The importance of photo memories and metadata standards, with Vivid-Pix and FamilySearch

Gary Pageau of the Dead Pixels Society talks with Rick Voight, CEO of Vivid-Pix, about the value of restoring and reliving family memories. Vivid-Pix is the publisher of Vivid-Pix Land&Sea SCUBA and Vivid-Pix RESTORE image-enhancement software products.

We are also joined by Gordon Clarke, strategic solution manager, of FamilySearch International, the world's largest genealogy organization. FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Gordon and Rick discuss the formation and goals of the just-announced Family History Metadata Working Group.

The FHMWG is a collaboration between public organizations and private companies including founding members from FamilySearch, MemoryWeb, Vivid-Pix, the Family History Information Standards Organisation and The Permanent Legacy Foundation.

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Transcript

Introduction - Erin Manning (2s):
Welcome to the Dead Pixels Society podcast. The photo imaging industry's leading news source. Here's your host, Gary Pageau

Gary Pageau (11s):
The Dead Pixels Society podcast is brought to you by Photo Finale, Mediaclip, Advertek Inc., GotPhoto, EyeIQ, Photobook AI, the IPI member network, and MailPix. Hello again, and welcome to the Dead Pixels Society podcast. And today we're joined by Rick Voight of Vivid-Pix Software. Rick, welcome to the show.

Rick Voight (39s):
Gary, thank you for having me on.

Gary Pageau (41s):
And Rick, can you talk a little bit about Vivid-Pix, what you do and what you're about these days?

Rick Voight (51s):
Sounds great. So first off that the techs who've been around for a little over eight years, where old-timers in the photo industry, my business partner, Randy Fredlund, I spent a bunch of years at Kodak and worked on various projects together. And we created the software. We have two patents that automatically improve underwater photos, as well as topside photos, land photos, and old photos that have faded and also the documents that have faded.

Rick Voight (1m 21s):
So both our visit picks land and sea scuba, as well as our restore software, our, our two software products. Can we focus a lot of time on our restore product because of the importance that it has and quite a few things first, let's talk a little bit about restore for a second, 'cause it's a product that has an interesting function that it's very easy to use. It's a, it's a consumer software and it's designed for a very, very specific function.

Gary Pageau (1m 54s):
Can you talk a little bit about that?

Rick Voight (1m 57s):
Absolutely. Well, from our roots, Randy and ours, Randy and mine is that George Eastman came up with a pretty good line that built a very nice company called you, press the button, we do the rest. And so we've modeled our software to do exactly that, but in the software world. So we utilize artificial intelligence to analyze images and then we adjust color, contrast sharpness or brightness all at once. So there are great software products on the marketplace today.

Rick Voight (2m 30s):
What we do is to make it be super easy so that anyone is able to get great results from their photos of documents. So when restore was launched, you kind of targeted the folks who were involved in bulk scanning cause as you and I both know, you know, from the silver Haylight days, you know, Prince fade over time. So restoring the color and contrast of those pictures is important because if it's been in a shoebox 40 years,

Gary Pageau (3m 0s):
As people are discovering as their parents age and they come across, they want to bring them back to life. That's what's store has been a well-accepted for, but you've also discovered sort of a new market in the genealogy world. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Rick Voight (3m 16s):
Absolutely. So we've got lots of memories and they're sitting on photographic papers as well as newsprints and the like, and as people are, are using these old images in order to be able to share with future generations, as well as to create the stories for themselves, the family history world really has surfaced as being the most important area for people to be able to see the photos better because of what happens with dyes red, green, blue, and because what happens with media, various types of paper, the color shifts, the dyes shift on the paper.

Rick Voight (4m 4s):
And so with that, what we do is we, we analyze so that we understand how to get the right color balance as well as to get the right white balance. And now, now using technology, you're able to see the person that was in that photograph and you're able to connect with that person, which, which helps enhance the family history side of doing a genie illogical process.

Gary Pageau (4m 35s):
Family history is probably one of the largest leisure time activities right now.

Rick Voight (4m 43s):
Yeah. Early is on a couple of different fronts. So, so first off in the United States and in other parts of the world, the second most popular hobby. So the first, most popular is gardening. The second, most is family history. And now as, as unfortunately we, we all have a little bit more time on our hands sitting in an environment, IDR homes. It's a great time for us to be able to bring forth those images that have been stored either well in a closet or not as well in an attic in order to be able to bring those stories forward.

Rick Voight (5m 21s):
So that was actually the Genesis of something that we launched last month, which is an education programs that people are able to learn how to, how to scan and how to organize and how to improve in order to create their family history. And then what we added upon the education program to do is to ask some of the leading genealogists and family historians around the globe to create educational programs.

Rick Voight (5m 55s):
And those are dollar 99 classes, so that we're able to a provide free classes and be educational classes with the, you know, the rock stars of genealogy world at a very reasonable price. So that as we have more time on our hands, we're using your productively.

Gary Pageau (6m 15s):
Yeah. I'm looking over the list here. You've got experts almost every week or every few days. It looks like through main June coming up with, you know, British history, German history, Irish, genealogy, African American, genealogy, Polynesia, Pacific Isles law. So this is a really some compelling topics for anyone interested in the genealogy market.

Rick Voight (6m 43s):
Yeah. And, and it's been a lot of fun getting to know all these people, as well as to hear all their lectures. So we have the events live and then we record them. So they're available for rental on demand as well. And then with may being national photography month and also being national mental health month and because of the importance of reliving these moments and, and the relaxation that it brings to us physiologically in order to be able to reduce stress and loneliness and the COVID-19 world.

Rick Voight (7m 22s):
But in addition to that, some great research and insights into how we can help early onset dementia. Alzheimer's the power of the photograph that we're all a part of has so many benefits. So here in may, we've extended our education platform to also include all of these health benefits.

Gary Pageau (7m 44s):
Yeah. So talk a little bit about that because I think that's one of the things people in the photo industry have kind of lost sight of sometimes over the years, as, as they deal with the ins and outs of producing pictures and taking pictures and opening a retail store and keeping your lab running is, is really there. There's, this is one of the few industries that has strong societal and mental health and family benefits. You know, there's, there was research done a few years ago, I think through the PRO group about how valuable it is for children growing up, for example, to see pictures of themselves around the house, it just reinforces self esteem.

Gary Pageau (8m 27s):
Right. So, can you talk a little bit about maybe how pictures are used to help Alzheimer's patients and their families?

Rick Voight (8m 41s):
Absolutely. And you're bringing, bringing up a great point that it's it's for children of all ages, right. But it's great to allow a child to be able to associate in their, in their own surroundings and also give them place and how they fit with the people before them as well. So the world around them, as well as the people that are part of their lives, it absolutely does. It absolutely does.

Rick Voight (9m 11s):
So, so there's been a number of great studies that have happened having to do with again early onset dementia. And Alzheimer's that by a lot, people get frustrated when they have dementia and the like, because they can't think about, and they can't speak about what they're trying to say. And our short term memory becomes less, less capable when compared to our longterm history knowledge, that's sitting within our brain.

Rick Voight (9m 50s):
So, so when working with, again, older generally dementia Alzheimer types of individuals, those deep memories are, are able to be brought forth in the, in an instance, by looking at a photograph and the ability for them to be able to recall and to explain, and to relive those moments is, is, is reducing stress. It reduces loneliness.

Rick Voight (10m 20s):
It creates connectedness in the environments that they're living. And, and that's why it literally has been proven that reliving photographs for these individuals is as powerful as anti-psychotic drugs to reduce the anxiety. And boy, it's a whole lot, a whole lot nicer to think about let's relive a happy time, or let's live relive a time in our past as opposed to the bad things that happen with drugs.

Gary Pageau (10m 51s):
Yeah. It's, that's a great point. So what else are you doing to commemorate a national photo month and national mental health month?

Rick Voight (11m 4s):
Yep. So on the education site, we have these various classes that are available. I've been speaking at various different interviews. Of course, we're, we're doing it via webinars. Like we are right now in order to get the word out so that people are able to realize all of these benefits of photo. And then because we have gotten to know the family history, genealogy world. So well, we also chose to announce something that's called the family history, metadata working group.

Gary Pageau (11m 38s):
And I look forward to having you welcome Gordon Clark with the FamilySearch/Family History Metadata Working Group, and how we as a community are, are striving to make sure that all the information

Rick Voight (11m 54s):
That's available in these photos and documents, the information that's found out is able to be attached to these images. And then as the images fire around and are stored in different locations, whether it be in a personal home computer or put up into a place like family search, that the information was that lost. So we decided to use Mae and the importance of national photo month in order to be able to bring forth.

Gary Pageau (12m 24s):
And coincidentally joining us right now is Gordon Clarke, the chairman of the Family History Metadata Working Group. Good morning, Gordon.

Gordon Clarke (12m 35s):
Good morning. I'm glad to be here and you could join us.

Gary Pageau (12m 38s):
Can you tell us a little bit for our audience who aren't familiar with FamilySearch tell us a little bit about yourself and family search, and then we'll get into what the family history metadata working group does.

Gordon Clarke (12m 54s):
I've been in the emerging technology industry for way too long. I was back in the analog days before we even had digital photos or digital audio. So I've seen, I've seen new technology immerse from photo CDs to the internet hypermedia and been through lots of startups in silicone Valley.

Gordon Clarke (13m 24s):
I started working at Family Search, which is the general obstacle arm of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. And they were starting their curve of not only putting a collaborative tree online, but starting to add memories and images and stories to, to their tree. And so I was a part of that early effort and brought on third parties through making our data available through a programmatic interface, which is called the API.

Gordon Clarke (14m 3s):
So we see lots of things happen. And, and what we came to realize is, is, you know, it's one thing to say, all the photos out there that are not digitized, but even then there's all the photos out there that are lost. And you look at writings on the back of photos, albums that get destroyed by floods and, and weather and heat.

Gordon Clarke (14m 32s):
And there's just so much valuable information that the information that is in people's homes is just as important or even more important than the information that are in archives and libraries and, and government records storing facilities. So it's a natural outgrowth to start looking at how do we help people preserve digitally, not only the photo, but the story surrounding the photo, the people, the events, and so forth.

Gordon Clarke (15m 9s):
That brings you to why I was picked to head up this family history, metadata working group.

Gary Pageau (15m 19s):
Tell me a little bit about why the group is even needed because people who aren't familiar with the issue are going to say, well, there already is metadata, right? I mean, information is recorded in those little fields. I can see it in my, in my imaging edit application. It tells me, you know, when they was taken maybe where it was taken, what lens I used and all that stuff. So isn't that enough? Isn't that sufficient. And why, why doesn't that,

Gordon Clarke (15m 46s):
That need to be preserved? Well, there's two answers to that. One is it's sufficient. If, if all the software companies were to read and write the same data, the user, if he digs down into where it's all kept, if he's a very smart technical user, he might be able to figure it out. But what we're working on is, is making a common labels and a common interface and organization of information.

Gordon Clarke (16m 21s):
So whether you go to a company like a vivid pics or family search, and you want to see the same metadata, it's called the same stuff. So the user doesn't get lost in trying to figure out everybody's proprietary way of looking at it. And that's the value of a working on a standard so that we can get people to implement the same standard so that the general user can know what he's got or what he doesn't have and add to it if he wants to in more of a, a standard type of interface.

Gordon Clarke (16m 58s):
So the user is all confused about what he's got or what he doesn't have. So what do you do

Gary Pageau (17m 5s):
About image and applications and websites and similar things that, that, that strip out the metadata, which happens more often than not. It actually just dismisses the information completely or removes it?

Gordon Clarke (17m 21s):
Well, there is a type of, of a public awareness that can happen. So our plans are when we finalize the standards, so that things about events and dates and people and objects and other information related to the photos after we standardize it, then we're going to have a compliance testing so that we can publicize which software companies are, are honoring.

Gordon Clarke (17m 57s):
The information that we think is important. And so eventually the public will have a voice to say, are you in compliance with this metadata standard? If not, I'm going to choose another vendor. So eventually the public will have a say on who is stripping out and the knowledge of who is stripping out or not stripping out medics, who is organizing it in a standard way so that they can make sense of it.

Gordon Clarke (18m 30s):
So a standards effort is, is one in conjunction with the general public that respects. It will gradually cause a big players, small and medium sized software companies, because they want to increase their user base. Just say, we're, we adhere to these family history, metadata standards.

Gary Pageau (18m 57s):
What's, what's the downside for complying to, to this standard? Why, why would a software vendor what's the I'm coming up with an imaging?

Gordon Clarke (19m 8s):
Why would I not want to comply? What's the downside? Well, in any type of software development, a good product management team is going to develop what their market segments want. Right? And so the downside is, is if they don't believe the marketplace doesn't want what we're recommending, then they'll ignore us.

Gordon Clarke (19m 41s):
Right? And so a part of the campaign as we'll get started is to educate the, educate the users. So that they're saying, I, I want this stuff. So go ahead. No, please, I'm sorry. So it's sort of a chicken and an egg, and sometimes we say, it's the chicken, egg, the pig and the cow, and the whole ranch. If you get enough people saying, I want preservation of this important information about this picture, who's in it.

Gordon Clarke (20m 20s):
I want that information preserved wherever I go in the cloud for backup of it, or for an interoperability and exchange the information from one application to another eventually of that voice will be strong enough that there will not be a downside to vendors to implement it because they will get and maintain a increase a user base.

Gary Pageau (20m 50s):
So can you tell me a little bit about who else who comprises the Family History Metadata Working Group? What kind of companies are represented?

Gordon Clarke (20m 59s):
Well, we have Family Search is represented and of Vivid-Pix, who you've you talked with is represented. There is a company called MemoryWeb, and they have been in the family history industry for quite a few years. And there's a company called, called Permanent Legacy Foundation, which has a wonderful strategy for preserving it.

Gordon Clarke (21m 30s):
And on our board, there's about a half a dozen other companies targeted companies that we're already going after our big companies that, you know, you can imagine, we, we would like to have a forum with Facebook. We like to have a forum with Google who in different ways are respecting or not respecting metadata, right? And we're not, we're not in a position to shine light on their compliance, but we feel that a big companies will respect it.

Gordon Clarke (22m 9s):
There are big software companies, such as Adobe. Adobe is a fantastic respecter of metadata. They use it quite a bit in multiple products. So there, there are big players that are respecting it. And then there's a bunch of websites that will read metadata and organize it and show you what you have. And so they are friends of the metadata world. So eventually the awareness and the number of participants will grow.

Gary Pageau (22m 46s):
It's all sounds great and interesting from a data and analysis and organization standpoint, but there's really more benefits than that, right? I mean, there's a, as we were talking earlier before the call, there's, there's actually benefits to society for keeping history alive across generations.

Gordon Clarke (23m 15s):
Well, this is a, a crossover. FamilySearch revised its purpose statement over two years ago. Our purpose statement is we create inspiring experience that bring joy to all people, as they discover, gather, and connect their family past, present, and future. We are advocates that families are a strength to society.

Gordon Clarke (23m 48s):
That though there are times in which there are differences and there's times in which healing needs to happen and resentment needs to give way to forgiveness, but a core of, of people and who they are is where they came from. Whether it's their family, heritage, their community, heritage, their state, or national heritage. I'm a, a culturalist in that I believe in culture, I believe in connectivity, in culture.

Gordon Clarke (24m 26s):
And that word connectivity has been used by our CEO repetitively at RootsTech, which is our national conference. And what we are realizing is young people are disconnected from family. People are disconnected from their community. We're disconnected from each other. And thank goodness this recent pandemic has caused us to look again at well, even if it's web conferencing, even if it's the phone or texting, I do want to be more social.

Gordon Clarke (25m 4s):
I do want to have more meaningful relationships with people. And so it's a part of reclaiming the human race in saying, I am a valuable person in this mix of billions of people. I have purpose I am needed. And I have associates. I have friends and I have family. So this issue of reconnecting people that feel like they're lost is a big part of the cause that not only our organization is getting behind many, many organizations are realizing that human beings want to belong and they want to be a part of something and contribute together to improve humanity.

Gary Pageau (25m 57s):
That's a tall order from just a simple snapshot.

Gordon Clarke (26m 5s):
It's a person by person picture by picture story, by story that it all adds up. I understand what you're saying. It kind of ties into what Rick and I were talking earlier about the, you know, the, the individual benefits of looking at your pictures and how they can strengthen your memory, strengthen your feelings, strengthen your family connections, and then extending them upwards into what FamilySearch and the Family History Metadata Working Group can do to make those benefits society wide.

Rick Voight (26m 38s):
Absolutely. And what's fun about it is - having spent my entire life in the photographic industry, you, you start to realize where these early photographs came from and the 18000-era photographs, they came from moms scrimping and saving pennies. So as the photographer came through the fields and they came to the towns and, and capture these images of families and of the farm and, and, and everything that society was going through and thank heaven that they actually have these, the forethought to take these, these photographs that we have them today.

Rick Voight (27m 16s):
And they made notation oftentimes on the back of those images or in the photo album, in order to be able to provide to future generations who these people were, the location, where the photograph was taken and what was going on in their worlds. And, and that ties directly to what we're striving to do with the metadata world, which is metadata is nothing more than a digital way to place the information instead of on the back of a photograph or around a photograph or around a document, we're placing it within the digital file of the image.

Gary Pageau (27m 58s):
And it's really more than just those simple notations, because, because it can include abstract information, even like, you know, date, time location, who's in the picture and all these things that people, you know, back in the day when they would scrawl on the back of a snapshot, it would just say like aunt Betty, but you may not have the relation to Aunt Betty as she relates to somebody else, which is, I think, where you're going with this.

Rick Voight (28m 27s):
Absolutely. It's the stories of photo, a photo, a family history, a genealogy. What makes it interesting is the stories of, of what was the event and what was going on in people's lives,

Gary Pageau (28m 41s):
Which I think that context is extremely valuable, especially in these times. So Gordon, for if people wanted more information, wanted to reach out and become part of the Family History Metadata Working Group with, how would they do that?

Gordon Clarke (29m 0s):
Send an email to inquire and send it to the acronym FHMWGroup@gmail.com. That's the best place to start. We have reserved domain names, but for right now, the best thing to do is send that email.

Gary Pageau (-):
And, Rick, if people want more information on Vivid-Pix, National Photo Month and Mental Health Month activities, where would they go?

Rick Voight (29m 46s):
Yup. So on our website, so Vivid-Pix.com. And at the top of the screen, we have education. So that's one of the tabs. So they'd be picks.com education and that's where all the information is having to do with how to relive your memories with free educational courses, with genealogical classes, as well as reminiscing on our photos, documents gentlemen, for your time today.

Gary Pageau (-):
Thank you, gentlemen, for your time today. Hopefully we'll see you soon.

Rick Voight (30m 33s):
I really appreciate it. Gary, thank you for having us on.

Outro - Erin Manning (30m 44s):
Thank you for listening to the Dead Pixels Society podcast. Bring more great stories and sign up for the newsletter at wwwthedeadpixelssociety.com.