Follow Friday Newsletter: 15 July 2011

This Week in Genealogy Blogging

Amen, amen, amen

Kerry Scott at Clue Wagon gives us “5 Reasons You Should Join the National Genealogical Society.” Amen and then some.


The 1977 Blackout

The Brooklyn Historical Blog has a couple of wonderful posts on the New York blackout of 1977: “July 11th-July 14th 1977: The Week a Little Girl was Born in Flatbush, Brooklyn and the Lights Went Out Across NYC: By Chantal Valencia Lawrence” and “The 1977 Blackout.” I wasn’t there, but my husband was.


Some informative posts on Google+

Tamura Jones at Modern Software Experience provides some detailed impressions of the features of Google+ and how they differ from Facebook in “Google+.”

At the Jewish Ginger Genealogist, Banai compares and contrasts Google+, Facebook, and Twitter in “Google+ vs Facebook vs Twitter - 10 Things.” I’m hoping Google+ leaves out the games. Banai follows this up with “Google+ - What’s Missing.”

In “Some Google Plus Commentary,” Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings lists relevant posts, comments on what it is like to use Google+, and cites some of its advantages over Facebook.

At Genealogy by Ginger’s Blog, Ginger Smith lists some good posts on Google+ and adds her own observations in “Google+ ... Geneabloggers are All Abuzz.”

At TransylvanianDutch John Newmark makes some interesting predictions about the future of his participation in Google+ and Facebook in “Who Will Google Kill This Time?”

In “Hanging Out With Google,” Heather Rojo at Nutfield Genealogy gives an in-depth description of her experience hosting a Hangout at Google+: what worked and for whom and what didn’t.


A well-developed idea

At Stardust ‘n’ Roots, Bart “GeneaPopPop" has a thoughtful “list post” on “The Eight Stages of My Genealogical Development.” I think his description is spot on!


A fascinating film

Over at Shades of the Departed, catch the full-length “A Trip Down Market Street,” film footage taken just days before the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and read about the research that was able to date the film in “Historic Market Street 1906.”


Paying for free stuff

In “Case Study: Ancestry’s paid and FamilySearch’s open access book images match - WHY?” DearMyrtle presents the smoking gun - smoking images? - pointing to Ancestry’s use of source images that are free elsewhere as part of their “available to paid subscribers only” service, and although there are other possible explanations, Ancestry’s source description doesn’t help their case.


An article on genealogy that quotes Popper

Yeah, Karl Popper. It’s “Genealogy and Science” at J. H. Fonkert’s Four Generations Genealogy. Fonkert believes the question should be not so much what genealogy is as what methods genealogy uses.


An irresistible contest

Not so much for the prize offered, but for the challenge. Check out “Who’s That Girl?” at Maureen Taylor’s Photo Detective. I can’t wait to see what Maureen will come up with.


A word of warning!

“Is that obituary totally factual?” is the question Paula Stuart-Warren at Paula’s Genealogical Eclectica recommends we ask ourselves when we use obituaries as sources of information - and she lists the possible sources of misinformation.


Eye-candy for the genealogist

Wendy Brittain at Shaking Leaves: My Adventures in Genealogy has found lots of ancestor information and some amazing plat maps on Ancestry - I know you map-heads out there are already geeking out - check it out in “Those Places Thursday: Mapping my Family in Marion County, Alabama.”


Great advice

At Genea-Musings, Randy Seaver posts “My Research Problem Solution Advice” - his answer to people who feel they have exhausted online resources. Excellent suggestions here - this should be turned into a FAQ somewhere.


If only a college education could be this inexpensive

Valerie Elkins at Family Cherished has a great list of ways to get an education in genealogy that won’t break the bank in “Getting a Great Genealogical Education for Little or No Money.”


For more suggested blog reading

Check out “Best of the Genea-Blogs” at Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings, “Monday Morning Mentions” at Lynn Palermo’s The Armchair Genealogist, “Follow Friday Gems” at Deb Ruth’s Adventures in Genealogy, “Follow Friday: This Week’s Favorite Finds” at Jenn’s Climbinb My Family Tree, and “Week in Review” at John Newmark’s TransylvanianDutch.


This Week I Started Following These Blogs:

From My Tree Branch To Yours

Piney Woods and Prairie Winds

Genea-Related

Reflections


My Research Week

Other than working on my husband’s family lines this week, I followed up on some odds and ends that popped up on several of my families.

I am still working on bookmarks, Diigo, etc. and this week I mostly continued to fix up the 4 initial categories for my Genealogy Toolboxes (one Toolbox is on the blog, the other one is on Weebly). But I did import my Safari bookmarks (my single largest collection of genealogy bookmarks) from my desktop to my laptop, so that’s real progress.