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From:
Subject: [KYBELL] Re Computer Photos.
Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 07:07:17 EDT

To all my friends (and enemies if I have any)

This is a response I got from the post about Computer Photos that I posted a
few days ago. There is some good sound reasoning in her response, and
forwarded with Linda;s permission.

Neal

I HAVE to respond to this letter from Thomas S. Robertson, President of
1-Hour Photo. I, too, saw this in Dear Abby, and recognized it immediately as
a very misleading and self-serving letter!  Having worked for many high tech
companies and (consulting) clients who have photos and documents to preserve,
I can assure you that computer photos are much longer lived than traditional
photos and are, in fact, the ideal way of preserving photos and documents. It
does not matter at all how you print your photos out -- if the printed image
deteriorates you just go back and print them again!
 
The only caveat to this is that you must be alert enough to upgrade the
format of your saved media as the technology changes.  Almost all new
computer technology is "downwardly compatible" with the next older
technology, and most are downwardly compatible for at least the last couple
of generations. What this means it that any time you upgrade your storage
technology (Say, go from a Zip-100 to a Zip-250) you should get out all your
archival storage and move the files from the old format to the new (i.e.,
copy the files to a new Zip-250 disk).  When you do this you may not feel an
urgency, since your new and old storage technologies are undoubtedly
compatible, but if you forget to convert before you make the NEXT upgrade,
you could end up with precious files in archival storage but which are not
compatible with your new storage media.
 
Incidentally, I'm not a computer techie or storage expert -- I'm
a consultant, educator and writer who works in aerospace -- a user of the
technology. However, I've learned about storage since my first job after
graduate school -- with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. LLNL had --
and probably still has -- the largest and most advanced computer system in
the world, and was one of the pioneers in data storage. I also wish I had
taken what is now my advice before most of our house was washed away (really,
literally!) in a flood over four years ago -- I would not have irrevocably
lost my family history documents! (For the most part I didn't lose my photos,
however!)
 
Anyway, rather than making negatives of your PC photos, if possible you
should scan in your film-based photos and place them in archival storage.  If
you follow good computer practice and store them separate from your computer
(with the most precious photos and documents stored TWICE, with one set kept
off-site), you won't ever lose those precious memories!
 
Now, I better get busy on taking more of my own advice....
 
 
Linda Clements

*******************************************************
Dr. Linda L. Clements
President
C & C Technologies
33 River Vista Drive
P.O. Box 1089
Dayton, NV 89403-1089, USA
1-775-246-0505, fax 1-775-246-0518
e-mail: <A HREF="mailto:"></A>
web page: <A HREF="http://www.composites-training.com/">http://www.composites-training.com/</A>;
 
Technical writing, training and consulting in
composites, polymers and materials engineering.


"I may disagree with what you have to say , but I shall defend , to the
death, your right to say it." -Voltaire

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