A person who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains and provides access to information.
Just as new technology had changed Edward's world, so would new technology change my world. I had added a fourth category substantially widening and extending the path of my journey. I decided to design a web site providing public access to Edward's collection.
A new technological development was changing not only the mountain's landscape, but the view from the summit. Digital photography. Banned from research rooms, archives and museums, cameras were the scourge of those charged with maintaining and preserving historical documents. The constant flashing from camera lights would over time cause fading to occur on paper documents. There was no easy way to provide access to original documents beyond their acid free gray boxes unless you had very sophisticated equipment, hired a professional to scan the information, or you went to the original source in person.
Digital photography however, could be used inside and without flash. It opened up a whole new avenue for recording documents. With the right camera, documents and photographs could be reproduced and formatted for access on a web site. Now individuals would be able to "see" the document in its original form. With a computer, a camera and some high tech, but fairly inexpensive recording devices images could be captured and manipulated without having to utilize expensive laboratory equipment. This could even be done in situ.
The National Archives suddenly became very accessible and so did the lighthouse log books. I would be able to photograph the pages, stitch them together and let researchers and those interested in the information read the actual log books, not a facsimile. In fact, all the documents and photographs in the collection could be digitally reproduced for a web site. The only thing you couldn't produce was the smell of a new book and the feel of a bound cover.
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