At Mosman Library tonight Yahoo's Morgan Williams presented a talk on Flickr with an emphasis on Flickr Commoms and potential use of the site for family and local history. (How anyone can be expected to give a presentation on a Web2.0 application without internet access is beyond belief. When a while ago I attended a presentation on blogging at the same venue there was also no internet access.) Addendum 1/8/2010) Apologies to Mosman Council - apparently the speaker declined the offer of wireless access - SHAME!
Morgan did a reasonable job with only a Powerpoint style presentation with screen dumps of Flickr pages.Demonstrating a collaborative tool without being able to collaborate is a challenge. The promotional gifts of tshirts, badges,stickers and lens cleaners were gleefully accepted by the audience.
Williams suggests that Flickr is the best photo site in the world with 51 million registered members and 4 billion images stored ont the site. Flickr he he says is about "engaging community" through photo sharing.
Institutions like the Library of Congress and the Powerhouse Museum have photo collections on Flickr that can be accessed and used by the Public through Creative Commons Licences. Williams commended Mosman Library for posting photos to a collection on Flickr and suggetsed that other libraries could us volunteers to help them use Flickr to share photos from their collections.
Williams talked about how he and his father are putting photos from the 18th and 19th centuries into a Williams Commons collection. He suggests that Flickr is a solid platform for genealogists to use for photo sharing.
I had not thought of Flickr as a genealogy resource but while Williams was talking I logged into Flickr Mobile on my phone and searched for photos of a few places that are significant in my family history. I found some wondeful images of Cobar, NSW and St Mary's Church, Waverley. I have previously restricted my searches for historical Australian images to library and archives sites such as Picture Australia.Now I have a new source.
I am writing this on my phone and don't have wifi on my camera so can't upload photos with this post. I will do so once I get home.
Although I have bagged Mosman Council and library I commend them for hosting these free informative sessions and for their work in using IT to connect with the community. With provision of appropriate technology they would be excellent.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
[Poster] Common Passwords You Should Avoid
From one of my favourite blogs Digital Inspiration - Technology Blog
[Poster] Common Passwords You Should Avoid: "
[Poster] Common Passwords You Should Avoid: "
This poster has a list of top 500 common passwords that you should absolutely avoid using with your online and offline accounts.
A printed version of the password poster is available on Etsy. Thanks @BrainPicker.
Related: Calculate the Strength of your Passwords Online
[Poster] Common Passwords You Should Avoid
Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
If you could only have six.....
In our connected world we are inundated with Hardware, Software and Social Media Tools. A recent post by Shauna Hicks asked " Can you do genealogy without technology?" I think one can do this but think genealogists who ignore technology are at risk of missing out on important news, resources and networking opportunities.
In his Blue Skunk Blog this morning Doug Johnson reports on an article by Tim Holt. Tim says "I think that the overwhelming volume of it causes a “paralysis of choice” where those that are trying to become techno-literate teachers throw up their hands in disgust and just say “too much!” The same holds true for genealogists and family historians who are trying to be techno-literate. Tim suggests pruning down the list of websites and gadgets we use to six essential websites and two gadgets.
This challenge is of the same flavour as the one proposed by Elyse on Elyse's Genealogy Blog
but is more restrictive. As I answered Elyse's challenge with a list of two-legged human tools I will cover my techno toys by responding to Tim's challenge"
"So, could you do it? Six websites and 2 gadgets?"
Here's my contribution:
Websites
1. Google Browser - it will take me most places I want to go.
2. Google Reader - it keeps me up to date with genealogy and other news plus allows me access to my Twitter and Facebook RSS feeds.
3. Gmail - for keeping in touch with friends and family and having access to their details
4. Picasa - for photo sharing, cataloguing and storing
5. Sharethis - so I can post straight to multiple social networks and my blog - no need to directly access Blogger, Delicious, Twitter, Posterous, Wordpress and Facebook.
6. Geniaus Website - so I can continue to add details to my family tree.
Gadgets
1. My HTC TouchPro2 phone - for access away from home and capturing photos and images of documents..
2. My laptop with integrated webcam for home.
In his Blue Skunk Blog this morning Doug Johnson reports on an article by Tim Holt. Tim says "I think that the overwhelming volume of it causes a “paralysis of choice” where those that are trying to become techno-literate teachers throw up their hands in disgust and just say “too much!” The same holds true for genealogists and family historians who are trying to be techno-literate. Tim suggests pruning down the list of websites and gadgets we use to six essential websites and two gadgets.
This challenge is of the same flavour as the one proposed by Elyse on Elyse's Genealogy Blog
but is more restrictive. As I answered Elyse's challenge with a list of two-legged human tools I will cover my techno toys by responding to Tim's challenge"
"So, could you do it? Six websites and 2 gadgets?"
Here's my contribution:
Websites
1. Google Browser - it will take me most places I want to go.
2. Google Reader - it keeps me up to date with genealogy and other news plus allows me access to my Twitter and Facebook RSS feeds.
3. Gmail - for keeping in touch with friends and family and having access to their details
4. Picasa - for photo sharing, cataloguing and storing
5. Sharethis - so I can post straight to multiple social networks and my blog - no need to directly access Blogger, Delicious, Twitter, Posterous, Wordpress and Facebook.
6. Geniaus Website - so I can continue to add details to my family tree.
Gadgets
1. My HTC TouchPro2 phone - for access away from home and capturing photos and images of documents..
2. My laptop with integrated webcam for home.
Monday, July 26, 2010
10 things I can’t live without to support my genealogy addiction
Via My Family History Research, Genealogy Leftovers and Elyse's Genealogy Blog came notification of this meme created by Elyse. "The goal is to write a list of ten things related to genealogy that you can't do without."
Whilst I am a technology addict, I recognise that without people there is no point to genealogy.
Here is the Geniaus list:
1. My Ancestors who provide the Births, Deaths and Marriages that provide the scaffold for my research and the juicy stories, feded old photos and interesting anecdotes that add interest to that scaffold.
2. My Family and Descendants who provide a purpose for my research. I am trying to record our history for future generations.
3. My Patient Husband who turns a blind to the dust on the furniture and pile of ironing that waits for me as I ignore these for my genealogy habit.
There is no particular order to the remainder of this list - as my needs change so does the importance of the persons detailed from here on.
3. The many Distant Cousins who have contacted me via online forums and the Geniaus website to say hello, offer corrections to my sometimes inaccurate date and generously share photos, certificates and stories.
4. Generous Volunteers who over the years have done lookups for me and given guidance when I have visited genealogical societies throughout the world.
5. Staff of Libraries and Archives Offices who have patiently assisted me with my research.
6. People who read and comment on my blog and website and send compliments via email and Twitter give me positive reinfocement that encourages me to keep solving my genealogical jigsaw.
7. Volunteer Indexers eg those who do work for Ryerson and FamilySearch and those who index cemeteries and photograph headstones provide me with the means to access to many valuable and appropriate resources.
8. My Online Genie Friends who, through a range of tools such as blogs, twitter, wave, provide blogging ideas, encouragement, links to great new resources,great stories and encouragement.
9. Decision Makers at The National Library of Australia who have a commitment to providing important Australian Resources in an online format. Trove is the most amazing free online resource for genealogical research.
10. The many Registered Members of Trove who are making corrections to the scanned text to better improve access by other users. Whilst I have only corrected 890 rows of text there are 4 volunteers who have done over 4000,000 rows each and are headling for the half million.
Whilst I am a technology addict, I recognise that without people there is no point to genealogy.
Here is the Geniaus list:
1. My Ancestors who provide the Births, Deaths and Marriages that provide the scaffold for my research and the juicy stories, feded old photos and interesting anecdotes that add interest to that scaffold.
2. My Family and Descendants who provide a purpose for my research. I am trying to record our history for future generations.
3. My Patient Husband who turns a blind to the dust on the furniture and pile of ironing that waits for me as I ignore these for my genealogy habit.
There is no particular order to the remainder of this list - as my needs change so does the importance of the persons detailed from here on.
3. The many Distant Cousins who have contacted me via online forums and the Geniaus website to say hello, offer corrections to my sometimes inaccurate date and generously share photos, certificates and stories.
4. Generous Volunteers who over the years have done lookups for me and given guidance when I have visited genealogical societies throughout the world.
5. Staff of Libraries and Archives Offices who have patiently assisted me with my research.
6. People who read and comment on my blog and website and send compliments via email and Twitter give me positive reinfocement that encourages me to keep solving my genealogical jigsaw.
7. Volunteer Indexers eg those who do work for Ryerson and FamilySearch and those who index cemeteries and photograph headstones provide me with the means to access to many valuable and appropriate resources.
8. My Online Genie Friends who, through a range of tools such as blogs, twitter, wave, provide blogging ideas, encouragement, links to great new resources,great stories and encouragement.
9. Decision Makers at The National Library of Australia who have a commitment to providing important Australian Resources in an online format. Trove is the most amazing free online resource for genealogical research.
10. The many Registered Members of Trove who are making corrections to the scanned text to better improve access by other users. Whilst I have only corrected 890 rows of text there are 4 volunteers who have done over 4000,000 rows each and are headling for the half million.
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