Memories

The Hurricane Memory Bank was enthralling. Even the first story on the list can hit home for anyone. Imagine moving to a brand new home, all of your stuff is there, you haven’t even settled in yet, and you have to grab what you can and leave immediately because a big storm is coming… then just having to sit watching the news coverage of it miles away and just cross your fingers and hope that your band new home is still standing.

We spent the next two weeks in DeRidder staring at a TV, hoping our new home, Louisiana as a whole, would not be broken beyond repair. (Spider Bite)

The site’s purpose is to index stories, images, and other digital media of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It’s a place where things are archived not only with what third parties have found, but people can add their own personal stories as well.

There are horrible pictures:

And there are wonderful pictures (although sideways):

Which can go to remind us that things can really change in the blink of an eye.

Remembering the past and being able to preserve it can not only help people not forget their own stories, but also help others see the lives of others and feel empathy for their peers. I can’t even imagine what losing my home or even a family member to a horrible storm like these could be like… I never want to know, but the site reminds me that it could happen and it has happened to others.

“Digital preservation is the active management of digital content over time to ensure ongoing access.” according to Library of Congress’s Digital Preservation Guide. Sites like these can show anyone how digital preservation works, even how to start your own like the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank. The “Tools” section of the site lists important keywords and programs:

It also lists along with the different tools other websites for access on learning more about how to archive yourself. I hope we do get to talk more in class about this site and its features and learn which of these tools we can use for our own purposes, if we were to actually make a digital archive. A lot of them seem to be based around institutions, though some of them, like Archon, seem like they’d be usable for students.