Family History Through the Alphabet – R is for …Online (Reading that is)

Every day I read news items, press releases, articles and stories about genealogy, not in books or hard copy magazines, but on my laptop, netbook, my Android phone and my Android tablet.

I read just about everywhere.On the train, in the car (preferably when Mr Geniaus is driving), in the air, at sea, in waiting rooms, in bed, while hanging on the phone waiting to talk to a real person and in the bathtub (haven't given a device a bubble bath yet).

My reading of monographs has suffered as I find that I am reading more and more short online texts and less lengthy real paper tomes.

So what do I read online?

First stop with my morning coffee is Google+, followed by a quick browse of Twitter, then it's onto Google Reader that manages my RSS feeds; I read several hundred blogs and have a few news alerts set up. Lastly I turn to Facebook, my least favoured social networking site.

I dip into Zite when I have time to see what suggestions and links it has for me. The topics I follow on Zite are  Android, Genealogy, Social Media and Technology.

For the daily news I check out the Sydney Morning Herald (not much genealogy news there) but a girl needs to keep up with the world around her.

If I have a spare few minutes I may dip into Trove. Tonight I have spent some time reading articles about my old school and I discovered some juicy bits about nuns that I will share some time on Trove Tuesday.

I am not really into ebooks preferring the smell and feel of paper for reading long texts but I do have a few digitised books saved in my Google Books account.

I use Librarything to keep track of the genealogy and other books that I read. I love the social networking aspects of this site that allows me to connect with other genealogists and see what they have in their libraries.

Whenever I have a few spare minutes I sneak in a bit of reading but do I still qualify as a bookworm?

What is the pattern of your online reading?

C'mon Aussies - Please join up

Press Release

An attempt is underway to create a Question and Answer site for genealogy on the StackExchange network. At least 200 people willing to add questions and give answers during a Beta phase are needed for the proposal to progress.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 26, 2012

Genealogists always have had questions on how to do their genealogy, how to find certain records, and whether there is any information available on the family lines they are researching. To date, there has not been one specific place they could go to ask their questions and get answers.

A new proposal for a Question and Answer site for genealogy is now underway at the StackExchange network. They are looking for genealogists interested in signing up and participating to help give the site the momentum it needs to get through the Beta phase. Once it meets the StackExchange network's required activity level, it will be added permanently onto the StackExchange network.

"This would be a Q&A site for genealogy, run independently of the interests of any genealogy company. It would be completely free for anybody to use." says Louis Kessler, one of the proponents of the proposal.

The StackExchange network current hosts 88 Q&A sites on a diverse range of topics ranging from Programming to Photography to Personal Finance to Homebrewing. 

Trove Tuesday - Eric Melville Curry

My 3rd cousin once removed was Eric Melville Curry. If it was not for Trove I would have known about young Eric's fate.

I continue to be amazed at the treasures I find on Trove.

Gramps software release

http://portableapps.com/news/2012-09-07--gramps-portable-3.4.1-released