Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

The Eastman Effect

I got a big chuckle out of this. John Reid commented on his popular Anglo-Celtic Connections blog about the effect of having his blog mentioned in this newsletter. He even compared me to Oprah Winfrey!

You can read his comments at http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com/2010/10/eastman-effect.html. While there, you might also check out his excellent blog.

Thanks for making my day, John. I'll let you know when my salary matches that of Oprah.

 

Update: The Archivist's Blog

On April 7, 2010, I wrote about a new blog created by the Archivist of the United States, David Ferriero. He is the head of the National Archives and Records Administration. He seems very interested in finding new and better ways of serving the agency's users. Have you read his articles? Good stuff!

Unlike blogs supposedly written by a lot of other bureaucrats, this one is not full of puffed up press releases. David Ferriero apparently writes these articles himself and they seem to be full of interesting ideas and comments.

For instance, a recent article in his blog on "The Future is in the Palm of our Hands," Ferriero predicts that "Mobile will be bigger than desktop Internet in five years." He then writes:

The Archivist's Blog

David Ferriero is the Archivist of the United States. That is, he is the head of the National Archives and Records Administration. He seems very interested in finding new and better ways of serving the Agency's users. Today, David Ferriero posted his first blog article.

In an article entitled, No Small Change, Ferriero writes:

The Pew Research Center recently published a report, “The Impact of the Internet on Institutions in the Future,” in which it found that 72 percent of experts agreed with the statement:

By 2020, innovative forms of online cooperation will result in significantly more efficient and responsive governments, business, non-profits, and other mainstream institutions.

He then goes on to offer his views on "the principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration to change the way we do things, the way we think about things, and the way we deliver services to the public."

Help! The Faerie Folk Hid My Ancestors!

With St. Patrick's Day only a few days away, now is a good time to start looking online for "all things Irish." Indeed, there is a brand-new Irish genealogy blog that looks like a great resource. I see a lot of new blogs but this one is unusual in that it already has a LOT of info online, including interviews, "how to" articles, information about naming patterns, and more.

Here is the announcement:

NARAtions: A Blog about Online Public Access to the Records of the U.S. National Archives

The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) recently caused some controversy by proposing major changes that will significantly reduce the space and services available to researchers who wish to use NARA records in Washington, D.C. Specifically, the proposal is to relocate the Finding Aids/ Consultants to a smaller, open space within the library, reduce the number of microfilm readers, and replace self-serve microfilm access with a "pull on demand" process that requires staff to retrieve each film as someone requests it.

The reactions were loud and long. See the comments at the
end of my earlier article at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2009/10/nara-seeks-to-shrink-research-space-and-services-in-dc.html as well as an article in UpFront, the NGS blog, about this issue at http://upfront.ngsgenealogy.org/2009/10/nara-seeks-to-shrink-research-space-and.html. Now NARA has created a new blog, called NARAtions, to help address many of the concerns voiced by users of NARA's services. The new blog states:

Creating a Blog the Easy Way

Are you interested in creating a personal blog? You might use a blog for posting the results of your genealogy research, for finding long-lost cousins, for posting your bowling league's news, for posting pictures of your cat, or for most any other imaginable purpose. There are dozens of blogging services to choose from, and most of them are very easy to use. However, I suspect the Posterous blogging service has to be the absolute easiest blogging service around. Can you send an email message? If so, you can create and maintain a blog on Posterous.com.

You can include pictures, videos, music, and most any sort of attached file. One feature that impressed me is that you can create group sites, such as a private blog just for family or friends. You can add your friends’ or family’s email addresses to any Posterous site you control. Then they email post@sitename.posterous.com to post to the blog. They don't even need to create an account.

Create a Blog for Yourself or Your Society

Individuals and companies publish blogs for a variety of reasons. Some blogs are launched for marketing purposes; others are posted just for fun. Here are a few things you can do with a personal or professional blog:

Personal Blogs:

• Journal – Most sites support private blogs that can be used as a journal or public blogs for sharing. Some bloggers use weblogs to publish their travelogue, personal thoughts, or daily events.
• Special Interest – Write on your favorite hobby or subject. Share tips on genealogy, historical topics, cooking, photography, gaming, or other hobby. You can write on any subject from Victorian Literature to Zhu Zhu Pets. There are no boundaries.
• Family or Society Blog – Most blog services let you set up multiple users with passwords. With this arrangement you can start a family or society blog. Family or society members can login and add posts and images to share with the rest of the members.

Michael John Neill's New Casefile Clues

If you have been reading this newsletter for some time, you may remember Michael John Neill's series of articles that were published here, called "Casefile Clues." Michael has now moved on to expand his writing on his own web site and email newsletter, which is also appropriately titled "Casefile Clues." Michael is now publishing more articles than ever.

Michael is an expert in genealogy research methodology. He finds the logical results in difficult research tasks, sometimes seeking out seemingly illogical answers that turn out to be the truth. He always analyzes the reasons "why" a document was made and how it "fits" into the question at hand. He uses examples that will benefit the rest of us, making us all better genealogists. What I like best about Michael's articles is his style of writing: easy to read and understand. No mumbo-jumbo here! Michael writes in plain English for all of us.

Review and Reader Discount: British Newspapers Online

Pam Cerutti has published a review of the popular the British Newspapers web site. Pam writes:

Made available by Gale, part of Cengage Learning, The British Library and the Joint Information Systems Committee, the British Newspapers website at http://newspapers.bl.uk provides lots of information to help put into timely context ancestors who lived in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales during a 100-year span. It has fully searchable newspapers as well as a timeline of major events, articles about aspects of life in those times, and articles about both people in the news and the newspapers themselves. A good amount of information is available for free; however, views of most full newspaper articles are offered by purchase of a modestly-priced pass for either 24 hours or 7 days.

Teach History Blog

Dan Lynch sent along a link to a very interesting web site created by Ben Edwards: Teach History. The blog proclaims, "Teach History is a blog dedicated to educators of Colonial American history. We provide information about resources, products and multisensory learning methods that can help you inspire your students."

The latest articles include:

Rhode Island History Blog

The Rhode Island Historical Society has launched a blog about items in its collection. For example, there’s a look at Rhode Island’s legal declaration of independence from Great Britain about two months before the Continental Congress took the same action.

The same blog has also recently described a 1915 film called Diamonds, a feature crime drama. It is one of the many films that Eastern Film Company made in Rhode Island between 1914 and 1917, but one of the few that survive. The scenes in the film give a glimpse into several well-known Rhode Island landmarks that were used as "sets" for the movie.

Blog Your Family Tree

Wikipedia's definition of a blog states, "A blog (a contraction of the term "weblog") is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order."

Indeed, a blog is an easy-to-use web site where you can quickly post thoughts, interact with people, and more. Blogs can be personal, written by one person, or they can be produced by the marketing departments of multi-billion dollar corporations. A blog is simply an easy-to-use process that allows anyone, including you, to "get the word out." A blog is a great method of publishing whatever you wish to tell the world.

Newspapers at Footnote.com and the 1930 Census - WWII Collection

A few days ago I published an announcement from Footnote.com about a new Great Depression Collection the company has added. That announcement is at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2009/03/footnotecom-releases-great-depression-collection.html. I then wrote my impressions of the new interactive 1930 U.S. census that is a part of that collection. My comments are at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2009/03/commentary-footnotes-interactive-1930-census-and-the-great-depression-collection.html.

Now Beau Sharbrough, former VP of Acquisitions at Footnote, has written about his impressions of the new collection and has offered step-by-step instructions in an article titled, “1930 Census - WWII Collection?”

Blog Software Comparison Chart

Are you interested in starting a blog but don't know which service or software to use? First, decide which features are important to you. Then look at the new side-by-side comparison chart at http://www.ojr.org/ojr/images/blog_software_comparison.cfm

Read This Newsletter on your iPod

That's right, you can read this newsletter and other RSS feeds on your music iPod! You will need Macintosh OSX 10.4, Tiger, or OSX 10.3.9 Panther running on an iPod, iPod mini, or iPod Nano with Notes facility, plus the free program iFeedPod.

 

iFeedPod is available at http://www.carnglas.com

 

 

Blogs Explained

NOTE: This is an updated version of an article that I wrote about a year ago. The popularity of blogs has mushroomed since this article first appeared. I have added numerous updates to the original article.

The word "blog" sounds like one of those "techie words" that describes some black magic understood only by programmers, systems analysts, and others who regularly invoke incantations not understood by mere mortals. In fact, blogs are actually very simple, perhaps even simpler than the Web page or e-mail message that you are now viewing at this moment. You can read blogs easily, even without a technical understanding of the underlying technology. In fact, if you are reading this article on the web right now, you are already using a blog, perhaps without realizing it. The purpose of this article is to help de-mystify the word "blog" and to explain how you can use the benefits of blogs.

Gendatablog

Genealogy blogs are popping up everywhere. I was delighted to see a new one today, started by an expert genealogist and an old friend.

Gendatablog by Sara Leslie Griffith promises to be a "how to" blog along with reviews of various computer programs. Quoting from the first article posted:

Top Ten Genealogy Websites of 2050

I fell off my chair laughing after reading this list. Christopher Dunham has a way with words. Take a look at his blog.

New Genealogical Society Blog

Blogs, or "web logs," are appearing everywhere these days. Blogs are great at distributing frequently updated information to a wide audience. Blogs can be read in a standard web browser, or even more easily in a specialized newsreader designed just for the purpose. Newspapers, weather forecasts, stock market information and this newsletter are all available as blogs. Now Colleen Robledo has created a new blog that should be of interest to many genealogists.

Announcing DavidLambertBlog.com

The NERGC conference in Portland, Maine hasn't even started yet and already announcements about new products and services are appearing. Here is an announcement from the New England Historic Genealogical Society, followed by some of my own comments:

Announcing DavidLambertBlog.com, genealogical thoughts from the NEHGS Online Genealogist