This summer we’ve been writing about how the Museum is creating an archive that will live on a computer. We’re doing this by digitizing things!
Digitizing is when you take something non-digital (like a paper letter or a print photograph) and turn it into something digital that lives on a computer. People use things like scanners to create a digital copy of something. We have a scanner here at the museum that we’re using to digitize things like old photographs.
Why do people digitize things? When something like a photograph is digital, you can do lots of cool thing with it. We found a neat website recently that is using old, digitized photographs in fun ways.
Historypin lets you explore cities by looking at old photographs. The cool part is that all of these photographs are put on a map, so you can see how familiar places used to look a long time ago. You can find pictures of Austin dating back to the 1800s on Historypin!
Another site that lets you explore maps and old photographs is Sepia Town.
Try exploring places you’ve visited and see how much things have changed over time.
