Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Elusive events

As a new retiree with a commitment to CGD I am seeking edcational opportunities to further my genealogical skills and knowledge. Like Joan Miller of Luxegen I think I may become a Genea-Conference groupie.

I dream of an online calendar that lists all events that may be suitable for budding and experienced  Australian genealogists. Something based on the Geneawebinars Blog would seem to fit the bill...but who will take responsibility for such a resource?

Presently it is a tedious process to identify learning opportunities. There are a number of organisations that offer relevant events but there is no one central place where all event details are listed.  To locate events within cooee of Sydney, NSW  I need to go to the SAG Calendar, Unlock the Past Events, Joy Murrin Events Calendar, NSW State Records, The Royal Australian Historical Society, The State Library of NSW, The National Library of Australia, The National Archives of Australia , Geneawebinars, and webpages of local family history societies (if they have one).  I also follow some libraries and groups on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to a number of e-newsletters. This is a time-consuming exercise and does not ensure that I find all possible events.

Just this morning I saw a comment on Facebook by Kerry Farmer that she was giving a talk at Ku-ring-gai Historical Society. I visited that society's webpage and found a .pdf document listing a number of family history talks for this and next month. It was too late for me to attend this morning but I will attend some of these in the future.


How do other Australian Genealogists find events?

I wonder how hard it would be to get people and society representatives to contribute details of events to a blog like the Geneawebinars Blog if I set one up?

5 comments:

Elizabeth O'Neal said...

The only way to find out is to give it a try!

Rosemary said...

Oh Wow!! This is serendipity at its best. I'm back on the North Shore staying in Chatswood for a couple of weeks starting mid-May and we used to live at Gordon. I'm going to print the KHS calendar right now.

Judy Webster said...

I also get some information via the AUS-GEN-EVENTS mailing list (Rootsweb) but unfortunately not many Australian societies or libraries use it to publicise their events. I think there are similar lists for overseas. Note that Rootsweb has strict rules about what can be included in posts. Mention the date, place, a description of the event, and a Web page or phone number for those who want more details. Do not mention prices, as that is against Rootsweb's rules. Be sure to use a meaningful subject line that includes the name of the city/town where the event will take place.

GeniAus said...

Elizabeth, Guess I might just have to give it a go!

Rosemary, I might see you at Ku-ring-gai.

Judy, Thanks for link - I have subscribed.

Judy Webster said...

Another thought... If you don't want to keep revisiting Web pages that list events, you can use ChangeDetection to notify you when a page changes. You can choose the notification frequency and other options such as 'Notify me only if text is ADDED'. Webmasters can make it easy for readers by adding a ChangeDetection panel like the one labelled 'Receive email when this page changes' that I put on the page where I list my indexes to Archives sources etc. (Hmm... that's embarrassing. I've just noticed that my indexes list needs updating!)

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...