Recent writings

For those of you coming from the Big App Show or from a recommendation to read more about the iPhone, here are two of my knowledge links you will enjoy:

• Hardware Capabilities of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch
• "Must Have" Apps for Your iPhone and other iOS Devices

For those of you who heard about the life scrapbook, read these two links together:

• Documenting Your Memoirs with a Life Scrapbook
• Tips for Creating a Life Scrapbook Digitally

And for those of you wanting the link to the photography tips:

• Photography Tips for Amateurs from an Amateur

If you enjoy them, please check out all of my writings.  They are all here for you.

Happy reading!

Tips for Creating a Life Scrapbook Digitally

In an earlier posting (Documenting Your Memoirs with a Life Scrapbook) I introduced the concept of the life scrapbook, listed reasons to create one, provided example pages to give you an idea of the content, and gave some tips and steps to take in creating one for yourself.

There are two components of life scrapbooking: the content and the presentation.  The content refers to your life story and the memorabilia available to visually support your life story.  The presentation refers to the look and feel of the scrapbook, the layout, and the way the life story is conveyed visually.  Once you have performed the steps related to the content (discussed in the previous posting), you are ready to focus on the presentation.

This posting:

• Describes the differences between doing a scrapbook in a traditional manner versus creating one digitally
• Discusses the tools needed for digital scrapbooking
• Provides tips and techniques for digital scrapbooking, including design aspects, software considerations, and printing
• Wraps up this topic with some final thoughts on creating a life scrapbook.

My hope is these two postings give you the enthusiasm and the path to create your own life scrapbook.

TRADITIONAL VERSUS DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING

Traditional scrapbooking refers to physically creating a scrapbook through traditional methods, including physically cutting, pasting, marking, and folding materials.  This is a time-honored approach and has had a renaissance over the past two decades in the United States.  Scrapbooking stores cater to people using this approach.

Digital scrapbooking refers to an approach of imaging all memorabilia through digital photos and scanning and then laying out the pages on the computer digitally.  This is a relatively new approach brought about by technological advances and affordability of digital cameras, scanners, and software.  There are advantages and constraints associated with both of these approaches.

Advantages of traditional scrapbooking include:

• The result is made by your own hands (truly handmade), physically touching and putting together a one-of-a-kind book
• There are scrapbooking stores and clubs to help you, energize you, and provide support and comraderie
• The tools to assist in the creation process are easy to learn.

Constraints of traditional scrapbooking include:

• It is hard to make changes after you have created a page, cut something up, or glued something down
• The size of the memorabilia, like a diploma or ribbon award, may constrain how you can layout a page.

Advantages of digital scrapbooking include:

• Memorabilia can be scaled, for example, you may be able to fit two award certificates on the same page by shrinking the images of the certificates
• Many of the traditional techniques, such as cropping, overlaying, and placing of decorative items can be mimicked and even extended
• Errors can be corrected and pages redone without damaging the original memorabilia
• It is not as messy a process to create
• The original memorabilia can be safely stored away since a digital copy is used in the scrapbook
• It is easy to make copies of the scrapbook.

 Constraints of digital scrapbooking include:

• The result is not 3D with true richness of texture
• This approach requires a computer as well as some computer and technical savvy to use software and the other electronic tools.

Only you can decide which approach is right for you.  There is no right or wrong answer.  I decided to create my scrapbook digitally.  I am comfortable with technology.  I wanted to keep my memorabilia and photos intact in case I needed them for something else.  And going digital allowed me to print multiple copies of my life scrapbook and share them with others.

TOOLS NEEDED FOR DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING

There are six tools typically used in digital scrapbooking.

The computer is the central tool.  It runs the software and interfaces with the other tools.  You can use almost any type of computer and operating system, such as Windows or Mac OSX.  Faster machines speed up the time to load in and manipulate images, but it is not critical to have an expensive machine.  It is more important to have a large enough hard drive to store the files you will be creating.  Images and the digital pages you will be creating can take up a lot of space.

A scanner is the best tool to copy flat objects.  You want a flatbed scanner and not a scanner that feeds in paper as it could damage the item you are scanning.  Make sure the scanner can scan in a high resolution (the number of dots per square inch).  The scanner should also be able to scan the image in color.  High resolution and color allow you to have an image that looks very close to the original.

A camera is used to take photos for the scrapbook.  A digital camera is recommended as it is easy to transfer the image to the computer.  If you have a film camera, the film can be developed at a store that gives you the images digitally (on a CD or stored on the internet) or you can scan in the print using the scanner.  A camera can also be used to take photos of your memorabilia that cannot be scanned in, such as a non-flat object like a trophy.

A printer is used to print a physical copy of the scrapbook.  A personal printer is only required if you are printing the pages of the scrapbook yourself.  You can also have the scrapbook printed on a professional printer with binding.

An internet connection is required if you are using one of the websites to lay out your scrapbook or if you having the printing done by an external service.  You can also use the internet connection to get ideas for your scrapbook and to download images and decorative items for your scrapbook.

Software refers to the programs used on your computer to design and create your scrapbook.  The software can be a graphics program, presentation software, or scrapbooking software.  You may also need a web browser if you want to use websites specifically geared for scrapbooking or creating photo books.

DIGITAL TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

For your flat memorabilia, scan all of your documents and physical photos.  Remember to use a color, flatbed scanner and scan at a high resolution (300 dots per inch).  You can also scan thin objects on a flatbed scanner, such as buttons.

For you other memorabilia that cannot be scanned, photograph these objects that you want in your scrapbook.  You can make the photos of the objects less “flat” by performing some software manipulation.  See the example below of an origami flower.

This origami flower was photographed with a solid, distinct color behind it.  Then an “alpha” tool in a software program was used to remove the background.  Shadows were also added to give it a more 3D look.

Select the background “paper” you want to use for your scrapbook paper.  You can scan in the background or you can use digital background “paper” available from scrapbooking e-kits.  You can use the same background throughout the scrapbook or you can use several backgrounds.

For text, you can scan in your own handwriting for captions and notes.  You can also use a font that gives the intended feeling for the scrapbook.  In the example above, Handwriting - Dakota is an electronic font.  "I love you" is real handwriting.

Decorations (embellishments) are very popular in modern scrapbooking.  Scan in decorative items or gather electronic embellishments from clipart or scrapbooking e-kits.

SOFTWARE PROGRAMS FOR DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING

There are several software options.  The table below lists different categories of software that may be used to create a digital scrapbook, along with examples of software programs for each category.

Category	Example Software Programs
Presentation	PowerPoint, Keynote
Layout	Publisher
Photo	Photoshop
Offline photobook	MyPublisher, iPhoto
Scrapbooking	Memory Mixer, Memory Suite
Online photobook sites	Kodakgallery, Snapfish
Online scrapbooking sites	Scrapblog

Each software program has its own advantages and disadvantages.  You can select based on what functionality you need, what computer the software runs on, how much you are willing to spend, what software you already have, and what software you feel most comfortable using.

I used a combination of software programs.  I used Photoshop Elements to scan in and crop images.  I used Keynote to create and layout the individual pages.  And I used iPhoto and MyPublisher to externally publish copies of the scrapbook.

DESIGNING EACH PAGE

The techniques to designing a page digitally are similar to designing a page for traditional scrapbooking.  Look at the memorabilia you have.  Organize them on the page or pages.  Add titles, captions, and other text.  Add decorative items.  And complete the layout.

If you will be printing on the front and back of a page, remember that odd number pages are on the right side of an open-faced book.  In addition, consider the page content and design based on facing pages.

With digital scrapbooking, you can take advantage of the functionality provided by the software to approximate a traditional scrapbook look or even do things you cannot do easily with traditional techniques.  Some simple examples:

• Add shadows to some of your scanned in items to give it more of a 3D look
• Give jagged edges to cropped documents
• Scale the memorabilia to fit nicely on the page and the layout
• Apply picture frames or mats for photos.

 Consider creating additional pages to round out your scrapbook.  You may want to have a preface or introduction, a table of contents, a conclusion/wrap-up/post-script, and front and back covers.

SAVING EACH PAGE AND PRINTING

As you create the pages, you will be saving the pages in the native format of the software program.  These files should be kept so you can edit the page in the software program if changes need to be made in the future.

Once you have completed all of the pages or your life scrapbook digitally, you may need to save the pages in another file format to load into another software program for printing.  For example, iPhoto and MyPublisher can be used to create and print photo books.  If you save each scrapbook page as one image, you can import each image as a single “photo” where the photo takes the entire photo book page and bleeds to the edge (no borders).

Typical image formats are TIFF (high resolution, large file sizes), PNG, and JPG.  Make sure the resolution is high enough for the page desired.  Do a test print of a page early on before you get far in to the scanning, design, and build process.  Otherwise, if the image scans are not high enough resolution, you may have to rescan all the items again.  Include the background graphics in the resolution test.

Before you print, proofread each page and correct any errors or omissions.  And then proofread it one more time (or two).  It is helpful to enlist a second pair of eyes; there will always be something you missed.

Options for printing include:

• Printing on your own printer and binding it yourself
• Printing at a printer shop that lets you bring in your own files
• Using a photobook printing service, such as Apple, Kodakgallery, MyPublisher, or Snapfish.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON LIFE SCRAPBOOKING

Your life scrapbook will evolve as you go through the journey of creating it.

It takes time to create a life scrapbook.  Enjoy the experience and the journey.  Do not give up.

Take the opportunity during the journey to learn about yourself.

And be creative throughout the process.  Have fun.

Happy scrapbooking!

"Must Have" Apps for your iPhone and other iOS devices

Last updated: March 1, 2011

I am frequently asked to list my favorite iPhone applications (apps).  I am an avid iPhone app user and have downloaded slightly more than 580 of them in the last two years.  While I have not seen statistics on the number of apps the average user accesses in a given month, my conversations with other iPhone users suggest I actively use a larger number of non-game apps than the typical user.  Most of my apps focus on information, productivity, photography, or music.

This posting:

• Presents a list of apps I recommend as “must have” apps because they add tremendous value...if you are a new iPhone user, get these now to round out your device and make it more powerful
• Recommends a few additional apps to get because they are interesting, although you may not access them that often
• Provides tips on acquiring and maintaining your apps.

This list is geared to the iPhone, but most of these applications are also of benefit to iPod Touch and iPad users.  Some functionality in the apps may not be available with these other devices as the hardware capability may not exist (for example, the magnetic compass is required for some features to work).  Please refer to my posting on hardware capabilities of the iOS devices for more information.

MUST HAVE APPS

I begin with some limitations of my list.   These points do not invalidate the list; this list definitely contains my recommendations and is based on actual usage.   I spend some time each month scanning lists, downloading apps, and reading reviews of new apps to keep current.

First, I have clearly downloaded just a fraction of the apps that are available—actually less than 0.2% of the 350,000 iPhone apps available in the App Store as of March 1, 2011.  I am sure there are some excellent apps I have not heard about.

Second, I have downloaded very few apps that cost money.  This means I have limited exposure to the large number of excellent paid apps.  My focus has been on apps that are free or were free at the time I downloaded it.

Last, some of my “must have” apps may not be beneficial in some places outside of the United States because the content in those locales may be sparse or not available.  For example, applications that provide information about restaurants or traffic conditions are not meaningful unless there is up-to-date content available in that location.

With that said, here is my summary list of “must have” iPhone apps.  Below the list more detail is provided about each app, including a link to the webpage for the app (click on the app name so you can quickly bring it up in iTunes), a brief description, the price (as of September 10, 2010; prices can change at any time), and one or more nifty features that help make it a good app to have.

Search the web... View files and share them... Know the weather... Stay informed... Track your path... Look it up and learn... Talk, not type... Find your recipe... Draw and sketch... Find free hotspots... Listen to music... Participate in social media... Get directions while driving...   Communicate for free/less... "Text" by voice... Know your speed...

Dragon Search Dropbox The Weather Channel NPR News, New York Times, USA Today MotionX GPS Wikipanion, Dictionary.com, IMDb Movies & TV Dragon Dictation Epicurious, BigOven SketchBook MobileX Wi-Fi Finder Accuradio, Pandora Facebook, Twitterific MotionX GPS Drive or MapQuest 4 Mobile Skype, Google Voice, TextFree with Voice HeyTell Speedtest.net

Dragon Search (free) – Search the web by speaking or typing

Nifty features: It provides search results for Google (or Yahoo!), YouTube, Twitter, iTunes, and Wikipedia at the same time. You scroll a horizontal listing of these sites to switch among the search results.  It includes a good built-in browser to view results.

Dropbox (free) – Access and view files "in the cloud" (Dropbox's servers on the web) or files you have downloaded for offline viewing.  Think of it as a "file system" where you can store documents online or offline and access them on your iPhone. BONUS:  If you click this link here to get your free Dropbox account, both you and I will get extra space as a bonus.

Nifty features:  There are many reasons to get Dropbox for your Windows or Mac OS computers even if you do not own an iPhone.  From an iPhone standpoint, you can view many types of files.  You can download files for offline viewing.  You can share links to files from within the app.  You can take photos and videos on your iPhone and then upload it to the cloud.

The Weather Channel (free) – display current weather conditions and forecasts

Nifty features: It provides extended forecasts (hourly, 36 hour, and 10 day) and maps with animation of past cloud movement. It will display snapshots from nearby road cameras if available.

NPR News (free) – listen to news and programs from NPR (National Public Radio in the United States), read NPR stories, and listen to live broadcasts from any of the NPR radio stations

Nifty features: You can create a playlist of stories you want to hear and just listen to those stories.

NYTimes (free) – read and search The New York Times

Nifty features: The latest articles and photos download when you sync so you can view offline.  Perfect for airplane flights and other locations where you do not have WiFi and cell connections.

USA TODAY (free) – read the latest news

Nifty features: You can download all stores to read offline.

MotionX GPS ($2.99) – track your position and your path whatever you are doing outside (hiking, running, cycling) Note:  There is a "lite" version for free (MotionX GPS Lite) that would suffice for a majority of users.

Nifty features:  It contains lots of different types of maps (for example, contour maps, street maps) and you can "cache" (store) some of these maps on your device so you can use them wherever you are and when you are offline.  You can store many tracks and e-mail them.  It records several statistics in realtime, including time, distance, speed (average and max), altitude, and altitude changes.  You can mark spots on your track (waypoints) and attach photos along the way.

Wikipanion (free) – search and view Wikipedia entries

Nifty features:  It contains several features to make Wikipedia easier to view on small screen, including table of contents, expand/collapse, word-wrapping, and font resizing.

Dictionary.com (free) – look up words using a professional and reliable dictionary and thesaurus, with pronunciation, comprehensive definitions, origins, sample sentences, synonyms, and antonyms.

Nifty features: It downloads the information to your iPhone so you can use it anytime, whether you have an internet connection or not. It will pronounce the word for you if you are connected to the internet.

IMDb Movies & TV (free) – search for information on just about any movie or TV show ever made

Nifty features:  It simply has a wealth of content.  It is only a "must have" because you will eventually find yourself asked the question "Who was in that movie?"

Dragon Dictation (free) – speak and it will transcribe it to text that can be texted, mailed, or placed on the clipboard.

Nifty features:  It works very well.

Epicurious (free) – search and view recipes.

Nifty features:  Reviews of recipes are included; always read the reviews first to get ideas on how to improve it or to gauge whether you want to make it or not.  You can e-mail recipes and create shopping lists from recipes.

BigOven (free) – search and view recipes.

Nifty features:  Over 170,000 recipes are available with ratings and reviews.  You can view ingredients in metric equivalents.

SketchBook MobileX (free) – sketch ideas or draw

Nifty features:  Gives you the full screen as the drawing area (that is, it hides menus and toolbars).  You can upload your drawings easily to Flickr. Tip:  Hold down the on/off and home button screen at the same time to take a snapshot of the screen and put it in your camera roll.  This tip applies everywhere in every app on the iPhone.

Wi-Fi Finder (free) – find Wi-Fi hotspots (both free and paid)

Nifty features: This is a database of Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the world (they claim over 320,000 locations in 140 countries).  You can download the database for offline use, which is critical when you do not have online access.

AccuRadio (free) – listen to internet radio with hundreds of channels

Nifty features:  You can skip as many songs as you would like.  You can view the history of songs you have heard.  No audio ads.

Pandora (free) – listen to music from your own personalized radio station

Nifty features:  You create your own "radio station" by selecting an artist, song, or classical composer, and it will play songs by the artist and similar music from other artists.

Facebook (free) – access Facebook from your iPhone

Nifty features: A lot easier to quickly view, read, and update status than booting up a computer.

Twitterific (free) – read and post tweets

Nifty features: Easy to use.  Shows keywords trending on Twitter.

MotionX GPS Drive ($0.99 plus $24.99 for real-time routing and voice guidance) – give a destination and it will set the route and give you directions while driving

Nifty features: Works well when walking, too.  Because it is an online app, everything is updated with access to the latest information, including traffic conditions, maps, and location of newer commercial sites.  You can view the map navigation in landscape or portrait mode. Suggestion:  Get a car charger with enough amps (reviews suggest 2.1 amps) so that the iPhone battery will last on a long trip.  Use of GPS and real-time checks drain the battery.

MapQuest 4 Mobile (free) – give a destination and it will set the route and give you directions while driving

Nifty features:  Voice guidance with turn-by-turn directions is free!  You can quickly display nearby traffic conditions, hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and other businesses.  It automatically reroutes if you miss your turn or decide to take a different direction. Suggestion:  Get a car charger with enough amps (reviews suggest 2.1 amps) so that the iPhone battery will last on a long trip.  Use of GPS and real-time checks drain the battery.

Skype (free) – use Skype on your iPhone...this means you can text and call other Skype users for free over Wi-Fi anywhere in the world

Nifty features: You can call over Wi-Fi or over 3G (although this will use part of your data plan.)  You can display who of your Skype contacts are online.  On the iOS devices that support multitasking, you can keep it running in the background so Skype contacts can contact you anytime.

Google Voice (free) – call and text (only available in the United States)

Nifty features: Call for free any U.S. number and call internationally at low rates.  Send free texts to any United States number.  Get all of the benefits of Google Voice, including voice mail and transcriptions of voice mail.  Your Google Voice number is displayed on caller id.

TextFree with Voice (free) - send and receive texts and pics for free, make and receive calls

Nifty features: TextFree provides you a personal phone number for texting.  There is no limit on how many text messages you can send or receive.  Free texting to several countries.

HeyTell (free) – communicate by leaving voice messages

Nifty features:  A wonderfully strange cross between voice messaging (you leave a voice message), texting (message delivered right after sending), and walkie-talkie (one person talks at a time).  History of voice messages are kept.  If you are in the app, you hear the voice message in near realtime.  If you are not in the app, it will push a notification that you have a message (just like a text message).  Good tool if voice or sound is better than texting (or if you dislike texting) or want someone to hear a little bit of a speech or concert.  If desired, you can have it show the location of where you recorded the message on a map.

Speedtest.net (free) – measure the speed your network

Nifty features:  It tests ping, download, and upload times.  It will store your history so you can compare over time.

MY FAVORITE APPS

All of my "must have" apps are favorite apps.  But not all of my favorite apps are "must have".  I can get along fine without them.  But they are a joy to use, even if I use them infrequently.  Here is a list of some of these favorites, followed by the link and a nifty feature which makes it a favorite.

Star Walk ($2.99) - view the sky in real-time or for any date on any location of the earth

Nifty features:  This is an app to impress your friends and show the power of the capabilities of the hardware.  It takes advantage of the magnetic compass and GPS to show you the sky in front of you in real-time...it moves with you as you turn and face other directions.  The touch screen makes it easy to navigate, zoom in, and view information.  The star information is stored in the app so you can use this app offline in the remotest areas.

SoundHound with the infinity symbol ($4.99) - can recognize the name of the music you are listening to, singing, or humming Note:  There is a free version of SoundHound which limits you to 5 free music recognition IDs each month, as well as unlimited voice and text searches.

Nifty features:  Another app that feels like magic.  When a song is recognized, it will show all information it has available for it, including lyrics, YouTube videos with that song in it, artist biographies, albums with that song in it, other songs by the artist, and additional information.  If your iPhone multitasks, it can recognize what music is playing in another music app.

Google Earth (free) - view the earth from satellite imagery

Nifty features:  Ok, yes another app that feels like magic, this one because of the seamless way you can circle the earth and zoom in to any location.  It is a desktop version of Google Earth in the palm of your hand.  You can search for any city or place (type in "Washington Monument" and it virtually flies you there).  You can tilt the view to see mountainous terrain.  It also has links to Wikipedia entries.  I find the standard Maps app to be faster, but this app is more magical.

TIPS ON ACQUIRING AND MAINTAINING APPS

Sync up your iPhone regularly with your computer.  Synching backs up apps you may have acquired from the App Store on your iPhone.  You also get a back-up of your iPhone in case you lose it or if you ever have to have to reset it.

Download and update apps on your computer and then sync (download) to your iPhone whenever possible.  I have read many app reviewer comments where users complain they updated the app and then it did not work anymore.  Some people mention they had to delete the app on the iPhone and reinstall to get it to work again.  I have never had that problem with the apps they refer to.  I do not know if it is because I always do my updates on my computer and then sync, but it would not hurt to try it this way.

Read the reviews first before updating apps.  You can learn from others if the upgrade has a major bug, if the vendor took away functionality, if the vendor knows of an issue and encourages you to wait for the next release, or if the vendor added advertisements or sign-ups that you do not want to bother with.  Manually select the apps you want to upgrade after reading the reviews.  This is an advantage of not being an early bird.

Download free apps if you think they could eventually be useful to you.  Tomorrow (or even an hour later) that app may no longer be free.  I have several apps I acquired for free although they are no longer available for free.

Use AppShopper (www.appshopper.com) to look for price drops.  This wonderful website keeps you informed of apps that have lowered their price.  It also shows the history of price changes for each app featured.  If you notice an app has had a history of temporary price changes, get it when it is at its lowest historical price.  Here is an example of an app that has changed prices many times.

Do not forget iPhone web apps (web applications).  iPhone web apps are applications designed for the size of the iPhone screen and the iPhone capabilities.  These web apps require you have an online connection because it uses the internet.  You can create an icon for a web app on your home screen.  Open the web app in Safari on your iPhone, tap the plus sign, and then tap “Add to Home screen".  This link to the Apple site on web apps gives you more information.

Here is a link to one example web app on how to write Chinese characters.  Notice how it takes advantage of the iPhone touch screen.

Do not forget you can go to websites with the Safari browser.  The world is at your fingertips.  You may be able to access either a website designed for mobile devices or the original website and access all of the functionality.  Two examples:

• Drugs.com is an excellent site for drug information.  They do not have an iPhone app.  But you can access the website.
• Wolfram Alpha has a paid iPhone app.  But you can access their mobile website for free (m.wolframalpha.com) and have similar capabilities.

I will update this list as I find new "must have" and favorite apps.

Happy apping!

Documenting Your Memoirs with a Life Scrapbook

Scrapbooking is a popular hobby in the United States.  The craft of scrapbooking typically takes an event or a day in the life—a vacation, my son’s first haircut, our anniversary—and places photos and mementos from the event on one or more pages.  Some people do journaling, adding a few words or paragraphs to the pages to describe the event.  Many people place an emphasis on making the pages visually appealing, using a wide variety of techniques and background papers, stamps, stickers, ribbons, buttons, and other items.

Last year, I created a special kind of scrapbook: a life scrapbook or visual memoir to document my life from childhood to the present-day.  I found the process of creating the scrapbook and the end result to be personally rewarding.

This posting:

• Introduces you to the concept of the life scrapbook and reasons to create one
• Provides example pages to give you an idea of the content
• Gives you some tips and steps to take in creating one for yourself.

I will have a separate posting next month which will give you tips on creating this life scrapbook digitally.  (Update: here is the link to the second posting titled Tips for Creating a Life Scrapbook Digitally.)

THE LIFE SCRAPBOOK

I created the term life scrapbook to differentiate its purpose from the typical scrapbooking done today.

A life scrapbook is:

• About you.  It is not about your child, your friends, your social networks.  It is about who you are, where you came from, how you have evolved, what you have done, what you have experienced.
• A life story.  It is not a single event.  It represents the accumulation of several years, perhaps your entire lifetime.
• Visual.  It includes photos, newspaper clippings, documents, and other items that are meaningful to you.
• Reflective.  It includes some text to help give context to the mementos.
• A scrapbook.  It can use the same traditional and modern scrapbooking techniques.

There are several reasons to create a life scrapbook.  I will group them into four key reasons.

The first reason is to organize your mementos.  The process of creating your life scrapbook gives you the opportunity to organize the "shoebox" of stuff you have laying around in the house, in the attic, in storage, and at someone else's house.  It allows you to save the meaningful items and capture them in a single place.  With your mementos organized, you can leave an historical record for your descendants, perhaps starting or continuing a tradition.

A second reason is to enjoy your memories.  Creating and viewing your life scrapbook helps you reminisce on your life experiences.  You may enjoy sharing your experiences visually with others.  It will help you preserve important memories before you forget them.

A third reason is to learn about yourself.  The process of creating your life scrapbook can be highly enriching.  You can take stock in where you have been and how you have evolved.  It allows you to "reframe" or learn from the past so you can move forward.  It can serve as input in planning your future.

A fourth reason is to have fun.  A life scrapbook gives you the opportunity to be creative about a subject you know about.  You can express your own personality in each page you create.  The end result is a one-of-a-kind, personal gift that you can give yourself.  It is priceless.

EXAMPLE OF A LIFE SCRAPBOOK

Below are some example pages from the life scrapbook that I created for myself.  The pages are intentionally displayed in low resolution as I want the focus to be on the ideas and not on the personal content.

I have a preface to my life scrapbook.  It is all text.  It describes why I created the scrapbook.

There are many ways to organize a life scrapbook.  Through the process of creating the scrapbook, I identified seven key themes in my life.  I used these themes to organize my scrapbook, and this key themes page became the table of contents.

I mentioned a key reason for creating a life scrapbook is to learn about yourself during the creation process.  You can do several personal exercises early on in the process.  I created a personal timeline using the History template in the Personal Compass by Grove Consultants International, which helps examine your past places, occupations, ups and downs, dreams, and key learnings.  It is perfect for inclusion in a life scrapbook.

Many people think of scrapbooks as simply lots of photos.  While photos are important, I only have two full pages of photos of me in the entire scrapbook.

I created a consistent section header page for each theme which lists the highlights.  Several pages follow each section header page with the details.

Some of my pages do relate to key events in my life.  This page has mementos from an Outward Bound experience that piqued my interest in nature and adventure travel.

These are just a few of the many pages in my life scrapbook.  They can serve as ideas for you.  Once you get started, your life scrapbook will take on its own unique style that is you.

TIPS ON CREATING A LIFE SCRAPBOOK

Avoid accepting any excuses you may have.

• "My life is not interesting enough."  No one else has ever or will ever live your life.  It is unique.  And once you start uncovering your past, you will be amazed at how interesting it has been.
• "It feels vain to do my own."  No one else has the knowledge you have about yourself.  If not you, who?
• "The task is overwhelming.  I don't have the time."  Take it slowly and in bite-size chunks.  You don't have to go through all of your boxes of mementos in one day.  Spread them out over several weeks or months.  It is the process that you go through, not how quickly you go through it, that enriches and rewards you.
• "I don't have any material from my past."  This is the only good excuse--if it is true.  I have some suggestions below on gathering memorabilia that may help.

There are two components of scrapbooking: the content and the presentation.  The content refers to your life story and the memorabilia available to visually support your life story.  Steps to perform for the content include:

• Determining your audience
• Gathering memorabilia
• Setting the purpose and messages
• Organizing your content

Determining your audience may seem strange, but it is an important one.  Who are you creating it for?  If it is just yourself, you can be more intimate and create a scrapbook closer to a private diary.  If for your close relatives or descendants, and perhaps even for some of your close friends, you can be personal.  If a broad audience, keep privacy in mind.

There are three avenues to pursue in gathering memorabilia.  You should pursue the first two and only use the third avenue if you have no mementos available from the other avenues.

What you have	Papers, letters, photographs, certificates, newspaper articles, yearbooks, trophies, ribbons, items you can photograph or scan
What you can ask for	Items other people have, items organizations have (e.g. school transcripts), items retrievable in a library or archive
What you can recreate (not recommended)	Drawings to substitute, recreations of objects and papers

After you have determined the audience and reviewed the memorabilia gathered, you can draft the purpose and key messages you want to convey about your life.  The purpose and messages can evolve as you continue to go through the process of creating your scrapbook, but this initial draft can keep you focused and structured.

Some of your key messages can revolve around what you have done, where you have been, how you have evolved, and what you have learned.

You should also think about how you want to organize your content.  Most people only think about chronological order.  Other possibilities include organization around key messages, key events in your life, things that are important to you, the people in your life, and how other people describe you.  You can do a combination of these.  I organized mine around key themes in my life and chronological within each theme.

Use the purpose and memorabilia you have available as a guide.  If you keep diaries or journals, reread them to look for patterns.  Through these activities and through introspection, you will be able to determine the best organization method for your life scrapbook.

I will discuss the presentation component and tips on digital scrapbooking in another posting.  (Update: here is the link to this second posting titled Tips for Creating a Life Scrapbook Digitally.)


Happy scrapbooking!

Ideas for a New Genre of Journalism: Bona Fide Journalism

Good journalism is more difficult for me to find these days.  I fondly recall the CNN Headline News of the 1980's (not the one today):  30 minutes; mainly facts; no intentional slant; a single newscaster; no banter; no yelling; no fluff.  Granted, it was not in-depth reporting, but the newscast gave you enough accurate information to understand the situation and make an informed opinion.  It is possible my recollections of the 'good old days' are faulty; perhaps journalism has always been slanted or sensational, and I simply have become more observant or wiser.

I have a few ideas on journalism for someone or some group to run with.  These ideas suggest a new kind of journalism for people like me.  I call it bona fide journalism.  I do not have all the answers.  I know the subject is more complex than I make it out to be.  My hope is you can start with these ideas, improve them, enhance them, and make them a reality.

This posting presents three ideas:

• Idea 1 - Bona fide journalism
• Idea 2 - Critique journalism
• Idea 3 - Time-elapsed news article

Please note my ideas are not intended to replace or supersede other journalistic styles or genres that may have some of the same objectives, such as investigative or collaborative journalism.  Bona fide journalism is an additional form.

IDEA 1 - A NEW KIND OF JOURNALISM:  BONA FIDE JOURNALISM

I will introduce this new kind of journalism through a framework depicting a spectrum of journalistic genres.

Aside note: I have drawn the spectrum vertically to remove any reference to a “far right” or “far left” of the spectrum as those terms have negative political connotations which are not relevant to this discussion.

(Click to enlarge)

The middle row of the spectrum refers to the genre of objective journalism.  Objective means not being influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing the facts.  The journalist writes or presents a news report independent of his or her beliefs.  All sides of the story are presented as to be neutral or impartial.  As equal weight is given to all sides, credence may be given to a position even if the facts do not exist to support it.  Filtering and analysis are avoided, otherwise questions of bias may surface.

Advocacy journalism or agenda-based journalism shown in the bottom row of the spectrum is driven by the position being advocated.  The opinion is pre-conceived and intentionally drives what facts to present, what facts not to present, and, for the unscrupulous practitioners, what misleading or false statements to include.  Advocacy-based journalism is transparent about their going-in position; the Sierra Club and National Rifle Association, as examples, are up-front about their views and what they advocate.  Agenda-based journalism is not transparent and may present itself with an ambiguous or misleading name or tagline.

I have coined the term bona fide journalism both for what it stands for and to avoid confusion with other terms used to describe existing journalistic genres and styles. Bona fide comes from the Latin meaning 'with good faith.' As an adjective, it means genuine or real. As an adverb, it means sincerely, without intention to deceive.

Bona fide journalism is genuine, real, sincere, and done in good faith.  Unlike agenda-based journalism, there is no preconception of a position since the facts must be gathered first.  Unlike objective journalism, there is additional value-add to the journalistic process: facts are vetted beyond verification to include truthfulness (“yes, that he yelled ‘fire!’ in the theater is an accurate statement, but we should also add that there was no fire in the theater”) and analysis is performed on facts to corroborate or refute opinions.  Bona fide journalism is transparent in its approach of providing facts and presenting the analysis, all done in good faith.

So how does this model play out in real-life journalism?  One example can be taken from a controversy being covered in the U.S. media in August 2010.  The controversy relates to the permission to build an Islamic community center two blocks from the former World Trade Center towers in Manhattan that were destroyed by a terrorist attack in 2001.  The phrase “ground zero mosque” is being used in the media to refer to the Islamic community center.

• Agenda-based journalism will use the phrase heavily as it supports the opinion being espoused.
• Objective journalism will use the phrase frequently as it keeps a neutral position and provides the talking points as espoused by each side, even if the facts are inaccurate, misleading, or absent.
• Bona fide journalism will document the phrase sparingly and provide the true facts and analysis that support or refute the phrase.  Is it at “ground zero”?  No.  Is it planned to be a "mosque"?  It is a community center with a mosque.

As the phrase is not a correct representation of the facts, it is unfortunate that the journalistic genres practiced today promote its use.  A search using Google on the phase as of this writing returned over 63 million results.

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I appreciate several of the guiding principles of objective journalism.  Verification of facts, independence from outside groups, and neutrality in the going-in position are all important.  Bona fide journalism helps the reader or viewer get closer to the truth and make more informed opinions by providing facts and analysis not encouraged in objective journalism.  This includes: vetting of the facts beyond verification; refutation of misleading facts, half-truths, and false statements; collection of additional relevant facts, including context; and analysis of opinions based on the information.

Some guidelines for writing bona fide journalism in print

Bona fide journalism uses a new writing style.  The text is straightforward.  Section headings and bulleted lists are encouraged to give structure.  Tables and visuals are used to help improve the delivery of the facts and analysis.  Conceptually, refer to the posting on Information Mapping to get an idea.

Sensational and misleading words are avoided.  Headlines should avoid bias.  This example shows different headlines for the same news story.  Of the three displayed below, The Boston Globe provides the best headline for bona fide journalism.

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Quotes are never to be taken out of context.

Portions of a sentence of a quote are never to be used.  This example below quotes a single word ('dictatorial') without context, which would not be allowed in bona fide journalism.

Gabe Pressman, an NBC journalist and former chairman of the New York Press Club, has seen many mayors come and go. He has been reporting on the Big Apple since 1954. He finds Bloomberg's management style, particularly his dealings with the press, "dictatorial."
From the Huffington Post, August 9, 2010

Links to full interviews or articles should be provided if quotes are used in the news report.  Both the questions and the answers should be provided.

A news report should be subdivided into five sections.

Section	Description
Header	Key characteristics of the news report to help set proper expectations.  These characteristics include: Type of report (article, opinion, editorial, advertisement) Headline - what the report is about Author and editor Date published and last updated
Synopsis	One to four bullet points that summarize the key facts and analysis of the news report.
Facts	The facts, bullet points and visuals encouraged.  Facts should have sources referenced in the sources section.  The facts should be organized for ease of understanding.
Analysis	If appropriate for the news report, the journalist's assessment of the situation based on the facts
Sources	A listing of all sources referenced in the news report so a reader can fully view referenced articles and interviews and obtain more information

Only vetted and relevant facts are listed in the facts section.  There is no value in promulgating rumors and false statements.

Skillsets Required

Doing bona fide journalism right is tough.  It requires a certain set of skills, values, and knowledge typical of good journalists, including attention to detail, writing skills, fact-checking skills, interviewing skills, analytical skills, and subject-matter expertise.  You have to be cognizant of your own biases and viewpoints to make sure it is not getting in the way of the news story.  It is not an easy-to-find set of skills and knowledge.

Bona fide journalism does not require the skills of marketing, audience-building, tweeting, search-engine analysis, and blogging.  While these skills are important for ‘celebrity journalists’ and some other types of journalism, it is not the emphasis of bona fide journalism.  This interview with Alan Murray of The Wall Street Journal by the Nieman Journalism Lab provides some additional context of these skill sets.

IDEA 2 – CRITIQUE JOURNALISM

This style of journalism critiques the text, analysis, and opinions written or spoken by others, performing a fact-check to confirm, correct, and question the article.  It leverages the objectives and qualities of bona fide journalism, but starts with a news report by another person.

The result is a more factual news report and a call out (reprimand) of poor journalism if such is the case. Even an opinion piece that includes or implies facts should be confirmed.

I envision a website which contains the full text, marked up in red (with corrections, questions, call outs of faulty reasoning, unsupported assumptions) and blue (confirmation of facts).  Here is a conceptual mock-up.

I could also foresee this work done by a community of volunteers (paid or unpaid) with the appropriate skill sets of a bona fide journalist. Perhaps two bona fide critics critique an article independently associating the comments with the related text. A summary assessment is provided by each. A third bona fide critic--the lead critic--creates the final critique, leveraging the work by others.

All comments by all critics are stored and reviewable by a reader.  Picture a more user-friendly version of the Wikipedia history where you can view all edits to an entry.

Additional comments may be submitted by readers for a set number of days after publishing.  I recommend moderated comments because I believe unmoderated comments add less value and dilute the value of good responses.  These comments are reviewed by the three bona fide critics.  If one of the critics accepts the comment, it is displayed.

A question arises on which texts should be critiqued.  Obviously, not all news reports can be reviewed.  It should also not be biased against a certain writer, speaker, or news organization.  One approach may be a combination of popularity and randomness.  Leveraging current tools and technologies to determine the top news reports based on viewership and readership, a randomly selected subset of these should be pulled and placed in the hopper for critique.  Weighting should be given to articles of newsworthiness and importance to the public.

A database of these critiques can be used to provide a trustworthiness rating of several news organizations, journalists, and news sites.

IDEA 3 – TIME-LAPSED NEWS ARTICLE

This idea recommends there should one single news article on an evolving story.  As an event unfolds and as more facts become known, information should get better.  The original article should evolve and correct errors so that the most recent version of the news article is the most accurate and the most complete.

The history of the news article should be available so readers can see as time elapsed what new information became available and what information was corrected (e.g., there were 3 people shot, not 5 as originally reported).

The time-lapsed news report could be best done on-line, marrying concepts like the Microsoft Word track edit features, the Wiki history, and slidebar to jump to each snapshot of the article.  Print versions may be able to convey some of these concepts with bolded text for the latest information, endnotes with time-stamps, and corrections in-line.

There should be criteria when a news article is frozen.  It could potentially be based on time, the dearth of additional facts, the length of the article, and/or some other characteristic.  If another article on the same news story begins, it should reference and link to the first article as background information.

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These are my three ideas on journalism.  I hope to see these ideas improved and made a reality one day.

Happy journaling!