Family History Fair

1
Family History Fair

• Genealogy for Computer Geeks
• presented by
• Dana A. Repouille
• Assistant Stake Clerk for Computers
• Council Bluffs Iowa Stake

2
What is a Geek?

• Definition
• An odd or ridiculous person
• A fool, a simpleton
• A carnival freak
• People who are unusually interested in technical
  matters to the detriment of their social life,
  especially people who work with computers
• Are you a geek?www.julen.net/ephemera/pub/Geek.ht
  ml
• Take a quiz!http//solonor.com/geek.php

3
Computer Geeksand Genealogy Geeks

• Computers are very useful for genealogy
• Research
• Storage
• Maintenance
• Communication
• Publishing
• Computer geeks love toys and gadgets!
• They maintain public journals, called web logs,
  or just blogswww.nonplus.net/geek/000646.php
• Genealogy Geeks have blogs, toowww.google.com/se
  arch?hlenqgenealogyblog

4
Genealogy Geeks Get Organized

• Daughters of the American Revolutionwww.dar.org
• Iowa Genealogical Societywww.iowagenealogy.org
• Pottawattamie County Genealogical
  Societywww.rootsweb.com/iapottaw/PCGS.htm
• Nebraska State Genealogical Societywww.rootsweb.c
  om/nesgs
• Greater Omaha Genealogical Societyhttp//hometown
  .aol.com/gromahagensoc/myhomepage/index.html

5
Genealogy Geeks Love to Share

• Software users groupswww.familysearch.org/Eng/Hom
  e/FAQ/PAFUG.htmwww.uvpafug.org
• Groups, forums, and mailing lists
• http//groups.yahoo.com
• AncestralQuest
• FHCNET
• FHCTECH
• PAF5-USERS
• PAFInsight
• http//groups.google.com
• Major genealogy sites have similar forums

6
Sharing and Collaboration

• Make your family history information available to
  others through the Pedigree Resource
  Filewww.familysearch.org/ENG/share/Preserve/frame
  set_preserve.asp
• Find people with similar research interests and
  share information through e-mail collaboration
  listswww.familysearch.org/ENG/share/Collaborate/f
  rameset_share.asp
• Major genealogy sites have similar features
• Be aware of privacy and ownership issues!

7
Genealogy Conferences

• Want to meet fellow geeks face-to-face?
• www.ngsgenealogy.org/confnatl.htm
• GenTech
• What do you get when you cross a room full of
  Computer geeks with a bunch of Fanatic
  Genealogists? I mean besides a very messy office
  and 16 pizza delivery boxes. You get GenTech, an
  organization obsessed with the Technology that is
  involved with Genealogy.
• www.stlgs.org/gentech2004
• GENTECH 2005 Conference will be held 1-4 June
  2005 in Nashville, Tennessee, in combination with
  NGS's twenty-seventh Conference in the States.

8
Genealogical Uses for Technology

• Find and record data
• Store data
• Maintain and update data
• Organize data into usable information
• Share data with others
• Preserve data

9
Offline Research

• Ancestral File, IGI, etc
• Pedigree Resource File
• Family History Resource Files
• Vital Records Indexes
• Censuses on CD
• 1851 British
• 1880 United States
• 1881 British
• 1881 Canadian
• Microfilm, microfiche, and those old fashioned
  things called books

10
Online Research

• www.familysearch.org
• www.cyndislist.com
• www.ancestry.com
• www.1worldtree.com
• www.genealogy.com
• www.rootsweb.com
• www.ellisisland.org
• www.onegreatfamily.com
• www.gengateway.com
• www.worldgenweb.org
• Google is a verb! www.google.com

11
Recording Text

• Handwritten and printed source documents are the
  foundation of true research
• Microfilm scanners can capture and store images
  of documents
• Canon MS-300
• Minolta MS 6000
• Printed text can be scanned, and converted to
  text files using Optical Character Recognition
  software
• CanoScan LiDE 30 USB Flatbed Scanner
• ScanSoft's OmniPage OCR

12
Language Translation Tools

• Foreign language source documents?No problem!
• www.google.com/language_tools
• http//babelfish.altavista.com
• www.freetranslation.com
• www.foreignword.com/Tools/transnow.htm
• http//translation.lycos.com
• www.faganfinder.com/translate

13
Recording Sound

• Tape recorders are being replaced by digital
  recorderswww.olympus-europa.com/voicewww.thinkge
  ek.com/gadgets/electronic/5ec3
• Cell phones can record short messages
• Record your notes as you walk through cemeteries,
  etc
• Record your interviews with family members
• Transfer interviews to a computer via USB
• Convert WAV files to MP3 format

14
Recording Images

• Digitize your photographs before they
  fade!(flatbed scanner works well)
• Use a digital camera
• Make a slide show of your family album
• Record and store your interviews
• Transfer your videotapes to DVDwww.4everondvd.com
  
• Capture snapshots from tape or broadcasts
• Store photos and videos of your home for
  insurance purposes and personal history
• Use your imagination anything is possible!

15
The Floppy Disk is Dead

• History of the floppy disk (diskette)http//en.wi
  kipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk
• 1998 Apple's iMac has no floppy drive
• 2003 Dell Computers no longer come with standard
  floppy drivehttp//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2905953
  .stm
• "I think this is the first time I can say that
  the floppy disk is dead," Microsoft Corp.
  Chairman Bill Gates, 4 May 2004
• Note Temple submissions must still be on diskette

16
Storage Media

• LS-120 and LS-240 SuperDisk
• Iomega www.iomega.com
• Zip Disk (100MB 250MB)
• Jaz Disk (2GB)
• USB Drives
• USB Hard Drives
• Memory Stickswww.memorystick.comhttp//en.wiki
  pedia.org/wiki/Memory_Stick
• Online storage
• Isolinear optical chipshttp//en.wikipedia.org/wi
  ki/Isolinear_optical_chip

17
Organize data into usable information

• Personal Ancestral File
• Family Tree Maker
• Legacy
• Ancestral Quest
• Roots Magic
• Other helpful toolswww.uvpafug.org/software.htm

18
Maintain and update data

• Family Searcherhttp//myweb.cableone.net/kevinowe
  n3/familysearcher.htm
• PAF Insight
• PAF Palwww.ohanasoftware.com
• GenSmarts www.gensmarts.com

19
Present data to others

• Write your personal historywww.ohanasoftware.com/
  ?seclearnmore/personalhistorian
• Publish your family history on CDwww.familyhistor
  ycd.com
• PAF 5 has a Create Web Page feature
• PAF 5 has a Print Book feature
• Distribute your GEDCOM file
• Protect privacy of living individuals
• Protect your ownership of the datawww.progenysoft
  ware.com/gedmark.html
• PAF Companion

20
Preserve data

• Compact Disc (CD)http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Com
  pact_dischttp//computer.howstuffworks.com/cd.htm
  
• 700MB
• Burn a CD all at once
• Universal Disk Format (UDF) makes CD-R and CD-RW
  discs into big floppieshttp//en.wikipedia.org/
  wiki/Universal_Disk_Format
• DVDhttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVDwww.howstuffw
  orks.com/dvd.htm

21
Parting Thoughts

• Don't believe everything you read
• Without a source document, it's a rumor!
• Overcome your shyness, and interview people
  face-to-face
• "And Elijah shall plant in the hearts of the
  children the promises made to the fathers, and
  the hearts of the children shall turn to their
  fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would
  be utterly wasted at his coming."
• Send questions and comments to drepouille_at_hotmail.
  com