The DAILY genealogy technology newsletter for genealogy
consumers, packed with straight talk - hold the sugar coating - whether
the vendors like it or not!
At the recent RootsTech Conference held in Salt Lake City, I had a chance to sit and talk with Brewster Kahle, a digital librarian who is also the founder of The Internet Archive. Brewster had delivered a keynote speech at the conference a few minutes earlier to about 3,000 people. He then kindly agreed to appear on EOGN in a video interview in which he discusses digital archiving to preserve information forever and to make it available to anyone, anywhere in the world, at no charge.
Syracuse, New York has a new location for genealogists to access millions of microfilms: the Central Onondaga County Public Library at 447 S. Salina Street in Syracuse. The library is now the newest FamilySearch affiliate. The affiliation gives researchers access to billions of birth, marriage, death, census and other records from more than 130 countries.
The following sad news was written by the Federation of Genealogical Societies:
Noted Genealogist and Former FGS FORUM Editor Passes
17 February 2011 – Austin, TX. The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) is deeply saddened to announce the passing of Sandra Hargreaves Luebking, noted genealogist and one of the genealogy community’s best leaders who died on Thursday, 17 February 2011 at Lemont, Illinois, surrounded by her family. Funeral arrangements are still pending at this time.
A nationally known author, editor, instructor, lecturer, and researcher, Sandra was the editor of the FGS FORUM for over 22 years. Known for her radiant smile and helpful ways, almost everyone who was a member of or worked with a genealogical society, or attended a conference knew Sandra. In nearly three decades as a professional genealogist, she presented over one thousand lectures.
This may be the smallest flash drive available today. Sometimes these are called "thumb drives" which seems appropriate for a device about the size of a thumbnail!
Today, I purchased a Lexar Echo ZE flash drive. This thing is barely bigger than its built-in USB connector. Using this tiny flash drive is a great way to keep a backup copy of your important files in your pocket or purse. Even better, the Lexar Echo ZE even includes encryption software for Windows and Macintosh systems to keep your private files just that: private.
At the recent RootsTech Conference, I had an opportunity to sit and talk with three of the senior managers of FamilySearch:
Jay Verkler, CEO of FamilySearch
Shipley Munson, VP of Marketing for FamilySearch
Don Anderson, Senior VP of Patron Services for FamilySearch
Our primary topic of conversation was the RootsTech conference that was happening around us. I asked several questions, including:
What is RootsTech?
Why do you have a RootsTech?
Why is FamilySearch doing this?
The three of them described the conference plans and some of the thinking that went into those plans. They also described the results and even made predictions about next year's events. My favorite quote in this interview was made by Jay Verkler: "We didn't expect 3,000 people, either."
You can listen to this podcast now with your computer's speakers or copy it to your iPod or any other MP3 music player for later playback. To listen to it now, click on the "FamilySearch_Senior_Mgrs" link above the picture. To save the audio file, right-click on the same link (Macintosh users can Command-Click), and select "Save As..." to save it to anyplace on your hard drive, to iTunes, or any other place as you wish. The podcast is 13 minutes 11 seconds long.
NOTE: This podcast was recorded in the RootsTech Community Zone Expo Hall. You will hear background noise as thousands of genealogists were in the hall, talking with vendors, trying various products, and even playing games in the RootsTech Playground.
The following announcement was written by the Federation of Genealogical Societies:
Deadline for Submissions is 1 June 2011
February 15, 2011 – Austin, TX. The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) announces a Call for Papers for the FGS 2012 Conference to be held 29 August – 1 September 2012 in Birmingham, Alabama. The deadline for submission of papers is Wednesday, 1 June 2011.
The annual FGS conference will be held beginning Wednesday, 29 August through Saturday, 1 September 2012 at the Birmingham Convention Center, Birmingham, Alabama. The Sheraton Hotel, conveniently located adjacent to the convention center will be the host hotel. The conference will be held in conjunction with the Alabama Genealogical Society as the local host society. Outstanding nearby research facilities and attractions will enhance the conference experience.
The following announcement was written by Ancestry.com.au:
Bringing Family History to Life for Aussie Kids
Ancestry.com.au’s new free online teaching resource, My Place in HistoryTM, brings family history to Australian classrooms
Sydney, Australia, 14 February 2011
According to research released by Ancestry.com.au, almost one third of Australians do not know when their ancestors arrived in Australia, with one in five not knowing the occupation of their grandparents.
The following announcement was written by the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations:
15th February 2011
1926 Census of Ireland
CIGO's long running campaign to gain access to the 1926 census of Ireland moved a step closer to fruition today. At 11am this morning the Irish political party Fine Gael launched its General Election Manifesto (available at http://goo.gl/fvgU6) in which it made reference to an early release of the 1926 census of Ireland and the potential it contains for roots tourism. Once again, on issues of interest to genealogists CIGO's long held policy of engaging in meaningful dialogue with political parties and government departments, offices and agencies has proved its unquestionable worth.
The following job announcement was written by the Indiana Genealogical Society:
Job Position: Editor for Indiana Genealogist
The Indiana Genealogical Society (IGS) is looking for a new editor for Indiana Genealogist. This is a paid position. Below is of the description of the position.
I returned home last night from the three-day RootsTech Conference, held in Salt Lake City. I have two words to describe this conference: rock concert.
Scroll down to see my many pictures of the conference. You can click on any image to view a larger picture.
I never heard the final RootsTech attendance numbers, but I do know that more than 3,000 attendees had registered by Saturday morning. There may have been a few more walk-in registrations later in the day. In addition, admittance to the RootsTech Community Zone Expo Hall was free with no registration required. I did meet a number of people who took advantage of the free admittance offer as well, so the final attendance number, including registered and non-registered attendees, obviously was well above 3,000. I believe this is a record number for a genealogy conference in North America. That's a significant number for a first-ever event!
At the end of many of the larger genealogy conferences, I often host a dinner for readers of this newsletter. The dinners are always held after the conference closes as I don't want to compete with any of the conference activities. I hosted such a dinner last Saturday evening, following the close of the RootsTech Conference.
Past dinners have usually been held in local restaurants. However, as the number of attendees became larger and larger, I found it more and more difficult to find restaurants willing to handle a crowd of that size on a Saturday evening. If it is a good restaurant, they probably already have a crowd on a Saturday evening! In past years, several restaurants have refused reservations for a large group on Saturdays. This time, I rented a banquet room in a nearby hotel and had dinner catered by the hotel. I was nervous about the change in venue. Would anyone come to a banquet room? I shouldn't have worried.
You can see pictures below of the dinner. Click on any picture to see a larger image.
James Hollas had a great Saturday. He attended the RootsTech conference and then went to the EOGN Dinner, where he won not one, but two, door prizes. First he won one of the one-year subscriptions to the Plus Edition of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter. Actually, he is already a subscriber, so his present subscription is being extended for an additional twelve months.
The following announcement was written by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration:
Washington, D.C. . . President Barack Obama today sent to Congress a proposed Fiscal Year 2012 budget request for the Federal Government that calls for $422,501,000 for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
The requested amount for NARA is an 8.2 percent decrease from the FY 2011 President’s Budget request of $460,287,000. NARA still has not received an annual appropriation for FY 2011 and is operating under Continuing Resolution Authority which holds our spending to FY 2010 levels.
The following announcement was written by the Guild of One-Name Studies:
The Guild of One-Name Studies is to offer a special extended membership to new joiners at the forthcoming Who Do You Think You Are? Live show being held in the UK at the Olympia, London on Friday 25th to Sunday 27th February 2011.
Normally membership of the Guild costs £15.00 and covers a period of up to a year with renewal on 1st November 2011. This special extended membership will cost £20.00 but will include a full year's extra membership, renewal not being due until 1st November 2012. The aim of the scheme is to attract more new members and to encourage these members to stay with the Guild for longer and to appreciate and utilise the various benefits available to members.
The following announcement was written by the Federation of Genealogical Societies:
February 14, 2011
FGS/ISGS 2011 Conference PUBLICITY CONTEST
FGS Member Societies Can Enter to Win a Free FGS 2012 Registration
February 14, 2011 – Austin, TX. The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) announces the FGS/ISGS 2011 Conference Publicity Contest for its member societies. The FGS/ISGS 2011 Conference will be held 7-10 September 2011 in beautiful Springfield, Illinois. This year’s conference theme is “Pathways to the Heartland,” and the local host is the Illinois State Genealogical Society (ISGS).
Anyone who purchased Ancestry.com stock when it was first issued a bit more than a year ago at $16.10 a share is probably smiling today. The ACOM stock hit a new high of $38.00 a share today.
On a related note, analysts at Canaccord Genuity initiated coverage on shares of Ancestry.com Inc in a research note to investors on Wednesday, January 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Separately, analysts at Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Ancestry.com Inc. in a research note to investors on Friday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock.
Tim McGraw appeared on Friday's episode of Who Do You Think You Are to discover that he is descended from some of the first settlers of the United States. The Friends star Lisa Kudrow's hit series also helped McGraw trace a connection to George Washington, the American Revolutionary War hero and the first president of United States.
On the show, Tim McGraw's journey began with Southwest Virginia Museum Historical State Park. It later moved on to the Wilderness Trail and sections of Scott Country, Virginia, after which he learned that his relatives date back before even the establishment of the United States.
The following announcement was written by the National Institute for Genealogical Studies:
(Toronto, February 11, 2011) The National Institute has announced today that they will be offering a free course on Social Media in conjunction with their recent acquisition of GenealogyWise www.genealogywise.com.
For those of you who are at the RootsTech conference in Salt Lake City, register directly at The National Institute’s booth (#111), and also receive a free T-Shirt!
The following announcement was written by ourFamily•ology:
Franklin Lakes, NJ - Savvy genealogists have long known the benefits of building their family tree online in a collaborative environment. A common approach is to find other genealogists who are searching the same surname in hopes of exchanging genealogical data to minimize their own research efforts. Today, ourFamily•ology unveils two new collaboration features aimed at helping subscribers build their family history.
The first new feature allows genealogists to search for a common ancestor and see basic data from anyone’s tree that has enabled this feature. Users can also contact and exchange information in hopes of sharing research.
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