# Family Archive Metadata Schema

For the method in
[Archiving Family Photos and Stories Without Inventing History](/articles/family-memory-archive-consent).

## Not for

Entering AI-generated guesses as confirmed fact, or archiving identifiable children's photos
beyond a private family archive without a parent or guardian's explicit agreement.

## The metadata table

One row per item. Fill in what you know; mark the rest as an estimate.

| Item ID | Type | Date (confirmed/estimate) | Source | People identified (confirmed/estimate/unknown) | Consent status | Retention / removal | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |

## Consent log (per identifiable living person)

| Name | Items covered | Private-archive only? | OK to share more widely? | Date asked | Their words | Withdrawal requested? | Action taken (remove/redact/restrict) | Action date |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| | | ☐ | ☐ | | | ☐ | | |
| | | ☐ | ☐ | | | ☐ | | |

## When consent is withdrawn

- [ ] Item removed from shared views, or person redacted, within an agreed timeframe
- [ ] Original media retained only if still needed and still permitted
- [ ] Metadata updated so the withdrawal is visible to other archive keepers
- [ ] Cloud copies / AI tool uploads deleted where the tool allows

## Children's data — stricter default

- [ ] Assumed private-family-archive-only unless a parent/guardian explicitly agreed otherwise
- [ ] Checked the AI tool's data retention/training policy before uploading any identifiable child photo
- [ ] Original, unenhanced version kept alongside any AI-restored or colorized version

## Estimate review log

Revisit annually. Anything that can now be confirmed, upgrade and note the source.

| Item ID | Estimate | Confirmed? | Source of confirmation | Date reviewed |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| | | ☐ | | |

## Restoration / colorization tracking

| Item ID | Original kept? | AI-processed version labeled as such? | What was added/changed by the tool |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| | ☐ | ☐ | |

## The three prompts to reuse

**1. Transcribe with confidence tagged**

```text
Transcribe this recording [attach or paste the audio/transcript tool's
raw output]. Where the audio is unclear, mark that section as [unclear]
rather than guessing at words. Do not fill in gaps with plausible-
sounding text — an incomplete accurate transcript is more useful to me
than a complete but partly invented one.
```

**2. Draft a consent question**

```text
Help me draft a short, plain-language consent question to ask a family
member about a specific set of photos or recordings they appear in —
covering whether they're comfortable being included in a private family
archive, and separately, whether they're comfortable with any of it
being shared more widely (e.g. with extended family, or publicly).
Keep it a genuine question, not a leading one.
```

**3. Build the metadata table structure**

```text
Help me design a metadata table for a family archive with these
columns: Item ID, Type (photo/recording/document), Date (confirmed or
estimate — label clearly which), Source (whose collection, who provided
the information), People identified (with confidence: confirmed/
estimate/unknown), Consent status (per identifiable living person),
and Notes. Use the fields I've described; don't add new metadata
categories without asking.
```

## If a family disagreement surfaces

If accounts of the same event conflict across relatives, record both versions with their sources
rather than picking one as the official account, and mark the item's confidence status as
"disputed."