As a Christmas gift for my family, I created a photo archive using darktable, digiKam and Xsane, all running on Linux.
Hosted on Permanent.org, the archive comprises nearly 1,600 files, including images shot on a copy stand, scans of 35mm negatives and slides, native digital images and scanned documents.
I’ve written four blog posts that may be helpful for anyone undertaking a similar project.
It is fantastic that you did this. Thanks for writing it up!
permanent.org seems like a nice solution in the medium run — a one time $10 fee per GB is very reasonable. However, since they will be running server fees and labor costs continuously, I am somewhat skeptical that they can maintain this in the long run. Very few of my “pay now, use forever” subscriptions worked for more than 5–10 years.
For our family, we edit and print photo albums each year. Less than 50 pages, with explanations, with a similar focus as your archive. We print them using the (relatively cheap) provider CEWE. Stored properly, I hope they will last a generation or too.
I shared your concerns about Permanent.org’s long-term viability. There are no guarantees, but I was reassured by its 501(c) charitable status and endowment financing. And (of course) there are multiple backups of the archive in multiple locations.
I like your idea of print editions. That’s a particularly good solution for less tech-savvy recipients. And your book will never be hacked!
We do the very same thing, and with the same Company.
A few years ago, I was supervising a student project, which resulted in a website. We had quite a generous amount of funding that could have easily payed for a few years (or decades) of hosting fees. But we couldn’t find any provider that would accept more than one year of pre-payment. The website eventually ended up on Github, and is still accessible from there. It’s just a shame we couldn’t actually publish it with a proper domain.
My solution to this is: I have domains at inwx company, where you can load money on your account as a credit (Guthaben). The domain contract automatically renews every year, because i do not cancel it and then uses my account’s credit to pay the bill. This way i send money to my inwx account every several years and do not have to worry about my domains for the years in between.
That’s out of the norm certainly. In the context of this thread, a lot needs to happen to keep. omething on the internet, besides registering a domain name. Good to know you can still register for more than a year tho.
The hosting company I use, ICDSoft, also allows renewals for up to 10 years in the future. I’ve been with them for more than a decade, too, and they are great. Support tickets are picked up within minutes or even seconds(!), and I have always been given a relevant answer (I do not have complicated needs, though).
