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Adam Brown
Curator


Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 7312
Location: Edinburgh (From Sutherland)

PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 3:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Paul ‘Spoons’ recently pointed out to me that we have nearly 2,500 memorials posted on this forum now. That’s probably more than a one third of the total number of war memorials in Scotland and we’ve certainly got the lion’s share of the civic memorials available online.

A lot of these memorials have been posted by just a handful of people. I was wondering if we are just amusing ourselves by posting these photographs or are we helping anyone with their research? I’d be interested to read of any instances where this forum has made a difference to someone’s research. It would certainly make it feel like we’re doing something worthwhile.

Regards

Adam
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dhubthaigh
Our first ever 1000-poster


Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 5071
Location: Blairgowrie, Perthshire

PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 4:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Adam,
It's a huge achievement and we've got to keep it going for the long term. It's a wonderful resource and one that I am very pleased to have been involved in. My commitment to getting as many of our War Memorials on here, wherever I can, is unwavering. Just think of those that will be gone whether through weathering, neglect or development projects and we'll have them here - important.

I wasn't going to raise this until nearer the end of the year but what does everyone think of the general input. I know what Adam feels about indulging ourselves. Is it that most who really appreciate, or are interested are mostly older folk and without computer access etc? Is it that researchers are wanting their 'own baby'?

I still say raising awareness locally is important but are we waiting until other issues, from the recent meeting, say, are progressed.

Quote:
It would certainly make it feel like we’re doing something worthwhile.


We are, although its always a boost getting nice feedback.
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dhubthaigh
Our first ever 1000-poster


Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 5071
Location: Blairgowrie, Perthshire

PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 5:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Keep this in mind;

"When the first terrible blow is over you will always have the proud satisfaction of knowing that he performed the supreme sacrifice for his country, in its greatest hour of need, and as one of this world war’s heroes, his name will remain sacred for ever".
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IanA



Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 949

PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 6:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

We few...we happy few.

I think that this is a very worthwhile project and believe that its profile will rise in the fullness of time. What does concern me is its fragility. If my Photobucket account was to go phut tomorrow a lot of threads would become meaningless and that (obviously) goes for other big posters too. If the site is to become the trusted and valuable resource that I'm sure we all want it to be shouldn't it be put on a more secure footing?

Ian
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DerekR
Moderator


Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 3013
Location: Hawick, Scotland

PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 6:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I share Ian's concerns.
I can only hope that we can get the name on every memorial recorded.
But any suggestions for the day that photobucket et al go belly side up?
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Time but th' impression stronger makes, As streams their channels deeper wear.
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spoons



Joined: 09 Jan 2007
Posts: 4991
Location: St John's Town of Dalry

PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 6:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well if my photobucket account went up in smoke tomorrow, I have a full backup of all the photos in photobucked 800 X 600 (as well as my high res originals) but they would all need to be posted somewhere and re-linked, that's true.

As for who is making use of the information we provide, a few come to mind...............

1. Someone doing family history research found their Milligan relatives.

2. Regulus1 researching for a book on Flanders memorials.

3. Someone researching for Canadian memorials.

4. Someone else I am meeting tomorrow researching for a book (or 2?...sssh).

\Paul
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apanderson
Administrator


Joined: 21 Dec 2006
Posts: 2571
Location: Stirlingshire

PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 7:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I know there's been a few folk directed here recently from both Rootschat and Talking Scot (both family history/genealogy forums) and thankfully, the people searching reported back that they've managed to find their who-ever, where-ever.

It's not very often in the family history business you get anything free so having all the photos (and transcriptions) to pour over is a wonderful resource.

Anne
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chris.wight



Joined: 06 Jan 2007
Posts: 14
Location: Lakewood, Colorado, USA

PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

DerekR wrote:
But any suggestions for the day that photobucket et al go belly side up?

Are there any Universities who might be willing to act as a repository for the photos/lists of names or a similar Scottish entity to Library and Archives Canada who might be interested in maintaining Scotland's heritage?
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spoons



Joined: 09 Jan 2007
Posts: 4991
Location: St John's Town of Dalry

PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

chris.wight wrote:
DerekR wrote:
But any suggestions for the day that photobucket et al go belly side up?

Are there any Universities who might be willing to act as a repository for the photos/lists of names or a similar Scottish entity to Library and Archives Canada who might be interested in maintaining Scotland's heritage?

Assuming that we get 10,000 memorials, that's about 4 times what we have now. With an average of 4 photos per memorial, at 800 X 600 resolution assume 125K per photo. That is only about 5GB of data. We are not talking about large amounts of storage if we stick to 800 X 600 format. You can buy a stand alone hard disk of 320GB for only £60 (although server storage is more expensive) so the cost of storage is tiny. The real cost would be web hosting but even commercial hosting of this amount of data would be only around £15 per month.

I think it extremely unlikely that Photobucket will go belly up without allowing us the option of paying something to keep it all there. If it did - I think we could put together something on a commercial basis for around £15 per month as long as everyone has kept backups of the photos posted on Photobucket and is prepared to edit all the posts.

Someone else will have to answer for what backup arrangements we have for all the posts, in fact the whole forum apart from the photos.

\Paul
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Adam Brown
Curator


Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 7312
Location: Edinburgh (From Sutherland)

PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 12:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

spoons wrote:
Someone else will have to answer for what backup arrangements we have for all the posts, in fact the whole forum apart from the photos.


This seems to be the potential major drawback for a forum based repository, what happens if the web based photo album goes?

I think we're safe to assume in the near future that Photobucket is OK and I hope everyone is keeping copies of the images they are posting if something does go wrong. I really don't want to think of the problems it would cause but it's not insurmountable. It would take a while for the images to be replaced with a new link but they would be available again and in the mean time interested parties could pm the person who posted the image originally.

I really don't know the anwer to this one but the one major advantage a forum has over something like the old BWMP site is that there is no backlog of updates. Once you've uploaded your image to your online album you can immediately share it on the forum.

To go slightly off-topic here what I'm surprised about is that given the success / usefulness of this forum why its format hasn't been applied to other small countries or regions / states of larger countries.

Adam
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