Harvesting “Memory” From Personal Media

Tips for using images and other media to reconstruct experience

Let’s quickly touch on a few philosophic and practical limitations and opportunities encountered when working with media (capture records) “about” past experiences. These are all profoundly interesting topics - we will touch on all of them in more detail later. They are mentioned here, in part, so that you can focus on doing the rather simple things that are recommended below, without feeling that the process is being taking too lightly, is being dumbed down, is promising too much or is not personalized enough.

  • It is NOT POSSIBLE to completely reconstruct our experiences, our context, our thoughts, our feelings, or our mental states (much less all of them combined). Whether they are 2 years old, 2 weeks, or 2 minutes – we are ALWAYS looking back at them. If you are thinking about some event or thought – it is already in the past. You are already removed from it in significant ways.

  • The act of remembering, and of thinking about what we remember, changes the memory itself. It changes the content of memory, the details we recall and the likelihood that we will remember it again and under what conditions.

  • Since “Who We Are” is in part informed by what we remember, we are changing “Who We Are” in minute and, sometimes, subtle ways.

  • Capturing, recalling and working with our memory is a dynamic, creative process: it is neither deterministic nor predictable. It is not even repeatable.

  • It is an iterative and cyclical process. Each time and each way we “remember” we are provided with additional opportunities to “remember” more.

  • There are many ways in which “memory” is not about being accurate. It is a map, a representation. It is never the thing it represents.

  • The brain and mind give rise to a memory afresh each time we visit it. Each instance is unique and ephemeral. The brain and mind have always changed since the last “showing” of the memory.

  • This is a process which “approaches” but never achieves accuracy, completeness or fidelity. Our skill lies in moving in the direction of accuracy when accuracy is desired and in taking other approaches when something other than accuracy is desired. In any case, the approach may get closer and closer but can never arrive at the goal.

  • Many of the things recommended here will feel too simplistic and mechanical. They are. Everyone feels that their memory is never about mundane issues. All memory has some mundane properties. All memory is more than those properties.

  • There are many processes at work at once: from the mundane (“What did I eat?”) to the existential and profound (“How was I changed by this event? How did it change my mind, my attitudes and the course of my life? How am I being changed as I remember it?”) and EVERYTHING in between.

  • We can never say that we are finished working with a memory. It is always possible to uncover more. Because we can approach completeness, but never achieve it, we must also understand how and when to detach and move on.

  • The things that “work” for any of us at any time varies strongly between people and from moment to moment for the same person. Memory, emotion, awareness, focus, attention and imagination are all immediately and continually dynamic, right now and always. How you interact with these will be dynamic as well.

  • We may develop an infinite number of probes, thought questions and perspective questions to help us recall. They all vary dynamically in effectiveness from use to use. Keeping our probes, our ways of approaching memory, fresh is of the utmost importance.

Let’s Zoom Out for a second to try to grab some immediate motivation, wonder, awe and inspiration.

When we are working with memory, what IS an image, a recording, a journal entry, a note? In the biggest zoomed-out terms we might say the each one is an interface, a window, a key, a portal, between our current selves and the events, memories and context (internal and external) of the scenes and moments they “capture”. Each one is an interface between a moment in the external universes and the changing constellation of the internal universe. You will see what we mean as we go.

Ok! Some tips!

  • When you are reviewing your media on your devices keep at least 2 kinds of lists going. Even if you end up deleting the images for whatever reason, you can take some time to mine them before you do.

    • A chronological log or journal. Write down some of the memories that the images recall to mind.

      • Take note of the timestamp of the image for log purposes. Sometimes they help you easily reconstruct the flow of a day, a trip or an event. It is not simply the times you are able to log, but also the times for which you have no logs (“I have nothing for that day after 3 PM? What the heck was I doing? Oh yeah, now I remember. I’ll jot that down.”)

      • If you already have a journal or diary in some form, use that! Always keep things as simple as possible (but no simpler!)

    • A list of themes. Create topics which capture aspects of your experience, which seem to weave together sets of the images.

      • Most images are “about” many things. They “capture” yet more things. You were aware of some of them when you took the picture – others you become aware of only as you look back.

      • Create this list dynamically. Look at what you see and jot down themes of interest as you encounter them.

      • As you go through your set of images, list the file name under the themes which apply.

  • Work with your collections in cycles

    • This process can be exhausting – if your mind has stopped “seeing” the image, just walk away. Come back when you feel interested again. This is an emotional, mental and creative process – let those things align before coming back.

    • Don’t be too quick to throw away bad pics. You will get rid of them eventually. But they might have keys to memory that can be harvested before you do.

Much more to come!