My Last Act at Rootstech

Jen and Shannon from The In-Depth Genealogy team grabbed Judy G Russell, Kirsty Gray and me for a video interview to discuss some of the topics we had raised in our panel session "Dealing with Ethical Dilemmas in an Online World."  It was an honour to be included in the interview with Judy.

Although I didn't get to say much I did a lot of nodding. We needed 80 minutes for our chat not 8.

Tricky Stuff

In just four weeks I will be taking to the stage at Rootstech with three of my genimates to discuss, in a panel session, some tricky topics in Dealing with Ethical Dilemmas in an Online World. 

Unfortunately one of our panelists, Pauleen, is no longer able to make the trip to Rootstech. I am delighted to announce that Canadian genealogist (and Scottish expert), Christine Woodcock, has agreed to join Kirsty Gray (England), Roger Moffat (proud Kiwi living in in the US) and me (flying the flag for Australia) to make up an international panel that represents five countries. Thank you so much Christine for agreeing to join us.

I do hope that some of our Genimates will join us in Room 151 of the Salt Palace (just across from the Exhibit Hall) at 4:40pm on Friday 2 February as we offer some suggestion for dealing with sticky situations.

Should you have some issues you would like us to discuss please contact one of the panelists and we will try to weave your dilemma into our chat.

Panel Sorted

Recently several people I respect have made negative comments on social media about panel sessions at genealogy conferences. I have taken these comments on board as I prepare for the session I am moderating at Rootstech 2016. 

I am thrilled to announce that I have gathered a panel representing four countries to join me on the podium. The bios for these three folk will appear shortly on the Rootstech website.

We have some ideas for discussion during the panel session but I am hoping that you might also be able to suggest scenarios for our panelists to ponder and discuss. You can read about our topic on the Rttostech website here: Dealing with Ethical Dilemmas in an Online World. Please take a look as I'd appreciate your ideas and input, you can place comments on this blog or email jillballau@gmail.com with your suggestions.

Opening a can of worms or two?

I had a loooong chat with Alan Phillips from Unlock the Past this week, I was thrilled to hear that 230 people (genies and a few partners) have booked for the 4th Genealogy Cruise out of Australia in February - what a genealogy feast it will be. If you have been thinking about joining this cruise you had better do it now as there are very few cabins left.

I am excited that I will be presenting/moderating a new session on the voyage around the topic of ethics in genealogy. I am working on a set of questions/scenarios that I will open to discussion by a panel of experienced genealogists on the cruise. We will cover issues such as publishing sensitive information and how to decide what to include, the right of descendants to know the truth, borrowing other peoples photos and plagiarism and copyright.

Louis Kessler, Shauna Hicks, Alona Tester and Helen Smith in the Social Media Panel  I moderated on the 3rd UTP Cruise