GAGs - GeniAus' Gems - 28 October 2016

I can't quite remember what I have lined up for my post this week so let's dive into the Evernote notebok where I store my selections and see what I have for you.

A snip from my GAGs Evernote Notebook

1. Some bonus information for Kylie
http://blog.kyliesgenes.com/2016/10/baptism-record/

2. Sorry Sandra - she's not my Elizabeth Clarke/Clark.
http://ancestralresearchjournal.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/i-am-looking-for-elizabeth-clarke-do.html

3. A local album shared with The State Library.
https://berowralivinghistory.com/2016/10/28/the-reluctant-punt-passenger/

4. After five years for Kate's blog post finds an answer.
http://chineseaustralia.org/emma-tear-tack/

5. A South African geneablogger writes a post with an Australian flavour.
http://molegenealogy.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/the-ghosts-of-kangaroo-island.html

6. I tune into some of these Illinois presentations.
http://blog.geneawebinars.com/2016/10/illinois-state-genealogical-society.html

7. What do you do with family heirlooms?
http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2016/10/25/incorporating-family-heirlooms-into-your-decor/

8. A preservation project at GSQ.
http://gsqld.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/the-wheeler-project.html

9. I was caught out by Sharon's title
http://genealogymatters2me.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/trove-tuesday-man-who-hanged-his-wife.html

10. It's a good thing that I enjoy the sounds of silence.
http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/mindfulness/silence-good-brain/

11. Shelley's experiment generated some good conversations in the geneasphere.
http://twigsofyore.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/ancestry-hints-good-great-horrid.html

12. Another analysis on the Australian Genealogist Rockstar event from John. Interesting to see which overseas genies we love.
http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/rockstar-genealogist-extra-australianew.html

I usually don't include posts written by yours truly but, as I want to highlight the work of a dedicated group from Ku-ring-gai, I'm sharing this link:
http://kuringgaihs.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/award-for-khs-world-war-i-writers-group.html

New to Me Aussie Blogs:
World Connections To Ceylon and India Trees  http://ceylonandindiaconnectionsworldwide.blogspot.com.au/

GAGs - GeniAus' Gems - 3 April 2015

As I was preoccupied at Congress this week and was just dipping into my RSS feeds at irregular intervals I probably missed many excellent posts. I am still going to share a selection of those that I  read and saved in Evernote.

There was a lot of geneablogging happening from Canberra during Congress. If you read the posts I have linked from here you will get an idea of why I and around 30 other geneabloggers were engaged. Some bloggers were so busy that they didn't even manage to post, personally I have several drafts screaming for attention.

1. Both sides of Kerryn's tree share a surname. How about yours?
http://ancestorchaser.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/52-ancestors-week-13-my-different.html

2. Lenore still has her 6th Grade Social Studies book
http://empirecall.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/emden-beached-and-done-for-1914.html

3. Shelley shares some DNA news for Australians and offers some advice too.
http://twigsofyore.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/ancestry-dna-coming-to-australia-soon.html

4. I wasn't allowed to have a bicycle but now, thanks to Jo, I know something about Malvern Stars.
http://turnerstreettopics.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/be-better-off-on-malvern-star.html

5. I didn't manage a tour of the War Memorial while at Congress but Di did.
http://familystoriesphotographsandmemories.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/meetings-across-time-australian-war.html

6. Our WW1 servicemen came from many lands including Lithuania.
http://earlylithuaniansinaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/lithuanian-anzacs-in-egypt-and-palestine.html

7.  Fran alerts Gplussers to a useful tech tool. Must try it out.
http://travelgenee.com/the-lazy-genealogist-do-share/

8. Yay. Alona has created and shared a Geneameme. Do take part.
http://www.lonetester.com/2015/04/the-when-i-was-young-geneameme/

Blogging with Evernote at Congress

My genimate Jenna from Seeking Surnames retweeted a link to a post about Evernote by Janet Fouts this morning. 

If you don't already use Evernote then it outlines why you should. If you are already hooked on Evernote then this paragraph about using Evernote to simplify blogging at conferences will be useful for AFFHO Congress attendees and those at other geneaevents.

"Never again will I collect a bunch of paper at trade shows just to remember the product offering. A few quick photos of the booth, and not only do I have faces to relate to later, but the booth itself, logos, products and the text of the brochures ready to use in my post. all in one swoop. This is going to make blogging after conferences a breeze."

Read more: http://janetfouts.com/evernote-change-the-way-you-take-notes/#ixzz3UbDuKQ5Z 
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution 

GAGs - GeniAus' Gems - 13 March 2015

Most weeks I can't remember what posts I have stashed in my Evernote GAGs folder for consideration for the week's selection but this week I have one that is clearly Top of my Pops. I will put Carmel's post as my number 1 this week. The remainder of the posts will be in random order.

Top of my Pops this week is a courageous post from Carmel, a Generous Genie.
http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/let-them-learn.html

2. Jess made me remember Pears, Palmolive, Lux and Lifebuoy
https://ancestrysearch.wordpress.com/2015/03/06/lifebuoy-soap-advertising/

3. Tips for getting results from Barb.
http://auntbarbspapers.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/asking-for-help-right-way.html

4. The group of girls who gave Alona her genes.
http://www.lonetester.com/2015/03/the-women-who-made-me-me-international-womens-day/

5. I usually avoid sharing posts from commercial organisations but this one written by Denise (whose ideas I like) is an exception.
http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2015/03/11/plan-ahead-protect-your-genealogy-from-disaster

6. And while I'm being nice to organisations...I'm a Telstra basher (they deserve it) but I applaud them for this fun initiative.
http://sydney-city.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/newtown-telephone-boxes.html

7. Sharn is another member of the Generous Genie Brigade and her research skills are pretty good too.
http://sharnsgenealogyhints.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/when-places-change-search-for-hotel-in.html

8.  I've some brickwalls over in South Africa, perhaps you do too.
http://molegenealogy.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/useful-links-for-sa-ancestry-research.html

9. Kerryn gets published, thanks Chris for letting us know.
http://astheywere.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/thynnethyne-family-story-miltown-malbay.html

10. A blog post from overseas took me to some Australian news.
http://www.geneanet.org/genealogyblog/index.php/post/2015/03/Australians-DNA-Helped-Identify-King-s-Body-After-500-Years.html

11. As an Official AFFHO Congress Blogger I am pleased to include some posts about the event. Thanks, Fran for this really useful compilation of items.
http://travelgenee.com/affho-congress-briefing/

12, AFFHO Congress first-timer, Kerin, shares her enthusiasm for the event.
http://skeletonchaser.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/congress-and-chase.html

ENJOY - I'll be back with more next week.

GAGs - GeniAus' Gems - 27 February 2015

Last week just flew by! It's Friday morning again so it's time to open my GAGs folder in Evernote and see what I have lined up to share with you this week. Evernote makes it so easy for me to keep track of the Gems I find during the week.

Oh dear, I had more than a dozen to share, here are those that made my final cut. 

1. First up I'm being self indulgent because I am so proud of this new endeavour.
https://hornsbysfhg.wordpress.com/2015/02/26/forty-family-history-fans/

2. News of a major new English Database.
http://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/englands-immigrants-1330-1550/

3. 20 reasons to write from the New York Public Library. 
http://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/02/09/reasons-to-write-your-family-history

4. Pauleen reminds us to Do the Right Thing.

https://cassmob.wordpress.com/2015/02/22/ethics-genealogists-and-conferences/

5. A sweet trip down memory lane from Diane.

http://familystoriesphotographsandmemories.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/sentimental-sunday-sharing-memories-its.htm

6. It's not too late to register.
https://cassmob.wordpress.com/2015/02/26/only-28-more-sleeps-to-congress-2015/

7. A Irish priest shows Carmel the way.
http://earlieryears.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/researching-smyths.html

8. A vexed question from Fran
http://travelgenee.com/copy-ancestry-trees/

9. A discussion of name chnages from a Lithuanian migrant.
http://earlylithuaniansinaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/whats-in-name.html

10. Kiwi history in Parramatta

http://blog.teara.govt.nz/2015/02/10/rangihou-reserve-a-slice-of-new-zealand-history-in-parramatta/

11. Because I live on an old citrus orchard site this post from Michelle resonated with me.
http://hawkesburyheritage.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/fruit-growing-in-hawkesbury.html

12. 175th Anniversary of exiles transported from Canada.
https://canadabayconnections.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/canadian-exiles-anniversary/

13. In today's baker's dozen Denise discusses future-proofing our family history.
http://moultriecreek.us/gazette/future-proofing-your-family-history/

279 and Growing

Having plenty of material for future blog posts makes life easy.

About nine weeks ago when I had a bit of time on my hands I set up the Geneadictionary over on Wordpress. As I have been using blogger for eons this was a brave move for me. I didn't know if the Geneadictionary would be a flash in the pan or if I would be able to find enough content to maintain a regular posting schedule.

Several of my genimates look out for and even coin words and phrases to add to the dictionary, I am so grateful to them for their assistance, as I add their suggestions I try to add their names to the list of Genealogophiles at the Geneadictionary.

I seem to have developed a heightened awareness for Genealogisms which seem to jump out at me as I read genealogy news. I find myself waking up at night and grabbing my phone to add to Evernote a new word, phrase or acronym that has just hit me.

Can you believe that I have 279 entries for inclusion in the Geneadictionary saved in my Evernote folder? I think the Geneadictionary is here to stay.

http://geneadictionary.wordpress.com

Revolting Records...

...reminds me of a Roald Dahl book Revolting Rhymes.

As you know I often dive into a new adventure and then realise that I somehow need to keep track of what I am doing. I need to create some more records and, as organisation isn't my strong point, I call them revolting records.

I have now put together my fourth list of GAGs - GeniAus Gems. I have a system in Evernote where I save posts for consideration for the next week's compilation but I haven't kept a record (except for my GAGs posts) of the bloggers and blogs I have actually included in one of my lists.

I need to do this because I can't remember in my head which are the blogs and bloggers I have nominated and because this evening it struck me that such a list would be an additional evaluation tool for when (and if I am invited) I help Inside History Magazine select their Top 50 Blogs you need to read in 2015.

Just like the girl in Robin Klein's the Listmaker I am going to make a list but should it also be in Evernote or should it be on a spreadsheet in Google Drive? I like these tools because I can acccess them across devices but I just can't seem to make my mind up

GAGs - GeniAus' Gems - 3 October 2014

Last week's inital collection of GAGs received some enthusiastic responses - certainly enough for me to continue with this trial.

As I have read through my RSS feeds this week I have saved  links to several blog posts into my Evernote Genealogy Notebook with the GAGs tag. I didn't know how many I had until I started to write this post. Thankfully I had not gone crazy so I didn't have to delete too many selections.

As previously stated the selections here are subject to my personal biases and I make no apology for that.

Here are my choices for this week:

1. A bit of history with some beaut coloufrul photos from Diane brought back some childhood memories.
http://diane-adventurebeforedementia.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/trams-old-and-new.html

2. Thanks Crissouli, I need all the help I can get with the leprechauns in my tree
http://astheywere.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/free-irish-genealogy-ebooks.html

3. I've always beeen a bit of a logophile so loved this Aussie post
http://ozwords.org/?p=6562&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=buckleys-legacy

4. Alex's event report gave me some beaut leads.
http://familytreefrog.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/fabulous-friday.html

5. Richard teaches me so much, this time about Google Forms
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2014/09/long-awaited-features-finally-added-to.html

6. I was fascinated by Fran's ancestor
http://travelgenee.com/mysterious-saxophone-player-mabel-kate-dawson/

7. And in this post Fran taught me about some records from across the ditch
http://travelgenee.com/nzbdm-ancestry/

8. I somehow missed this post when Maria published it. She highlights an ethical dilemma of the modern age
http://wishful-linking-family-history.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/one-of-most-powerful-genealogical.html

9.  I was going to be selfish and keep the links to these fun apps to myself but I thought better of it.
http://www.aasl.ala.org/aaslblog/?p=5002

10. Thanks to John in Canada for showing me how I can easily part with some GBPs.
http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/find-will-at-probate-service-for.html

I will notify those mentioned above when I have a spare moment. I already know that I cannot post comments on one of the blogs mentioned above.

GAGs - GeniAus' Gems - 26 September 2014

GAGs

Posted for your perusal is my first collection of GAGs or GeniAus' Gems.

1. http://fightingthekaiser.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/another-nurse-at-glenroy-military.html
A short story about a World War 1 nurse in which the blogger Cheryl reminds us that "history is a dynamic thing".

2. http://heritagegenealogy.com.au/blog-3/
Still on the World War 1 theme I selected this post from Carole Riley because, as well as telling a story, it demonstrates the wealth of material that can be found in Australian World War 1 service files.

3. http://www.memorabiliahouse.com/2014/09/the-holiday-to-do-list/ 
From Alona Tester is an image of a note she wrote as a child. We Mums must remember not to toss out treasures.

4. http://lostmedalsaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/launcelot-owen-mc.html
From Glyn, a beaut story, some determined research and great example of how persistance pays off.

5. http://manlylocalstudies.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/manly-ferry-tokens.html
I took a ride on the Manly Ferry this week so was interested to read about this early version of an Opal Card.

6. http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/leveraging-libraries.html
Carmel sheds light on a resource that I had not thought to use for Genealogy research.

7. http://slwa.wordpress.com/2014/09/18/early-perth-photograph-album-digitised/
Congratulations to The State Library of Western Australia on this new Digitisation project.

8. http://blogs.hht.net.au/cook/fowl-play/
The Cook and the Curator is one of my favourite history blogs. This post resonated as I have on occasion had backyard chooks.

9. http://www.labnol.org/software/quick-access-android-apps/28670/
A post from India for Android users.

10. http://www.thearmchairgenealogist.com/2014/09/expanding-your-genealogy-comfort-zone.html
A challenge from Canadian Lynn Palermo

That looks like a reasonable batch for my first post. I'll be saving any new GAGs I find into Evernote and will endeavour to share them next week.

Cyndi's Other List

Most genealogists should have heard of Cyndi's List, a huge directory of genealogy resources on the internet. I have been lucky enough to have met Cyndi Ingle in person at Rootstech.

http://www.cyndislist.com/

I am a huge fan of Evernote who is always looking for further ways to further use the product. When I heard that Cyndi was presenting a webinar for SAG members about Evernote for genealogy in National Family History Month I signed up and joined 74 other members and moderator, Heather Garnsey, online for the gig.

If one thinks of Evernote as list of things then this presentation could have been called Cyndi's Other List. Cyndi packed a lot into the allocated time talking at a rate of knots to get through her topic, thankfully she speaks clearly and well. She quickly outlined the structure of Evernote before launching into live demonstrations using her Evernote account.

It was interesting to see the way Cyndi uses Evernote in her genealogy. She uses it heavily for tracking her research and saving resources. I picked up a couple of tips from Cyndi that I will find useful.  I like the way she sets up a folder and saves related stuff into it when she is doing freebie research for friends and that she can then share the bits in that folder to the friend via a link.
I hadn't used the Table of Contents feature and will find that useful for one notebook I have. I was also reminded that one can save notes to different formats - something to explore.

Having grown used to Google Hangouts on Air I found it strange going back to the Goto Webinar platform, I missed the interactivity and video components of Hangouts. The webinar felt like a formal lecture, a "chalk and talk" activity. There was time for five minutes of questions at the end of the lecture, I wish this could have been extended to allow for more discussion. I was lucky to have had a couple of questions answered but I should have asked if Cyndi uses Evernote as an organisational tool for Cyndi's List.

Thanks Cyndi for sharing how you use Evernote and for the handy handout you prepared for us. It was great to catch up with you from downunder.

National Family History Month 2014 Geneameme

My blogging mate Pauleen from Family History across the Seas has issued this challenge for National Family History Month. Being a bit of a meme fan I just couldn't resist it.  

Thanks also to Pauleen for giving me this opportunity to reflect on my genealogy practices. As I am committed to reflection and evaluation this activity provides me with an interesting instrument for that purpose. 

As a geneablogger it is pleasing to see a #NFHM2014 activity just for us. I hope that many of my geneablogging mates complete this activity.. You can find details here on Pauleen's blog.

1. What are you doing for NFHM?
   I am attempting to respond to this geneameme.
   I am trying to work through those of the 31 Activities for researchers that I haven't previously attempted.I hosted a Geniaus Google Hangout on Air that you can view here and have planned another for the final day of #NFHM2014 that you can watch here. To hear about future Hangouts how about joining my Google+ Geniaus Community?
   I attended a talk at Hornsby Library.I am attending a talk at Hawkesbury Library
   I have signed up for a SAG Webinar about Evernote with Cyndi Ingle.
   I will be listening to Shauna Hick's webinar with MyHeritage
   I am writing blog posts.
   I am tweeting about #NFHM2014 events and activities sousing the appropriate hashtag so that those with an interest can easily find info and stories related to the event.
   Paying it forward by doing some Familysearch Indexing.Perhaps i'll find some time for some research!
2. What do you hope to learn in NFHM?
   I am hoping to be surprised. I have a commitment to CGD - Continuing genealogical Development  and know that I will learn smething from all the activities in which I participate. From Cyndi I hope to learn more ways to use Evernote in my genealogy day.
3. Do you research at a family or local history library?
   Sure do. I love the State Library of NSW and National Library of Australia and The Family History Library in Salt Lake City which I will visit again in 2015. I'll be visiting the SoG Library in London later this month. I have a research log in my Family Historian database into which I save tasks for these libraries and archives as well so that when I visit I can get straight to work.
4. Do you do all your research online?
   No way. I do lots of online research but most of this leads me to repositories here and overseas where I continue my sleuthing.
5. What’s your favourite place to store your family tree?
   In my Family Historian database which is synced via Dropbox between my big (home) laptop and my little hot pink (travel) laptop. I also have my tree online at www.geniaus.net, I use the brilliant program TNG to share my data.
6. If offline, which genealogy program do you use? (do tell us its strengths/weaknesses if you like).
   In my Family Historian database. I like this program because it is so customisable and flexible, it comes out of the UK (where my ancestors came from), it uses a native gedcom format and it has super multimedia capabilities. A band of committed and experienced users have written and shared lots of widgets and addons that extend its usefulness even more. How long is a piece of string - I could go on and on about this software package.
7. How do you preserve your family stories for future generations?
   In my Family Historian database with related pictures, documents and clippings on an external hard drive (x2) and in blog posts on the Geniaus Blog.
8. Have you any special research projects on the go?
   I am so caught up trying to sort out myown family history that I haven't started any other projects. I am considering a One-Na,e study for my grandmother's maiden name Pusell but fear that I may not be able to give it the time it deserves. I am wrestling with whether I should just jump in and perhaps do a poor job or leave it. But I guess that a poor attempt is better than no attempt al all.
9. What is your favourite family history research activity?
   It's not research as such. The old adage  "once a teacher ...always a teacher" describes me. I love sharing my knowledge and passion for technology and genealogy via social media and by giving presentations online and in person. I like to talk to the living as well as the dead.
10. What is your favourite family history research place/library etc?
    There's no place like home. I love sitting in my geneacave researching, thinking, writing and sharing.
11. What is your favourite website for genealogy research?
    It's a tie for first place. I love Trove for the wealth of treasure it adds to my tree and good old Google search for the odd things it leads me to. A well-crafted search and persistence with Google will reap rewards.
12. Are you part of a Facebook genealogy group? If so which one?
    I am not a fan of Facebook but because it has such a huge user base I use it reluctantly. I belong to around a dozen Facebook Genealogy Groups that are useful but I fear for some of the advice given in  as some of the generous souls offering assistance are sometimes lacking in appropriate expertise or knowledge. 
13. Do you use webinars or podcasts for genealogy? Any tips?
    I am both a participant and host. I love being able to learn and share from the comfort of my geneacave and in my own time. My advice is give it a go - you won't break anything.
14. Do you use social media? eg Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn
    Do I use social media? I am obsessed but realise that I need a personal socila media policy so that I am not overwhelmed.I have many accounts but I use Google+ as my main social media vehicle for genealogy, I prefer to use Facebook for personal stuff but have been swept up by the hordes of genies who use it. I use Twitter to share news of events and I don't quite get Pinterest although I am trying to get a handle on it once more.
15. What genealogy topic/class have you learnt the most from this year at a webinar/conference/seminar?
    It has to be on the Unlock the Past Genealogy Cruise in February where we were exposed to a range of top international and Australian presenters. The informal learning opportunities afforded by being locked up on a ship in the middle of the ocean make this an incredible learning experience.
16. Do you have a favourite research strategy to knock down your brick walls?
    The PIP Process. Persistence, Inventiveness and Patience. Persistence - keep at it, try, try and try again. Inventiveness - harness your creative powers, think laterally to find your way around a problem. Patience - just like Snow White believed that "one day my prince will come" believe that some day you will find your answer, it make take two, ten or twenty years to find that magic sledgehammer. Hey - I just invented the PIP process - my bit of creativity for National Family History Month.
17. Have you used DNA testing for your genealogy?
    The test kits are sitting on my dressing table - must get around to it sometime. 
18. Have you made cousin connections through your DNA tests?
    Not yet!
19. Do you have a wish list of topics for NFHM 2015? 
    More online events.
    I am thinking of hosting a 12 hour GeniAus Hangout on Air event - if I can get a few genies to help out. I envisage drawing up a roster of group of genies who will talk about various topics close to their hearts with a panel who will ask questions and contribute questions just like Dear Myrtle did in her recent 24 hour Geneasleepover. Who's up for the challenge?
20. What do you most love about your family history research?
    The ancestor stories that emerge after years of personal sleuthing and collaborating with new found cousins.

My Geneacave

Bookmarks

One of my fave Edtech people, Richard Byrne this week posted an article "Tools and Strategies for Sharing Bookmarks" in response to a reader "who was looking for an alternative to Delicious for bookmarking and sharing bookmarks. .

I was surprised to see that he omitted Evernote as a tool for this purpose. Several years ago when Delicious changed hands I turned to Evernote for saving my bookmarks. Since then Evernote has taken over as my virtual memory.

I am wondering aboout other genealogists' bookmarking practices and if those who are Evernote users use some other tools to save and share bookmarks.

Incidentally you can see my two shared Evernote notebooks (that include lots of bookmarks) here:

Genealogy: https://www.evernote.com/pub/geniaus/Genealogy
Technology: https://www.evernote.com/pub/geniaus/technology

Done and Dusted

Filed away in Evernote I had a little note listing my talks for the Unlock the Past History and Genealogy Cruise that leaves Sydney on Sunday.

Before I started doing my Powerpoints I just had that list staring at me. When I made a start I wrote Started  beside the title of the talk, when I was nearly done I wrote Nearly Completed  and when I finished I wrote Completed.  

Tonight I am dancing because I have completed all but one set of slides. I like to have just enough slides to get me through if technology fails and do live demonstations of the tools I am showing. For the cruise, where internet is said to be dodgy and expensive, I have been busy doing screenshots and preparing lots of slides. Thank you Windows Snipping Tool. In addition I have finished a talk I am giving on Friday at Ku-ring-gai Historical Society and one for Hornsby Library post cruise. That's 12 Powerpoints in all.

The slides for a panel presentation will need to be finished off on board as I need to confer with the other panelists Shauna Hicks, Helen Smith and find some other poor unsuspecting person who I hope to co-opt on board.

Here is the Evernote Note of which I am so proud.

GeneaGoogling: Effective Google searches (Basic) Completed 

Google Tools for Genealogy - Completed

Social Media for Genealogists: Where, why and how - Completed

A Genealogists Toybox: Gadgets and Tech toys _ Completed

Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner and Picasa Both Completed

Family Historian Software Completed

Android Genealogy Completed

Case study: the story of a clock Completed

Google+ for Genealogy - Completed

GeneaBlogging - Completed

Chair: Social Media Panel - Started

I won't be able to avoid going back and tweaking those presentations until it's time to deliver but it is a wonderful feeling to have them all done and dusted.

Evernote - The Presenter's Pal

I have previously written how I use both Evernote and Google Docs in an effort to be an organised genealogist. As I add to my repertoire of topics for my speaking engagements I am finding that  Evernote  is the perfect tool for gathering articles, book titles, websites, cartoons and images around the topics I am or may be preparing.

Although I have been using Evernote for this purpose for a while I only realised the value of this practice when I was speaking to Alan Phillips from Unlock the Past last week. We were chatting about the topics for my talks on the 3rd Unlock the Past History & Genealogy Cruise in February next year when Alan said "Are you right to talk about xxx?"  I replied "Yes, since we mooted that topic I have been gathering resources in  Evernote  so, if you need me to speak on it I can put together a presentation."  Similarly when I submitted some proposals for Rootstech 2013 I made a concerted effort to collect resources around those topics.

If you, like me, read lots of articles each day you will find that Evernote provides a great means of organising your stuff for easy retrieval. You will always be prepared when you get an invitation to share your knowledge with others.

Family History Through the Alphabet – P is for … Images

P could be for photos or portraits but all images that genealogists collect are not photos. We collect a profusion of images that we digitise : vital records, baptismal certificates, military records of service, letters, handwritten notes, invitations, orders of service etc. Whatever you call them they create problems for people like me who are disorganised.

Are you able to retrieve an image a family member requests within a minute of being asked?

A collection of images that is not organised is like a book without an index, virtually useless if you need to retrieve something efficiently. There are evangelists around who spruik about the advantages and disadvantages of different methods of organisation; some people even part with good money to purchase books on organising ones images. You just need to find a method that suits you and stick to it.

So how do I do it? 

WARNING: this may not be the best or most efficient method but it works for me.

I treat photos and images of documents separately. There are three places where I store images:

Photos are organised using free Picasa software from Google. Stored on a portable hard drive (and backed up on another) are my 90,000+ photos. These are arranged chronologically in folders by date; earlier ones just by year, from the 1990s by year and month and from the 2000s by day. Each photo is tagged with one or more tags that describe the when, where, what and who of the image. Typical tags for a photo might be Rootstech, Salt, Lake City, 2012, Thomas MacEntee, Amy Coffin or Jill Patricia Curry, 1956, First Communion, St Vincents College Chapel, Potts Point or Restaurants, 2010, Sydney Opera House, Food and Drink (for one of my many photos of food).

When I travel the hard drive goes with me so that I can organise and tag on the go. Now that Qantas  has power outlets on planes used for international journeys I am able to use my time in the air fruitfully and arrive home with some of my stuff already organised.

Images of documents as described above are stored in folders according to my very simple Fling it in the Folder method. These are stored on the same portable hard drive as my photos (and backed up on another). Screendumps that I use in presentations are stored there in the folders I make for each presentation I prepare. Having the hard drive with me when I travel allows me to save images of new documents straight into one of  my folders once I have entered details gleaned into my Family Historian database,

Bits and Pieces found during web wandering Those images that I find interesting like genealogy cartoons I clip using the Evernote web clipper, tag them and file them away in Evernote. They may at a later date find their way into Picasa or a folder but, in the first instance, they are saved into Evernote where I can easily retrieve them.

Use whatever pleases you but if you can't put you hands on an image within a minute it's time to ponder a method that allow you to do so.

1920s images in Picasa

Clear Advice - Maybe not.

In a comment on my post, Google Docs and Evernote, Chris said "Now this is interesting. But it wasn't till you said you'd dropped Delicious in favour of Evernote that I really sat up and listened and was moved to comment!

Have been wondering what everyone raves about evernote for. Haven't had time to really dig into it and how to use it but REALLY want to move on from Delicious without losing all those filed urls. Have you got a suggestion for some good clear advice on the uses of Evernote and getting the best out of it?

Many thanks Chris".

I don't know that I am equipped to give clear advice but I will certainly expand on my use of  Evernote for Chris and anyone else who may be interested.

Firstly I have Evernote installed on four devices and I use it on each of them.

On my laptop and netbook I have installed the Evernote for Windows program which gives me the ability to have all of my notebooks accessible should I find myself without an internet connection. This application synchronises via the internet with the Evernote apps I have on my Android devices. I also have the Evernote web clipper extension installed on my Chrome browser on the two computers. Additionally I can access my Evernote notebooks by logging in to my account on the Evernote website.

On my Android phone (new Galaxy S3) and tablet (old Galaxy Tab) I installed the Evernote app from the Google playstore. Providing I have an internet connection these seem to sync whever I open them I also have the Android Dolphin Browser Evernote addon installed on my tablet (but I don't use it much).

Having Evernote available on all of my devices enables me to access my Notebooks (Folders) and Notes (files) from each of them. If I find myself devoid of a device I can log into the website from a foreign computer and see my stuff. 

Evernote's catchcry is "Rememember Everything: Capture Anything, Access Anywhere, Find Things Fast". As an avid collector of information and trivia I need help for my failing memory; my cerebral storage facility has reached capacity; Evernote provides me with the crutch that I need.

Ditching Delicious where I had several thousand links stored was not a decision I took lightly but I was aware that I had stuff stored in all sorts of places and Evernote gave me an opportunity to bring all sorts of media together in one big virtual filing cabinet.

There was no easy way to import my Delicious links into Evernote so I imported them into Google Bookmarks and am slowly evaluating whether they are as valuable as I thought when I saved them five or six years ago. Those that I deem worthy of saving I save into Evernote.

My advice (which doesn't fit into the clear department) is to play, explore and read what others who have been Evernote disciples longer then me have to say. Denise Barrett Olsen of the Moultrie Creek Gazette is a genealogist who has written quite a bit about Evernote. Other devotees are Thomas MacEntee of Hi-Definition Genealogy and Lorine McGinnis Schulze of The Olive Tree Genealogy Blog. If you can find a webinar about Evernote sign up for it and also take a look at the slides from this presentation at Rootstech 2012.

I did not start using Evernote seriously until several months after I installed it.So what have I saved into my Evernote notebooks? Lots of genealogy related bits and pieces and a few personal things. These are all tagged and some are annotated. 

My Evernote for Windows Homepage

Evernote on Android Screen Dump

Two of my notebooks,  Genealogy and Technology  (the ones with genealogy related information), are public and the others are private. 

Some of the things I have in the Genealogy notebook are web links (just like Delicious), handwritten notes to myself, pictures of books that I come across in my travels and want to remember, personal notes to myself when a thought appears (I need to grab these), articles from newspapers, .pdf files, newspaper clippngs, handouts from talks, lots of links to blogs, text from selected blog posts and screen dumps of some Twitter, Google+ and Blog posts for use in my presentations. Many people use Evernote to take notes at presentations and it is eminently suitable for this - I just happen to use Google Docs for this purpose. I haven't made my audio files public (yet).

The things in my Technology folder are similar but there are lost of links to howtos and guides to the various apps I use for genealogy purposes.

I find that because I have tagged all of these things with my terms I can retrieve them quickly. I guess I look like a bit of a Smart Alec when I whip out my smartphone to get and share details of a resource. It's not that I am smart - it is Evernote that makes me appear smart.

Google Docs and Evernote

Two of my favourite tools are Google Docs/Drive and Evernote. Just yesterday I was reflecting on my use of these products and thinking on my personal practices.. As they can be used for similar purposes I need to have a personal policy for their use or I won't know where I have put my stuff.

Firstly I thought about some sort of tool that would sync my Evernote and Google Docs stuff and I found a few. But that's not what I want; I don't need to duplicate everything I have stored in one or the other; I need to work out what to do with each of them. I considered asking people on Twitter and Google+ how they differentiated their use of these tools or if they were just loyal to one.  Then I got distracted (I'm not just tangential in genealogy) and put my pondering aside for another day.


Lo and behold, what should appear in my RSS feeds this morning but this post from educator, David Andrade, "Google Docs and Evernote – when and why I use each one". David said "I see them as two completely different tools and when used together prove a powerful combination of resources for students and teachers alike." I would add and "little old ladies who dabble in the digital world."

I looked at the way David uses the tools and compared my practice. Because of our situations my use differs from his but his post gave me a good yardstick against which to compare my practice. The major difference is that  I will take notes from presentations in Google+. I find it easy to do this then, at a later time, edit them for future reference,  publishing on the web, in print or as the basis for a blog post. 

Evernote is my way of organizing captured images and text clipped from the web, random thoughts, short notes and URLs. I share two of my notebooks, Genealogy and Technology publicly while I keep others private. I even have a couple of audio files saved. I no longer use Delicious to look after my bookmarks; Evernote does this and much more.  My private notebooks store recipes, health notes, humour, travel info, my travel bucket list and all sorts of other stuff. The powerful Evernote tagging facility means that I can easily retrieve things that I have tagged (especially useful when my memory fails me).

Like David I use Google Docs on Google Drive for writing documents and spreadsheets. I have dabbled with presentations but may use this more when I travel with my netbook that does not have Powerpoint installed on it. The ability to easily collaborate through document sharing on Google makes it a winner for me. On a personal level I have used Google spreadsheets to organise parties, travel and weddings with family members. For geenealogy purposes I have collaborated with genealogists in three other countries to prepare a Rootstech presentation. I am presently using a Google spreadsheet to maintain with the Social Media Committee a planning document for our Society blog.  I also use Google’s Gmail and calendar for organising my life. When at a conference or event I use the Google drive Android app to take notes.

That I am able to have both Evernote and Google Drive/Docs on my four devices: laptop, netbook, Android tablet and Android 'phone makes my life so much easier. And now that I have thought about how I will use each of them I should become more efficient - Hope springs eternal!

Does your practice differ from mine? I am open to ideas.

Family History Through the Alphabet – E is for …Evernote

I set up my present Delicious account in November 2008 I have saved over 7000 links to that account; the majority of these are in the subject areas of genealogy and technology. I previously had Delicious accounts when I was working in IT. Since Delicious was sold and taken over by Yahoo! I have not been impressed with some of the changes that have been made to the product and found that I was rarely using the product.

For some time I have been seeking a product that will allow me to save and catalogue (tag) my bookmarks, videos, photos, audio files and notes and access them via the internet from all of my devices and any other computer I may be using.

I downloaded Evernote to my laptop and tablet well over a year ago; I played around with the software but not in any depth. I tried Zotero, a product developed in a tertiary institution for use by students, but found that it was not as easy to access from a range of devices especially my android tablet and phone. Recently I decided to get serious about using  Evernote .

Evernote is now installed on my laptop, netbook, android tablet and android phone. I am using the free version of  Evernote  for the moment; once I become more competent in using the product I may pay for the premium version.

It was not possible to easily transfer my 7000 links from Delicious directly into Evernote and I realised that I probably did not want to keep all of those links. This presented an opportunity to do some housekeeping. Firstly I imported all of the Delicious links into Google Bookmarks and I have been slowly going through these and adding the ones I wish to keep to Evernote. Concurrently I have been saving new links and notes I make into my Evernote.

So what exactly is Evernote? This page on the Evernote site gives a much clearer explanation then I can.

To date I only have 176 notes in my eight Evernote notebooks (or as I would call them folders).  I am tagging all of these and adding annotations to some of them. I have chosen to keep most of these notebooks private but have made two: Genealogy and Technology public. Although you can see these without an Evernote account it is preferable to have an account to access more features. Hopefully the links and notes I have made will be of some use to other genealogists.

The Evernote Web Clipper on my Chrome browser allows me to save an article,a selection, a full page or just a link with a couple of mouse clicks; I am just saving either a selection which gives me information about the notes content or just a URL. I am concerned that saving a whole article constitutes some form of plagiarism. There is a collection of other add-ins and apps that can enhance your Evernote experience but, while I am on my L plates, I will concentrate on getting my bookmarks organised.

I am Excited about the possibilities Evernote offers for collaboration.

Do you have any public or shared genealogy notebooks that others can see?

I'm learning

Although I have had an Evernote account for over a year I have only gotten serious about using it recently.

I have Evernote Apps installed on four of my tech toys so that I have easy access to my notebooks from wherever I am. Rather than making learning this tool a chore I am learning on a needs basis.

Additionally I have subscribed to the Evernote Blogcast which, as well as featuring news snippets, gives tips on using Evernote. As I read the posts on this blog my confidence and competence in using this tool is growing. Following is a link to the post I learnt from today:

Quick Tip Friday: Capture Multiple Types of Media in a Single Note

Just what I need

Recently I decided to give Evernote a go. I have the app on 3 devices and am happily clipping away but that is as far as I have gone.

Apart from wishing that I could easily export my Delicious links into Evernote I haven't done much exploration.
I just read this article and have resolved to explore further.

5 Cool Features That Prove Evernote Is Still A Kick-Ass Service


Post Script
On rereading this post I realised that I have four devices - need to pop Evernote on my Android  'phone as well.