History Pin – pictures from the past
I quite like History Pin. It’s a thoroughly ‘nice’ idea- it’s roots seem, certainly on the surface, to be based in the force for good. Conceived by the well-meaning folk at the not-for-profit We Are What We Do, it is as an attempt to put Google Maps and Street View in some historical context by allowing users, through the www.historypin.com site to ‘pin’ pictures of theirs onto the existing map to create a interactive picture archive of any given place through the ages.
We Are What We Do are the people behind the infamous 2007 ‘I’m Not A Plastic Bag’ creation, designed by Anya Hindmarch, which sold out at Sainsbury’s in record time. They also published the million selling Change The World For A Fiver book back in 2004, so it is safe to assume that they are a company who’s aims are genuine. The fact that they managed to convince Google to let them use Google Maps and Street View gives you an idea of the respect they hold within the industry.
Putting the pictures up has been made agreeably simple, with the only necessity for signing up and being able to pin photos being a Googlemail account which, lets be honest, is pretty standard these days anyway. From there it’s the kind of everyday upload system that Granny could work if she put her mind to it. You can also upload a story to accompany each picture, explain it, who is in it and help place the picture in its proper perspective for the user. The website is still in its beta stage so is obviously not full and many of the more obscure and not so obscure towns I searched for were still awaiting pictures, but this is to be expected at this early point.
Emotions are torn somewhat with Historypin. On the one hand, you can see where they are coming from when they say they want ‘to get people from different generations [to] share more and come together more often.’ Google obviously see the potential in it, with their marketing manager Kate Hammond describing it as a ‘remarkable project.’ And there is relevance in what they are saying- at the end of the day we’re all looking for ways for different generations to share their experiences, learn from each other and close the ‘gap’. It just all seems, to these eyes anyway, a bit of a big deal about a website that is not doing anything particularly interesting. From a purely personal level, I can’t imagine I’ll ever have any desire to use the site, nor to sit down with those I know who can still remember the war and flick through it in the hope of finding some lost memory that we can wax lyrical about- that’s what cups of tea and Sunday roasts are for. But I’m loathe to slate it as it is a nice idea, learning about your history undoubtedly helps you learn about the present and, at the end of the day, it’s charity. In 30 years perhaps, when every Grandparent has grown up using the internet and non-digital photographs are as long forgotten a concept as DVD, it will fulfil its potential.
