A Bit of Spring Cleaning

Playing around with templates, colors and fonts
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net ID-10064305

It is pretty embarrassing to realize that I have not spent any time at my blog in the past eleven months. Where have I been and what have I been doing? 

• I spend time co-moderating the Legacy Virtual Users' Group Community on Google+. I find that I enjoy the give and take at the Community and the immediacy of comments among the members. The monthly hangouts on Google+ are also a great way to interact with other genealogists and discuss our software database program.  
• I have been pretty involved with the Guild of One-Name Studies both as the registered researcher of the Keough surname and as the regional representative for the USA West region members.
• I decided to follow through on some research that I started in 2009 and registered my one-place study for Plate Cove East, Newfoundland with the recently formed Society for One-Place Studies. I also serve as the newsletter editor for the Society. 

Hmmm, when I came back to my blog after working on projects like newsletters, brochures, posters, journal articles, blog posts, and video presentations for the for those groups, I noticed how stale my own blog was. Perhaps I had not spent time blogging because I no longer liked the look of my blog or felt that it was a good use of my limited time to spend on research. It was clearly time to make a few decisions about this blog. Did I want to continue with my personal family history blog and, if so, what would I need to do to freshen things up and commit to a regular schedule of blogging?

After giving the entire personal blogging situation some serious thought, I made a few decisions:

1. I want and need to blog about my family's history and my personal genealogy research. I am the keeper of the facts and stories about my family. The only way I am going to get the word out and find those cousins is with my Keough Corner blog. The best connections I have made to date have come from my blog so why am I not taking advantage of this free and robust megaphone that is my blog (I feel a Gibbs slap coming at me!).
2. I need to spend the time going through my template, layout and pages and simplify the look of my blog, focus on the areas that interest me and that I can make a contribution, and commit to writing at least once a week. When I have several deadlines, somehow I get things done. When I don't give myself deadlines, eleven months goes by without a blog post - unacceptable!
3. This is not brain surgery - just write (and spell-check and edit). 
4. Pick something easy to help me get back into the swing of things - starting next week I will post a birthdays and anniversaries calendar on a weekly basis and follow that up with a little bit of the story of those family members.

So I spent a bit of time this weekend switching things out (the theme and page layout), revising some pages and adding a few more. I still have some work to do on the Keough Corner but so far, I like the changes. Let me know what you think and tell me how you find the inspiration to post on a regular basis. See you next week. 

Tessa

Motivation Monday ~ February 2012 Goals

February is the shortest month so I'm going to do my best to be realistic about what I can get accomplished this month.  If you joined us last month, you know the drill.  For any newbies, this is a three part meme.

1. Publish a post on the first Monday of the month that includes your goals (mine are broken down in five areas ~ research, organization, blogging, writing and education).
2. Monitor your achievements and pitfalls during the month (you can be as transparent as you want to be).
3. Publish a post at month end discussing what got done, how it got done, what didn't get done (usually placed on the following month's list) and what you learned along the way.  This last part is the most important in my view because it is always helpful to get tips, tricks and ideas from my fellow goal setting Geneabloggers.  Thanks again to Stephanie at Corn & Cotton (check out her February Goals and the whole meme thing) for helping me stay focused in 2012.  Why not join in the fun and get some genealogy goals accomplished with the rest of us this year.  

Without further ado, here are my February Goals.

Research

• I need to continue to organize and analyze my Newfoundland research.  My research trip to Newfoundland was in August 2009.  I acquired so much information and it has been really helpful in putting together the various Plate Cove families and piecing together my Newfoundland family history.  However, I am still not finished incorporating the research into a fully searchable database.  The drop dead date for having all of the photographs, documents, and research organized is August 2012.  This month I am going through all the work I have already done, making a list of what still needs to be done, and making a schedule for actually getting the work done.  This project involves both research and organization. 

Organization

• The end is in sight so I need to continue working on the remaining census entries for my USA Census Excel Workbook.  April 2 is going to be here soon and I want to be ready to move on to the 1940 USA Census.

Blogging

• I am enjoying the prompts and plan to continue to blog each week using the 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy meme.  Why not join us?
• I am starting to work on a blog post about my grandfather Ernest William Lidman (so it will be finished in time for the anniversary of his birth).  I find that these types of posts are interesting to family members and they have even turned up some new-to-me relatives.

Writing

• I plan to spend some time on the Genealogy in the Classroom website and an education module (for a heritage fair) that is used in a local 6th grade class.  I would like to try to improve both the educational and family history/genealogy aspects while increasing the fun factor for the students.  Any thoughts out there on what turns 6th graders on to family history ~ please share!

Education

• I plan to watch the RootsTech 2012 presentations that will be made available for those of us not attending in person.  I downloaded the schedule, syllabi and handouts, put them in my OneNote Genealogy Notebook, and plan to follow along from home this year.
• February 2-4 was the genealogy and technology fun fest otherwise known as RootsTech 2012.  I made a point to watch much of the first day's presentations live (and even broke down and signed up for Twitter so I could keep up with all the comments and make a few of my own).  Luckily for all of us, the RootsTech organizers made each of the live streamed presentations available to watch (or watch again) at our convenience.  Thank you RootsTech ~ it was quite an education.
• I signed up to attend DearMyrtle's RootsTech Review webinar tonight to find out what others thought of RootsTech and to share my thoughts as a virtual attendee.

My Take On The Bucket List GeneaMeme

Okay - I am late to the game but here is my list.  This was a fun meme and there is lots I would like to do! How about you?

The instructions (or key) are as follows:
The list should be annotated in the following manner:

Things you would like to do or find: Bold Type
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type
You are encouraged to add extra comments after each item 

Where does Redbreast fit in
on my Bucket List?

1. The genealogy conference I would most like to attend is... this is a tossup EITHER Jamboree 2012 OR RootsTech 2013 (the bloggers make them sound like so much fun and the presentations sound so informative)
2. The genealogy speaker I would most like to hear and see is... Elizabeth Shown Mills - she is the real deal, I saw her once and she packed so much information into the 3 talks that my brain almost exploded.  But seriously, I heard so many great tips that my research improved, I finally understood citations, I started grouping families with cluster research, and I had a new lease on life (okay three of four).  I am now ready for another helping of her knowledge – oh and she was incredibly personable and so genuine.
3. The geneablogger I would most like to meet in person is... this is a tossup between Jennifer Geraghty of 'On a flesh and bone foundation – she is an amazing writer/photographer and her blog simply makes my soul sing!  OR Thomas MacEntee – I want to find out how he does it - we all have the same number of hours in the day, so I’m wondering if he made a deal with the devil?
4. The genealogy writer I would most like to have dinner with is... John Grenham, I want to pick his brain about my Irish research and he wrote the definitive book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors – it would be a long dinner, a late night and several fingers of Redbreast.
5. The genealogy lecture I would most like to present is... Hooking the Next Generation & Reeling Them In – the future of genealogy is our youth and we need to encourage them to learn about their families, their history, the countries their ancestors originally came from, the religion, politics, geography and culture that make them unique and part of this bigger community.
6. I would like to go on a genealogy cruise that visits... Slovenia & Italy – the nice warm Adriatic Sea for me!
7. The photo I would most like to find is... a family photo of Andrew Kough & Catherine Aylward taken in 1850 (this way I would have Andrew & Catherine as well as all their children, some of them already married with families of their own – oh and I want a family tree with all their information handwritten on the back – not asking too much am I?).
8. The repository in a foreign land I would most like to visit is... The Rooms (The Archives in St. John’s, Newfoundland – and I need a summer – that way I can get through a portion of their amazing collection and I want retired professor Dr. John Mannion (geography at Memorial University) to be at my side giving me pointers.
9. The place of worship I would most like to visit is...The church in County Carlow where my ancestors were born, married, and buried (together with the church records noting all their names, dates and places together with extended and affiliated families).
10. The cemetery I would most like to visit is.... the Roman Catholic Cemetery in St. Mullins (if that is where all those family members are buried).
11. The ancestral town or village I would most like to visit is.... St. Mullins, County Carlow, IRELAND.
12. The brick wall I most want to smash is... crossing the pond to find Michael Daniel O’Murphy and Honora Agnes Butler’s origins – I want to find those families in County Kerry and County Cork, IRELAND before Michael and Honora each came to the USA.
13. The piece of software I most want to buy is... Legacy Family Tree 8.0 – still contains all the great stuff it has now but also includes a Research Manager/To Do section that is coordinated and an improved group attachment for sources & events/facts (go ahead and cherry pick from RootsMagic, I won’t tell).
14. The tech toy I want to purchase next is ... a tablet – not sure if that is an iPad or something else, the jury is still out.
15. The expensive book I would most like to buy is... hmmm, I will need to give this some thought.
16. The library I would most like to visit is... this one is a tie – and I want both the Family History Library, hey it’s the genealogy mecca; and the Library of Congress – scads of great stuff, oh and I want John Philip Colletta as my personal tour guide!
17. The genealogy related book I would most like to write is... The Irish, Norwegian, Slovenian, and Swedish Genealogy Pie that is my Keough, Murphy, Kocevar & Lidman Families – with all the information found and cited, with great stories and photographs!
18. The genealogy blog I would most like to start would be about... I have two blogs (The Keough Corner and Scandia Musings & More) so I’m good!
19. The journal article I would most like to write would be about... The Families of Plate Cove, Newfoundland and Surrounding Villages – from Ireland to Newfoundland – who they were and what became of them.
20. The ancestor I most want to meet in the afterlife is... Catherine Alyward – who are your people and why isn’t there a Catholic marriage record for you and Andrew until after your fifth child? Where is an earlier marriage recorded (perhaps in the Protestant church).  Please tell me all about who your children married, those sons and daughters-in law’s people, and all your grandchildren.  Oh, and where is your tombstone?  An enquiring mind (mine) wants to know!!

Is there anything else on your Genealogy Bucket List?

Why yes Jill – there are a few things more things on my Genealogy Bucket List (thanks for asking - can you grant wishes?).

Be the first non-celebrity on Who Do You Think You Are?  Please help me with my research let’s get some of those questions answered!

Get a grant to model a national program for the schools Genealogy in the Classroom (using the great program by the Victoria Genealogical Society) AND Ask Granny (or Granddad) to help seniors and youth connect with family history – use local, state and national genealogical organizations, libraries and archives to encourage our youth to learn and our seniors to share our history – it would make us all better citizens of the world.

Two Weeks In And I'm In The Groove ~ Motivation Monday

Thanks to Suat Eman
shared at Freedigitalphotos.net

An Update on my January Genealogy Goals

Research

• I am busily working through my Shoebox on Ancestry.com and have downloaded and saved 75 “international records.” By mid-week I will switch my Ancestry.com membership from World to USA.  I have not uploaded my family tree to Ancestry and so have not taken advantage of any “shaking leaves” to further my research.  This is something I might do in 2012 and would love your thoughts on the value of uploading a tree to Ancestry. 

Organization

• Research collected in my paper Norwegian and Swedish Notebooks is now scanned, filed, and entered in my Legacy database (these notebooks are much smaller now).  Onward to my Norwegian and Swedish Digital Notebooks, where I hope to employ the same “clear the decks” determination!  How are your organization projects coming along?
• I continue to organize my USA Census Excel Workbook.  The census citations for all USA and State censuses are in order and the 1900-1930 census entries are up-to-date (downloaded, abstracted, and assigned/linked) for all family and extended family in my Legacy database.  I plan to write about this project and show examples in next week’s Motivation Monday post.  After that it is onward to the 1800s censuses.  Thankfully most of my family wasn’t in the USA until the 1860/1880 timeframe but I do have several “related” or cluster families to check out.  This is a work in progress to get ready for the 1940 US Census release in April.  A little bit each week should get the project done in time.  How are you coming on preparing for the 1940 Census release?

Blogging

• I posted for the first two weeks of the 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy meme (only 50 more to go!).  It has been helpful not only to think and write about Amy Coffin’s weekly prompt, but also to read others’ responses.  This week, Jennifer of 'On a flesh and bone foundation: An Irish History gave some great tips for free Irish research websites.  Are you contributing to this meme? If so ~ how is it going for you?  If not ~ why not join us and share your knowledge?
• I need to work on blogging consistently ~ there are so many distractions!  Definitely an area where I need improvement.

Writing

• I finished writing a “guest blog post" about my family’s slide/photo scanning and organization project for Marian's Roots and Rambles, written by Marian Pierre-Louis.  I just need to add a few more photos and email it by midweek.  It was quite helpful to revisit and write up the process we used for this project (and gain a cheatsheet to pass on to the next family memory keeper).  
• This is so much fun that I feel guilty considering it a goal ~ I love reading and commenting on posts in my Genealogy Bloggers Circle at Google+.  What a great community (I don’t think it is a distraction yet but I will need to set the timer and limit myself so I get some work done!).

Education

• Another guilty pleasure – oh wait, I am learning so much there is no guilt.  January started strong with the following webinars and radio shows:
• Me and My Laptop ~ Linda Woodward Geiger through the Southern California Genealogical Society (Saturday, 7 January)
• Linda was an amazing speaker and provided us with such an incredible wealth of information (one of my February goals will be to incorporate many of her organization tips).
• 10 Ways to Jumpstart Your Genealogy in 2012 ~ Thomas MacEntee through the Illinois State Genealogical Society (Tuesday, 10 January)
• Thomas gave a great presentation and his slides were clear, concise and a pleasure to watch.
• Tax Considerations for Your Genealogy Business ~ James M. Beidler through the Association of Professional Genealogists (Wednesday, 11 January)
• James took a rather dry topic and really livened it up.  I learned so much through his presentation as well as the terrific audience questions and comments.
• The FamilySearch Research Wiki and Your Genealogy Society  ~ FGS My Society on blogtalk radio (Saturday, 14 January)
• Lise Embley discussed how Societies can use the FamilySearch Research Wiki to get themselves out there – lots of great links to check out (who knew?).  Lee James Irwin of the Fairfax Genealogical Society spoke about his society’s programs and projects.  Both Lise and Lee were interesting and informative.

What were your webinar and radio show finds this month?  Do you have any suggestions for the next two weeks?

The first two weeks of January were a great start

Keep climbing one rung at a time to reach those goals!

Thanks to renjith krishnan
shared at Freedigitalphotos.net

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy - Blogs

Here I am the first week of this meme and sliding in with my post on the last day.  Better almost late than not at all!  I enjoy reading blogs and they are a great help to me in learning about genealogy, organization methods, tech resources, research and writing, and those pesky citations.  When I first started reading blogs I followed the big names and institutional blogs.  As I got more into my research, I found that many of those blogs served as a launch pad for various press releases but oftentimes did not provide the personal and/or hands-on type of posts that informed, educated or entertained me.

At that point I started following blogs where the author shared and/or expanded my particular interests:

• How-Tos ~ Bloggers who try out software programs, websites, and/or explain how they do their research.
• Location  ~ If it is about Ireland, Newfoundland, Norway, Slovenia or Sweden, you have a reader in me!
• Resources ~ Blogs that follow programs and websites I use, like Legacy Family Tree & RootsMagic, Excel, OneNote & PowerPoint, GenSmarts & Family Atlas, Ancestry.com & FamilySearch.org.
• Tech Stuff ~ Blogs that discuss subjects that I have decided to follow in order to become a better genealogist, specifically blogs about photography, education, organization, maps, and new products (computers, smart phones, apps, and the like).

There are so many great blogs out there and I follow many of them through Google+.  Over the past six months I have been introduced to so many blogs I would have missed if I had not seen a snippet in my Google+ Stream.  If you haven't added a Genealogy Circle to your Google+ Stream ~ make it a 2012 resolution! 

That said, my top 3 blogs are:

1. 'On a flesh and bone foundation: An Irish History ~ Jennifer's prose and photographs are stunning! She writes not only about her Irish heritage but our common Irish heritage.  She shares with the rest of us the trials and triumphs, the saints and the sinners, the history and the folklore that make our Irish heritage so special.  Go raibh maith agat.  
2. Genea-Musings ~ I don't know how he does it but Randy Seaver tries everything so we don't have to, points out the pros and cons, publishes screenshots, answers any question we send him, and just all around helps make our genealogy lives easier and better.
3. Geneabloggers ~ Thomas MacEntee is a force for good in the genealogy world.  Looking for a genealogy blog, a calendar of webinars, a spotlight on new blogs, any possible resource that will help you be a better blogger?  Well, look no further than Geneabloggers.  I can't tell you the number of times I have had a technical blog question, or wanted to find a blog about a particular genealogy niche and Thomas' blog was the place to go to find it.

Motivation Monday - January 2012 Goals

It is January 2 and time for my New Year’s Resolutions.  Last year I published my resolutions/goals on a quarterly basis and that worked okay (I got a little lazy the last few months) but I need to be even more focused this year.  I previously wrote that I planned to write up resolutions/goals on a monthly basis during 2012.  

I resolve to use the Motivation Monday meme to publish my resolutions/goals on the first Monday of each month during 2012 and then use the following three Mondays to keep track of my progress.  

I resolve to publish my resolutions/goals in five specific areas Research, Organization, Blogging, Writing & Education.  

Since this worked so well for me last year, I resolve to continue working smarter not harder in 2012.   Simply put this means to think about and plan for the things I want to accomplish, to continue to learn how best to use my genealogy database program, and to research, analyze and write up my findings.  

Since today is the first Monday of January – here are my goals:

Research

• Use my one remaining month of World Deluxe membership to Ancestry.com to go through my Shoebox and download and save all “international records” that I have found during the past few years.  In 2012 I plan to focus on my USA and Canada research and dial back my Ancestry.com membership.

Organization

• Finish organizing my Norwegian and Swedish Notebooks (both paper and hard drive).  I spent part of the summer last year researching my Norwegian and Swedish lines in Minnesota and Washington and need to go through everything I acquired that needs to be scanned, filed, entered in my Legacy database, and/or shredded or discarded.
• Finish organizing my USA Census Excel Workbook.  I spent one month last year updating my census research for all individuals in my Legacy database.  I downloaded the census images, abstracted the information for each family’s census fact/event, and updated the master sources and details for each census using the SourceWriter.  I now have census entries through 1930 together with residence/location information for most individuals in my Legacy database and need to run a Search for missing census information – a continuing project to get ready for the 1940 US Census release in April.

Blogging

• Begin participating in a new weekly meme: 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy, written by Amy Coffin and hosted on Geneabloggers
• Blog at least two times each week – including Motivation Monday and Surname Saturday.

Writing

• Write a “guest blog post" about my family’s slide/photo scanning and organization project  for Marian's Roots and Rambles, written by Marian Pierre-Louis. 
• Read and comment on posts in my Genealogy Bloggers Circle at Google+.

Education

• Watch at least two genealogy webinars during January.

What are your goals for January?  Why not join the rest of us and put your goals out there on your blog.  If you are on Google+ perhaps you would interested in getting together once or twice a month in a Hangout to discuss your goals and share your progress.  Let’s make 2012 the year we move our genealogy forward by leaps and bounds.  Cheers!

Better Late Than Never!

A little over six weeks ago I posted about freshening up my blog in the context of Spring and making things new again!  I spent some time looking at other blogs to see what I liked and disliked.  I played around with changing from side gadgets to the newer pages (tabs) for a cleaner look on my Home Page so that the right side of The Keough Corner would be more inviting and less of a laundry list of gadgets.  I have found that pages (tabs) give me the ability to provide in-depth information that is useful but does not need to be front and center on my blog.  While I originally thought I could make the changes in a week or two (woman plans and God laughs) that was not to be.  Life happened and things got in the way.  However, this weekend (and since I am not at Jamboree ~ sigh!) I spent some time finishing this project and today am rolling out an improved The Keough Corner. 

So careful readers what has changed?

• Print Friendly added to each post - this is an easy and quick add so readers can print out a post (thanks DearMyrtle).
• Favorite Websites Page added - this page is my version of a research toolbox (thanks Thomas MacEntee) with a discussion of the websites I use for research as well as their links, under the following categories (this is a work in progress).
• General
• Education & Webinars
• Ireland
• Newfoundland
• USA
• People, Places & Things Page added  - this page gives me the ability to discuss my family surnames, places of origin, and the products I use in greater detail.
• Keough Surnames Gadget removed
• Murphy Surnames Gadget removed
• My 12 Favorite Things Gadget removed
• Posts by Topic Page added - I mentioned this idea in my April 26 post and I think this layout is cleaner and clearer for Post Topics grouped by category (thanks again to Julie of Genblog for the suggestion and the example).
• Labels Gadget removed
• Posts by Date Page added - Also mentioned in my April 26 post and I think it is a great idea to provide Posts by date on a separate page rather than a gadget (and it is less visually distracting).
• Archives Gadget removed

Since gadgets show up on each of the Pages using the Blogger format (something called static pages), I will probably limit my gadgets to photos, the creative commons' license, and my legal disclaimer. 

There are still a few more pages I am working on and they will (hopefully) be up by the end of June.  In the meantime, I welcome your comments and suggestions.  What do you think of the new look?  Cheers

Thankful Thursday - Online Lectures & Webinars

There has been a great deal of discussion lately about genealogy and money ~ how to make a living doing genealogy, whether to and how to monetize genealogy blogs and websites, whether the genealogy community thinks that everything should be free (and what "free" means), whether the genealogy community understands the true costs of providing information in a bricks and mortar setting, online, and through sharing with each other, and how the genealogy community should determine the value to place on genealogy resources.  This was a much-needed discussion and scads of bloggers provided lots of great responses to the daily posts. 

Digital Image by Felixco, Inc. ~ Thanks

Online Lectures & Courses

One of the discussion topics focused on online lectures and webinars ~ their availability, the costs associated with them, and how to value them.  Since this is a Thankful Thursday post, I would just like to say thank you to the individuals and organizations that provide online lectures and webinars for our benefit.  A special thank you to FamilySearch which gathers lectures from a variety of sources and makes them available at its website.  Kudos to the following organizations and individuals for placing their lectures with FamilySearch-Learn and making these lectures available to all of us:

• Midwest Genealogy Center
• Library of Congress
• Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society
• Tulsa City-County Library
• Association of Professional Genealogists
• Board for Certification of Genealogists
• ICAPGen
• Several Individuals who provide their lectures through the above organizations, individually or through their employment or in their volunteer capacity at the Family History Library

There is an amazing amount of material out there online.  I have said it before and will say it again ~ these online lectures, courses and webinars are a great resource for genealogists and should be encouraged and appreciated.  If you have not been to the FamilySearch-Learn website lately, check out the lengthy list of research courses ~ there are some great new additions. 

Webinars

Yesterday I attended AncestryTrees with DearMyrtle, a webinar that focused on publishing your family tree online.  As usual, DearMyrtle gave an excellent presentation.  I have attended some of her in-person presentations as well as presentations through Legacy Family Tree webinars and now her own webinar presentations.  She is one of the most comfortable, "go with the flow" presenters I have encountered.  She is extremely personable, stays focused on the major points of her presentation, provides useful PowerPoint presentations, and organizes her presentations to include a lengthy question and answer period. 

In this presentation, DearMyrtle explained why and how she began using online trees, walked the attendees through the process of setting up and using a tree on Ancestry.com, together with her co-presenter she showed attendees how to make a GEDCOM and upload it to Ancestry.com, and answered attendees' questions. There were about 100 attendees at the webinar ~ at least one was from Sweden, a few were from England, and several were housebound (either in wheelchairs or unable to attend an in-person presentation due to medical conditions).  The webinar was interesting, she addressed the pluses and minuses of publishing a tree on Ancestry.com, and I think made the attendees comfortable with the idea of publishing their trees (whether on Ancestry.com or another website).  DearMyrtle recorded the presentation but I am not sure how or when it will be available ~ you might want to check out DearMyrtle's blog.  FYI ~ she has a Facebook webinar/workshop coming up on May 18, 2011.

If you haven't checked out the GeneaWebinars Schedule posted by Geneabloggers, take a look and see if there is something you would like to learn.  I make it a point to check out the schedule, sign up for webinars and put them in my calendar.  While attending the webinar, I take notes and make screenshots in my OneNote program for further reference (and because I like to noodle around a bit with the concepts).  These webinars have been a huge help to me.  I have used them to: 

• make improvements to my blog (Blogging for Beginners, More Blogging for Beginners, and Building a Research Toolbox)
• check out online storage and cloud computing (Dropbox for Genealogists)
• decide whether to use some additional social media (Twitter and Tweet Deck with DearMyrtle)
• learn more about add-on software (Map & Explore Your Family Tree with Family Atlas)
• improve my genealogy research skills (What Is A Reasonably Exhaustive Search? and Silent Voices: Tip & Tricks for Tracing Female Ancestors) and, most recently
• decide whether to publish an online tree (AncestryTrees with DearMyrtle)

Thanks to DearMyrtle, Legacy Family Tree, and all the other individuals and organizations that are "doing" webinars.  It is a great service to engage and educate the genealogy community.  Whether these webinars also showcase paid resources (software programs or subscription websites) or provide a marketing opportunity for presenters (presentation materials for sale after the webinar), I say "more power to you."  I applaud these individuals and organizations ~ they are taking us forward in genealogy and technology.  Bottom line ~ these webinars provide a valuable and oftentimes no-fee service to the genealogy community.  Thanks!

Tech Tuesday - It's Time to Freshen Things Up!

It is Spring although the weather is not exactly cooperating ~ today brought us rain, rain and more rain.  However, we just had a beautiful Easter!  In the spirit of reawakening and rebirth that is what Easter and Spring is all about, why not take a look at your blog and see if it could use a bit of freshening up.

Digital Image by Maggie Smith

First, take a little time and check out a dozen genealogy blogs (try to choose these at random from the Genealogy Blog Roll at Geneabloggers).  Do you find them interesting and/or appealing to read?  Why or why not?  Take a good look at their layouts and gadgets ~ are any of these gadgets "new to you?"  If there were blogs that you found difficult to navigate, why was that? 

Now, take a look at your blog and answer the following questions.  Even better, ask someone (who will be brutally honest with you) to take a look at your blog and answer the following questions:

• Is my blog easy to find? ~ Is the URL easy to remember and input or is my blog easy to find with a google search?
• Is my blog "easy on the eyes?" ~ Are the colors complementary, too bright, or too blah?  Are the font styles easy to read, are the margins wide enough for an easy flow of blog posts?
• Is my blog clean and easy to navigate? ~ How busy is the blog and is the busyness distracting to a reader?
• Can you easily figure out how to subscribe or follow my blog? ~ Does the reader have options for following the blog and are those options "front and center" or somewhere lost in the long scroll to the end of the page?
• Are my posts free of obvious errors and do I change it up enough with a variety of themes or topics to keep up interest? ~ Obvious errors imply a "lack of attention to detail."  In genealogy, as in blogging, details matter.  Do you give yourself enough time after writing a post to proofread, spellcheck and re-edit? 
• Are the gadgets on my blog helpful and/or interesting? ~ Have you taken advantage of the ever changing gadgets and improvements that your blogging platform and/or third-parties provide?  Are you making your blog as attractive and user-friendly as possible?
• Are you able to copy and/or print a post from my blog? ~ Have you made it easy for your readers to save, email, or print your posts?
• Do I include enough links or photos or examples to assist, entertain or educate my readers? ~ Have you varied your posts so that you provide both written and visual material?  Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words!
• What would make my blog better?  Go ahead, you asked for it, now graciously accept any constructive criticism. 

In this vein, I took a look at a dozen blogs and checked out some "new to me" gadgets.  The first thing I noticed is that the Pages idea has taken off in Blogger and I like how polished some of the blogs that use Pages look.  I decided to start working on Pages for my blog and hope to have anything up and running within the week ~ come back next Tuesday for a new and improved version of The Keough Corner.  I was intrigued with the "Posts by Topic" and "Post by Date" in Julie Cahill Tarr's GenBlog and thanks to her great post detailing how to do it, spent some time playing around with html code today (thanks to those who write code for the rest of us and those who post on how to incorporate these great ideas in our blogs). 

As to the remainder of the blogs I checked out (twelve in all) I saw things I wanted to avoid as well as some great ideas and formats that I plan to borrow from because they impressed me.  Comments on six of them follow:

• The Shy Genealogist ~ just love the look of this blog; the posts are well written and the images are great
• Genealogy's Star - excellent writing, he is always thought provoking; however, I find the layout distracting and scrolling through the page is endless
• Genea-Musings - clear, bright and really well written, lots of material (too much for me) in the sidebar
• A Twig in my Tree - interesting blog posts, great job with pages, nice research toolbox, the green in the sidebar is a bit bright for me but I love the other colors
• Before My Time - great pages, a real mix of all things genealogy and family history
• Potato Roots - lovely layout, terrific sidebars, great images, lots of great information especially as it relates to Irish history

I also had one of my sisters (who is brutally honest) check out my blog and answer the questions I posed above.  She gave me a solid B ~ I got points for the first five questions but she thought the side gadgets were too busy and I did not have the ability to print from my blog.  She thought more personal stories and pictures or maps would make my blog more interesting and she thought I was a bit wordy. Ah, thanks sis!

My To Do List

• Add PrintFriendly to my blog ~ My father has asked a couple of times about printing a post, why not make it easier for him and everyone else.
• Add some Pages to my blog ~ Pages should free up some of the sidebar space and if these items are on specific pages they will not appear on every page of my blog (it seems that the sidebar gadgets appear on every Page in Blogger).  Be sure to check out the Blogger article on this subject ~ Pages in Blogger
• Table of Contents - Post by Topic (Labels gone)
• Table of Contents - Post by Date  (Archive gone) 
• People, Places & Things - a Page that includes why I blog, the surnames and places in my genealogy and the products I use (Surnames Keough and Murphy gone, Favorite Things gone)
• Favorite Sites - a Page that includes the websites (with links) that I make use of for my genealogy ~ thanks to Thomas MacEntee for this "Genealogists Toolbox" idea (Favorite Sites gone).
• Plate Cove Families - a Page that details my Plate Cove, Newfoundland Keough families
• Nebraska Families - a Page that details my Nebraska Murphy families
• Organize my Labels before I finalize my Post by Topic Page - I really liked the format used by GenBlog and spent some time organizing my labels around Archives and Libraries, Columns, Families, and Locations.  Hopefully this will make the topics easier for readers to navigate. Be sure to check out the Blogger article on this subject ~ How to Edit Labels.

How do you plan to freshen up your blog?  Got any great ideas to share with the rest of us?