On the positive side (which you must always look otherwise it all gets too much) maybe some of those looking for a time capsule from Apple will see our site and think to themselves, “hey what a fantastic idea” I will sign up to The100YearWebSite and create a real Time Capsule. Steve Jacobs has too much money anyway.

I have also been thinking. What happens to the data when the time capsule breaks down? I had an external hard drive go wobbly on my once and they wanted £700 to recover the data (the drive cost £120 in the first instance).  Suffice to say I just spent the next 3 months re loading all my cds back into itunes.

The answer? Buy her a Time Capsule from www.The100YearWebSite.com. Fill the capsule with photographs from her life, video messages from you and your siblings, scan in important documents that will mean something to her. If she has grandchildren get them to draw pcitures for their gran and scan them in. Include some of her favourite music as well.

Once she has her capsule she will be able to add her own information in future years. The Time Capsule will give her a place for all her memories to look back and enjoy in years to come.

Go to www.The100YearWebSite.com to see how much joy a Time Capsule can bring.

You can view her Family Time Capsule here.

This is a fantastic use for the site. As Elizabeth rightly points out she has now made sure that these precious images are going to be saved for future generations to enjoy.

We are really looking forward to her updates, apparantly there are boxes of very old photos in her attic which she will be fishing out and adding over the comming weeks.

When adding old photos like these try and put as much information with them a s possible, ideally the date and as much of a description as possible. If all goes according to plan people will be looking at them in 100 years time! Crikey, some of those photos will then be 200 years old!

As always if you want to contact us go to our contacts page on the main site.

Or to buy your own capsule, send one as a gift or just look at the site go to www.The100yearWebSite.com

As always it is up to your imagination what you put in yours but some interesting ideas so far have been:

• Get the children to write a piece about what they would like to be when they are older, they can then illustrate this and you can scan the work in. This will be an interesting piece for children to look back on when they are older.
• One school have recorded a video where eadh child sits in front of the camera and says what they like about their school (a few also ad libbed and told us who their favourite friend was)
• Take photos and videos throughout a normal school day, interesting topics include
• Dance or Games
• Reading with another year group
• Arts and crafts (remember you can scan in any pieces of work)
• Science
• Another interesting activity is for the children to write about what they think the world will be like when they are older, flying cars, teleportation, they can draw pictures about what they think people will be wearing/how they will dress.
• Maybe a project about their town as it is now for people to look at in the future.
• School trips are a nice item to document in the capsule.

Unfortunately we feel it necessary to talk about the protection of children whilst producing the capsule (What a terrible terrible thing to have to do).

• Never put a childs full name with a video/photo, a first name seems to be acceptable to parents.
• Be mindful of the sort of images that are used, particularly games/dance
• Just be sensible, dont let this topic put you off. Unfortuantely there are plenty of sites that cater to these weirdos, so they do not need to scour innocent sites.
• Protect yourself (and it may be a legal requirement where you live) Get permission from parents to include their child in the capsule.

Now that topic is gladly over with we have also included below how the site applies to the UK school curriculum (If anyone would like to send us details about the US curriculum we will happily post it)

Information Technology
Pupils should be taught to gather information from a variety of sources.
Enter and store information in a variety of forms – written, videos, photographic.
Retrieve information that has been stored.

Pupils should be taught how to share their ideas by presenting information in a variety of forms.
To present work effectively.

Pupils should have the opportunity of working with a range of information and investigating the different ways it can be presented.
Talk about the use of ICT
Explore a variety of ICT tools. ( scanner, digital camera, video recorder etc)

.

History

‘History isn’t just about the past. It’s about why we are who we are – and about what’s next.’

Pupils should be taught to identify different ways in which the past is represented.
Understand changes in their own lives and the way of life of their family and others around them.
Communicate their knowledge and understanding of history in a variety of ways.

Geography

Should be taught to answer questions on what it is like to live in this area.
Observe and record information.
Use secondary sources of information (the capsule could be used in years to come)as they would be able to retrieve info. stored in variety of ways.
Pupils should be aware of their local environment and changes.

Science

Pupils must be aware of the main stages of human life – changes as they grow.

P.S.H.E

Need to be able to recognise what they like and dislike.
Share opinions on things that matter to them.
That they belong to various groups and communities, such as family and school.
Feel positive about themselves.
Literacy

Pupils should be taught to vary their writing to suit the purpose and reader.

The range of purposes for writing should include
a) to communicate to others
b) to explore experience
c) to organise and explain information.
Pupils should be taught the value of writing for remembering and developing ideas.

The range of readers for writing should include teachers, other adults, children and the writers themselves.

The range of forms of writing should include narratives, poems, notes, lists, captions, records, messages, instructions.
Speaking

Children need to speak clearly, fluently and confidently to different people.
They need to speak with clear diction.
Choose words with precision.
Organise what they are going to say.
Focus on main points.
Include relevant detail.
Listen, understand and respond to others.
Make relevant comments.

Check out some examples of school capsules by going to the100yearwebsite.com and typing in school to the search tool.

Use a Time Capsule from The100YearWebSite to save all your special memories. Use photographs, upload your special songs, videos of yourself (steady now!!!!! - its not that sort of site), scan in tickets from special events you have been to. Even write yourself letters to open in the future.

Build up the time capsule over the years. Imagine the enjoyment this will give you when you look back on it in years to come. Saving your memories and looking back on them can help you remember why you were together when times are tough. Show your kids in years to come that mum and dad were young and carefree as well once upon a time.

Go over to the main site at The100YearWebSite and seal your love for 100 years today.

Even better, set up a time capsule on a day they will least expect it (but do make sure you at least buy them a card today)

In our post on the 7th February about setting up a baby time capsule we mentioned that one of the staff members here has had a great idea to take a photo of the child and family on the same day every year, he aims to do this for at least 20 years. This will be a really interesting piece of work that should be great to look back on in future years.

We have since found out that the person in question does not actually have their own brilliant ideas but instead came accross the idea whilst surfing the internet. Tea duty for the next 20 years !!!! Can you imagine, they actually let it slip whilst in a meeting with our MD (there’s Mondays for you).

This is still a great idea, and you can see the end result of 30 years of photos at The Arrow of Time (link to follow). An Argentinian photographer called Diego Goldberg has taken a photo of all the members of his family on the 13th June every year since 1976, when they are all put together it makes fascinating viewing. The first photos are just of him and his wife, then over the years you see the children appear and grow up. BRILLIANT!

After seeing this we have all decided that we are going to do our own version of this in our Time Capsules.

You can see the arrow of time at http://zonezero.com/magazine/essays/diegotime/time.html

Start your own online Time Capsule at The100YearWebSite

First you need to be clear about exactly you want to keep and how you want to retrieve it. The first difference between the two options is that with an Online Time Capsule from The100YearWebSite it is possible to open and look at your capsule when you like. In fact many people use the site more as an archiving system which they review and add to on a daily/weekly basis.

In my mind you would use a classic time capsule and an online time capsule for completely different reasons. In an online time capsule/archive the data should be kept in an active management system (meaning it is continually updated so that it is always readable). The issues with putting any digital media in a classic time capsule are numerous.

• Will the device you put the data on degrade in the time capsule?
• Will it be possible to read the device when it is dug up (i.e will there be DVD readers in 20 years time)?
• If you include a reading device will the internal components survive?
• Will there be a way of operating the hardware device?

All in all it is really taking a long shot if you think that any digital media you put into a time capsule and bury underground will ever be seen again.

On the other side of the coin however it is pretty obvious that anything physical must go into a classic time capsule.

By far the best and most interesting way to approach this is to have both options. Put all digital data (text, scans, web grabs, photos, audio and video in The100YearWebSite) and put every physical item in a classic time capsuule. Then reference the online time capsule in the classic one and vice versa.

Write whatever you like, maybe put down what your dreams and hopes are for the future. Make predictions about your life, include your goals. It doesnt matter how much you write, we will save it for you.

Every year on the first of January we will open up the time capsule for that year and an email will be sent to everyone who has contributed.

To write your free message to yourself in the future is really simple, just click free message to the future and follow the simple instructions.

What will you say to yourself ?

Below we have listed some of the ways people have used their baby time capsule and included our own thoughts and ideas for you.

• Keep a baby diary week by week explaining how you feel.
• Write messages to the child throughout your pregnancy, tell them how excited or nervous you are, it makes great reading when they are older.
• Obviously photos are going to play a big part in the time capsule, make sure all your photos are accompanied by a description explaining when the photo was taken, what was happening in the photo, the more you write the more you will get out of it in years to come.
• Include scans of any cards you get when the baby arrives and accompany these with photos of the people who sent them - when you include these photos describe the persons relationship to the family, maybe add the persons age and where they live.
• Video messages from friends and family make really interesting viewing
• One of the fun ideas that we have been told about was to video or write down and add predictions as to what you think the child will be when they grow up.
• Throughout the childs life you can scan in pictures they draw, letters they write.
• When you measure the child against a door frame or similar take a photos and add it to the capsule.
• Snippets of their favourite tv programmes are always fun (make sure you get permission from the copyright owners, this is not as difficult as you think as this is not a sharing site)
• Copies of their favourite nursery rhymes and songs
• Scan in school reports and any medals, certificates they earn.
• One of The100YearWebSite team is taking a photo of his niece every christmas day and is adding them to the capsule. In 18 years time they will be able to look back and see how the child changes and grows with a snapshot every christmas for 18 years.
• You can put your baby time capsule in the public domain, password protect it for friends or family or even virtually bury it until a time in the future.

A nice example of a baby time capsule can be seen here.

As always we are keen to get any suggestions to add to this list, please use the contact us form on the main site.

You can start your wedding time capsule at any time, even create one after your wedding.

Below are some ideas that we have been given by users and some of our own hints and tips on creating a great wedding time capsule that you can look back on and enjoy for years to come.

• Include interviews with the bride and groom before the wedding (maybe at the beginning of the planning) it is always fun to record the videos seperately. What are your hopes and fears for the comming months? Record a new video update every month, keep it short, just 2-3 minutes.
• Keep a written diary of the build up and include this week by week or month by month
• Add details of the venue, photos, location etc
• Photos of the dress, where it was bought, how much it cost (it seems like a lot now but in 10 years it will be interesting to see what you can buy for the same money)
• A list of the wedding guests and the invitation that was sent out
• An account of the hen night and stag night (as much or as little info as prudent)
• Throughout the day itself make sure that everything is captured, make full use of all the different media available to you.
• Video and photos of the ceremony are great, music that was played in the church can accompany any photos.
• A really nice idea is to take a photo of every person who attends the wedding and ask them to write a little piece in a book, you can then scan these in or type them in under the photos of the person.
• Scan in a copy of the wedding certificate.
• Copies of any telegrams from relatives and friends far away are nice, even better if they can send you a small video message, this can be included as well.
• Scan a copy of the wedding lunch menu and accompany this with photographs.
• Video the speeches, these are always fun to look back on in years to come.
• Include music from the reception, make sure the song that accompanied the first dance is included.
• Any thank you cards from guests after the day are also a nice touch
• Why not round off the Wedding Time Capsule with predictions for the future. How many children will you have, what will you be doing in 1, 5, 10 even 20 years time (now that’s scary!)

This list gives a few ideas but if you have any more please let us know by using the contact function on the main site

Once you have started your wedding time capsule you can have it in the public domain, another option is to password it so only select people can view it. Either way this allows people who could not join in the big day a chance to share in the occassion and gives those who did attend an easy way to remember the event themselves.

Another option is to virtually bury your wedding Time Capsule, maybe time it tore open on your first anniversary, you can add some more content and virtually bury it again for another future date.

Some couples are adding to their capsule after their wedding and hope to build up a record of their whole married life, others have started new capsules for their new children to document their life over the years to come.

To start your own wedding time capsule click here to enter the main site