Another Definition of "Photo ID"

Everyone has a big box of pictures...or maybe they're all in albums with photos that are glued, taped or otherwise held secure for generations to come.  I'm asking you to stop what you're doing and go get ALL those photos right now!  All right, maybe later when you have an hour or two to devote to a project that can be classified as "Genealogically and Historically Significant".

Look carefully at each of the pictures.  Do you know who those people are?  Good!  Now get a #2 pencil for the soft lead that creates legible writing.  Turn the picture over and identify everyone in the shot AND where the photo was taken.  First names and their relationship to you or the others in the picture is important.  But most important is to INCLUDE THEIR LAST NAMES!!!  I wish I had a nickel for every picture I have that says "Aunt Edie with Joan".  Who is "Aunt Edie" and why is she in a picture with Joan?  And who is "Joan"???

If you know where or about about what year the picture was taken, it would be a good idea to put that on the back as well... "about 1912 at City High School"

Don't press too hard or you'll make indentations that will  show up on the front.

I suggest a #2 pencil because it creates fairly thick letters as opposed to the harder #3 or fine leaded mechanical pencils.

At the beginning of this post I said "...for generations to come."  Well, YOU are the generation that came and you've inherited these pictures.  Now you'll be helping future family researchers.

They'll thank you for requesting a "Photo ID"!

New Family Research Photo Site in the Works: YouWho.com

The latest web site hoping to appeal to family researchers is being developed by former Ancestry.com executives.  That may be good news or bad news depending how you feel about Ancestry.com!  With $5 million in seed money from Lightspeed Venture Partners, it looks like they're taking a very serious run at it.

Today, I took a look at their site, or tried to anyway...  YouWho will show you a few bits and pieces of what's to come in a brief video.  What is being attempted may prove to be an interesting variation on the "cloud" by virtue of the fact that what you upload can remain private, shared with who you choose or offered for sale to the researchers who visit the site. Like I said, "interesting"!  Joining and, apparently, uploading photos and documents will be free.  I can only assume that revenue will be generated through a share of the sale of genealogical material from one person to another.

Andre Brummer, a co-founder, has stated that they expect an integration with Facebook (another red flag in my opinion) will allow people to upload and tag items.  He also states that the company has 200 million items awaiting the opening of the site.

Another co-founder is Thomas G Stockham, a former CEO at Ancestry.com who left that company "quietly"...whatever that means...

So I signed up to see what was beyond the introductory video.   User name, password, etc... and so far, all I've gotten is a cheery message: "Sweet! You are *so* on the list! We're rolling out our red Beta carpet right now.  We'll send you a link to your spiffy new 'My Home' page soon."

"Spiffy"??? I can't wait...

Related articles

• Ancestry.com execs to launch new genealogy startup YouWho (exclusive) (michaelpinto.me)


• Will YouWho.com Finally Launch? (eogn.com)


• Ancestry.com execs to launch new genealogy startup YouWho (exclusive) (venturebeat.com)