Sisterly Inspiration

While talking to my sister (my favorite scrapbooking partner in crime, although she thinks it's too dorky to admit it...) today about my capstone idea, she said it would be neat to be able to download and print the album or to buy it and have it sent out. I know that there are services like that out there like Yahoo! Photos, Apple albums from iPhoto, and Pixagogo. All of those sites/programs make beautiful albums from your pictures. That got me thinking about what separates scrapbooking from photo albums. Photo albums are nice to put all your pictures into and to write about and share with. Scrapbooks take those features and go above and beyond by allowing more room for creativity, stories, and personalization. When you print off an album, would it be as personal as if someone made one and gave it to you? Instead of focusing on being able to print off these albums, I think I want to create a more interactive environment that tells and links stories of lives. The actual experience of creating and giving a scrapbook is hard to replicate, so this online community should have a different feeling to it as well. Should I try to replicate the experience and product as much as I can or should I try to create a new experience that holds the same ideals as scrapbooking? These are tough decisions that I am glad I don't have to work out just yet, but it's nice to start thinking about them now :)