Quite some time ago (about late 2007) I saw this documentary called "21 Up Japan" which is similar to the "Up Series". The idea of the documentary is the follow a group of children from when they were 7 years old, and then every 7 years they go back to them and see how they are going. The interviewers had a set of semi-structured questions which they asked, and it was very interesting to see how everyone's answers changed from when they were 7, 14, and 21.

Time Capsule

After seeing this documentary I decided I wanted to do something similar - make my own time capsule :) However it wasn't until a few months later in early 2008 when I found an old exercise book which had some short stories that I had written in 1995 that really got me started. Reading those stories made me realise how much can change in a few years (and how much we can forget!). My time capsule is bit different to 21 Up Japan- it does have a set of questions which I plan on answering once every year or so, but the majority of entries are more diary-like entries of times when I feel like something important has happened.

I've only just started my time capsule, so still quite new to all of it - if anyone has any tips please share them :) Here are some of my tips/thoughts on how to create a time capsule:

  1. Start now - it's never too early or too late!
  2. You will forget what you've written (unless you've got super photographic memory...in which case you probably don't need to keep a time capsule)
  3. Use pen/paper for your time capsule (or at least print it out). Having something on paper is just different to having it on your computer.
  4. Include photos! (and write the location/date and names of people in that photo)
  5. Have a set of questions (even if you only semi-follow them). It is quite different answering the questions and just writing a diary entry.

Even though I said to use pen/paper for the your time capsule, it's still ok to keep a few electronic ones - this blog for example is a good example - in fact I was reading my old blog the other day and found it very amusing! I've also subscribed to Photojojo's Time Capsule - it takes photos from your flickr from a year ago and emails them to you. Only recently started using flickr (because of the time capsule actually), but I would imagine this would work quite well if you're a heavy flickr user.

Just to finish off, this is a great example of how amazing a time capsule can be!