Who We Are
Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value. - Albert Einstein
We are, at this early point in our enterprise, founder and chief technologist, Keith Simpson. As the self-described title implies, his background is in technology, especially web applications. He has a 35 year career in software, almost half of it related to internet applications and infrastructure.
Long before that, however, he had an interest in photography and photographic processes. His first darkroom was in a spare bathroom in the garage, we called it the chauffeur's john. He was in 6th grade. He was doing presentations to his classmates on how cameras and film works in 7th grade. He continued with his interest on into his twenties, but eventually that interest was supplanted with other interests.
Keith wrote his first computer programs in 1969, but military service interrupted his life for several years shortly thereafter. In the late 70's, after taking an introductory course to computing in college, he built his own computer and set out to write his first commercial programs. Soon, just before IBM PC's hit the world, he was writing custom software for a small company.
The rest of his career can be seen on his resume.
What in particular Keith brings to the realm of the archivist is his experience in software process automation. What this means is that he has automated several processes that are part of the archivist's trade, ie. scanning, organizing, and internet site creation. The highly functional web sites created as a result of these processes are described here
No one goes it alone in an enterprise, whatever they may say. The value of the work YourArchivist can do for you relies on the wisdom and experience of many people from many walks of life, but certainly other professionals in the field.
The personal archivist role varies from that of the institutional professional in that individuals and families are free to decide for themselves what is important. The main goals of preservation and sharing remain the same. YourArchivist hopes to be the bridge between specific priorities and these goals.