Click on title to link to a story appearing in today's Cleveland "Plain Dealer" and offered online at "Cleveland.com" written by Mr. James Ewinger of the "Plain Dealer" newspaper.
It is a well-written story about how the advancements in technology have reached the tombstones stage; to affix QR codes on tombstones which can be read by today's 'smartphones.'
I have added my 'two-cents worth' comment which appears after the article.
If nothing else, reading news stories about these types of advancements reminds me that we all need to do what we can to document the lives of our relatives and loved ones whether we actually knew them or not.
We simply cannot know at what point in history someone from a now distant future generation will search for information about them. Being able to do that should be becoming easier, not more complicated.
Keeping up with the advancements in technology also reminds us that the ability to 'read' the information is also dependent upon having the appropriate device to do so. All we have to do is consider the floppy disk, cassette tape or VHS tape, to realize how quickly outdated our technology has become in our own lifetime. If current technology is not compatible with the source that means we can no longer view text or listen to music without some ability to convert it; which can be cost prohibitive for many of us.
Call me old-fashioned, but I still believe not only in backing up the back ups, but making and keeping the time honored hard copy stored in as safe of a place as possible (backed up off-site of course!) is the best way to go. One way to back up information off-site is to also share it with others so the history of our ancestors' lives is almost guaranteed not to be lost as the years march by to different drummers.
