I am the new-media family historian. My career in technology and self-identification as geek has led to this, I have a lot of media that needs to be digitized including tapes, videos, photos, old websites on floppy/zip disks and reel to reel recordings of drunk relatives singing into a tape recorder from the 1940’s.
As a way to stay entertained I’m documenting the assets/process and writing my reflections about what I find in an email newsletter.
This gives me a chance to reflect on what I find, either first party nostalgia around an event or just commentary when I find things from my parents or grandparents. It is also an opportunity to ‘modernize’ or update analog or early digital assets.
Some of the things I have learned from the first mixtape I digitized:
- My friend made a work of art by making a 60 minute mix tape with nothing but ‘Asleep’ by the Smiths playing over the sound of a rainstorm. Teen genius.
- I wish Jello Biafra was my High School History teacher
- I wish every boy in my High School were like the guys in Jesus and Mary Chain
