Rediscovery of forgotten images in domestic photo collections

Abstract

The exponential growth of digital photo collections, combined with the legacy of printed photographs, is leading families to experience difficulties in remembering and finding photographs. Paradoxically this creates new opportunities for the re-discovery of forgotten images. This paper reports a new study in this area, based on interviews and creative activities with ten families in the south east of England. The study found that many triggers for photo re-use were either speculative or accidental, and led people to reinterpret the meaning of photographs in the light of subsequent experience and social discussion. This suggests a need to support serendipitous browsing of photographs and a more fluid and provisional approach to the semantic tagging of personal media. KeywordsDigital photography, photo collection, memory, remembering, retrieval, browsing could not be found in the collection when cued by the naming of a memorable event mentioned by family members. Viewed from another perspective, the re-discovery of forgotten media can be a very powerful and pleasurable event in its own right, as shown in studies of music and physical memorabilia including photograph albums and prints [e.g. 12, 16, 18]. Building on these latter studies as a complement to the Whittaker et al work on forgetting, we report a new study on the social and material triggers for returning to old photographs in the family collection, and the kinds of associated memories and interpretations given to forgotten images re-discovered. Author detailsOur methods were similar to those used by Whittaker et al, and also by Frohlich, Kuchinsky, Perring, Don & Arris [13] in their early study of photo organisation and sharing. Ten families with teenage children were interviewed at home about photo archiving and re-use before being asked to carry out a creative photo retrieval task. At the end of the first interview, families were asked to fill in diaries of photo use over a subsequent four week period. Follow-up interviews were then conducted to discuss diary entries and some of their associated photographs. In the rest of the paper we introduce the Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, in press @ October 2012 -3 -motivation for the study with respect to existing literature, outline our methods in greater

Making memories

“…Certain photos were valued because of "outside of photo" activities: something that happened directly after or before the photo. Or because the depicted had a strong link to the present: a photo of a young child sitting behind the piano becomes valuable when he later develops a fascination for music [14]. Especially the latter argument might hold for experiences in general rather than only for media, however it is still an effect that can only be evaluated in retrospect.…”

“…A study on constructing life stories with photos by Frohlich et al [14] provides insights into how certain cues of seemingly unimportant everyday life events can become valuable in retrospect. Certain photos were valued because of "outside of photo" activities: something that happened directly after or before the photo.…”

Sustentabilidade de Foto-memórias na Era Digital: Desafios e Oportunidades para a Computação

“…Essas buscas podem ser por algo vago, i.e. "bom o suficiente" [Frohlich et al 2013], ou mais específico, como uma foto particular, fotos de um evento ou com outra propriedade comum (e.g., uma pessoa) [Rodden e Wood 2003]. Conduzir essas buscas, entretanto, é geralmente uma tarefa cansativa, segundo Broekhuijsen et al (2017b), que pode ser dificultada por fatores como o excesso de fotos, dispersão dos arquivos (Desafio #2.1) e falta de organização .…”

“…Entretanto, com o tempo, é possível esquecer até da existência de certos arquivos ou de coleções inteiras [Marshall 2008a]. Contraditoriamente, a redescoberta de fotos esquecidas pode ser uma experiência prazerosa [Frohlich et al 2013]. Com objetos físicos, a forma com que são armazenados torna provável um reencontro futuro, segundo Marshall (2008a).…”

“…Com objetos físicos, a forma com que são armazenados torna provável um reencontro futuro, segundo Marshall (2008a). Esses encontros "acidentais" seriam, inclusive, uma das razões mais prováveis para explorar arquivos de fotos impressas [Frohlich et al 2013]. Artefatos digitais, entretanto, podem ser mais facilmente perdidos [Van House 2011], e portanto, soluções precisam ser projetadas para facilitar esse reencontro.…”