The In-Depth Genealogist Needs Your Help!

The In-Depth Genealogist has asked me to share the following with my readers:

Your friends at The In-Depth Genealogist will be attending RootsTech 2014 in Salt Lake City!

We’re excited, and we’re already making plans. In fact, we will be presenting a session there as well, and we have a favor to ask of you, our readers. ...

Terri O’Connell, Executive Director, and Jen Baldwin, Director of Operations, will be co-hosting a discussion on the topic of
Online Trees: The Root of All Evil?

We want to know what you think! Please take a few minutes to complete a survey on this topic, so that we can be better prepared for this event.

Looking forward to seeing you there!
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NZTJCRJ"

It's only 4 questions and will take less than 30 seconds. Trust me, I know.

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

A Little of This and That

Photo Credit: Boulevardrider

Well, I'm still paddling along with my head above water - barely. So I thought I'd just touch on a few items today to kind of get caught up and hopefully get back into the blogging groove a little more.

• A while back Aillin of Australian Genealogy Journeys gave The Turning of Generations an award for the 21st Century Organized Family Historian series (21COFH). I chose not to pass it on however but just want to say it was much appreciated.
• Speaking of the 21COFH, I'm planning on continuing it at some point in the future. In the meantime however, I'm working to put together a compendium of the series from 2012.
• One thing I'd been meaning to do for some time was join Kiva. I made my first loan a few weeks ago and am excited to be helping a businesswoman in Equador.

Well, that's it for today. Have a fun and safe Memorial Day weekend if you are in a place that celebrates.

© 2013, copyright Michelle Goodrum

And She Comes Up for Air...

Photo Credit: Boulevardrider

Are you ever so busy you feel like you are doing the dog paddle trying to stay afloat? That's the way it has been around the Goodrum household the past several months.  In a good sort of way. Since I finally have time to come up for air, I figure it's time for an update before all my wonderful readers leave.

Here's the top six reasons, Letterman style, why blogging here at The Turning of Generations has been sparse:

6. Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) in January. Several hundred avid genealogists descended for an entire week on Salt Lake City to learn from some of the top experts. I took Josh Taylor's, "1780-1840 Out of New England....." and came away with some excellent tools for researching in that time period. I may even be on the verge of a major breakthrough in one of my lines.

5. Income Taxes. Ugh. Nuf said....except....are yours done?

4. ProGen. That's the 18 month program where we study the book Professional Genealogy..... compiled by Elizabeth Shown Mills. Several of the assignments over the last several months have been lengthy and time consuming. As our adult kids would say, intense. Every minute has been worth while. More on ProGen in another post.

3. In-Depth Genealogist. What little blogging and writing I have done has been for The In-Depth Genealogist blog and the "Timeless Territories" monthly column for the Going In-Depth online digital magazine. 

2. Continually playing catchup from reason number 1-see below. Laundry, mail, packing, unpacking. UGH.

And the number one reason for not blogging....

Tons of family activities. With 2 college age kids active in a college sport and music, there have been numerous opportunities to see them this year. Finally, with aging parents, there are additional demands and opportunities. I don't want to bore you with TMI, so let's say it's all been great stuff going on.

 

Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I'll have more in upcoming posts. Promise!

URL for this post: http://turning-of-generations.blogspot.com/2013/04/and-she-comes-up-for-air.html

© 2013, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Premier Issue of Going In-Depth has Arrived

It's here! The In-Depth Genealogist's beautiful new online magazine, Going In-Depth, is out. The editors have outdone themselves. In this issue are articles by Thomas MacEntee, Gena Philibert-Ortega, yours truly and many more. Check it out.

© 2013, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Party Time - 3rd Blogiversary

Today is the 3rd blogiversary for The Turning of Generations. Thank you to all the well wishers who posted comments earlier today!

It's been a great 3 years of blogging about family history and we've accomplished a lot. I'm particularly pleased with the success of the 21st Century Organized Family Historian. Both from the perspective of the organizing of the Family Archive I have been able to accomplish and the participation of all the Wonderful Readers out there in blog land. We all learn so much from each other!

Little did I know that beginning this blog would lead to an opportunity to write for The In-Depth Genealogist. What a great group of writers and editors we have over there. The team has made some major changes and additions since the first of the year. If you haven't checked it out or subscribed to the newsletter, I encourage you to do so.

I'm still attempting to get caught up from the holidays and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy last week. Rest assured there will be more coming soon.

Thank you for stopping by!

© 2013, copyright Michelle Goodrum