Every Family Needs A Media Geek




Have you ever missed an important family function but still wanted to see who went and what happened? The next best thing to being there in person is to have a family facebook page where everyone can gather. Whether family members and friends attended a certain function or not, they can experience the event through photos, video and interactive communication. 

We all have our own personal Facebook page, but I think a family page is a good thing to have. I also think every family should have a media geek that can record, collect,assemble and distribute information about the family and upcoming family events.  http://www.facebook.com/?sk=nf#!/pages/Alatorre-Family-San-Antonio-Texas/222061136372


As traditional forms of communication have given way to electronic forms. The event and invite features in Facebook makes it a snap to invite relatives and friends to all the births, weddings, parties, graduations and debuts occurring in our family. Electronic RSVPing can help in planning and controlling costs. With a few mouse clicks we can spread  the word almost instantly instead of having to go to the time and expense of sending out traditional paper invitations, plus it also saves natural resources! The dirty little secret of the US Post Office is that email and other electronic forms of communication are putting them out of business. Electronic communication will never totally replace sending beautiful invitations, but it can supplement it.


Quincinera portrait of Amelia Alatorre by Mary Carroll 2011

In the past people used to have to pay professional photographers to get quality large format photographs to frame and display in their homes and scrapbooks. 
When affordable digital still and video cameras  came along, people also started making their own videos of family events.



Computer operating systems now come with free video editing software like Windows Movie Maker or I Movie forMac.Though limited in editing options, both these programs allow people to make some very nice videos by using a bit of imagination. Image editing software like Picassa http://picasa.google.com/ and Gimp http://www.gimp.org/downloads/are also free.

Learning technical skills in producing better family photos or videos is easy. There are thousands of tutorials  available online on You Tube to teach an eager learner the basics of lighting, shooting, editing and digital imaging. Hopefully, the days of boring, fuzzy video and bad sound are on the wane. A more polished production telling a story is more enjoyable and entertaining than just a long clip of shaky video. I made a short video of my cousin Johnny's first karate tournament. It may not be significant to anyone else, but this video captures his commitment to a sport and shows a mother's pride in supporting her son's efforts and goals.

Whether it is an estranged brother, an elderly aunt unable to travel, or future generations of family, technology does and will allow them to vicariously enjoy family events. Even through the distance of time and space digital communications will keep them aware that they are indeed part of a family. The digitally recorded history of my family can continue once I find a younger family member to take up the mantle as my family's media geek. I guess I should start recruiting at the next family function.  Hmmm, Cousin Terrie might be a good prospect.....