshare.com shutterfly, pbase.com, kodak gallery, etc.

I t would be nice if these services could correlated the images with people in the FamilySearch FamilyTree and vice-a-versa.
I am evangelising some of the concepts with Alfresco.com, Kablink, and others. A flickr plug-in would be great. So many ideas, so little time.
Gordon Clarke
FamilySearch DevNet manager
User avatar
jeromer7
Member
Posts: 228
Joined: Thu May 17, 2007 12:46 pm
Location: Bellevue, Nebraska

The Crux of the Problem

#8

Post by jeromer7 »

ericjonathansmith wrote: Now, grandpa has 30,000 descendants, and still only one photo somewhere in the world, in a dusty box.
Well, as has been discussed, there are several possible solutions to the technical aspect of sharing the photo. However, the crux of the problem really is: When the dusty box is found and opened, will the owner of the picture know who they've found?

I inherited such a box when my mom passed away. Many pictures, few marked in any way. Some were of relatives I knew, but many were strangers to me.

Lots of technical data is stored with each of the zillions of digital pictures taken in this day and age, but if you don't download them and use a descriptive filename, they will be equally useless to future generations.
JLR
techgy
Community Moderators
Posts: 3183
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:48 pm
Location: California

#9

Post by techgy »

JLRose wrote:Well, as has been discussed, there are several possible solutions to the technical aspect of sharing the photo. However, the crux of the problem really is: When the dusty box is found and opened, will the owner of the picture know who they've found?
I shared a similar problem with the passing of my mother a few years ago. Even though she was pretty good at putting something on the back of many photos, there was a large number that were un-identified.

Although this isn't exactly a technical response, I have a cousin on my mother's side of the family who's been bitten by Elija:) He's been doing a marvelous work going through old family photos and those that he can't identify he scans and Emails around through the family hoping someone else can help.

This has been very helpful.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34384
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

#10

Post by russellhltn »

JLRose wrote:However, the crux of the problem really is: When the dusty box is found and opened, will the owner of the picture know who they've found?
That's why you have to start before the prior generation passes away.

I'm hoping someone, sometime will discover a way to link people by computer analysis of facial features. It may involve a deeper understanding of DNA then we have now. But some basic research might be within the grasp of a BYU student.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
Post Reply

Return to “Genealogy Industry Issues”