Rediscovering Family History Through Photos
It all started with a closet full of old photographs. Last year, engineer Jeremy unearthed a treasure trove of 1,351 loose photos while visiting his grandmother’s house for the first time since the pandemic. These images, lacking order, dates, and context, ranged from black-and-white shots of his grandparents in their twenties to childhood snapshots of his mother and his own teenage photos just before the digital age took over. What began as a simple organization task blossomed into an extraordinary project: a personal encyclopedia—a Wikipedia of his own life.
Navigating Physical Photos
One of the major challenges Jeremy faced was that physical photographs lack EXIF metadata. This absence meant that vital information like capture dates or GPS coordinates was usually missing. Instead of giving up, Jeremy opted for a more personal approach: he sat down with his grandmother to gather narratives about the images.
During their conversations, she recounted details while arranging their wedding photos, providing invaluable context—names, places, and the significance of various rituals. This collaboration resulted in Jeremy setting up a local instance of MediaWiki, the same software that powers Wikipedia. Within a couple of afternoons, he crafted a comprehensive article on their wedding, complete with scanned photos, captions, and links to Wikipedia for historical context.
Harnessing Technology with Digital Photos
Jeremy soon realized he could push the boundaries further with digital photographs, which do contain EXIF data. He chose 625 photos from a family trip to Coorg, India, in 2012 and directed Claude Code—a machine learning model—to create a Wikipedia page based on those images. By utilizing tools like ImageMagick to generate contact sheets, the model could delve into the visual content and generate a structured draft chronicling the trip based on what it saw, organized chronologically.
AI as a Memory Aid
Next came an ambitious project involving a trip to Mexico City in 2022. Armed with 291 photos and 343 videos from an iPhone 12 Pro, complete with GPS metadata, Jeremy merged this with exported Google Maps history, Uber trips, and banking transactions. This myriad of data allowed the model to cross-reference and construct a rich narrative. For example, if Jeremy had forgotten a soccer match’s details captured in photos, the model linked a Ticketmaster receipt to reveal the teams playing.
Beyond Travel: Documenting Friendships
What began as chronicle-building for travels soon evolved into a more intimate project. Jeremy sifted through his social media archives—including 100,000 messages and voice notes exchanged with friends. The AI condensed this information into a unique biography, crafting pages that felt personal, as if written by someone who intimately understood the relationships involved. When Jeremy shared these pages, friends were drawn in, enraptured by the shared stories and eager for more.
The Power of MediaWiki
One of Jeremy’s significant choices was to use MediaWiki. Its robust infrastructure provided a familiar framework for AI, which understands the organization of Wikipedia pages. With features like discussion pages and revision histories, MediaWiki proved to be a perfect platform for Jeremy’s encyclopedia.
A New Perspective on Life
Ultimately, Jeremy reflected on his journey: “I realized that I was no longer alone working on a family history project. What I had been creating, page by page, was a personal encyclopedia.” This project went beyond just organizing data; it deepened his appreciation for the people and memories in his life.
Start Your Own Journey
Motivated by the satisfaction and insights gained from his project, Jeremy launched an open-source platform, Whoami.wiki, allowing others to create their own personal encyclopedias. Anyone can implement it on their own machine—keeping personal data secure and accessible. For those captivated by their own life stories, this platform offers an exceptional avenue to document and cherish them.