Judy sailed in ....

....and blew us away.

The small but enthusiastic audience that gathered at SAG for the Unlock the Past Event in Sydney yesterday were winners in the genealogy stakes. Those who didn't take the opportunity to join fellow enthusiasts missed out on two exceptional talks by Judy G Russell, a chance to win some valuable prizes and an opportunity to network with genimates. I can't understand why more folk didn't attend and can only surmise that perhaps the cost or location of the event put them off.

As I entered SAG's grounds I didn't know who to say g'day to first, as quite a number of my pals were already waiting in the garden. It was beaut to see Dot who had travelled down from Narromine and Janelle and Sharon from The Central Coast. It was good to see interstate members of the Unlock the Past  team too. I won't name everyone I saw as I may forget someone.

I was pleased to see representatives from our Hornsby Shire Family History Group in attendance and  I was chuffed when one lady said she came along because she had seen my video interview with Judy at Rootstech. 

Hapy Genies at UTP event

It is rare that I lavish praise on genealogy presenters but Judy is excellence in presentation personified. She knows her subject, she looks professional and acts professionally (although we casual Aussies encouraged her to discard her jacket in the 36c heat), she oozes passion and enthusiasm, injects humour into her presentations, involves her audience : she delivers on all counts.  I am sometimes concerned at the quality of presenters that are sent down under, Judy (and a couple of others are exceptions). I do hope the organisers of our 2018 Congress consider inviting Judy (who has family connections to Australia) to be be a keynote (Hint, Hint).

Judy will be performing at two more venues in Perth and Brisbane. I suggest you get along and see her at one of them.

Judy presented two talks yesterday that encouraged me to think and inspired me to act, I was entertained into the bargain.

After this talk I feel equipped to convince family members to consent to taking DNA tests without resorting to bullying.

I thoroughly enjoyed the second talk which I had heard before. In a practical exercise with the audience Judy demonstrated how family facts and stories can disappear in just three generations. I am pleased that I blog some of my personal anecdotes and thoughts on another site but I realise that I need to do so much more. I want my grandchildren and their descendants to know their Gummy.

After these two sessions Judy skipped off with Helen Smith to explore our city. We had a break for lunch at the local sandwich shop and reconvened for the prize draw. There were several generous prizes from sponsors, I won a 75% discount off some UTP resources while Sue,  another Hornsby Shire Family History Group  member, won a subscription to MyHeritage worth over $300.

Alan Phillips (R) from UTP draws the prizes  while Paul Blake (L) prepares for his presentation.

The afternoon presentation consisted of two talks by Paul Blake, another presenter on the present Unlock the Past Cruise, who was onshore for the day. I was extremely disappointed (and have heard from a few others that they agree with me) in Paul's presentation on Irish Records. I am sure that many of those present in the audience would have done a better job with this topic. Thankfully one audience member was able to correct a couple of errors and add supplementary information.

Paul's second presentation was on a topic I know little about, The History of Photographs, so I did learn something.  My time after lunch would have been better spent on personal research.

Then it was time to network. I wandered down to The Rocks with Jenny and Lilian where we stopped off at The Argyle for some long, cold drinks and a natter before heading to The Glenmore to reunite with Judy, Helen and a few other genies for some more cool refreshment and some Aussie tucker. Although we had hoped to get a spot on the Rooftop we couldn't so we managed to score The Glenmore Lounge where we sat around a large round table to chat and dine.

And the good news is that I think Judy likes Australia so far, so she may come back.

Our dinner group minus shy Jenny who acted as photographer

Open letter to Commercial Genealogy Companies

My genimate, Kirsty Gray, has given me permission to share this letter she posted on her blog today.

I share her concern about the generous people who offer, via online groups, to do free lookups on genealogy subscription websites. I might add that those who can't afford subscriptions can make use of the free access provided at public libraries and family history societies.

Judy G Russell, in this video, eloquently explains why this sharing is illegal.

Open letter to Commercial Genealogy Companies

To whom it may concern:

I am writing today in the hope that you can take action over a very important issue. As a subscription-based service provider, your company has invested time and money digitising, transcribing and indexing records for the benefit of those of us who are keen (whether it be amateur or professional) family historians. We – a large proportion of the genealogical community – very much appreciate and value the work your companies are doing on our behalf to make more recordsavailable to us online (whilst continuing to enjoy the times when we have to ‘get our hands dirty’ with original documents and sources which are not available on our new-fangled gizmos). The rate at which you are adding resources is simply staggering and well worth the subscription fees we pay to access these records.

However, some people appear to have access of these records we pay for, without paying. How, you may ask? And you would be right to ask….! Do these characters have clever ways of hacking into your sites without paying? Are there flaws in your security systems? No and no.

These individuals are far from clever. They neither value nor respect the work that you are doing for the genealogical community and consider it their right to have free access to what they want. I wonder – would they expect to have a case heard in court, be represented by a solicitor and pay nothing? I am sure their plumbing and heating engineer would not turn up, fix their boiler and walk away without being paid. So, why is your service any different?

It isn’t. You have terms and conditions, fair usage policies, copyright restrictions and more, all available on your websites. Recently, two of The In-Depth Genealogist team interviewed Jill Ball, Judy G. Russell and I about exactly this topic. We expressed our concerns about Facebook groups offering look-ups from your websites and today, a vocal few tried to educate members of one Facebook group about the T&Cs they signed up to when they paid for their membership. It was clear that our comments were not welcomed by certain members of the group and a few individuals appear to think that they are ‘providing a service’ to the genealogical community by giving others free access. An interesting perspective when they are breaching the conditions of use…. When these individuals were politely directed to these conditions, they seemed to think that the appropriate course of action was not to read the conditions and consider their obligations, but to criticise the people who were trying to assist in the group, before removing their posts and then blocking the vocal members of the community.

The problem is, my dear Commercial Genealogy Company, that none of you jump up and down and do anything about these breaches. OK. I get it. You want all the genealogists to use your websites. You want us all to be your friends out here in genie-land. BUT, you are losing revenue because these individuals are providing copies of your records to others for free. If you banned a handful of people for ‘misuse of their subscription’ (or whatever you want to call it) and named and shamed them, more people would use your sites because they can no longer get what they want for nothing.

We – the respectful genealogical population – are trying to support you out here. I would urge you to get your moles out as well as listen to and act on the issues reported by the community. Join these Facebook groups and flush out the people/group who are breaking your rules. If you don’t, we will all suffer and the only winners in this game will be these who are getting their research done for nought.

Yours sincerely, A Seriously Concerned Genealogist.

Judy's Next Adventure

Unavoidable circumstances at Rootstech 2015 got in the way of my planned interview with Judy G Russell, The Legal Genealogist. Judy, a very gracious lady, offered to do an interview with me at a later date. I chose Rootstech 2016 and conducted the interview earlier this week.

Judy, who is one of the best known genealogists in the United States is heading downunder shortly to speak on a genealogy cruise, undertake a lecture tour and explore our beautiful area.

I invited fellow Rootstech Ambassador, Sharn White, to join me in the interview with Judy. Our only disappointment was that we were only given eight minutes to chat. Fortunately during the conference we had several other opportunities to speak with Judy. People in Australia and New Zealand will have a chance to hear Judy speak in several major cities.

This video should whet your appetite.

The Book of Me - Getting back on the bike

I have fallen disastrously behind with my entries in The Book of Me Blogging Challenge but I am determined to get back on my bike and catch up.

To that end I am entering all of the prompts I have missed into Blogger as drafts and I hope that I can catch up with them over the coming months.

Today's prompt on Technology is right up my alley so it will be a good place to rejoin my Book of Me Journey.

Judy Russell in her superb keynote addres at the recent Rootstech Conference emphasized the importance or recording our personal history for future generations. Watching Judy's presentation online from my cruise ship gave me a bit of a wake up call and reminded me to get back into blogging my stories.  The Book of Me activity devised by Julie Goucher gives one such an opportunity.

It's never too late to commence this activity so how about joining in and sharing your trips down memory lane?