Tell the world about baby — digital style

Use technology to share special baby moments

By Liza Finlay

Toronto mom Lisa Froggatt-Alexander wanted to share every giggle and grunt of her two babies with her family across the globe. But she was stymied by the inefficiency of “snail mail photo sharing.”

“Like most mothers, I wanted to share the joy of my precious bundles,” says Froggatt-Alexander, “but I never seemed to get around to developing film, making duplicates, writing letters and mailing.”

For the industrious Froggatt-Alexander, the answer lay in exploring a variety of multimedia opportunities. “If I can do it, anybody can,” says the former technology neophyte. “You just have to know how to get started.”

Getting started requires little more than a digital camera, a computer and an Internet connection (preferably high-speed) — oh, and an adorable baby.

Advice for the novice

E-mail digital photographs
The easiest method for sharing your baby’s important moments almost immediately after birth is to e-mail photos taken on your digital camera. Simply connect your camera and computer with the cable provided by the manufacturer, click the download button and images instantly appear onscreen. Now those images can be fired off to friends as an e-mail attachment.

Vista users can send photos as e-mail attachments in Windows Photo Gallery. Simply open the photo(s) you want to send in the Gallery; then click the E-mail button across the top of the screen. The e-mail wizard will automatically resize the photo to the desired size.

To ensure family members receive images without delay

• be sure each file is 1 to 2 megabytes or less because bigger files may be too much for your recipient’s computer to handle
• save images as JPEGs because these files are universally accepted by all makes of computers
• attach only two or three images at a time so recipients don’t lose patience as files endlessly download

Many newer digital cameras have an instant-share function that allows you to select the destinations to which images are sent as soon as the camera is docked or hooked to a computer.

Create an online album accessible by all
Sites such as those found at Photobucket and Flickr make sharing photos easy by hosting them for you. Add or update shots at will — for free.

“This is the best option for anyone with limited technical experience or limited time,” says Toronto web developer Glen Hunter. “They do all the technical work and maintenance for you. All you have to do is click a mouse to tell the site which photos to upload. It’s so easy, just about anybody can do it.”

Another great way to post photos of baby is through an online journal or blog at Windows Live Spaces. Creating a Windows Live Space is easy. Simply visit the Windows Live Spaces homepage and choose to Create your space. Now the fun begins. Customize the colour and layout, share your thoughts in a blog and, of course, post countless adorable photos of baby.

A great example of this is Reallivemoms, a Windows Live Space dedicated to providing moms with advice, information and ways to connect with other moms.

You can take advantage of Windows Live SkyDrive’s 5 gigabytes of free storage to upload photos to a folder that can be shared with people on your buddy list. You can also enter in specific e-mail addresses.

Advice for the adventurous

Create a mini-movie starring your baby
Most digital cameras have a movie setting that allows you to record live action. The camera stores the segment like an image, so you can download and e-mail the way you would a photo.

If you use a digital camcorder, a program such as Windows Movie Maker (which is now part of Windows Live Photo Gallery) puts you in the director’s seat. Intuitive, step-by-step directions help you edit recorded sequences and add audio before you save the movie on a hard drive where the movie can be stored or sent to grandma.

Hunter advises proud parents to save film to a DVD that can be mailed. That’s a bonus for recipients on dial-up who can’t handle large downloads, and your mini-movie won’t get lost in an inbox. In addition, he says, “you also have backup should your computer fail.”

Make a baby book — online
At Baby’s Story, moms and dads can upload photos and even add scrapbook-style commentary by following the directions on the site. The free service also offers e-cards and birth announcements, along with helpful health information on your growing child. Simply share the site’s address with family so they, too, can be part of the joy.

If you’d prefer to have a more detailed journal of baby’s development, you can buy Baby Diary software for US$24.95. Complete with growth and tooth charts, the program guides users to insertion of audio and visual attachments.

Advice for the technophile

Build your baby his or her own web site
Sites such as MediaCollege.com offer tutorials for do-it-yourself fans. Since most Internet service providers offer free web space, the cost is minimal.

“The good thing is that you can design the site to look any way you want,” says Hunter. “That level of customization is appealing, but you have to be comfortable in the language of computers to do it, and maintenance will require some investment of time.”

For Froggatt-Alexander, that time commitment was well worth it. “My mother is in Israel most of the year, and being able to get instantaneous baby updates really helped her stay connected to us.”