50 Blogs you need to read

It's always exciting to see the fruits of one's labour in print.

For the last three years I have done a little job for Inside History Magazine in which I collate a list of 50+ blogs you need to read, the magazine editors look at the list and prune it down to the final 50 which they publish.  It takes me ages to check out several hundred blogs and check them against a list of criteria that I have collated with the help of my genimates.

This is the third year of the list so I guess that it is now an established geneaevent,  in case it is I have already started adding more blogs to include in the running for next year. As soon as I finished my task I found a few more new blogs. Geneablogging is alive and well in Australia.

After a chat with the magazine editor it was decided to have a little change in focus this year. We only included a few foreign blogs (there are plenty of best of lists for them already) and had an intentional bias towards genealogy and history blogs from Australia and New Zealand.

My digital copy of Inside History Magazine arrived yesterday and I was excited to see the latest list  in print. There you will find example of blogs that are challenging, charming, chatty, classy and clever. There is something for everyone.

I commend to you the Inside History Magazine 2014 list of 50 Blogs you Need to Read.

Rootstech Downunder

I will be on the high seas on a geneacruise during Rootstech  2014 but I hope to view some of the live broadcasts that have been announced. I have used one of my favourite web tools
Time Zone Converter – Time Difference Calculator to convert the times of the presentations into Sydney time (AEDT) and create a calendar for myself which I am sharing here for other Aussies who may wish to imbibe some of the Rootstech spirit.

I may not be able to view those that are scheduled on sea days but I am taking my new Telstra 4G wi-fi gadget with me so I should be able to view some of these from my cabin while we are in Adelaide.

Thursday, February 6

10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Top 10 Things I Learned About My Family from My Couch by Tammy Hepps Friday, 7 February 2014 at 4:30:00 AM 

1 p.m. to 2 p.m., FamilySearch Family Tree: What's New and What's Next by Ron Tanner Friday, 7 February 2014 at 7:00:00 AM

2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Intro to DNA for Genealogists by James Rader Saturday, 8 February 2014 at 8:30:00 AM

4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Genealogy in the Cloud by Randy Hoffman Friday, 7 February 2014 at 10:00:00 AM 

5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Sharing Your Family with Multimedia by Michael LeClerc  Friday, 7 February 2014 at 11:00:00 AM

Friday, February 7

10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Storytelling Super Powers: How to Come Off as Your Family's Genealogy Hero by David Adelman  Saturday, 8 February 2014 at 4:30:00 AM

1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., Tweets, Links, Pins, and Posts: Break Down Genealogical Brick Walls with Social Media by Lisa Alzo Saturday, 8 February 2014 at 7:00:00 AM

2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Getting the Most Out of Ancestry.com by Crista Cowen  Saturday, 8 February 2014 at 8:30:00 AM

4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Finding Family and Ancestors Outside the USA with New Technologies by Daniel Horowitz  Saturday, 8 February 2014 at 10:00:00 AM

5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Do It Yourself Photo Restoration by Ancestry Insider  Saturday, 8 February 2014 at 11:00:00 AM

Saturday, February 8

10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Become an iPad Power User by Lisa Louise Cooke  Sunday, 9 February 2014 at 4:30:00 AM

1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., Information Overload: Managing Online Searches and Their Results by Josh Taylor  Sunday, 9 February 2014 at 7:00:00 AM

2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., A Beginner’s Guide to Going Paperless by Randy Whited  Sunday, 9 February 2014 at 8:30:00 AM

4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., How to Interview Yourself for a Personal History by Tom Taylor  Sunday, 9 February 2014 at 10:00:00 AM

5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Five Ways to Do Genealogy in Your Sleep by Deborah Gamble Sunday, 9 February 2014 at 11:00:00 AM

C'mon Mate - Win a Prize valued at $239

I have been reminded by the generous folk at Rootstech that I have not awarded the Free Registration to Rootstech 2014 that is to be held from February 6th to 8th at the Salt Palace Convention Center In Salt Lake City and that I have at my disposal as an Official Blogger. This prize can be taken as a new registration or a refund of a registration already paid. Of course if you paid a discounted fee then that is what will be refunded.

I need to run a competition to award this prize. As it is the Australia Day weekend the competition will have an Australian theme.

For your chance to won this super prize please share on your blog or favourite Social Media site something with an Australian connection to Rootstech. It could be a photo you took of one of the Aussies you met at Rootstech, it could be a blog post written by an Australian about Rootstech, it could be a recount of a meeting with an Aussie at Rootstech, it could be some information you learnt from an Aussie who attended Rootstech or it could be information on a product you heard about from the Aussie vendor who was at Rootstech 2013.

So that everyone has a whole weekend to dream up their entry the competition will close at:

Honolulu (U.S.A. - Hawaii)           Sunday, 26 January 2014 at 11:00:00 PM HAST UTC-10 hours 
Sydney (Australia - New South Wales) Monday, 27 January 2014 at 8:00:00 PM  AEDT UTC+11 hours 
Corresponding UTC (GMT)              Monday, 27 January 2014 at 09:00:00  

I don't want to miss your entry so please email me at jillballau@gmail.com with your details and a link to your contribution.

The judge's decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into. If it is too difficult a task for me I will pop your names in a hat and draw one at random. Once a winner has been selected I will forward their details to the Rootstech folk who will take care of the business end of things.

Rootstech for Foreigners

Those who read my blog should know that my keyboarding skills are punk so I am always looking at new ways to share information and experiences and so it is with Rootstech.

Rootstech 2013

I won't be attending in person this year but, as an Official Blogger, will be observing and reporting from afar. Just recently two Australians have mentioned that they might be travelling to Salt Lake City for their first Rootstech Conference and they have asked for a bit of advice. Rather than just dish out my tips in an email and to save my typing fingers I am going to prepare a Hangout on Air in which I answer any questions those and other people might give me and share my experiences of travelling to Rootstech both by myself and with Mr Geniaus.

If you have any questions about Rootstech please let me know by the weekend and I will do a Hangout on Sunday or Monday. If you fancy joining me on air for this session then please let me know.

Rootstech at Sea

I'm sorry that I won't be attending Rootstech in person this year and have been worried that I won't be able to fulfil my obligations as an Official Blogger but some great news from Unlock the Past Cruises has given me hope that I will be able to take part in Rootstech from the comfort of my cruise ship.

We'll be watching Rootstech from here

Alan Phillips of Unlock The Past has arranged with Familysearch to have two of the streamed sessions made available to cruisers on the 4th Unlock the Past Cruise. Although we will see them at a delayed time I will be able to blog about the cruisers' reactions to the sessions. Only a handful of the cruisers have attended Rootstech in person; I am sure they will be impressed by what they see. They may even join the Australian contingent that will visit Rootstech in 2015.

Rootstech from Afar

With some mates at Rootstech 2013
L-R GeniAus, Audrey Collins, Dear Myrtle and Randy Seaver 

Due to a prior engagement I won't be attending the RootsTech Conference this year. I am disappointed about this but it can't be helped and I am looking forward to returning to Salt Lake City in 2015 for the combined RootsTech and FGS Conference.

I've been in denial about my non-attendance at RootsTech 2014 so I haven't blogged about the event that will be held in four months time from February 6 - 8, 2014. Should you be contemplating attending this amazing event you had better get your skates on if you wish to take advantage of early bird registration, with a Full Access Pass for just $159. A contingent Australians travelled to Salt Lake City for the event last year and combined conference attendance with research time in the Family History Library. Those with whom I have spoken intend to attend a future RootsTech.

Australians, Alona Tester and Helen Smith, at Rootstech 2013

It has been my privilege to be an Official Blogger at the first three RootsTech conferences. Although the work associated with this role has meant that I have not been able to attend all conference sessions I have been given opportunities to meet and interview many stars in the genealogy world. The folk from Familysearch have afforded the Official Bloggers the same privileges that are extended to members of traditional media, we have had briefing meetings, a good seat in the opening keynote session, a dedicated workplace in the exhibit hall and opportunities to meet with speakers and sponsors.

When I woke on Wednesday morning I noted via social media that two fellow Geneabloggers were excited about receiving invitations to become Official Bloggers for the RootsTech 2014 Conference. I took a peek at my mailbox and was thrilled when I saw a message from Paul Nauta, PR guy at Familysearch (and minder extraordinaire to the official bloggers) inviting me to also join the team of Official Bloggers for 2014. Then I worried about whether I should accept the invitation or not. However, when I read the fine print I noted that Official Bloggers were welcome to blog remotely. I perused the conditions and realised that I would have no trouble fulfilling my obligations to the conference from afar. I promptly fired off an acceptance and am waiting for the Official Blogger badge that I will proudly display on this blog. My mugshot and biography will appear on the Rootstech site in due course.

Rootstech is planning to have satellite conference sites in a number of locations around the world. As I will be at sea I hope that I can coordinate a visit to one of these sites on a day that I am in port.

Official Blogger status at this premier event is something that is prized by bloggers in the United States. This little old Australian granny is honoured to be included in the team with the big guns in the geneablogging world.

Thank you RootsTech and FamilySearch.

Frequent Cruiser

Life on the high seas is fun. Mr Geniaus and I are becoming frequent cruisers having recently returned from a 27 day cruise and with bookings for two more under our belts.

My cruising will take on a different focus when, in February 2013, I set off on the 3rd Unlock the Past  History and Genealogy Cruise. I look forward to spending time with people whose eyes won't glaze over when I start talking about dead people. I am thrilled to be presenting on a number of topics on this voyage so for me January will be a month of preparing and polishing up presentations.

Alan Phillips (Mr UTP) contacted me recently and invited me to present on the 4th Unlock the Past  History and Genealogy Cruise details of which have been announced. I was delighted to accept his invitation as I hold the two main presenters, Thomas MacEntee and Chris Paton, in high regard and enjoy listening to and learning from them. I also like the itinerary for this journey that highlights several Australian cities.

There is plenty of time to save your pennies for this event in February 2014  so how about filling up your piggybank and joining us for some leisure and learning at  sea.