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  • © 2018

Family History Digital Libraries

  • Internet-based information technology transforms history from the legends of kings to faithful accounts of normal families, giving new meaning to our own lives and those of coming generations.
  • Shows how the same creative force seen in the technological revolution of the 1990’s can be revived to create information systems that serve families and thus humanity more fundamentally.
  • Explains how a new technology-supported occupation can be created, family historian, who would teach classes, mentor amateurs, and take on projects for interested families.
  • In these pages, the example of an especially well documented professional American family, with photographs dating from 1847 and home movies from 1929, illustrates how a great diversity of materials can be integrated into a meaningful narrative.
  • In areas ranging from interview methods, to community archives, to online social media, this book makes clear the utility of social science for family history.

Part of the book series: Human–Computer Interaction Series (HCIS)

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-vii
  2. Connections Between Family Data and Wider Meanings

    • William Sims Bainbridge
    Pages 1-30
  3. Documenting and Digitally Presenting Family Photographs

    • William Sims Bainbridge
    Pages 31-65
  4. Evolution from Home Movies to Videos in Social Media

    • William Sims Bainbridge
    Pages 67-100
  5. Exploratory Oral History Interviews of Family Members

    • William Sims Bainbridge
    Pages 135-163
  6. Information Technologies for Cultivating Domestic Artifacts

    • William Sims Bainbridge
    Pages 165-198
  7. Virtual World Representation of Family Homes

    • William Sims Bainbridge
    Pages 199-232
  8. Applications of Online Censuses and Other Official Records

    • William Sims Bainbridge
    Pages 233-265
  9. Recording Contemporary Family History Through Social Media

    • William Sims Bainbridge
    Pages 267-299
  10. Integration of Family Records into Community History

    • William Sims Bainbridge
    Pages 301-334

About this book

In the modern era, every family and local community can cultivate its own history, endowing living people with meanings inherited from the people of the past, by means of today’s computer-based information and communication technologies. A new profession is emerging, family historians, serving the wider public by assisting in collection and analysis of fascinating data, by teaching talented amateur historians, and by producing complete narratives. Essential are the skills and technologies required to preserve and connect photos, movies, videos, diaries, memoirs, correspondence, artefacts and even architecture such as homes. Online genealogical services are well established sources of official government records, but usually not for recent decades, and not covering the valuable records of legal, medical, and religious organizations. Information can be shared and interpreted by family members through oral history interviews, social media, and online private archives such as wikisand shared file depositories. 

This book explores a wide variety of online information sources and achieves coherence by documenting and interpreting the history of a particular extended American family on the basis of 9 decades of movies and videos, 17 decades of photographs, and centuries of documents. Starting now, any family may begin to preserve their current experiences for the historians of the future, but this will require social as well as technical innovations. This book is the essential resource, providing the fundamental principles, effective methods, and fascinating questions required to make our past live again.


Authors and Affiliations

  • Arlington, USA

    William Sims Bainbridge

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access