We need to evaluate our practices regularly. The catalyst for my recent naval gazing is the presentation I prepared for Connections2025, The Thoughtful Ancestor: leaving a large footprint for future generations. I have a big footprint but need to ensure that it's easy for my descendants to follow.
I've been reviewing my practices, the products I use and my genealogy budget and trying to make my genealogy assets easy to access for future generations. Following is a summary of my recent thoughts and actions.
I am looking at my assets in three categories: Digital, Physical and Cranial and using as a prompt this process.
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| My process for future-proofing my genealogy assets. Evaluation is vital at each stage of the process |
Social Media
X formerly Twitter - I am no longer posting there but have kept my account. I have replaced this product with Bluesky where many of my genimates have accounts. I am @geniaus.bluesky.social.
Instagram - I set up an Instagram for family history purposes after Twitter became unattractive. I'm still on Insta but not actively posing since moving to Bluesky
Facebook - I have a huge investment and history so won't be ditching it at the moment. My GeniAusPage is my main vehicle for sharing family history news and views.
Family Tree Software
Family Historian. While I still retain Family Historian for my main database I have resisted upgrading to the latest version.
RootsMagic I started using RootsMagic to manage the people in my CareyBay2283 One Place Study. Although I don't have a handle on its sourcing system I appreciate its fairly seamless syncing with Ancestry, FamilySearch and FindMyPast. This may become my primary tool in the future.
I now have several projects in RootsMagic 10. I find it good for managing the DNA matches of some of the kits I manage.
TNG I use The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding to maintain my family website. I can upload a gedcom file from any other product to TNG.
I am concerned that when I turn my toes up no-one will keep the website going. Over Easter two of my offspring committed to this task so I won't be ditching TNG or my website in the near future.
GeniAus Website This is where I host my family site. I will keep it going while I am able but I need to have insurance lest my descendants run out of time or money to maintain it.
WikiTree I am committed to Wikitree as a collaborative tree. I am working to ensure that my ancestors' and forebears' stories are not lost so I aim to give them all a profile on this platform. It's a future-proofing exercise.
Other Activities
Blogging I am committed to blogging about family history and to record my personal history. I use two free platforms, Blogger and Wordpress.com although I prefer Blogger because it is much easier to tweak their templates and they don't sprinkle my posts with ads as is the Wordpress practice.
I see that several of my genimates have moved to Substack. I am not convinced that this is the platform for me. I will sit back and see how it progresses. I have seen too many Bright Shiny Objects come and go to move platforms when I am satisfied with what I have.
FindaGrave In addition to adding details of ancestors' final resting places to the FindaGrave site I have set up several virtual cemeteries on that site. I have one each for biological relatives of my husband and me. I also maintain one for a Cousin and one to support my One Place Study.
One Place Study I'm not sure I can do this justice but as no-one else was recording the history and stories of the place where I live I commenced this project last year.
Surname Study I now realise that I have bitten off more than I can chew with this project I commenced in 2014. I did not realise that Curry, my maiden name, was such a common surname, I should have chosen Pusell, my grandmother's maiden name which is not so common. Currently this project is stalled with a database of several thousand persons in Family Historian. The study blog is still active and will remain so.
Cranial Assets or What's in my head I'm working on this. Some are things I am not yet ready to share. I keep a diary in an Excel spreadsheet and blog at jillballau but need to do more.
Money Matters I need to give this some thought and will report in a future post.
