Saying Goodbye to Google Reader

It's not exactly a tearful goodbye. Frankly, it's time to move on and hopefully I'm finally ready. After asking for advice from fellow genealogists on Facebook and playing around with various products, I've settled in. At least for now.

I'm in love with Flipboard and have been for a while. Using Flipboard can only be described as a beautiful experience. Especially for the photography blogs. But I have some reservations. I'm having trouble making changes to the Reader feeds that I imported when I use my ipad. I wanted to do some re-organizing and haven't figured out how to do that without re-subscribing to the couple hundred blogs I read. I do love the magazine feature though. I'll definitely be sticking with Flipboard.

Feedly is another reader I liked. It was easy to switch over to and so far pretty easy to use. Plus all of my tags came over from Google Reader as well. I liked that. Thomas MacEntee mentioned being able to use alerts in Feedly in his blog post the other day. That caught my attention so I'll be looking into that feature too.

Now we'll see what happens in a few days when Reader goes away. I'm hoping I've done everything correctly. Are you ready?


© 2013 Michelle Goodrum

Five Reasons to Attend a Genealogical Institute

Image Credit: stock.xchng.com Collegiate 2

In January, I attended the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy(SLIG), for the second year. A fantastic experience once again. Genealogical institutes are an excellent way to further your genealogical education and experiences. Here are five reasons to attend one. Warning: after conferring with numerous attendees, I’ve concluded genealogical institutes may be addictive!

1.       First and foremost, they provide in-depth and extensive instruction on a particular subject and/or time frame. For example, 1780-1840, military records, advanced methodology, southern research, or producing a family narrative. If you are looking to increase your knowledge and skill level in a particular area, a weeklong institute is an excellent way to go.

2.       The instructors are among the best in the business. Typically a course or “track” has a coordinator who does most of the instructing during the week. Several other experts will run other sessions over the course of the week.

3.       The networking opportunities are endless with attendees and instructors. Since you will be spending every day for an entire week with the same group of people you get to know them, their experience, knowledge base and connections. One of my classmates is with the Daughters of the American Revolution and was able to provide advice, assistance and direction on who to contact regarding issues I’ve run into with my application.

4.       Lasting friendships develop when you spend the day with the same people all week.

5.       I repeatedly observed genealogists helping genealogists. Discussions held over lunch resulted in new leads to follow. One classmate looked up some records in her area of expertise for another classmate. An instructor provided key advice to a student on a genealogical problem. It was invigorating atmosphere to be a part of.

In the case of SLIG there is a big bonus reason to attend. The Family History Library!

Here is a list of institutes with links to their websites for more information.

·         Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG)  held in January. Registration opened June 1. Some of the courses has waiting lists but there are still seats left in quite a few.

·         Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR) in Samford, Alabama held every June.

·         Genealogical Institute of Pittsburg (GRIP) in July.

·         National Institute on Genealogical Research (NIGR) held in Washington DC every July.

·         Forensic Genealogy Institute was held in April in Dallas, Texas.

I hope you will be able to attend one in the not too distant future.

URL for this post: http://turning-of-generations.blogspot.com/2013/06/five-reasons-to-attend-genealogical.html

© 2013, copyright Michelle Goodrum