From cave paintings, hieroglyphics and papyri, to the later journal-keeping, film or any other medium that could be used to record something, human nature has always had the urge to log or express messages related to a state of being.

In this day and age, besides the use of blogs and the various types of social media sites that allow people to share any images, videos, notes and updates, some individuals go a step further and keep a digital log of their daily experiences. This is known as life-logging.

Why do these individuals feel the need to capture moments from their daily events? The concept is very similar to that of having a journal or a diary. They’re reminders, memories, moments that make you smile and tracks that show you how you have grown and evolved into the person you are today.

It can sometimes be simpler and less time-consuming, although equally effective and expressive, to do this digitally than in the traditional diary form. Also, unlike in the case of having physical records, which could be misplaced or destroyed, having such memories online means they will never be lost.

There are a few handy online tools that make it easier to log your life, such as Allofme – a timeline-creating application platform – and for the iPhone users, Instagram – an app which allows users to share daily image logs with their friends and contacts.

Facebook is now also offering the new Timeline feature for profiles, which organises all status updates, photo and video uploads, notes, and any other information related to what you have posted over the years in a chronological view.

Some people might see life-logging as exposing one’s privacy to their followers, and therefore choose to stick to the traditional form of journal-keeping. Yet as photographer and life-logger Nicholas Scicluna says, if something is too private to be shared with others then it wouldn’t be shared online.

In the end, the beauty behind capturing and posting these moments online is to also share these memories with the people who lived them with you.

With 2011 coming to an end and the start of a new year, it might be worth considering starting a life-log and capturing the many special moments to come.

Dear diary

Life-logger Nicholas Scicluna spends 365 days behind the camera

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Q: What type methods do you use to life-log?

A: Photography and writing.

Q: Why do you life-log?

A: Some people like to log their life experience in a diary. I prefer to use something visual which ­captures the memory of any particular experience.

People have always enjoyed logging their life ­experiences through different methods. I believe that we are all on a personal journey, discovering and learning new things every single day. Photography has been my personal favourite in helping me capture my experience and store away this information so that in future I can always go back to that moment in time.

Q: Do you share these logs with others?

A: Yes, I share these logs in an album which I have created on my Facebook photography page (www.nickyscicuna.com). The album is called ‘365 Days 2011’.

Q: How does life-logging affect your privacy?

A: I don’t feel as though it affects my privacy. If it is something I prefer not to share with the public, I can opt to keep it to myself in a separate album on my computer.

Q: What sort of images do you log?

A: Various images. In the album I created, I wanted to capture one photo for each day of 2011. For example, if it were a friend’s birthday, I would log a picture of that event, which would serve as a future nice memory.

Q: How long have you been doing this for?

A: I’ve been life-logging since January 1, 2011 – on that day, I captured the first sunrise of the year.

Q: When going through your life-logs, what feelings do they evoke?

A: I often go through my album and can remember clearly my experience for each day.

Looking at an image instantly takes me back to that moment in time when the photo was captured.

Q: Do you feel that new apps, such as Facebook’s Timeline, encourage the whole concept of life-logging?

A: I am not too familiar with Facebook’s Timeline. However, from what I’ve gathered, it sounds interesting and is definitely something I will look into in the near future.

Ms Goggi is an English graduate currently working as a web marketing copywriter.

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