Accentuate the Positive Geneameme 2021

This morning while scrolling through my Twitter feed I saw that Alex Daw had mentioned, in the #ANZAncestryTime chat, the Accentuate the Positive Geneameme that I have been hosting since 2012.

I had marked a 2021 event as a "To do" item for the post Christmas week but, hey, since I've been reminded I thought I'd post a 2021 challenge right now. Here it is.

I invite you to take part in this activity by responding to the following statements/questions, several of which are new, in a blog post. Write as much or as little as you want and complete as many statements as you wish. If you wish to take part and don't have a blog email me your responses and I will post them here on the GeniAus blog.

Once you have done so please share your post's link in a comment on this post or to me via email to jillballau@gmail.com. I will, later in January,  compile a list of links to your contributions here on this blog.

Please share this link far and wide in your social media channels.

Remember to Accentuate the Positive 
(Please delete the items that are not relevant to your situation.)

1. I got the most joy from

2. The Covid situation gave me an opportunity to 

3. I managed to attend a face to face event at

4. My main focus this year was on 

5. A new piece of technology or skill I mastered was

6. A geneasurprise I received was

7.  A Facebook Group that helped me was

8. My 2021 social media post that I was particularly proud of was

9.  A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was

10. I was impressed by

11.  A great journal or newspaper article I found was

12. I got the most value from this subscription

13. I progressed my DNA research with

14. I taught a genimate how to

15.  A blog post that taught me something new was

16. A DNA discovery I made was

17. A newly found family member shared

18. I finally found ......... six feet under

19. I splashed out and purchased

20. Another positive I would like to share is 

Give credit where credit is due.

My presentation at the Hawkesbury Family History Group on Wednesday this week is titled "Do the right thing - minding your manners in the geneasphere". 

One of my slides contains this clip of a comment from Alex in response to Susan's blog post.

Alex didn't have to tell Susan how she found her way to Susan's post but she did and I am most grateful. THANKYOU Alex. 

If you would like to join me for the talk at Hawkesbury Central Library at Windsor on Wednesday at 10:00am  I would love to see you there. Details can be found here: http://www.hawkesbury.net.au/community/hfhg/meetings.html

Pimping my Blog

A couple of weeks ago Alex Daw challenged geneabloggers to Pimp their Blogs. I praised the idea, committed to some pimping and then got caught up in other geneamatters.

Yesterday I received an award that came with a sparkly new image I wanted to add to my blogs, so instead of dealing with the mess around me this morning, in a fit of vanity I added the image to three of my blogs. While I was over at Wordpress I added and removed some widgets to The GeneaDictionary and CurryAus, the changes aren't great but they are an improvement.

When I got here to Blogger I looked at my header and decided it was time for a change. That old header contained an image of leaves (related to trees) and the title and subtitle of the blog but it didn't say much about me and I was getting sick of green anyway.

Out with the old

I spent way too long over at Canva creating a new header using a favourite photo of mine from this year. It's not a fancy photo (try lining up 11 kids who are desperate to eat the treasure they found in the family Easter Egg hunt) but it means a lot to me. The subjects are my 11 grandchildren who are very precious to me; having a photo of youngsters reminds us that I not only look to the past but I look towards the future; it says something about who I am and  about the people around me. I'm not 100% happy with the new header but I couldn't spend all day on it.; I need to chase up more ancestors and their stories to share with my little people.

While I was pimping I got rid of a bit of green and substitued it with blue, a colour I prefer. I moved my widgets around but couldn't bear to part with any of them. I also spent some time updating my Pages which were crying out for attention.

So my blogs have had a Spring Clean - thank you Alex.

Does your blog need a facelift?

Congress -Speakers Corner

Thanks to my genimate, Michelle Nichols, for taking these photos of my gig on geneablogging in the Ancestry Speakers' corner at AFFHO Congress yesterday. Thanks also to Ben Mercer from Ancestry  for inviting me to speak.

Jackie shares a "Cousin Bait" story

Beading up fellow geneablogger Alex 

Basking in the Glory

On Friday in my post "Alona, you make me feel like dancing" I accepted  Alona Tester's nomination for a One Lovely Blog Award and nominated some other bloggers for the award.

Well, blow me down, today I find that I have another reason to dance. Queensland geneablogger, Alex Daw in a post on  the Family Tree Frog blog today nominated me for this award. In part Alex said "Yes, she's been nominated already but I can't not nominate her. But don't worry Jill you don't have to do this exercise all over again - just bask in the glory."

Thank you, Alex, for the nomination, I am humbled by your kind and generous words. Reading your seven things about yourself I find that quite a few apply to me - kindred souls?

Now I am off to aquaint my self with some of the blogs nominated by Alex, it's an interesting collection that is worth perusal.

Makeover Madness

Last week I wrote that I was Tarting up the Template for this blog. Following on from that Alex Daw in her post, Pimp your blog this weekend, suggested that geneabloggers as a #NFHM2104 activity seek feedback from other geneabloggers on how they could improve their blogs.

She suggested "we could say one thing (or more of course) we really like about each other's blog and then maybe one thing that we think the blogger could lose or improve."  About half a dozen brave bloggers signed up, I think we and our blogs all benefitted from others' suggestions. I fiddled and faddled over a few days and think that the GeniAus blog has a cleaner, less cluttered appearance.

Thanks Alex for setting the challenge and to those brave souls who offered their blogs up for evaluation and politely made suggestons for improvement.

Co-incidentally today I was updating a presentation I had given around 18 months ago in which I showed screenshots of several blogs. I had to do new screenshots of most of the blogs as they had nearly all undergone some sort of facelift. In all cases the newer designs were an improvement on the old.

Do you continually update your blog/s layout and design? Do you set aside a few hours every so often for this task?  Have you made no changes and kept the original layout and design?

Alex's Response - A Small Social Media Geneameme

Alex of the Family Tree Frog blog has shared these thoughts in response to The Small Social Media Geneameme.

http://familytreefrog.blogspot.com.au/

1. Tell us about your favourite social media tool and why you like it.
My favourite social media tool is blogger I guess. Though Facebook is coming a close second. Blogger because it puts me in touch with other researchers with the same interests. Facebook provides space for communities to hang out and keep in touch and motivate each other.

2. How do you use social media to further your genealogy career or business?
I use Blogger to record and share my research.

3. What advice would you give the cruiser who said “I must be living
under a rock” and is not sure about coming out from under it? (This came from my Social Media presentation)
Advice ? Come on in - the water's fine :) 

4. What aspect of Social Media makes you grit your teeth
The aspect of social media that makes me grit my teeth is spam comments.

5. How does social media assist with your CGD (continuing genealogical development)?
Social media assists with my CDG by being made aware of webinars and other resources I may not have considered.

6. How do you fit social media time into your busy day?
Yeah - good question. It does take a lot of time - a precious commodity when I work full-time already. But if I commit to something e.g. a meme, I find that helps and you Just Do It - as that old advertising slogan said.

7. Do you have a story of how social media enabled you to connect with a long lost relation or fellow  researcher?
I don't think my blogging has helped me connect with a long lost relation but it certainly made it easier to meet people at conferences/conventions.

8. You have a minute to share a piece of advice about genealogy and social media. Go for it.
Genealogy and social media are a match made in heaven. Don't just witness it, participate! Sometimes the way people talk about social media is like it is something trivial,lesser than...lesser than what ??? It's like the old-fashioned disapproval of television or movies way back when. Books or printed matter is not God just because it came first. There are good books and there's pulp fiction or pap. There's pornography and then there are classic well constructed films that inspire and move people to reflect and or act. Social media is just another way of communicating and sharing a constructed understanding of our stories - of who we are and what makes us. It's not the only way but it is another way. I'm by no means the best at it but you've got to give it a shot. It's a great reflective tool and you need to reflect on what you are doing and open yourself up to other's observations and advice. Right - I'll get off my soapbox now.