52 Weeks To Better Genealogy - Challenge #48

This week Amy over at The We Tree Genealogy Blog asks us to:

Week 48: Examine different online tools for cataloging your personal genealogy library and keeping track of the books you read.

Several weeks ago, I set up a LibraryThing account to begin inputting all of my genealogy and family history related books. I was very surprised at how easy it was to input the books and add them to my account! For the most part, all I had to do was enter the book title. Then LibraryThing would do it's thing by finding the book and its relevant information. Now I am beginning to play around with the tags.

A feature I like is that you can print out your book list, if you feel the need. I plan on doing this before the next conference I go to so I don't make any duplicate purchases.


© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

52 Weeks To Better Genealogy – Challenge 47 - Genealogy Gift List

This week's challenge:

Make your genealogy gift list. The holidays are coming! Prepare a list of genealogy-related gifts you’d like to receive: books, magazine subscriptions, software, electronics, society memberships or anything else that might look good with a bow on it. If you’re blessed to already have everything you could possibly want, consider charitable donations and in-kind gifts to societies, libraries and preservation groups. If you have a genealogy blog, you can share your list and give gift ideas to your readers as well.

My kids have been bugging me for a Christmas list and since I am addicted to genealogy, my list naturally contains lots of genealogy and family history related items. In fact, they are out shopping the Black Friday sales as I write this. Here's a sampling of the top genealogy items on my list:

1. Flip Pal Mobile Scanner.
2. Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software. This is probably the closest thing to a genealogy assistant that I will ever hope to get!
3. Google Earth For Genealogists DVDs (Volume 2 in particular).
4. NGS Home Study Course with the graded option.
5. Personal trainer package. If I am going to live long enough to accomplish my "bucket list", genealogy related or not, I've got to get back into the routine of excercising so this ol' body will stay healthy!
6. New slippers for doing genealogy research at home. I've worn our my current pair!
7. There are several books:
• Eat, Pray, Love  by Elizabeth Gilbert
• The Accidental Anarchist by Byrna Kranzler
• The Journey Takers by Leslie Albrecht Huber
• If This Land Could Talk, Homesteading on the Northern Plains by Judy R. Cook 

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

52 Weeks To Better Genealogy – Challenge 25 - Blog Commenting

This weeks challenge was to :

Write one good, solid comment on at least one genealogy blog every day for a week. Sometimes we get busy and the genealogy reading we should be doing just piles up. The same thing happens with blogs. This week, take some time to read genealogy blogs. Select at least one post a day and establish communication with the author. Offer a compliment, a question or genealogy information you may have. This challenge provides a little love to bloggers and some new perspectives for researchers. Authors of genealogy blogs can use this opportunity to comment on comments, so to speak.

I needed this assignment. With summer family activities in full force along with the day to day workings of life, I've fallen a bit behind on blog reading and we won't even talk about commenting. So this week I put forth the effort to get back into the habit of commenting on postings that were particuarly enjoyable or that I had something to contribute to.  After all that's really the other half of what blogging (life in general for that matter) is all about - interacting with one another.

Thanks to Amy over at We Tree for developing this series and this week's assignment in particular and to GeneaBloggers.


© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy - Social Networking

Amy over at We Tree has done it again with her 52 Weeks Challenge.  You can read about it at GeneaBloggers or at the bottom of this post. 

This week's challenge is about social networking which most people think of as being Facebook or Twitter.  I don't Twitter (yet) but am active on Facebook, mostly with my family.  I can say that it has been a fantastic way to stay in touch with those who are geographically spread out across the globe.  Last week at the NGS conference, I learned about a great way for genealogists to network when I attended Gena Philibert Ortega's talk, "Beyond the Horizon for Social Netorking in Genealogy."  One of the ways to network that she talked about is called Genealogy Wise.

Genealogy Wise is basically a Facebook for genealogists.  I must admit I was initially skeptical but by the end of Gena's talk, I was impressed with what it has to offer.  Here's a sampling:

• Free
• Scheduled educational chats
• Blog postings
• Groups for surnames, localities and topics
• Your own page where you can:
• Create a page listing surnames you are researching
• Post photos
• email feature
• Connect to other social networks like Twitter
• Feed your blog to Genealogy Wise

This is something I am going to sit down and set up later this summer.

Getting back to the use of Facebook for genealogy.  One of the tips Gena had that caught my attention was to upload pictures to Facebook.  Then do a mass message to family members, who are on Facebook, asking them to tell any stories that go along with the pictures.  Facebook could be a wonderful way to collect the stories of your family members.

Thanks Amy for your timely 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy assignment.

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy - Challenge 18
Dip your toe in the social networking pool. Genealogists are some of the friendliest people on the block. Networking with them by using “social” web sites will help your research and provide you with new friends. If you’ve never used social networking tools, this Social Networking in Plain English video by Common Craft is a good place to start. Picture the ways you can use social networking to meet and collaborate with other genealogists. Some of the more popular social networking sites are Facebook, Twitter and even Linked-In (though this site is more business-like in its purpose). You do not have to join these sites if you do not feel comfortable doing so, but you should at least know they exist and that they can benefit genealogy research. Those that are well-versed in social networking can refer others to the video. Bloggers are encouraged to discuss how they use various social networking sites in their own research.

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy - Week 17 - Photos

From Amy Coffin at We Tree and from GeneaBloggers this weeks assignment:

Get out your family photos and label them. You’ve seen them a million tines because they’re YOUR photos, but what happens when they’re passed down to others? Will those people know the names of everyone in the pictures? Take some time and label your photos with pertinent information. If you’re working with old photos, take consideration with their age and condition. Devise an archival-friendly labeling system. For digital photos, you can use computer programs to tag the images with names or other identifying information. If that’s too confusing, you can at least save and/or re-name digital photos with details of your choosing. Don’t let another generation slip by without documenting your photos. Your ancestors will thank you. If you have a genealogy blog, share with your readers your system for identifying photos, and even share a photo if you like.

 
Since I love anything to do with photography, I just had to do this.  Well not exactly.  Labelling pictures for me is a life long project.  When the kids were little, I would sit at their gymnastics, dance or music lessons and label pictures.  I would use a ballpoint or an "archival safe" pen - yeah, yeah, I know they will bleed through your photos.  I just write really small (and lightly) along the edge where there won't be any damage if it does bleed through.  There haven't been any problems...yet.

Now that we are in the digital age, it's much easier since you can batch name your photos when they are uploaded from the camera to the computer.  I try and use a general who, what, when, where title for the group.  That way, when they are printed out from Shutterfly.com, they will at least have that information printed on the back.  I must admit, I'm not as good anymore about labelling pictures with the who.

Another trick has to do with putting photos in albums.  I'm not into scrapbooking, so I like to use the albums where you can slip the photos into the slots where there's say 3 slots on a page.  Then I'll make up an index card where I write a few sentences, or a paragraph about the group of pictures and slide that into the first slot for the group of photos.  This works great for vacations.

Now, I am trying learn about using tags and other metadata to identify information about my photographs.  You just gotta love the digital age!


© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Madness Monday & 52 Weeks Challenge-Week15-Write a Letter

This week, I'm doing a dual assignment since I've had one of those "what the heck?" moments that fits the Madness Monday theme and the solution fits right in with Amy Coffin's blogging prompts, 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy - Challenge 15 which is:

Write a letter. It these days of emotionless email, the art of letter writing is getting lost. Pick one of your information needs or queries and write a letter requesting information. You may want to write to a small library or a relative asking for family history information. If you’re requesting a return reply, be sure to include any forms that are required, funds (if necessary) or a self-addressed, stamped envelope for return correspondence. If you write a genealogy blog, include a post about the information you requested and from whom.

To be perfectly honest, I had pretty much decided not to do this week's challenge just because I'm so busy.  But then this turned up:

We all looked at other and said, "What the heck is Grandpa's marker doing in the garage?"  Or at least that's what we think it is.

Our theory is that since he was cremated, the marker may have been too large (its dimensions are about 12” by 24”).  But then one asks the question, does he have a marker?  No one can remember and anyone who should remember is no longer with us. 

So, I've written a letter to Riverside Memorial Park in Spokane, Washington where my grandparents are interred, asking if they have a marker of any sort for my grandparents and if not how we can go about rectifying the situation.  It seemed like this warranted a letter, rather than a phone call, and the timing of this week's challenge couldn't have been better!



© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

52 Weeks To Better Genealogy - Challenge #12

The 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy Challenge was written by Amy Coffin over at We Tree and is hosted each week by GeneaBloggers.  This week's challenge:

Check out the web sites for the Society of American Archivists (http://www.archivists.org/), ARMA International (http://www.arma.org/), and the American Library Association (http://ala.org/).  Genealogists can benefit from the educational opportunities and publications of other information-based organizations. You may not be an archivist, records manager or librarian, but you share the same interests. Look at the events these associations hold. Find the books they publish and see if you can request them through your library via Inter-Library Loan. You may also want to check out your state’s (or country’s) library association. If you’re a genealogy blogger, write about your impressions of one or more of these organizations.

This is a great activity since I am working on my own personal archive right now.  I primarily spent time on the Society of American Archivists website where I found a couple of really interesting things.

The first were back issues of Archival Outlook Newsletter. I randomly selected the September/October 2009 issue for a look and saw an article titled, "The Business of Archives:  Managing Time, People and Collections in the 21st Century," by Colleen McFarland and Courtney Yevich.  The point I took away from this article is that an archivist needs to do the best he or she can with what they've got available.  As an individual with my own small archive I took away that if I don't have the resources - either time or money - to do a perfect job, at least do something.  It will be better than doing nothing.  And it will be OK.

The other interesting item I found was under Publications (ePublications to be exact).  There is a Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology which looked like it could be handy for someone like me who isn't an archivist.

I hope you find something useful on one of these sites like I did.

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

52 Weeks Challenge 9 - Blogs

I have accepted  this week's Challenge which is to read 5 new blogs every day and write about them. 

The first blog I found is a new one to the GeneaBloggers group - The Clue Wagon.  Kerry Scott has been blogging for a while on another topic and has just switched over to genealogy.  The first post I read, "Organizing Your Family Photos - Part 1" caught my eye because that is a favorite topic of mine.  She has since posted Parts 2 and 3. I have thousands of photos that are in the process of being organized (and probably will be forever) and I'm always looking for ideas.

Then I read some older posts.  I like her style.  It's light, witty and humorous and I want to keep reading more.  I encourage you to check it out!

GeneaBlogie is new to me but not new to the blogging scene. Even if the blog is on a brief haitus, there is plenty of material to read every day for quite a while.  I particularly like The Best of GeneaBlogie and noticed he has an entire section about the law as it relates to genealogy.  The copyright articles look particularly interesting since, as a new blogger, the last thing I want to do is unwittingly violate copyright or someone's privacy.

I have been reading The Family Curator for a few weeks now but decided to go back to the beginning and read all of her entries.  Since my great grandparents, grandparents, parents and now myself are the "Savers of Everything," I need to get back to organizing all of this stuff I have been schlepping over to my house for the last 10 or 15 years.  I have a real archive here and I think Denise's blog can help get me back on track.

Gen Wish List initially attracted me because of Tina's monthly Genealogy To Do List and her follow up at the end of the month.  I am a list person but putting one's To Do List out for all the world to see and then following up to say what she did/didn't accomplish - well that's gutsy!  At least for me it would be! It's also something I need to start doing!!!  Maybe I'll try it privately for a month and then work up the courage to post my monthly to do list.  Thanks Tina for a great idea!

Finally, I stepped out of my comfort zone and took a look at The Genetic Genealogist.  Genetics really does interest me but for some reason I get a bit intimidated by the thought of delving into this topic.  Anyway, my next course at the National Institute for Genealogical Studies is on genetics so it's time to get going on this topic.

In summary, this was a really good activity and I found some ideas for activities.  I also found some other great blogs that are new to me by reading some of the other blogger's entries for this week's 52 Weeks Challenge.

Copyright 2010, Michelle Goodrum