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Excerpt from
"The Future of Memories"
--by Dane M. Howard
Distributing
& Sharing your memories is an exciting and prolific topic, and is
the basis for provoking all kinds of new of new experiences, products
and interactions.
Sharing
your memories should be the most fun you have with your media.
To share also
means to allocate, assign, allot, deliver, circulate, spread, disseminate,
scatter, give out, supply. These words can invoke ideas on how an
image or sequence of images is experienced and distributed. These
experiences will always rely on a delivery method & format.
A printed book
may have a very different use than an e-mail or dynamic slideshow
or movie. In order to optimize each experience to the most appropriate
format, you have to understand the benefits and inter-relationships
between them..
The
Share Map
It
is no surprise that a significant addition to sharing
photos is through the internet. This is coupled with
a prolific number of new and exciting electronic devices
and color display screens. In the past five years, the
cost of color displays has gone down, allowing for increasing
opportunities to afford and distribute digtial soft
copies of our memories.
The
format(s) you choose will dictate how the images are
communicated. For the sake of simplicity, I will suggest
that these are grouped into two main categories:
1)
Hard Copy Sharing
2) Soft Copy Sharing
Just a few years ago, it would
have seemed impossible to speak with someone on your
cell phone while you take a picture and send it to them
via the same phone you are speaking on. Today the act
of sharing is closely coupled with authoring. When you
imagine the types of images that you will want to distribute
and share, imagine a diversified body of work that you
build and distribute for both hard and soft copy..
click
here for a larger view
The
thumbnail view in Windows XP gives you a hint of which
images are inside that folder. By hovering your cursor
over the thumbnail it will display information about
the contents.
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Copies
A
big misconception about digital photography is that
you have to give up your hard-copy prints. A common
problem is that too many photos get on the computer
and not enough of the keepers are allowed to get printed.
There are a lot of areas for possible confusion and
concern for printing, but the most significant problems
arise around quality and price. To help with this, I have
tried to put anything that is related to printing into
two basic categories:
>
Convenient Prints - These
are prints that you can execute from the comfort of
your home. You can quickly and easily output a number
of images on a standard-sized piece of paper using a
common template. For many popular home printers, making
great photos is a simple process of optimizing some
settings and taking some fairly easy trial and error
steps. For every convenient print you make, an important
evaluation is made about the proposed use and longevity
of the image vs. its cost and convenience.
>
Professional Prints -
These
images are printed by a photo lab (like you used to
do with your film cameras). More and more photo labs
are becoming proficient to print from a digital image.
The quality is usually higher and so is the cost per
print. The cost can range greatly depending who you
use, but the prints you get can reflect the same quality
you get from traditional film cameras.
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The
convenience of personal printing has come a long
way. The quality you can produce in the home today
was only available professionally just a few years
ago. Whether you create personal projects or scrapbooks,
the cost, convenience and quality of your prints
rely on a few important items:
>
Resolution. This is true for both the
camera AND the printer. The higher the resolution,
the better chance for a crisp, clear image. With
digital cameras, this is measured in Megapixels
With Printers, this is measured in DPI (dots per/
inch).
>
Software.
Print wizards and auto templates make it
easy to print onto standard size papers, giving
you an option to preview before you print.
>
Paper.
The quality and finish of the paper will have
a profound affect on the quality and finish of
the print. Before you buy (or use) a printer,
evaluate the paper quality & cost to print. You
may find that your investment is spent equally
on the printer & the paper.
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Sharing Soft
Copies
The
most prolific area of photo sharing is in soft copy
distribution. Increasing numbers of devices and display
technologies coupled with internet growth has enabled
a multitude authoring and viewing opportunities ranging
from cell phones to TVs. One of the most important aspects
of soft copy sharing is understanding the presentation
capabilities across mediums. Soft copies range from
fully interactive experiences to linear slideshows and
documents. Richer experiences combine audio and music
coupled with animation and rich typography. Some emulate
those of a home movie experience or DVD.
>
e-mail - E-mail
is still one of the most widely used & accessible
ways to send soft-copies of images, yet very few people
know how to send and optimize a cohesive and effective
experience.
Most
e-mail looks like this one on the left, with the attachments
inserted into the e-mail. The recipient must click on
the individual file to open it. The file must open in
the default viewing program specified for the format,
making it difficult to see all images at the same time.
>
slide shows - It
used to be that a slideshow was merely the presentation
of one static image after another. This is beginning
to change. A slide show can contain many images that
are driven by a template language. The presentation
itself can be updated to accomodate different viewing
experiences on a variety of platforms. The image order
and timing can be changed independantly from the images
themselves. A single slide show can be output to view
on a pocket PC or on a widescreen television. The beauty
of the sequential imagery is that the presentations
themselves take on a rich quality where the presentation
of the images themselves become the backbone for how
the story is received. In a way, think of a slideshow
as a movie in slow motion.
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Choose
your Size - Media presentations that
play the content full screen are easy to author
and share. In Windows XP, a slideshow can be created
easily by clicking on the Slide show icon or
by pressing F11, shown below. In Microsoft Digital
Image Library (at right), a slideshow can be viewed
by double-clicking on the thumbnail.
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A
key benefit to a slideshow or movie presentation is
the ability to provide a more immersive experience.
Often times this is overlooked. Some of the most compelling
presentations borrow from formats that are inherent
in TV and film. By presenting the content full frame,
the viewing experience is controlled entirely by the
author. Slideshows and dynamic media can produce some
of the most compelling experiences on a computer or
TV simply by presenting the media full frame.
The viewing experience is enhanced by:
>
Viewing Full Screen -
Content presentations that fill the screen with an image
reduce clutter and fill the display with a full experience.
>
Sequential Stills -
This
is poor man's video, but can be very compelling. When
video & sound is not available, sequential stills provide
context and sequence to a series of imagery when presented
together.
>
Simple Transitions - There
are only a few transitions that are worth talking about.
A simple cross disolve or pan-fade are subtle and effective.
Transitions are best when they do not distract from
the content. They should also perform well on the platform
they are presented on.
>
Simple Typography -
If a caption is a part of the presentation, keep the
typography simple and easy to ready.
>
Audio -
An easy way to create mood & context. This is oftent
overlooked or misused. Choose your audio carefully.
It can make or break a presentation.
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Strength
is in the Sharing: We thrive by telling our stories,
and listening to others. The world is getting closer, but it is
also narrowly out of focus. We have an increasing capacity to build
and maintain relationships, yet our time to nurture them is decreasing.
The act of sharing is both a personal and behavioral choice. The
courage to share is built on the knowledge of sharing combined with
the passion and incentive to do so.
We have never
been so empowered. We live in a new world of choice and sharing.
Our boundaries are extended yet need to be increasingly private
and secure. We author in one medium and consume in another.
A legacy begins
with a memory and is told by emotions. It must be both a monument
and a network. It should solicit the untold stories, enriched by
the people that have come in contact with it.
Consider yourself
a primary audience. Regardless of the size of your family or the
network of friends, chances are that you will benefit most from
these stories as they build over time.
Your audience
will become the fuel behind your community and the natural resource
for your memories. Even though your focal point may be personal,
your audience will bring meaning, insight and perspective to those
experiences when shared.
Your memories
are personal journeys and expressions of how you see and document
what you care about. Those expressions can be realized only by you.
Here's to the
future of Your memories
Sincerely,
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