MemoryMiner 2.0 is out!
MemoryMiner 2.0. Cool. Been looking forward to this, and readers of this site’s comment threads have had a slight heads up this was coming. The announcement arrived as I was out of town for the holiday. MemoryMiner’s developer, John Fox, is the digital family photo Santa. I came up with a wishlist of items while working with the till-now current version, will have to download it and check out the new version.
UPDATE: I’ve been taking a look at the demo movie, and I like the things I see in there so much that I’m putting the movie here, too.
Thought this movie is for the Mac version, MemoryMiner is cross-platform. Looks as though, at this point, MemoryMiner 2.0 is Mac-only at this point. I’ll get you more news about any plans for MemoryMiner 2.0 for Windows.
Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in
• Digital Storytelling
• Personal History
• Photographs
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Essential Tips for Interviewing family: Thou shalt not interrupt
Do you want to interview parents or grandparents over the holidays? Here are some tips from Jens Lund — whom I met at the Oral History Association conference in Louisville this fall. As I see it, the problem for the family member interviewer is lack of experience conducting interviews. What one piece of advice would Lund, an experienced folklorist, give to the first time interviewer?
Jens (pronounced yens) Lund, from Washington state, pioneered aspects of creating the driving audio tour. Put in a cassette (this was a while ago, people) at a certain location on a road, drive and play. The tape tells you about what you’re seeing, with significant history and interviews with people from the area. There may be music from local people as well.
Here’s what he had to say:
Don’t interrupt. Give the person enough time. Don’t cut them off. Don’t hurry through your set of questions. Give a moment—a few breaths—at the end of what they say. They may be breathing or pausing before continuing with their story.
I asked him for one piece of advice. I got three good answers. Here’s more:
Know your equipment. Have it as set up as possible before coming in. Minimize fumbling and make the setup time as short as possible.
More. If a person... Read More
Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in
• Interviewing
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SignOn SanDiego’s Family Holiday Survival Advice
Love this lead-in: “Instead of fixating on how aggravating [family] can be, focus instead on how interesting they actually are.” Thus begins Jennifer Davis’s overview of ways to preserve family stories. [via Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings]
There are lists of resources, and an overview of the formats.
Alas, this one bit of caution isn’t warranted, really:
Audio recordings are fine but be aware that changing technologies could pose a problem in the future. Just ask any family that recorded their oral history on a cassette tape.
As long as your audio recording is an accepted, well-known format, such as AIFF or WAV, you’ll be okay. Just make multiple copies, burn multiple disks. The biggest risk is data loss.
Davis lists people who provide services and locations for equipment rental and the like. This site has an equipment section that discusses most major audio equipment types. And check out my equipment store, too, which focuses on audio equipment.
Jennifer Davis provides an excellent (and realistic!) piece of advice I heartily agree with—
It’s tempting to think you can get all the work done at this year’s holiday gathering,... Read More
Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in
• Do it: Yourself
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Genealogy Jamboree in Burbank (June 2009)
Memories of Jamboree, Burbank, California, from June of this year. Image: Footnotes at Jamboree. What fun it was to meet fellow Geneabloggers and hang out. I think I spent more time hanging and talking than I did going to the conference sessions at Jamboree.
The above footnote image, and this grassy... Read More
Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in
• Genealogy
• Photographs
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MIT class of 1920: A gift in my email
This image is a gift, one I received in an email. My cousin sent it to me a couple of weeks back. Subject line: “Grandma Joe* Graduation Photo.” She went to MIT — Massachusetts Institute of Technology — and graduated in 1920.
I have Grandma’s letters that she received when she was at MIT, and one or two photos from that time, but this unexpected one is a beaut.
click to enlarge
Of the 40 people in this photo, Florence, also known as Flossie (upper right)—is the only woman. The photo arrived in email all by itself. The only clues were the file name and the subject line. Other than knowing that Flossie graduated from MIT in 1920, I don’t know much else about this photo. But one good gift leads to another.
I went hunting to see what I could find about the size of the graduating class. MIT Archives to the rescue! The MIT Reports to the President—with reports of student enrollment—extends back nearly 100 years (earliest online version: 1911). To find out about 1920, I looked at the 1921 report (for end of 1920, published at the beginning of 1921).... Read More
Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in
• Letters in the Attic
• Personal History
• Photographs
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