I am embarking on a self-archival project, and I am going to detail my process and what I learn in trying to do so. As of August 14th, 2025, this project also encompasses my [[move toward more secure systems for managing data]] and divesting from Google. ## Why? I have so many years of photos in Google photos from my phone automatically backing them up, but I don’t love Google Photos for long-term storage. You can make albums, but you can’t make stuff you put in albums disappear from your main feed, which makes organization difficult. Albums operate more like tags, rather than locations. Plus, in Google Photos you can’t engage with the photos like files and utilize file organization software. So, I started the process of exporting my Google photos into files on my computer that I can organize and engage with. This process has uncovered some exciting creative potential! Like I am piecing together the narrative of my life as I sort through the following: * Photos and Videos * Photos of me in all my awkward gender and expression phases * Photos of Friends and [Quaill Club](/community) housemates * Photos from Events * Photos of the house and garden and how it’s evolved over the years * Photos of art and projects and the process around them, including things I forgot I even made * Boomerangs??? Those little 2 second clips that’d repeat??? So many of these. I am trying to figure out what to do with them. Maybe a compilation video? * Screenshots * Some tea in the form of screenshots of text messages. Mostly deleting these. * Sweet and kind words from people I want to remember * Quotes and digital moments I’d like to save * Downloaded Images * Mostly memes and poems. I am organizing those, saving some of the stuff I think are worth sharing into channels on my are.na account. * Junk * Duplicates of photos since apparently I can’t just hit the photo button once, but rather 2-500 times per photo op. ## The Goal: To break up this giant pile of photos, screenshots, downloaded memes, and more into an archive of my growth, my house, my friends, my art, and the things I found inspiring. I am not sure why I want to do this yet, but it feels important. ## The Process 1. Use Google Takeout to export Google Photos into folders on my computer. Doing this maintains the metadata, like date and location, that downloading straight from Google Photos unfortunately strips away. 2. Use a File Organizing program that breaks everything up according to certain parameters. In my case, I picked grouping them by month created, so the folders are labeled 2017-06, 2017-07, etc. 3. Go from folder to folder, remove duplicates, and sort images between folders such as “Quaill Club,” “Memes,” "Poems and Quotes,” etc. 1. Potential question: Maybe it’s better to keep photos+screenshots+memes together chronologically, so the memories aren’t separated from one another? Maybe there is something to be said for seeing a photo of a friend in the same folder as a screenshot of a poem. To put together the parallels of life, the digital ## The Problems 1. Should I keep photos in the folders that are based on date for chronology purposes, and instead utilize tags to categorize them? Do tags communicate between Mac and Windows? ## Photo Organization Moving Forward for Continued Archival I no longer let my phone back-up automatically. Instead, I do this: 1. Use the app Swipe and Delete to review my photos from the previous month, easily deleting any that I don’t want to keep. 2. Then I manually back up the photos to Google Photos. I might eventually just back them up directly into dated folders, but I don’t mind ## [[Auto-Theory]] (Convo with Bri) Like memoir, but not. Using personal experience and links it to structural experience. Auto theory deals with memory and how we use our individual experiences to put forth education and learning. What happens to the individual isn't always about the individual. How to make the connection really clear, the individual to the structural? [[Google Photos Organizing Checklist]]