Ed, Misunderstood part of your writing....different interpretation of "organize" I think. Sorry. Jenny
On May 29, 7:41 pm, "Edward Frank" <[email protected]> wrote: > ENTS, > > If you look at the past centuries, many of the more memorable people kept > personal journals and diaries. You can read Julius Caesar's accounts of his > military expeditions. There are the Journals of Lewis and Clark as they > explored the American west. There are the accounts Charles Darwin and his > voyage on the Beagle. Many of the lights of literature have had their > letters and correspondence published posthumously. Some decry the loss of > letter writing as an art form. I personally do not feel this loss, much as I > am not worried about the proper spacing for the pony express stations. Our > methods of communication have changed and evolved over time. Perhaps some > quality aspects of letter writing has been lost. Each letter was written > over a period of time. More thought went into the words and the message the > author wanted to convey. Today with email words are dashed out in a few > minutes and sent across the world in seconds. There is a loss of > thoughtfulness in these emails. Words are sent out that we may at times wish > to take back. But there is a sense of immediacy in emails that was not > present in letters that took weeks to deliver. There are trade-offs, some > good, some bad. The genie cannot be put back in the bottle so we must strive > to make the most of our communications as they exist today. > > On my trips and vacations in the past I would keep a scrapbook of the places > I visited. Rather than put it in a large format , I chose to make mine in a > standard boo sized, hardback, blank journal that I could buy at a convenience > store. It gave the final product more of a feel of a real book, rather than > a album of clippings. I would include materials from the many free > leaflets and pamphlets given out to tourists and visitors at rest stops and > in every tourist trap around. Occasionally I would include a purchased > postcard. I have maps that fold out, clippings that open, and hand written > notes to fill the books in addition to the photographs I would take and the > memories I would keep. > > The source of these reflections was an article in North Star, January -June > 2009, the magazine of the North Country Trail Association. The article is > entitled "Keeping Digital Souvenirs" and is written by Tom Moberg > http://www.northcountrytrail.org/ Unfortunately the article is not available > online. The article looked at technologies that allowed you to keep digital > souvenirs of your hikes. These included: 1) GPS, 2) Audio recordings, 3) > Video clips, and 4) Digital photographs. It also talked of the uploading the > materials to various internet sites, and the creation of WebPages. Some GPS > models can e used to create and export tracks of the hikes that can be > overlaid on maps, or if you desire on maps at Google Earth to create 3D views > and flyovers of your hikes. Audio recordings are not something I ever > really thought about but comments can be recorded as you hike, bird calls and > other sounds can be recorded. I have a small digital recorder that will > record continuously for over 8 hours that cost around $30 dollars. It runs > on AA batteries. It could be used to record comments or thoughts as they > occur. (I will need to try it). The same can be done with video clips only > with a video image to accompany the sound. Many digital cameras have an > option to record short video clips with sound, although their sound > capability is sometimes awful. We all know about digital cameras. A person > could take hundreds of digital photos and keep only the ones they want. I > like to photograph informational signs that tell me information about the > photo subject. At Yellowstone, for example, each of the geysers are named. I > would take a photo of the sign with some background, then try to get a good > photo of the feature itself. All we need to do is to carry extra batteries > and digital cards. > > The difference between centuries past and today is what we do with our > memories. When I visit a forest of measure trees I post to the ENTS > discussion list to share with other members. Of my other activities I have > an account on > Facebookhttp://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=709156957&ref=nameand MySpace. > Here I can post blogs about my activities unrelated to trees. There are > sites that simply host blogs for those interested. These sites allow you to > to post photos, text, video clips, and audio clips. You can post your > thoughts in the excitement of the moment. You can include links and bits > from other websites about the places you have visited. You can add maps > fromwww.teraserver-usa.com or other sources. You can link to a myriad of > other resources to augment your own experiences. You can share more of your > experience in more different mediums than ever could be shared via letter. > On the other hand, a letter allowed perspective on your adventures as it took > time to write and in its very nature gave the writer a chance to pause for > reflection. This character is often lost in quick emails ad blogs. Also > lost is the feel of holding a letter or book in your hand. There is a > soothing tactile nature to holding a book or piece of paper that is absent > from holding your keyboard and reading from a screen. I don't think people > will go back to letter writing with the immediacy of email and the internet > so integrated into our everyday lives. We can strive to give more thought > to our posts, and more reflection in our blogs. We need to take better > advantage of these new mediums as we move forward. I need, and we all need, > to better organize out disparate postings in a more comprehensive manner, > rather than the current hodgepodge of a little bit here, and a little bit > there. Instead of a paper trail to the future, we are now leaving an > electronic one. > > Ed Frank --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
