Family Photo Albums on the Web

The use of photographs, especially their distribution and arrangement in photo albums, seems to undergo deep changes brought about by the technological developments of computer, internet, and specifically so-called social media (Pauwels 2002, 2008). Even though the traditional way to create family photo albums, especially for the following generation(s) (Hirsch 2002), is still an usual and for the respective families important social practice (Rose 2010), the question is at stake whether the shift to so-called new media is changing the biographical meaning and relevance of these practices.

What is different in form and content in processes of creating a family photo album in the semi-public realm of the internet with exclusively digital or digitalized photos, compared to the haptic way of choosing, arranging and glowing photo prints into an album-booklet? How is the former biographical significance of these practices transferred or ‘translated’ to the new media? My paper will explore these questions with an in-depth case study from a social network site using a combination of visual and text-based methodologies and methods.