Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Genealogy Journal Monday, October 19, 2009


Monday was very busy overall with lots of writing - which I love!
  • Went through all the genealogy and technology blogs in my Google Reader first thing in the morning and throughout the day.  Made sure any Madness Monday posts were tagged.
  • Put up several posts over at GeneaBloggers including one on how to burn a feed using FeedBurner and one on the Winter 2009 Cookbook.  
  • The cookbook project generated some excitement over on Twitter - I think these types of collaborative projects are important.  They help give focus on a concept for some bloggers and allows them to share their family traditions and stories.  I need to figure out the best format for both a) submitting recipes/photos/stories and b) publishing the finished product.  One idea is to have genealogy bloggers post the recipe and backstory on their own blog and then submit them. This would give their post exposure now and when the book is published.  But posting now might also "give away" too much and not make the cookbook seem as exciting.  Still pondering.
  • Received an exciting offer from a vendor and it looks like GeneaBloggers will have a neat Data Backup Day contest on November 1, 2009! Need to post about this soon.
  • Facebook suddenly - and with little warning - redesigned the Group pages which impacts the GeneaBloggers on Facebook group.  Posted about this at GeneaBloggers and I really think the changes are for the better.  I really like that they've included the Wall concept as opposed to Discussion Topics.
  • Worked on Google Wave with a few people including Amy Coffin, Paula Hinkel and Tamura Jones. Not getting the hang of it yet and I can't just wrap my head around possible genealogy uses.  My fear is it appears too "techie" for the average genealogist.  I did send out all my remaining Google Wave invites - I knew I never should have mentioned I was sitting on seven of them over at Twitter.
  • Read Chapters 2 and 8 in the Professional Genealogy book for my ProGen 4 assignment.  Now need to do the homework and post the files before October 31st.
  • Finally, summarized my research for this pro bono project for a friend with Jewish roots.  I enjoyed the opportunity and while I was able to locate and verify 30 different documents, I could only find one of his great-grandparents so far.  I seem to have hit a stopping point which will require using non-online resources.  Still, I summarized my progress so far and sent it on.
A full day indeed!  Looking forward to more genealogy work/fun on Tuesday!

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

1 comment:

Amy Coffin said...

I knew your Google Wave invite announcement on Twitter would cause a stir, lol.