Archive systems for artists’ studios and small cultural organizations.
My mission is to bring real living-archive experience, open-source and custom tooling, and a passion for preservation together for artists’ studios and small cultural organizations.
I create and develop systems and tools that work for your people today and into the future, when today’s work becomes the archive, so they can withstand turbulent technological change.
Seven years as in-house digital asset manager for a world-renowned photography studio, including moving a 265 TB archive to the cloud before a two-studio consolidation. Read the case study.
We discuss your workflow and the kinds of media you generate. I go over your digital inventory and gather notes on existing content, backups, and current hardware and software. I review your domain name registration and SSL certificates (a lapsed domain can take down your whole web presence) and get an overview of your local network and connected devices. Then I assess the risks and deliver a prioritized plan.
I lay the groundwork by prioritizing time-tested legacy file formats on cutting-edge file systems, so you can digitize your prints, negatives and ephemera the right way from the start. I recommend hardware and help configure your systems and backups. We develop a digital archive structure based on your existing workflow, and I build custom tooling around your needs. I set up regularly scheduled 3-2-1 backups and, even more important, test them. I leave you with a reference guide for studio-wide use and for onboarding new staff.
Fast, static sites owned by the artist. Whether public facing or internal tooling, my goal for you is no subscriptions and no platform lock-in. I provide the support when you need it, not a distant call center.
Painting portfolio for an artist on the Main Line, outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Custom features we worked on together include having every painting show in proportion to its real size. It is quickly growing into a living archive of her work.
Moved 265 TB of a photographer's archive to cloud storage before consolidating two studios, so the move never risked the only copy.
An ongoing photography project about Pennsylvania, moved from hand-written HTML to Hugo. Features an interactive map using the geographic locations of photographs.
One Python script that makes a folder of scans, RAW files and TIFFs browsable in a web browser, with thumbnails and an image viewer. No database, server or account, and the pages open from a NAS, a USB drive or straight from disk.
If you have an archive, a collection, or a website that needs care or building, write to phil@philcifone.com.