Digital Album - Presenting Stamps On Digital Album Pages

Wait the snow melt, I will be in the field walking kilometers recovering my rockets, stamps is a winters hobby for me.

Absolutely they should get more away from the computers, they will need to get off the computers to actually soak, sort and arrange the stamps into stockbooks/albums or whatever... And whether we like it or not we will just have to realize that the human race will spend more time on computers than what it used to do - just as well inspire them to do something 'sensible' while at it!

Now that sounds like fun. We're in the 'spring mud' zone here. Won't be long till we can walk around outside though. :)

Agree with Blaamand.

The world is moving ahead, and if this new generation cannot use technology, they will not be able to function in the workplace or even in society (beyond just playing games of course).

- Phones with landlines are going away - everyone will have a smart phone, and in about 10 years whatever is beyond that ....
- PCs are going away, TVs are going away, laptops and tablets are here but will probably be gone in 20 years and holographic viewers (such as the Microsoft HoloLens) will be commonplace. - at least everyone but us old foggy stamp collectors!

Although I am not an advocate for Microsoft, they put out a really slick video of a product they are developing which honestly is probably the way of the future (ignore the funky goggles, they will of course change drastically

So with all of this change, how can we appeal to a new generation? We could compete with the new technology (and lose), or we could embrace it and figure how to use it as the tool that it is designed to be (rather than just a game platform).

Agree wholeheartedly with embracing technology to entice people into the hobby. But, I would think that beyond simply displaying collections online, perhaps a viable solution would be a way for for people to trade online. There are already markets for sales/auctions and I don't think it is viable to compete against them. But, a nice addition to the ultimate online solution would be to provide some interactivity for trading.

Or someone complete a country sell it to finance the next one. That can be interesting option as long as you don't make peoples believe you still have them. But it's not really collecting, not in my book at least.


I don't know with this Digital thing, very attractive but so much work, take way more time to scan that just place a stamp in an album. I never count my stamps, but just in Russian's, I have over 5000 for sure. They are hinged at 95%, I can't remove them, on the scans you will see sometime edge of the printed rectangle under. I'm thinking to scan the completed pages of my Scott album instead, or the one near complete. Beside turn a page is turn a page, you hold something in your hand.

Area66 - agree that would certainly not be collecting stamps in my book either! Tough I still struggle to understand why someone would enjoy to make a 'collection' of something they do not have, but if someone like to collect images only - so, why not, let anyone collect images, butterflies, bottles, signatures or whatever they want. Collecting images is certainly not my intention, rather presenting images of the stamps I actually have.

When it comes to scanning my Russia collection (counted and confirmed with your number) - there is no way I would even consider it. It's far too much work to scan and prepare that amount of images (and really not that interesting either?). So, I'm going for more specialized stuff which is worth the pain... and which I consider a 'rewarding' exercise even if it takes some more time. I will suggest scanning e.g the imperial era of Russia?

So, in order to keep the thread alive, I figured I'll ask the forum about your opinion on another example of a digital album page. This time I have made two different versions.
I am not able to agree with myself if the classic stamps are looking better with black and white background - or with colors. So, why not ask you good people?





Any thoughts?

Hi Blaamand,

I prefer the black and white background. It provides a bit more focus on the stamps.

Right now, the bottom stamps are "hiding" from me because the page seems more about the big picture in the middle. The stamps are moved out of the way so one can focus on the picture.

I've got a copy of "how to arrange a stamp collection" book from the 1940's and although much of it is outdated, one sound suggestion is to put the most important items at the optical centre of the page. On this page it's vasco's belly! :)

that's just an opinion though - don't take it too seriously.

Those are very lovely stamps you have - a beautiful set.

Mark

Hi Mark,
Thanks, I appreciate your response and viewpoints! I absolutely agree with the black and white gives more focus on the stamps. On the other hand, after flipping through lots of black and white pages, it's starting to become 'dull' with all the B&w...
I like your comment with Vasco's belly in the centre! That 1940's guide of yours probably has a valid point, thanks.

Jon
The pages look stunning. But Agree with Mark that the background overwhelms the stamps. I think there is probably a happy medium though. Your Sweden pages were probably in that middle. Another thing you can try with keeping the graphic you have (the color one) is to lighten it up (increase the brightness) where it becomes more of a background as the stamps pop out. Something to try.

Michael

Michael
Thanks, your viewpoints are always welcome. Guess some of the nice things about this digital thing is that is so easy to do just as you are suggesting - to try something else. So I did just that.

Most of my pages have been made with quite light grey and white colors, like this one - it really gives focus to the stamps and the background still performs it's mission of making the setting/ atmosphere.




And here is an attempt for the 'happy medium' - not only b&w background, but with dull/light colors as not to 'steal' too much colors from the stamps themselves


I have to say powerpoint is brilliant for making the pages, as it really allows a lot of playing around for the graphics and overall appearance of the album pages. I really enjoy this possibility to compare and consider different appearances of each album page. Does anyone else have different 'versions' of the same album page? Please share!

Blaamand, Thank you very much for starting this discussion! Also a big thank you to the others in the discussion for your insights and great resources!

The possibility of doing this has been on my mind for a few years, but I haven't gotten around to it. I already have quite a bit of scanning done (the tedious part) and now I have some good ideas for the presentations (the fun part). I have never made a web page before (the challenging part) but maybe it's time I try!

You have inspired me to give it a go!

kehess,
I am very pleased to hear that! This forum certainly is a great place to find inspiration

You're absolutely right about 'the tedious part' and 'the fun part' - I am sure you will find it rewarding in the end.
Good luck - and please share some samples when you get going, I will really like to see the result!