Social Media Geneameme

Share your discoveries on your blog.

Jill Ball from Geniaus asked us to respond to her Social Media Geneameme. Here are my comments on the Geneameme:

1.       Tell us about your favourite social media tool and why you like it.

If we can count blogging as social media, which I would, then that would be my favourite. It gives me the chance to express my opinions, tell my family stories, receive comments from others (who often become friends) and respond to their comments. I think the latter is very important if we’re to build links through our social media.

2. How do you use social media to further your genealogy career or business?

I tweet my posts and discoveries I’ve made on other’s blogs. I think the most useful thing I can do is offer comments on other’s blogs, and really appreciate their comments on mine, hence why it’s important to respond. I like Google+ for its ability to differentiate between groups (family history, family, friends). I’m slowly coming to like FB better.

3. What advice would you give the cruiser who said “I must be living under a rock” and is not sure about coming out from under it? (This came from my Social Media presentation)

I can relate to this. Thanks to Shauna Hicks’ presentations in Darwin a few years ago I dabble in twitter and facebook and over time I’ve become more acclimatised to FB than I did when it was just a day-to-day thing.

When I came back from Papua New Guinea it all seemed quite trivial and I wondered why I was bothering.

4. What aspect of Social Media makes you grit your teeth?

I hate feeling like the tail is wagging the dog and that we “must” follow twitter or FB or Google+ slavishly. I think often of the advice from my former professional staff development person and also the Steven Covey’s “7 habits of highly successful people”. We need to decide what works, what doesn’t and use these tools to serve us rather than derail us from our objectives. Twitter/FB/Google+ do not have to be our masters!

 5. How does social media assist with your CGD (continuing genealogical development)?
Using Google Reader enables me to stay in touch with what’s happening in the genealogical world. This can be a great advantage compared to waiting for months for magazines to publish “what’s new”.

6. How do you fit social media time into your busy day?

I respond to blog comments as my highest priority. I now have my “friends and mates” list in Google Reader and get to them as soon as I can within the constraints of real life. Other than that, I do social media when I have time or a lack of firm commitments.

I’m increasingly trying to use social media as my servant not my master. Also to remember that live family are at least as important as dead rellies.

7. Do you have a story of how social media enabled you to connect with a long lost relation or fellow  researcher?

If we call blogging social media, which I do, then it has been invaluable to make connections with others. Perhaps more to help them as much as to help me with specific family research. It’s so enjoyable to know that others get benefit or pleasure from your photos or stories.

8. You have a minute to share a piece of advice about genealogy and social media. Go for it.

 Just like any other “appliance” don’t let it control you! Real life is your own life…make it count. If leaving stories for your descendants is important to you, blogging is a valuable way to do it. Remember others need your encouragement and support too….what goes around, comes around. I feel I’ve made real friends from my blogging and that we know and understand each other, and just like real friends they understand that life sometimes gets in the way, but we can pick up where we left off. I’m eternally grateful to them for helping me to feel part of a community, however far-flung.

Thanks Jill for this thought-provoking geneameme and the opportunity to participate in a discussion which started on the recent Unlock the Past cruise.

PROWLS Report Card on 2012 activity

On 2 January 2012 I posted my goals and aspirations for the year under the acronym PROWLS. So what does my report card look like? How did I do? Did I achieve my goals? Well my obsessive self says “not well” while my realistic self says “okay”….but not necessarily at what I intended initially. In fact the acronym should probably be WSLOPR or SWLOPR!

This is another of my epic posts, so don’t feel you have to stagger through it (just read my response to the Accentuate the Positive meme). This post is partly for my own benefit – an opportunity to reflect on what I did achieve, where were the gaps, and what might I do in 2013. Essentially a quality improvement process….<smile>

P FOR PUBLISH: Successes

Beyond the Internet

• 52 weeks of the Beyond the Internet series (over the year the steady digitisation of records became clear as topics increasingly “sat on the fence” between the real and virtual worlds.
• The April A to Z challenge in which I wrote (extensively!) about places we’d lived which had been part of our/my family’s heritage, recent and historic.
• Alona’s Family History Alphabet series: more “off the cuff”, about attributes we need or share as family historians, which generated a fair bit of conversation from my fellow genealogy-obsessives.
• Two Blurb blog-to-books (somewhat tedious and time-consuming): (1)  my own personal history, based on the 2011 series, 52 weeks of Personal Genealogy and History and (2)  a collection of my other blog posts.
• Rewrote the overseas portion of one of my family histories with a view to potential publication and handed it over for editorial comment, and then let it languish.
• Started my Tropical Territory blog and tried to post either every day or every couple of days –until November when life took over and I lost the faith with it, or maybe just the energy.
• Developed an addiction to Vistaprint, ordering business cards (complete with surname and place interests on the reverse), Kiva T-Shirts, note pads etc etc:  I used some of these products to promote Kiva Genealogists for Families throughout the year. (Did I mention I can be obsessive?)

P FOR PUBLISH: Gaps

• My potentially-publishable family history languished at re-writing the Australian component. Solution 2013: refer the overseas component to a friend for further comment and re-kick-start the Australian section.
• The children’s family photo history never got off the starting blocks. I was impressed by Carole Riley’s family history photo books that she showed me at Unlock the Past in Brisbane. Solution 2013: write the text, collect the photos in one place so I’m good to go when there’s another special.

R IS FOR RESEARCH: Successes

Family historians are stars.

• Opportunistic rather than planned out.
• Finding my Gavin family marriage in Dublin!
• Tracking the Dorfprozelten emigrants, and my own 2xgreat grandfather’s step-siblings’ migration to the States….but where did his brother get to?
• Travel in 2012 didn’t leave me much time to get down and dirty in the archives though I did find out more information about my Melvin family in Queensland and helped Mr Cassmob with his Victorian ancestry a fair bit – leaving him lots to do in retirement <smile>.

R FOR RESEARCH: Gaps

It doesn’t feel like I achieved much research-wise in 2012 but perhaps I also need to look again at my papers and notes from early in the year.

I’ve missed the consistent research sleuthing in 2012 so I want to pick that up in more detail in 2013.

O FOR ORGANISE: Successes

It would be handy to have more arms

•  Labelling and sorting some of my non-digital photos and records progressed (is it every fast enough?)….still lots to be done there.
• Following the disastrous loss of my hard drive back in August, I got a new backup system in place, thanks to advice from a friend. This is working so much better than how I used to do it, as I really thought I had all my bases covered, only to discover more time (and data!) had slipped past than I realised.
• My folders and trays are organised (my desk not so much!) but there’s just so much info I need to get across –perhaps I should have done Michelle Goodrum’s 21^st Century Organised Family Historian series! Certainly a possibility for checklisting in 2013.
• An organisational tick also for having planned out the Beyond the Internet series and the two A to Zs from the beginning, and following them through.
• Added translation options to my blog, and new statistics facilities.

O FOR ORGANISE: Gaps

I’m still dithering on whether I want to use Relatively Yours, The Master Genealogist or Family Historian though I now have all three on the computer. I still like RY’s ability to cope with “messy” family relationships but I don’t think that it’s had the development money thrown at it that some overseas programs have.

Goal: Increase my use of Evernote for information things I find.

W FOR WRITING: Successes

• This has a big tick as I did a lot of writing this year: 235 posts across the 365 days on this blog and 173 on my Tropical Territory blog, also 718 photos on this blog and 466 on TT (the latter was supposed to be photos only).  It was also supposed to be a photo a day but I lapsed big-time on this especially after mid-November.
• While some of my posts respond to themes, others result from some “inspiration” that strikes, usually in the wee hours of the morning or when I first wake up.

W FOR WRITING: Gaps

• I did start two other blogs From Dorfprozelten to Australia and GrassRoots Queenslanders. The problem is that I can’t quite decide if I’m better to keep all my topics in one place rather than try to grow yet more blogs and perhaps not have them shared as widely.

 If you have more than one blog, how do you find it works?

L FOR LEARNING: Successes, and decision gaps

• Attendance at a flurry of Darwin talks in early 2012 from various experts – very interesting and with new information.
• Attendance at the Unlock the Past Seminar in Brisbane for a couple of days due to an unanticipated family event. I learnt a lot but perhaps more than anything was delighted to meet some of my geneablogging mates there and at a Kiva gathering early in 2012.
• RootsChat online, blog reading, book reading etc I’ve managed to fit in as much as possible given my distant location.
• Pharos courses which proved interesting (though I’ve yet to decide whether to do a one-place study, and if so whether it should be Broadford, East Co Clare or Murphys Creek, Queensland).

In 2013 I want to learn more about Evernote, Scrivener and other tools to help me be organised.

S FOR SHARING: Successes

• This may be an A+ topic. My blog posts have been well received and I thoroughly enjoy the comments I receive from people. It’s important to me to recognise that others have taken the time to comment so I like to maintain our virtual conversation by replying as soon as possible.
• Since I know how important it is to me to feel like I’m not writing into a vacuum I want to maintain my blog reading and comment on others’ posts on a regular basis.
• It’s also fun to follow the memes that are created or the themed topics that others suggest (Sharing Memories, Abundant Genealogy, Library Loot, A to Z, Carnival of Genealogy, Fearless Females, Saturday Night Genealogy Fun). I find them great ways to see our commonalities but also our differences, as well as document more of our own or our family’s stories.
• Boosted my readership beyond Australia’s shores though Oz remains my main support base.
• Shared my research skills and knowledge by helping a few friends with their own research or their trees, or even just brainstorming things together.
• Talking on “Writing your family history” during Seniors Week was also one of my sharing activities and I was happy to find that people found it helpful.
• On a fun note I participated in two swaps organised by Faith, Hope and Charity, one for the Jubilee mid-year and one for Christmas. Keep an eye out, they are good fun.
• One of the big sharing successes has been the linkages:
1. My blog drew in Cass family connections which led us to visit Melbourne mid-year for an amazing exhibition on Mr Cassmob’s great uncle, Brigadier WEH Cass and his wife Helena.
2. The blog as a draw-card for the Dorfprozelten families. There are times I’ve felt like a matchmaker extraordinaire and some where I’ve been able to fill in the gaps in family connections and vital data.

 WHERE TO FROM HERE?

Overall I’d say it’s not a bad report card. I’m disappointed at my gaps in research and publishing in particular so I’m hoping to address those more in 2013. Also a “could improve” in the Organise heading. Let’s see how the year progresses.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE & ALL. May you have health and happiness in 2013 and make many wonderful friends online and make many family discoveries.

Images are from Microsoft Office images online.

Accentuate the Positive 2012: Celebrating Successes

Geniaus has once encouraged us to reflect on our achievements in 2012 rather than all the things still on our wish lists or “gunna” lists. She rightly believes we don’t take sufficient notice of our successes in our on-going pursuit for more information. So she’s challenged us to take on the Accentuate the Positive Geneameme to encourage us to celebrate our successes.

So here is my response (inevitably edited to allow more choices!)

1.  An elusive ancestor I found wasn’t a direct ancestor but my 2xgreat grandfather’s Ulrich step-siblings in New York State as well as new information on the Dorfprozelten emigrants to Australia.

Two excellent exhibitions at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance in June 2012. Both had personal interest to us.

2  Precious family photos I found were shared at the Melbourne exhibition re Brigadier Walter & Helena Cass –amazing family artefacts for Mr Cassmob and fascinating for me. Also gorgeous photos of St Nicholas of Myra in Dublin thanks to Jennifer from A Flesh and Bone Foundation.

3.  An ancestor’s grave I found was renovation was completed in February 2012 with a bronze plaque replicating the information on the (restored) original stone, and adding birth details (thanks to the financial contributions of family members!!).

4.  An important vital record I found was the marriage of Denis Gavin and Eleanor Murphy in Dublin thanks to Irish Genealogy (see #6)

5.  Newly found family members who shared photos and family stories of the Gavins; the curator and inheritor of the WEH Cass papers, photos and letters. Lots of Dorfprozelten connections and meeting new Cass cousins (not mine, but great fun). (Also see #2)

The renovated Kunkel grave at Murphys Creek, Qld

6.  A geneasurprise I received was finding my Gavin couple’s marriage in Dublin (see also #4)

7.   My 2012 blog post that I was particularly proud of was Labour Day, the workaday life of a Queensland Rail numbertaker.

8.   My 2012 blog post that received a large number of hits or comments was V is for the Valiant of Villers-Brettoneux on Anzac Day.

9.  A new piece of software I mastered was adding Translation options to my blog, and recovering at least a good deal of my missing data after my hard drive crashed. My new best friend is Syncback, an easy backup program.

10. A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy was Google + though I probably use Twitter more. I can’t live without Google Reader which is where I subscribe to all the blogs I follow and star the posts I particularly like (not strictly social media I guess, but…)

11. Genealogy conferences/seminars/webinar from which I learnt something new were Roots Tech (online), genie visitors to Darwin and Unlock the Past in Brisbane.

12. I am proud of the presentation I gave during Seniors Month in Darwin, on writing your family history.

Beyond the Internet

13. A journal/magazine article I had published was…..none, but I did write my 52 weeks of Beyond the Internet on my blog.

14. I taught a friend how to …can’t remember …lots of discussions, virtual and real. I did encourage others attending various Darwin genie events to join the Kiva Genealogists for Families team.

15. Genealogy books that taught me something new were Hey America Your Roots Are Showing and Finding Family, but I find I also learn so much now from reading blog posts and other’s web recommendations.

16. A great repository/archive/library I visited was PROV where we traced some of Mr Cassmob’s family and very brief visits to Queensland State Archives (for mine).

17. New genealogy/history books I enjoyed were How to Write History that People Want to Read and Titanic Lives.

18. It was exciting to finally meet some of Aussie geneablogger mates at the Unlock the Past Expo in Brisbane and also at the Kiva Genealogists gathering in Brisbane in March.

19. A geneadventure I enjoyed was returning to Papua New Guinea, recent family history but important nonetheless, visiting family homes and places. Also visiting Melbourne for the WEH Cass exhibition and meeting lots of new Cass cousins (connected through my blog contacts).

20. Other positives I would like to share is being listed  on Family Tree Magazine’s Around the World in 40 blogs and also Inside History’s Top 50 Genealogy blogs (selected by Geniaus) and publishing two books of my blog posts.

What’s it all about?

“What’s it all about, Alfie?”

“What’s that, Ann?”

“All that blogging nonsense you talk about. I don’t have time for that. You mustn’t have enough to do”.

If the essence of this sounds familiar, you’re in good company. Some months ago James Tanner at Genealogy’s Star, Randy Seaver at GeneaMusings and Jill Ball at Geniaus were wondering why we struggle to get some fellow genealogists to understand that blogging about our family history has any value. I’ve even had similar responses from librarians in family history areas.

Blogging lets you communicate with genealogists world-wide.

I’ve been pondering the topic since then and reached the conclusion that the majority of genealogists/family historians just don’t “get it”: they think we’re just talking about our breakfast or where we met our friends for dinner….what might be called the early-days-of-Facebook syndrome.

So what’s my solution? I think we need to reframe how we refer to our blogs. Instead of just using that one-word shorthand (a kind of jargon) that geneabloggers understand, and other don’t, we should try these types of options in response to “Ann’s” questions:

“I write and publish my family history on the web”

“I write my family stories and share them on the internet”

“I write my family history and share it world-wide”

By reframing it and calling it by the content of what we’re actually doing, it gives the activity a clear weight. We are writing and publishing our own and our family’s stories as an alternative, or a prelude, to writing a formal manuscript. Along the way we gain other benefits, and I shared my experiences a while ago in this post.

I recently started re-reading a book called How To Write History That People Want To Read[i] written by two Australian (women) Professors of History. (By the way it’s a great book!) Having been thinking about what we’re really doing when we blog, this paragraph leapt out at me:

Even if you are working alone, writing history need not be a lonely and isolated activity. We encourage you to mix and talk to other people, to share your ideas and your writing with them, and to be interested in theirs. Learning about the past is, in the end, a collective activity, as we build on the work of those who went before us, and share with our peers, friends and colleagues the trials and struggles of our endeavours.

Although it was written for a different context it seems to capture all the reasons why we blog and why it’s an appropriate activity for people who take their family history seriously. So many of us may be unable to attend conferences or meetings depending on where we live or our family circumstances. We may live in places where few people share our interest. Blogging meets those needs and helps us share our research and our writing with others. By reading other people’s blogs and making comments it becomes a dynamic process.

Some benefits of blogging.

My view is that responses to comments are equally valuable as it lets our readers know that we hear what they’re saying, appreciate their involvement (especially navigating that wretched CAPTCHA business), and gaining a level of interaction that’s missing when comments get no response. You’ll notice that this little sketch I did last year has arrows going in two directions: we need our blogs to be responsive and dynamic.

What do you think? Would changing how we talk about blogging alter people’s perception of what we do, and perhaps encourage them to either read blogs or start their own?

This is my 400^th post since I started blogging writing my family history online in late December 2009. It seemed an appropriate time to discuss my views on this topic.

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[i] Curthoys, A and McGrath, A. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, page 12.

Wrote by Rote guest post

The Blurb book which includes the memoir posts from my blog. (the cover is actually high gloss snowy white).

A while ago I was generously offered a guest post on Wrote by Rote by blog-owner Arlee Bird who is one of the coordinators of the A to Z series. Wrote by Rote is a blog about writing memoirs so it fitted with my own contribution to the A to Z series where I wrote about family places. My post Recording Family History for Future Generation was published on Saturday. You can click on the link if you’d like to read it.

I’d like to thank Arlee Bird for the opportunity to write as a guest on his blog.

A recent post on Wrote by Rote which I found very insightful and thought provoking was Writing our life screenplay by Ron Easton from Dads UnLimited. Definitely well worth a read.

An example of the pages from my Advent Calendar posts.

An example of the pages from my A to Z series.

Unlock the Past Expo Brisbane

Usually Brisbane winter days are “beautiful one day, perfect the next” with clear blue skies. But somehow the advertising went wrong just in time for the Unlock the Past Expoat Jindalee.  What dreary grey wet days they were but luckily for all the genealogists there was lots of warmth inside to toast our spirits. So many excellent speakers on a diverse range of topics made for a smorgasbord of learning opportunities to suit any interest.

Alona from Gould Genealogy discussing the wonders of the Flip-Pal which seemed to be one of the hits of the Expo. I surely love mine!

I hadn’t expected to be at the Expo so it was all a bonus from my point of view and when challenged by competing options I had to select speakers who I don’t often/ever get to hear in Darwin. Luckily Shauna Hicks and Rosemary Kopittke presented on a range of topics in Darwin earlier this year, and Shauna usually visits annually, so that left me free to listen to new presenters though I know others really enjoyed their talks.

Kerry Farmer presented on DNA for genealogists and as I’m belatedly dipping my toes in the genetic-testing pool, I had a lot to learn.  I also have Kerry’s Unlock the Past book on DNA so I can reinforce her talk with further reading when I get home.  I need to think further on which form of DNA testing can advance my own (and Mr Cassmob’s) family history.

Graham Jaunay emphasised the importance of considering photographic techniques and mountings in preference to clothing styles to date photographs. His information on how people were posed for photos was particularly helpful.

Helen, Carole and Kerry providing advice in the Research Help Zone.

I also took the opportunity to learn a little more about The Master Genealogist software program in the Research Help Zone. I have a strange aversion to genealogy software but Kerry has pretty much convinced me to change my ways.

I was disappointed in the talk on Crack Hardy as I felt it needed at least a few photos to illustrate the people and places being discussed, enabling the listeners to engage with the men more. It was plainly a good story but from my point of view I felt the strongest parts of the story got lost among other details.

Monday was a long day and Helen Smith’s was the final presentation I attended. It’s not easy to keep people engaged at 8pm when they’ve been going all day, but Helen managed it. Her talk was informative and interesting and her presentation style certainly kept me alert. There were many reminders to us about how we can break down those much discussed brick walls, with Helen querying whether this is really a misnomer and we just need to reframe the problem. Key points were to review++ all the documents we have for that person/family, prepare a life timeline, write out our brick-wall questions and if still going nowhere, consult another researcher who may easily spot that really obvious tree that we keep overlooking in our research forest. Given I’d missed Helen’s batch of talks in Darwin last Saturday due to family commitments in Brisbane, I was really pleased to have this opportunity to hear her speak.

Lauren Penny and the eye-catching display for her St Helena book.

The same commitments meant I could only attend a couple of presentations on Tuesday morning and I chose Cassie Mercer’s talk on Captain Starlight and Carole Riley’s on land records and I thoroughly enjoyed both. Cassie’s engaging story kept me entertained throughout even though I already knew the essential details. Little did I know though that Harry Readford was her ancestor.  Ted Egan, former Administrator of the Northern Territory, has written a song about CaptainStarlight, which is on his CD album The Overlanders (warning: these songs will stick in your brain and go round and round).

Carole Riley’s talk on land records helped demystify a variety of land records and clearly illustrated just how useful they can be to your family history. I always feel somewhat out of my depth using land records even though I’ve used many, so it was good to have an expert show the way.

The Expo was also a great chance to meet with my genie blogging mates whom I’ve only known virtually.  I did miss a couple (Alex and Tanya) but had a chance to say a quick hello to the others and a longer chat with some of them, which was fun. We even squeezed in a photo which you can see on Alona’s Lone Tester blog.

One of the exhibitors was Lauren Penny, author of St Helena Island, Moreton Bay: an Historical Account. As my ancestor had a short excursion in St Helena Gaol this was of great interest so I bought a copy of the book which is going to be great reading for my family history.

Also great to catch up again with an all-too-quick chat with Judy Webster, an expert on Queensland research as well as founder of the Genealogists for Families team on Kiva.

All in all, a fantastic opportunity to be part of the genie fun in Brisbane this week.  Thanks Unlock the Past, all the speakers and all the exhibitors! Not to mention the caterers and that poor overworked man on the coffee van (his coffee and hot chocolate matched the standard of the talks)!

Genie Happy Dance – Thanks Family History Magazine!

Australia may have good telecommunications but I’ve been in one of those service-provider black holes for the last 36 hours or so. Not even my mobile phone would work but now I’m back online. Alleluia!

Early Saturday morning, rushing around madly, I got a great surprise to see tweets from Rebelhand and DanceSkeletons revealing that this blog is listed in Family History Magazine’s article Around the World in 40 blogs  It appears that it may have been my Beyond the Internet series that gave me the guernsey, and if so I’m delighted because regular readers know just how obsessive I can be about offline resources.

I don’t need to tell you that the news had me doing the genealogy happy dance, but I was also astonished. There are just so many great blogs out there, with other family historians documenting their family’s stories online or expanding local histories (you can read some of those I follow on my Blog Links page). I was very pleased to see that On a Flesh and Bone Foundation is listed because Jennifer writes such great stories and has excellent information for Irish researchers. Another of my favourites, Olive Tree Genealogy is also on the list. I’ve been following some of Lorine’s Sharing Memories prompts. I’ve also picked up some new ones for my Google Reader feed.

Genealogy blogging is such a wonderful community to be a part of and finding Geneabloggers and all my geneamates has been such an important discovery for me over the past 18 months.

Thanks Family History Magazine for this privilege and my two geneamates for letting me know! In the midst of family commitments at present it could have so easily passed me by for a time. Why not check out the blog list and see if your favourites are listed?