Day 2 - RootsTech 2014

Yesterday, I only had time to view only one session, and it was entitled “Tweets, Links, Pins, and Posts: Break Down Genealogical Brick Walls with Social Media” by Lisa Alzo.

Lisa was her usual friendly self as she led us through the world of social media, and told us of her life as a writer of genealogy.

I got the impression that sometimes she was harried by all of the things that are out there these days as far as social media is concerned, but she said that if we pick two or three platforms to work with, we will become more comfortable to work with them.

For myself, the three platforms that I use are blogs, Goggle+ Hangouts On Air, and Facebook.

So what do you use?  

Today, I will watch two sessions, and they are -

At 3:00 p.m. EST, “Information Overload: Managing Online Searches and Their Results” by Josh Taylor.

At 8:00 p.m. EST, “Five Ways to Do Genealogy in Your Sleep” by Deborah Gamble.

Remember, you can always watch these at a later date because they will be posted on the RootsTech website after the conference ends today at https://rootstech.org.

If you would like to read about the talks given yesterday, there are handouts available online at https://rootstech.org/about/syllabus-materials

And even though I’m not there in person, it’s still great to be able to participate from afar!

So, Happy Viewing to all, and thank you, RootsTech, for making this possible!

Elizabeth Lapointe

genealogycanada@aol.com

Day 1 – RootsTech 2014

Thursday, I listened to two live-streaming sessions from RootsTech, and one Google+ Hand Out on Air on YouTube.

The first thing I watched at 12:30 p.m. EST was “Top 10 Things I Learned About My Family From My Couch” by Tammy Hepps.

What a delightful story she had to tell of doing research from her couch. She was entertaining, energetic, and full of enthusiasm as she told us about the ancestry trip she took from her couch via the research facilities she visited online.

Then, 3:00 p.m. EST, I watched Rob Tanner’s “FamilySearch Family Tree: What’s New and What’s Next”.

I never miss his talks because they are about FamilySearch, and I am always interested to hear what he has to say. And, they are humourous.

One interesting thing he mentioned was that 80% of the information that a person submits to family trees is already there. There is duplication! It is getting better, but it is still problem.

The last thing I watched at 4:30 p.m. EST was Dear Myrt’s “Google Hangouts 101a: The Panelist's View”, where she took a computer class through the “how-tos” on producing a video on-air. She had helpers - Cousin Russ was there, along with her friends, Barry Kline and Jenny Lanctot.

If you would like to read about the talks given yesterday, there are handouts available online at https://rootstech.org/about/syllabus-materials.

Today, I won’t have as much time to watch as many sessions, but one session I will be watching will be at 3:00 p.m. EST, when I will watch “Tweets, Links, Pins, and Posts: Break Down Genealogical Brick Walls with Social Media”, given by my friend, Lisa Alzo.

 

One thing I did notice was that the keynote speakers are not being live-streamed this year. So we won’t be hearing first-hand (except through bloggers and interviews) what to expect insofar as the latest developments in family history.

One blogger you may want to follow is M. Diane Rogers. She writes the popular CanadaGenealogy blog, and she is at RootsTech.

The blog is at http://canadagenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/02/rootstech-2014-first-day.html

Elizabeth Lapointe

genealogycanada@aol.com

Site Launch: new version of the IslandNewspapers.ca

A message from Mark Leggott, University Librarian/Privacy and Copyright Officer, University of Prince Edward Island, will launch a new version of the IslandNewspapers.ca site, which features a new interface and all of The Charlottetown Guardian issues from 1892-1957.

The launch will take place on Tuesday February 11th in the Art Gallery at the Confederation Centre Art Galley and Museum (Grafton Street Entrance) in downtown Charlottetown, with a start time of 2:00 PM.

You can get a sneak peek at http://islandnewspapers.ca/

15 sessions will be live streamed from RootsTech 2014

The conference starts today, and here are the sessions (All the times are MST)

Thursday, Feb. 6 

10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. “Top 10 Things I Learned About My Family from My Couch,” by Tammy Hepps

1 p.m. to 2 p.m. “FamilySearch Family Tree: What’s New and What’s Next,” by Ron Tanner; 

2:30 to 3:30 p.m. “Intro to DNA for Genealogists,” by James Rader

 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. “Genealogy in the Cloud,” by Randy Hoffman 

5 p.m. to 6 p.m. “Sharing Your Family with Multimedia,” by Michael LeClerc. 

Friday, Feb. 7

10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. “Storytelling Super Powers: How to Come Off as Your Family’s Genealogy Hero,” by David Adelman

1 p.m.to 2 p.m. “Tweets, Links, Pins, and Posts: Break Down Genealogical Brick Walls with Social Media,” by Lisa Alzo

2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. “Getting the Most Out of Ancestry.com,” by Crista Cowen

4 to 5 p.m. “Finding Family and Ancestors Outside the USA with New Technologies” by Daniel Horowitz

5 p.m. to 6 p.m. “Do It Yourself Photo Restoration,” by Ancestry Insider.

Saturday, Feb. 8

10:30 to 11:30 a.m., “Become an iPad Power User,” by Lisa Louise Cooke

1 p.m. to 2 p.m. “Information Overload: Managing Online Searches and Their Results,” by Josh Taylor

2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. “A Beginner’s Guide to Going Paperless,” by Randy Whited

4 p.m. to 5 p.m. “How to Interview Yourself for a Personal History,” by Tom Taylor

5 p.m. to 6 p.m. “Five Ways to Do Genealogy in Your Sleep,” by Deborah Gamble.

And while watching Mondays With Myrt on her Google+ Hangout this past Monday, I saw Diane Rogers from the British Columbia Genealogical Society in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City with Dear Myrt and Diane was taking about one of her research passions – women in genealogy.

You can go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCeEfWeUWPc to see Diane with Dear Myrt.

So it looks like we are getting off to a fantastic start!

Valentine’s Day Special!!!

GlobalGenealogy in Toronto has just announced that from now until February 14, 2014, they will remove shipping charges from all orders of $35.00 or more ($35.00 or more in product, not including taxes, etc).

Includes shipments to Canada & USA (excluding Hawaii and Alaska).

Free Shipping is via Expedited Parcel Service!

The website is www.GlobalGenealogy.com

Travels with My Aunt: Adventures in Europe 1914

The British Isles Family history Society of Great Ottawa in Ottawa, Ontario will hold its monthly meeting on Saturday February the 8th.

The following is the schedule of the meeting -

9:00 a.m. — Before BIFHSGO Education Talk — Bob McDonald will discuss Gaelic naming customs and their relation to the Gaelic language, the oldest literary language in Northern Europe and once widely spoken in Canada.

9:30 a.m. — Browse our Discovery Tables for WWI and Merchant Marine items, hosted by Barbara Tose.

10:00 a.m. — Travels with My Aunt: Adventures in Europe 1914 —Barbara Tose marks the 100th anniversary of her great-grand aunt Nellie Miller's 30-page letter to her brother that is a fascinating tale of events, society, and adventure in 1914. Nellie was a nurse superintendent at the Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay, Ontario, who joined the J.L. Hughes party for a tour of Britain and Europe.

I have heard Barbara talk before, and she is an engaging speaker.

If you would like to listen to an interview with her about her talk, go to http://www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=106

The meeting takes place at Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa. Free parking is available in the lots east of the building only on Saturday and Sunday. Do not use the lot west of the building.

Open to members and visitors. Free admission.

The website is http://www.bifhsgo.ca/

Canadian Week in Review 03 February 2014

I have come across the following Canadian websites, social media websites, and newspaper articles this past week that were of interest to me, and I thought you might be interested in them, too

Websites

Up To Rawdon http://uptorawdon.com/ Daniel Parkinson has updated his two book set. To see the 29 pages of updates, please go to http://www.uptorawdon.com/0-addendum.pdf

Social Media

No new blogs this week.

News Articles

Funding to help save community's http://www.highrivertimes.com/2014/01/27/provincial-funding-to-help-save-communitys-heritage-sites Heather Klimchuk, Alberta Minister of Culture announced $12-million in funding on Jan. 27 at the Museum of the Highwood. She said that these funds will be used ”to protect historical buildings, museums and archives and archeological and palaeontological sites”

War memorial to be added to Saskatoon’s River Landing  http://metronews.ca/news/saskatoon/924502/war-memorial-to-be-added-to-river-landing/ River Landing could soon be home to a new war memorial honouring the contributions of First Nations and ally soldiers in the War of 1812.

Neanderthal DNA hides in genes dictating our hair, skin
Researcher 'quite proud' of his above-average 2.9% Neanderthal genome http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/neanderthal-dna-hides-in-genes-dictating-our-hair-skin-1.2515871 Scientists say that skin and hair of modern man could be as much as 70 per cent Neanderthal

Story of the Week



In a message from His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, on the Occasion of Black History Month, he remind us “Black History Month serves a two-fold purpose: to look back on the achievements and contributions of Black Canadians; and to acknowledge that Black history is Canadian history-inextricably linked to every citizen across the land and essential to Canada's future”.

In December 1995, the Canadian House of Commons officially recognized February as Black History Month. The motion introduced by the first black Canadian woman elected to Parliament, the Honourable Jean Augustine. The motion was carried unanimously by the House of Commons, and the Senate ratified a similar motion by Senator Donald Oliver in 2008

To this end, Canada Post had issued two stamps – one to Africville, a black community in north-end of Halifax and Hogan’s Alley was the unofficial name of a four-block-long dirt lane that formed the nucleus of Vancouver’s – first concentrated African-Canadian community in British Columbia.

To read more about Canadian Back Heritage month, go to http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/multiculturalism/black/index.asp

Reminder: Check the Canadian Week in Review next Monday for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada. It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in country! The next post will be on 10 February 2014.

FootsSteps of the Past

Kim Mills, a fellow blogger and writer—she also wrote Organizing Digital Files, a how-to article for the latest edition of Chinook (the journal of the Alberta Family Histories Society)—has a blog called FootsSteps of the Past at http://footstepspast.blogspot.com

In her blog, she mentions researching the following surnames –

• Anderson & Andersson
• Badgerow
• Churchyard
• Colgan
• Ferrier
• Gallant
• Gardiner
• Gibson
• Grummett
• Hazard
• Hazlett & Haslett
• Kane
• Kuhn
• Laws & Lawes
• Mills
• Mört
• Puddington
• Robichaud
• Robinson
• Schuler
• Smith (Irish from County Tyrone)
• Spitz
• Stinson

Her main areas of research are –

Canada

• New Brunswick
• Ontario
• Prince Edward Island 

US

• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• New York
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island

Countries

• Germany (Baden)
• Ireland
• Scotland
• Sweden

She also has a blog called Homestead Acres at www.homestead-acres.com, and she has vlogs and videos at www.youtube.com/homesteadacres where she talks about the “homesteading lifestyle”.