Information Skills

Back in the day when I was a Teacher/Librarian we had a big push to teach Information Skills that could be applied to any task which the students undertook. These are life skills that can be applied to everything from making a peanut butter sandwich to breaking down a brick wall in a family tree. 

The Information Skills Process
Information skills in the school P 8.

Since I started my genealogy journey I have been loosely following this process. 

I was recently asked to present a session on "Beginning Family History" for Family History Month. I wanted to encourage attendees to adopt a structure as they carried out research tasks. With the help of ChatGPT I modified that old diagram to produce something similar but different for family historians. 

• I changed the names of the various stages to more everyday language.
• I moved Assessing to the middle of a circle around which the six stages were placed, as I believe assessment and evaluation should be an on-going action at each stage of  the practice.
• I replaced Assessing with a sixth stage "Pass it on" which emphasised a need for us to Preserve and Futureproof our work.
• As my illustrative skills are basic I asked ChatGPT to create a diagram for me.

I uploaded a long brainstormed document to ChatGPT  and had a very long discussion with he/she/it before I asked for a diagram to be produced. 

 The first draft, in the bold colours I requested, was way too bold. It was otherwise fine for my purposes.

I gave some further instructions about fonts and colour and was pleased with what was produced. I used that second and final draft that in my presentation. 

My Research Process

Since delivering that first presentation I have used the diagram in a couple of subsequent presentations. I think it has been well received. It is also a useful tool to keep me on track.  I am currently using it as the basis for a Conference presentation on Social Media. 

Creating this diagram has been on my "To Do" list for ages but I had put it aside because of my lack of design skills. I am so grateful for the opportunities AI tools have given me to edit my work and produce images with a professional appearance.