February 20th, 2008
My use of the photo sharing website Flickr has changed a little over the more than two years I have been using it, and will no doubt change again. Currently the Incomparable Iris is the main subject of my photography efforts (maternity leave does that to you)
What hasn’t changed is my attitude to metadata - that is, data about data - I’m all for it, and here’s why. People find your photos if you title, describe and tag them appropriately. As an archivist, researcher and bod who generally cares about history, I’m happy about that.
Since the advent of Flickr stats, I know that it is photographs such as the sea of flowers outside Kensington Palace after the death of Diana in 1997, and photographs of the Berlin Wall before and just after it came down in 1989, that people want to see - moments in history. Mauritius as a subject, contemporary and historical, is another favourite with visitors to my photostream.
But there are other moments, on a smaller scale - social, familial - which Flickr can bring forth from boxes of old family photographs and negatives. Here is one of them:
Many years ago I told my friend Jo about photographs of myself with a porpoise and a seal, and she had some too. I put them on Flickr in January 2006, which drew forth similar shots from a friend in Canberra and voila - the Porpoise Pool group was born! I knew nothing about the subject, except that the photographs were taken on holiday in Queensland when I was about four (1970). My Canberra friend remembered that they were taken at the Jack Evans Porpoise Pool, Tweed Heads (later moving to Coolangatta) in Queensland. So we titled, tagged and described appropriately, and two years later we finally have a fourth member in our little group, Brett, who writes:
I was browsing around on Flickr and found a group devoted to photos of kids feeding the seal at the Porpoise Pool at Coolangatta. And I thought “I’ve got one of those!”
I found this a couple of years ago in a shoebox of old negatives my Mum gave me. I believe it was taken in December 1972, which would have been only a matter of weeks before the pool closed. I was 6 years old. I have clear memories of being called out of the crowd and wearing a bright red souvenir T-shirt from the pool afterwards, but I don’t remember actually feeding the seal.
Posted in flickr, memory, trifles, 7 Comments
January 24th, 2008
I am a careful researcher but not infallible, and I wish to clarify a point about a certain Monsieur Herpin here.
My book, Blue Mauritius, included a brief history of philately to set the scene, mention of which must include a word on the origins of the history of the word philately, or more specifically, the man who coined the word – who also happened to be the first person to remark on the curious issue of Mauritius, the ‘Post Office’ – one G. Herpin.
Ah, there’s the rub. It doesn’t sound right does it, writing G. Herpin in a narrative kind of sentence (although writing J. K. Rowling does, so what was I concerned about?!). Who was Monsieur Herpin and what was his first name? This was definitely not one of the main (or really even minor) concerns in my book, although I would like to have been able to have felt more authoritative about my eventual use of George without an S. (You see how clear statements that avoid verb after verb after verb in the ‘I’ll have a bob each way’ tense is preferable, and the problem inherent in writing so called literary or narrative non-fiction?)
Why did I do so in the book? I think because the earliest French source I could find wrote it thus and I had to trust it.
But in the companion website** to the book I slipped (again) – as easily as the Williams brothers – into the usage Georges, with an S, and I have been called on this by another researcher, happily so I might add – as it proves the worth of sharing your research widely via the Web. I will do what I should have done in the first place, on the Web at least, and revert to what is known, what the original, contemporary literature supports – G. Herpin!
Christian Boyer, in compiling his research into the origins of the word philately came across my website and contacted me about some records I had imaged and queried my use of Georges. I wrote in reply:
Ah, I have been sloppy here, much to my shame. I have just checked the text of my book and see that he appears as George Herpin throughout the book. As you point out, in the contemporary texts that I saw I only saw his name signed as G. Herpin…
This issue of the spelling did exercise my mind. There must be a reason that I decided to use George in the book but I can’t remember why (quite possibly because the Williams brothers used Georges and I don’t trust them)…
I only had limited access to the French philatelic journals (on two brief trips to London – I live in Australia – in 2003 and 2004) at the Royal Philatelic Society there, and I regretted that I wasn’t able to go through them in any kind of thorough fashion, as I did through the early English language journals, readily accessible to me here in Melbourne… the issue of Herpin’s name didn’t exercise my mind until much later in the writing when it was impossible to do the checking I would have liked.
Christian, based in France, has been more thorough. He did not turn up any usage other than G. Herpin in the philatelic literature but followed through on the tip that Herpin was also a numismatist and checked the numismatic literature. There he found abundant evidence of a Gustave Herpin. Why would Herpin style himself differently in these two aspects of his research and writing life? Je ne sais pas. I concur with Christian’s conclusion that G. Herpin might be Gustave and not George/s, and that until such time as the mystery is quite definitively solved we are better not perpetuating the assumptions of others (oh woe is me) and sticking with a simple G!
I recommend Christian’s website on the origins of the word philately to you: http://cboyer.club.fr/philatelie
**Currently in need of some minor updating, which is not likely to be done for a few weeks.
Posted in book, research, 4 Comments
January 7th, 2008
My eight month old daughter searched for AzzxsfdazZ on Google today, but sadly, her search did not match any documents. This was a disappointing first experience of the wonders of the Web.
I think we will go back to reading Where are the Green Sheep? and The Elephant and the Bad Baby.
Posted in baby, reading, trifles, web, 4 Comments
