When people ask me what exactly photoxo does, I panic a little in my head.
I digitize photos. I organize prints and digital images. I preserve heirloom photos in museum-quality housing. I help create books, videos, cards, and other gifts that tell stories. I create organizational archives. I help people think of their photos as a larger entity than the sum of its parts. Inevitably, though, the person asking is looking for a much more succinct answer.
So I say that photoxo is a personal archiving service.
Personal archiving is not new, but it’s fair to say this is a service that has previously only been available or of interest to people of a certain means.
My first exposure to personal archiving as a thing was through a former colleague who was an archivist and librarian. She freelanced as an archivist for a local family who had immigrated to the United States in the 19th century and started a business that was still around. She organized their papers, and helped turn a hundred years worth of important documents into an archive that more readily told the story of the family.
I remember thinking how cool that sounded (of course the researcher in my head was like screaming “THAT’S SO AWESOME!”) and I started thinking about who requires this service and when.
Personal archives come in many forms: genealogy research, childhood drawings and grade school report cards, college term papers and other research or intellectual property, music you’ve recorded, home movies, oral histories, organizational or club records noting one’s personal accomplishments, even wedding or memorial videos. I’m sure you can even fill in a few here that I haven’t thought of.
It didn’t take me long to come to the conclusion that personal archiving is not simply for families of means. We all need one. Do you think you don’t?
- How many of your vacation pictures are still on the camera or device?
- Do you share them with friends or family?
- Do you use albums on social media?
- When is the last time you looked at a picture from earlier this year? From last year? From 5 years ago?
- Where are those pictures? How do you access them?
- If someone wanted to honor you with an award, would you be able to quickly and easily supply them with photos from 10 years ago? 20? 30?
- How do you view and share videos? What about videos from VHS cameras? 8mm? They can still be integrated into your archive even though the technology has changed radically!
