Photography Show Opens May 7
Myself and three other photographers, eleven photos by me.
Show runs through August 29.
Hemlock Cones
Squirrels will chew through these pinecones when their normal food supplies are low, leaving small chips throughout the yard. It takes years for these cones to decompose and distribute their seeds.
Spike Pods
Thousands of these seed pods fall on my street every year, all four seasons. Cleanup involves hundreds of pounds of raking / shoveling. If you step on one of these in bare feet – you’ll remember it!
Critical Content
Apple iproduct plus WPA / Library of Congress
Critical Content is the data you need, or want, a combination of your Legal and Personal data. Legal Content- specifies ownership and identity. Personal Content feeds needs and wants.
Legal and Personal Critical Content
Your Legal content exists to define you to them. Your official ID in their databases, your capacity to interact. We need a reference point to start a transaction with these companies. Our account number, our customer number, name and address. You need to have the document / card and most important the Number to get their attention, once you’re in – you’re in.
It starts with a form -your data, in their system. A printed identifier on a physical document, seemingly the only point in the interaction process where printed content is necessary. (Soon to be outmoded by mobile device as identity verifier).
When your number is fed into the system, the document or device that you have stored your critical content on (your debit card for instance) is secondary. The physical record of the identifier is deprioritized, made an archaic accessory used to access a modern databased and networked system.
How quaint to pay for downloads with a mailed paper check.
Critical Information Here
Personal content is your favorite stuff – some of it might be kept forever. Supplying emotional wants and needs -the stuff that you’ve chosen to be important. This data that’s important to you can be any variety of media, from books to letters and digital music and movies, the media platforms are expanding constantly.
From your favorite song, to a picture of your friend, to a movie clip – this is the stuff that is critical because we want it to be. Job, Hobby, Interest, Preference. Records of your favorite People, Places, Things. Snapshots of Grandma, Favorite Songs, Movie dialogue quotes, and perhaps even some printed material; posters, books and magazines.
This picture of Susie became important because it’s Susie.
What content is kept forever?
Some of your important stuff was deemed important before its creation, family data – marriage photographs, new baby pictures, first day of school, graduation. Records of these events must be captured; this is critical content before content creation. Through Jr.’s on stage cell phone camera with a fast link to facebook, through the hired gun University photographer who shoots 1000 grip and grins with the Grad and the Dean, or through Aunties’ 35mm cardboard disposable camera – you can bet that those graduation pictures will be shot!
How Much?
Everyone has some Critical Content
Some may have more than others as they may have more data leading to financials, contracts, and legal agreements. Others may have personal content that they freely distribute to others via web 2.0 technologies. Some people photograph, videotape, blog and perhaps even tweet about themselves. Others purposely limit the amount of personal information distributed by web 2.0 technologies. What is interesting is where most draw the line, as intimacy can of course be easily ’shared’ from our multitudes of channels and devices.
Personal Critical content can also be Public Personal Critical Content.
Where is the important stuff?
Personal papers should be kept in a safety deposit box, or a fireproof safe at home, and al of your digital data should be backed up in at least two places with off site storage. How many people actually do these things? Not many…
Most likely we have a drawer where the important papers go and a hard drive where the personal content resides.
Is there only one copy on your cell phone?
A question we hope to never answer; “What would you grab in a fire?”
A file or form may not be important at creation, but will become important over time. The decision to ‘keep it forever’ is likely not known at content acquisition.
Soldiers on the battlefield looking at pixel images of loved ones.
The Family Album