For Photography In Central Massachusetts
We have paper and/or electronic archives of most documents, newsletters, and web pages depending on when the information was published and how. Contact our club officers for more information for documents which are not available via the links below.
Regarding newsletters: We suspended newsletters in during the 2004-2005 years when most of our members became connected to the Internet and club minutes and news was exchanged 100% electronically via our web page.
Regarding file formats: We used PDF for some of our archiving but discovered that, in some cases, images were not rendered into PDF correctly. So, we now use HTML saves and separate the months into their own sub-folders. You'll see this starting in 2005, primarily.
In addition to keeping track of our correspondence, starting in 2004, the club began archiving a selection of images and slide presentations in digital form on a CDROM. This is a voluntary effort; members are asked to submit images to our archivist. The original proposal for this can be located here. An updated set of submission rules is included below.
Recorded by Bob Israelian
In attendance were the following: Ed Soucy, Casey Danek , Joe Swirblia, Dave Zuckerman, Richard Johnson and Bob Israelian.
The meeting began with discussion about the Digital Groups willingness to perform this task for the 7HCC. We agreed to produce one CD each year containing a collection of images from both members and guests as outlined below, and as described in the previous notes submitted by me at a previous 7HCC meeting, and with the understanding that the person creating the CD, (Archivist) will have discretion to put additional limits on the number and types of images submitted. There was substantial debate about the concept of non-members being able to contribute to these archives and we eventually reached a consensus view that non-members that had displayed an image at a club function including the digital sessions could submit those images into the archives. The expectation is that this will not happen a great deal. If it becomes a problem it will be re-evaluated.
Content of images is unrestricted however if subject matter is deemed inappropriate by the Archivist, (Raising questions of libel or violation of laws) those images will not be added to the archive, his/her discretion. The feeling of the group was that given our history of not having subject matter problems at the club we were not likely to have a need for extensive rules or regulations however, as mentioned above if a problem presents itself we can deal with it.
On the matter of protections to a photographers rights and property, the feeling of the group was that any image that a photographer has concerns about it being viewed, shared or in any other way utilized by unknown or unauthorized audiences should not be submitted. The degree of sharing of these images is open at present and can possibly end up in any number of public forums. The exception to this is that no image will be given out for any commercial use other than for direct club purposes, such as advertising the club or its activities. All images will be protected and stored to the best of the clubs ability but no responsibility is taken to guarantee there continued existence or condition. The Archivist is the logical person to hold the library of images and to determine how and when they will be loaned and returned. There were no definite details mapped out on this however.
Image size will be restricted to 1 MB maximum size per image.
It should be understood that once an image is added to the archive CD it will not be removed.
The image must be submitted in a standard graphic format and must be already digital. The Archivist assumes no responsibility for editing or scanning images for members or non members.
All images should be submitted by January 31st of the year after, for the previous years Annual Archive CD. For example, for the Annual Archive of 2003 all images must be submitted by January 31, 2004 . In an attempt to create an Annual Archive for 2002 the digital group is now accepting images dedicated to that year. The end date for accepting images for the Annual Archive for 2002 is July 31, 2003 .
Some limited text information can accompany all images where desired. All images will be in some way associated with the photographer that submits them. For example, Images taken by . Any image shared by the archive and that is used outside the club should continue to be associated with the photographer and not the club.
No images will be accepted with conditions or restrictions attached from the photographer. Although the photographer continues to have rights to the image, the image is also donated to the Club for its purpose and with no future compensation.
Although copies of the Annual Archive CD can be made there is no attempt at this time to offer this service. Any specific request will be handled on an individual basis.
The above information is meant to help clarify our goals but it in no way represents rules that cannot be changed where deemed appropriate. This effort is at an experimental stage and all participants in the meeting showed concern that the task not become too consuming to those involved.
I would further like to add that the archivist should keep a record at all times of the whereabouts of any Annual CD that is loaned out for copying.
This is to my best recollection the content of our meeting and the numerous things that we have agreed to do. Please let me know if I am mistaken or have left anything out that you think should be added.
Thank you to all of the participants who devoted their evening to hammering out these details. Job well done!