Roots & Branches

The Internet is in the process of changing from a collection of corporate, organizational, and personal websites to a social network of dynamic services full of user-contributed content (think Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube, etc.)  The benefits of participating in the universe of expanded and shared information are incalculable and will lead, potentially, to the greatest exchange of information in history.  Genealogists in particular will thrive in the new Internet environment of sharing, exchanging, and interacting.

This book describes the wide array of social networking services that are now available online and highlights how these services can be used by genealogists to share information, photos, and videos with family, friends, and other researches.  Each chapter guides you through a unique category of social networking services using genealogy-related examples.  From blogs and wikis to Facebook and Second Life, author Drew Smith show you how to incorporate these powerful new tools into your family history research.

Specifically, you’ll find chapters devoted to the following social networking concepts and services:

Blogs, Collaborative editing, Genealogy-specific social networks, General social networking (Facebook), Message boards & mailing lists, Photos & video sharing, Podcasts, RSS feeds, sharing personal libraries, Tags, Virtual worlds, Wikis.

Library Journal Review

Social networking can be the answer to many a family researcher’s prayers. Not only do social tools and sites encourage the sharing of information, they also facilitate locating relatives and like-minded individuals. Still, many genealogists older than the Jon Stewart crowd are not aware of or hesitate to join the online social fray. Smith, Genealib mailing list administrator and costar of the Genealogy Guys Podcast (www.genealogyguys.com), explains the uses and benefits of social networking in easy-to-follow steps. Written in a conversational tone, the book highlights the individual features of tools like RSS, tagging, message boards, podcasts, blogs, and wikis. He also details the genealogical applications of sites like Flickr, LibraryThing, Facebook, Geni, and Delicious-even encouraging researchers to explore the virtual world of Second Life. Each chapter, copiously illustrated with screenshots, concludes with “assignments” to encourage readers to sample that particular social tool or service. Bottom Line While Brad and Debra Schepp’s Online Genealogy Handbook (Sterling, 2008) addresses some aspects of social networking, Smith’s book covers many more resources that could benefit genealogists in their quest to connect with relatives and fellow researchers.-Elaine M. Kuhn, Kenton Cty. P.L., Covington, KY Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

This book looks like something all of us should take a look at.  In this age of technology social networking it is just one more tool in staying connected.  Inside you will find straight forward information on how, why and when.  I actually think this book gives a simple and easy review of terms and tools so that anyone looking for information on social networking for genealogy or any other reason, will find it very useful.

Check it out.

Sometimes the closest people to us are not our family but our friends.  If you take a minute to think about your own life and who is around you every day, is it your family or your friends?  When looking into someone’s family history it is good to look for the unexpected as you go.  Many times it is with the friends. 

Example: Years ago I was looking for information about my grandfather’s first wife.  My mom knew some but not much.  We had been looking through old photos and ran across a picture of our dear friend Kiko.  She and her family had lived on the same street as my grandparents when my mother was young.  It occurred to me to contact Kiko and ask if she knew anything about this person. 

I wrote to her and did not hear back so I assumed that she did not have anything for me.  To my surprise not long after, a letter came with a few pictures and what information she could remember.  Lucky for me she knew where she was from and sent a couple pictures that included this lady and her brother.  I then and there made mental note to remember to include friends and neighbors in the contact list when doing a search. 

A while back I taught a class on Basic Genealogy and mentioned this story.  It was interesting to hear other stories like this.  Friends sometimes know so much about us.  Think of how many times you have shared family information with a neighbor or friend.  I know I have.  My co-workers are always sharing family information with each other.  You know the thing, daily life, our children’s events, our parents, etc.  We do not always think that someday this will all be looked back as history. 

Also as I stated before these people my have pictures that we do not.  I know I have pictures and home movies of many of my son’s friends.  I have tried to make copies for the parents as events happened.  I have birthday parties and football games, also town parades and wrestling tournaments. 

One of my youngest son’s best friends died his first year of college.  We have so many pictures of him at every event since the boys were small.  He was always with our family doing all the crazy kid things.  So for his family there is a great archive of pictures and home movies sitting at my house. 

Think about this when researching your family.  Do you know who they hang around with or who they worked with?  This just might be the key to helping you break that wall that is blocking your finding your people.

Good Luck!