Bloggers a plenty at Congress_2018

In a comment on my recent post my Canadian genimate Louis Kessler remarked "I think you're showing the highest ratio of bloggers to attendees of any genealogy conference, anywhere, and that includes RootsTech. Lot's of bloggers Down Under!"

And I think Louis is right. Pre-Congress I asked bloggers attending to register on a Google sheet so we could organise distribution of Blogger beads. Fifty-five bloggers attending Congress put their name on the list while several bloggers that I know were at Congress including Judy G Russell, Lisa Louise Cooke, Paul Milner, Lee-Anne Hamilton, Martyn Killion, and Carole Riley weren't on the list, there may have been others. While at Congress three new bloggers penned their first posts. That brings the total of geneabloggers at Congress to at least  61. There were 620 genies registered for Congress so nearly 10% of the attendees were genealogy bloggers. 

One of the benefits of creating that bloggers list was that I found a few new Aussie bloggers to add to my RSS feed.

 I organised a photo call for the bloggers at 1:00pm on the last day of Congress. Unfortunately I had taken ill so missed the photo. Those who gathered for the photo were a little keen so they took the pictures a few minutes early which meant that some bloggers including my mate Pauleen Cass missed the shoot. 

I was going to neatly paste photos of Pauleen and me into the group photo shared with me by Lilian Magill but when I saw the empty foreground that was in the picture I had second thoughts and plonked an old pic of Pauleen (my co-admin on the Genimates at Congress FB Group)  and me up front and centre. Cheeky!

Geneablogging is certainly thriving downunder.

Which software to use?

Whenever I am asked a question about which software to use I refer my genimates to Louis Kessler's website GenSoftReviews. Following is his annual report on top rated genealogy software for 2017. I'm pleased to see that the packages I use, Family Historian and TNG (The next generation) are in the top 25 list.

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GenSoftReviews.com is where users go to rate and review their genealogy software. The site lists almost 1,000 programs, and users have contributed over 4,800 program reviews and ratings since the site opened in 2008.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 1, 2018

The 9th annual Users Choice Awards have been tabulated and awarded at the GenSoftReviews website.

During 2017, 82 of the nearly 1,000 programs listed received 535 reviews. Along with the review, users rated the programs from 1 to 5 star, with 5 being best.  Programs that received at least one review in 2017 with 10 or more all-time reviews that achieved a user rating of at least 4.00 out of 5 receive a GenSoftReviews User Choice Award for 2017. The award reflects that the program is well-liked by its users.

The 25 programs awarded a GenSoftReview Users Choice Award as a Top Rated Genealogy Software for 2017 are:

• 13 Windows programs: Family Historian, Ahnenblatt, Personal Ancestral File, Family Book Creator, Ancestral Quest, Generations, Brother’s Keeper, RootsMagic, The Master Genealogist, Relatively Yours, Family Tree Builder, Family Tree Maker (up to Version 16), and Ages!  
• 3 Mac programs: iFamily for Mac, Heredis for Mac, and Reunion
• 4 programs built for Windows, Mac and Unix:  Evidentia, Ancestris, Familienbande, and GenealogyJ
• 5 Online programs: Famberry, The Next Generation, Genealogie Online, webtrees, and MyHeritage
• 0 Handheld programs.

The top program for 2017 was Evidentia, a program that helps you analyze evidence. Evidentia had an almost perfect user rating of 4.98 out of 5 based on 14 reviews. iFamily for Mac, a full-featured genealogy program for the Mac, was second at 4.95 out of 5 also on 14 ratings. And the online program Famberry was third with 4.94 out of 5 from 61 ratings.

New to the list of winners for 2017 was Ancestris, a free full-featured program from France. Ancestris received 8 reviews in 2017 bringing it to 12 reviews in total and making it eligible for the first time. Ancestris placed fourth overall with a 4.92 out of 5 rating.

Heredis for Mac rejoined the winners in 2017 after previously having won from 2012 to 2015. It dropped off the list in 2016 because it did not have any reviews in that year.

Winners in 2016 that dropped off the list this year include GenSmarts and Aldfaer which did not have any reviews in 2017, as well as Clooz and Heredis for PC whose overall rating dropped below 4.00 in 2017.

Several unsupported programs are still thought of highly enough by their users that they won an award in 2017. These include: Personal Ancestral File, Generations, The Master Genealogist, Relatively Yours, and Family Tree Maker up to Version 16.

Six programs have been GenSoftReviews User Choice Award winners every year since the awards began in 2009. They are: Personal Ancestral File, The Next Generation, Brother’s Keeper, RootsMagic, Family Tree Builder and Reunion.

GenSoftReviews uses a time-weighted average score. The weight of every user rating is reduced 50% every year, so newer opinions will be better reflected in the overall average score.

GenSoftReviews was created to be a site, somewhat like TripAdvisor for travelers, where genealogists can go to express their feelings about the genealogy software that they’ve used and tried. The reviews and ratings will likely help other genealogists who are looking for new software. It is hoped the developers of the programs also will see and use the reviews at GenSoftReviews to improve their programs.

For more information and a complete listing of current and past winners, see the Users Choice Award Winners page at GenSoftReviews.

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About Louis Kessler

Louis Kessler has been a genealogist, lecturer and programmer for over 40 years. He developed and runs the GenSoftReviews site. He is also the author of the genealogy programs Behold and GEDCOM File Finder available at www.beholdgenealogy.com, as well as the DNA analysis program Double Match Triangulator available at www.doublematchtriangulator.com

My Rootstech Tech

Saturday 5 February, Salt Lake City.

I am in awe of Louis Kessler who described in his My Rootstech Tech post the technology he is bringing to Rootstech.

As one who could never be accused of travelling light I have brought a swag of essential (!) technology to Rootstech. I am congratulating myself that I left my big camera and my tablet at home.

I need a space where I can concentrate away from the hustle and bustle of the media hub at the conference which I will be sharing with around 80 Ambassadors (it's going to be a tight squeeze). Luckily my hotel is just a zebra crossing away from the conference venue so I will be able to escape to my Rootstech. Office.

I've unpacked my tech (and some paper, pencils and pens) and am set up for a busy week. I wouldn't mind taking the comfy chair home with me but my bag isn't that BIG.

The Rootstech Geneadesk

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

Social Media Panel

I am so cranky with myself.

I didn't think to record the audio from the Social Media Panel I moderated on the 3rd Unlock the Past Genealogy Cruise so  I have no record (apart from my dottery memory) of the responses that were made to the questions I posed.

I couldn't have wished for better panelists than Shauna Hicks, Louis Kessler, Helen Smith and Alona Tester who shared their thoughts and opinions with the disappointingly small audience we had for this session. Because of the panelists' contributions and the differnet format this was one of the best sessions on the cruise program (IMHO). Quite a few who were there asked if can it be repeated in 2014.

L-R Louis, Shauna, Alona, Helen

In the meantime I have realised that the questions I posed would make a good little Geneameme so I will  get around to posting that soon and hope to hear how you would answer the questions.

Behold software developer in Sydney

Louis Kessler, the man behind Behold Genealogy software is heading downunder. He will be joining the Unlock the Past 3rd History and Genealogy Cruise from Sydney next Sunday. I look forward to catching up with Louis on the cruise if not before. I have looked at the topics of Louis' seven talks and am keen to hear some of them. You can see a full list of his topics on his blog here.

On a blog post written just a few hours ago Louis had indicated that he will be arriving in Sydney on Tuesday and that he would love to catch up with users of Behold software before the cruise. Head over to his blog to see where to find Louis in Sydney.