My Mate Joan

Early this morning I heard some sad news. My friend, Canadian genealogist Joan Miller, passed away peacefully on Friday 4th January, 2012.

I had hooked up with Joan on the internet a few years ago and we finally got to meet at Rootstech in 2011. From that meeting grew the idea of putting together a panel presentation for Rootstech in 2012. Joan worked on this with myself, Amy Coffin and Audrey Collins until just after Christmas 2011 when she wrote "I've been having health issues and there is a good chance I won't be able to attend Rootstech."

Joan (left) and Jill Ball (right) interview Jay Verkler at Rootstech 2011

Today I am remembering Joan and being grateful for her friendship, support and encouragement. 

Among other things Joan was passionate about the Genealogists for Families Team on Kiva where she was co-captain with Australian, Judy Webster. 

A number of genealogists have asked on various social media today how they can commemorate Joan. Joan's daughter Heather has asked that commemorative loans or donations in memory of her mother should be made through Kiva and the 'Genealogists for Families' project.  Details on how this can be accomplished can be found on this Genfamilies blog post.

I chose to make a loan to a farmer in Kenya to help him to buy piglets as Joan had recently made a loan to another farmer to allow him to buy pigs.

Blink and you'll miss me...

and Joan Miller from Canada interviewing Jay Verkler at Rootstech 2011 in a promotional video for Rootstech 2012.

+1

Thanks to Joan at Luxegen for pointing out the new Google +1 button and indicating where it is on her website.

It's something new so, of course, I just had to add it to my blogs. I went to the link Joan had given, took a look and then decided to find more full instructions for a dummy like me. I found a a great set of instructions for adding the button to a Blogger blog at Cool Tricks n Tips right here.

I set to adding the button as per the instructions only to find the button was already on my blog but it was hidden away right at the bottom of each post.  Of course I want my readers to click on that button if they enjoy a post of mine so back I went to the Edit Page Elements Page for my blog and moved the set of sharing buttons to a more prominent position.  I don't know what I have done but that pesky sharing button doesn't appear to have moved.

As Joan said "If you’re logged into your Google account, try it out on my site". You'll find the +1 button at the bottom of each post.

Genea-Bodies

A great GeniMate from Rootstech, Joan Miller, wrote a thoughtful piece in her Luxegen blog today "Genea-Bodies: The New Somebodies".  She says "We Genea-Bodies have a voice.  A collective voice.  A passionate voice.  And we talk about our passion."   I encourage you to read Joan's post and the comments that follow. 

I usually just write a line or two in a blog comment but was so fired up by Joan's post that I nearly wrote an essay. Here is what I said:

"For this opinionated little Granny from downunder to have a voice is an honour and a responsibility. Social networking tools have made this possible. 

I took my role as an official Rootstech blogger and tweeter very seriously and hopefully my contributions assisted in getting the news out about this fantastic event. My blog statistics were certainly up during February.

Evaluation is an important part of any process; social networking tools facilitate evaluation that could not previously occur. The ability of Genea-Bodies to contribute to conversation on all facets of genealogy is empowering. I can voice my opinion, be noticed and take part in discourse with others….and some people listen and take notice of little me!

Ten years ago we had virtually no influence. If we bought a shonky product we just whinged to the provider, if advertisers made unrealistic claims we could not easily point out their errors or if we had a great idea we could write an article that might not be published. 

Now we can keep people on their toes. Genea-Bodies contributions about and evaluations of issues, services, products and resources via blogs, Twitter etc will lead to improvement in products and new knowledge in our field. 

“You’re nobody until somebody loves you” – social media provides the love to turn us all into "somebodies."