Thursday, March 29, 2012

Archives.com: Prepares to Host the 1940 US Census


This 'Infographic' for the 1940 census is available from Archives.com. The view of it on the website is quite small so thought we'd take it piece by piece to see the messages they share! This is the very top and shows the possibilities of the infomaton you may find on the census.


This section shows those involved in providing the digital census online.


This section shows the four steps currently needed to finding your family in the 1940 census!  Indexing is going to make locating individuals so much easier, until then one will have to follow this step by step directions.

Sign up now to help make searching the census easier at http://the1940census.com/. To view the full arcticle click here.

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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     claire@timelessgen.com   

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

National Archives Prepares for the 1940 Census!








The National Archives is also preparing for the release of the 1940 Census on April 2nd at 9 am EST!

The image on the left of this blog is from their website and to add to the excitement they have a 3 minute film clip about the 1940 census preparations being handled by the National Archives for the last three years.

The film is spliced between scenes of those preparing the records and clips from that time period. They state there are 3.9 million images and all have been checked to make sure that each page had an enumeration district. They state that you can locate individuals if you have the enumeration district and provide a guide on how to locate that information.

Their site provides information on how to search this census with help on locating the enumeration district ones' family may be located. Some of the information they provide is as follows:
  • General Information
  • Questions about this census
  • Questions asked
  • Selected lists of codes
  • Finding aids: How to search the 1940 Census
  • Enumeration District Maps
  • Stephen P. Morse's Search Engines 
  • Videos (these are worth viewing)
  • Online articles
They have a countdown on their page which goes right down to the seconds and the link to their press release on February 21, 2012 provides some additional data.

Indexing this census will make searching it so much easier! To all who have volunteered and are ready to go, we who are researchers say thank you! Note that this is a joint venture between the following groups:


Along with the awesome community of individuals who will be assisting with this great work! Bloggers, communities, societies, everyone who helps is to be commended for their work!

We live in exciting times as we contemplate the reality that this is the first census to be released digitally! If you haven't signed up, please do at http://the1940census.com/.

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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     claire@timelessgen.com   










Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Tidbits of the 1940s





During the 1940s, the types of jobs available were done by a lot of women as most men were called up to serve in the war. Jobs for men outside of the military were whatever they desired, however, women were either in the military or left to work in the coal mines, bomb factories, as bank tellers, aircraft mechanics, factory workers or typists.

Women fulfilled the need of jobs in the workplace while the men were away in the military. The world was dominated with World War II however, new ideas grew out of these times to help pull the United States out of the Great Depression. Rationing affected everthing, food, clothing, toys and everyones livelihood.

Radio played an important part as it provided news, music and all the entertainment available to those who lived during these times. There were children's stories, mystery hours, live radio and sports to help everyone get through each day.

Because of the war and what was going on in Europe, those who didn't agree with those in charge emigrated to the United States and created the perfect set of circumstances for new inventions and so many more advances that occured in those ten years. Many of these individuals who immigrated should be listed in the 1940 census.

So what is in the 1940 census records? This is the 16th census of the United States. There ae 34 columns of questions. Outside of the normal location, name, relationship, sex, age, marital status, education, place of birth, and citizenship, this census asks where an individuals was living on April 1, 1935, employment status if over 14 years old which includes type of work, number of weekly hours and salary.

I located a sample from the 1940Census.net website, hopefully you can see what it looks like in spite of the size in this blog. To view it better, go to the above website.

This is the first section:

1940 Census Form

This is the middle section:

1940 Census Form

This is the last section:

1940 Census Form

There were a number of individuals who took part in the supplementary questions which included more ancestral helpful information.

This census should help millions as they continue researching their families. Remember to volunteer your time to help index the 1940 US Census at https://the1940census.com/!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved

     claire@timelessgen.com   

Monday, March 26, 2012

1940 Indexing Simulation - Most Interesting...





It's getting real close to the time when we will be able to work on this census and enjoy the results!

To prepare for this great event, the challenge was issued through the "Weekly Contest of March 19" and the contest was extended to be the same length as the main blog contest (it runs through March 30) and just give away more prizes! The original contest was entitled The 1940 Main Blog Indexing Practice Contest.

With this in mind I downloaded the software and did the "Simulation Batch" for the 1940 US Census. The process was a little bumpy at first but I was able to complete it once I figured out what I was doing!

The beginning process wasn't that difficult. One must start with downloading the software and installing it onto your device, whether it is a PC, MAC, or tablet of some kind. Once installed you will need to log-in with an LDS account if you already have one or "Register for a New Account".


Once you are logged in, you have to look for the correct file and notice the directions. To do that, go to the "Download Batch" button in the upper right hand corner and click it. It will open up another menu box and you need to check the box that says "Show All Projects" to locate the "1940 Simulation Batch". Scroll to the beginning of the list.


Click on one of the two files and click on "OK" and it will download. Once downloaded you are ready to begin! You can enter in the 'header' information right away and move on the the data on each line. There is a blue color over the area you are copying into the form which is simular to an excel spread sheet.

If the lines are blank, you hit 'control, shift + B" to finish off a page. Once done you go to File and Submit. It doesn't take long and there are a few nuisances. Like you need to follow the directions and where is says "Same House" put that. Note at the top of the page it tells you where that particular page is from.

It didn't take long to go through it and I highly recommend that you give it a try! Be sure to visit the 1940 Census Project Page to keep up with the latest information!

Together we can do this!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved
     claire@timelessgen.com   


Friday, March 23, 2012

Google Chrome Browser-Ancestry FamilySearch Extension




As one begins to do research for ancestors, it becomes evident pretty quickly that this is a project that will take time and effort to do correctly regardless of the reasons.

A few phone calls to parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and great grandparents if possible allows an individual to quickly fill in a pedigree chart for the first few generations, however, beyond that, it becomes necessary to seek other methods to locate the correct information.

The actual process of researching one's ancestors hasn't changed much, but the availability and access to records since the 1990s has greatly improved the ability for individuals to earnestly locate their ancestors and accurately document their findings.

This is actually an amazing accomplishment when one considers how research has been conducted in the past with books, articles, microfilms, microfiche, etc. While trips to various repositories and cemeteries is still very important and often necessary, there is much that can be accomplished online with many different websites, software packages and helps along the way.

Along with FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com, FindMyPast.co.uk and many other locations for finding original and transcribed records there are online videos and step by step directions to being successful in this fun and fulfilling endeavor. Various websites allow you to build a family tree right on their website with the choice of making it private or public as well as there are stand alone software packages that can be installed on a PC or a MAC computer. Interestingly there are even apps for mobile devices that can help with the increasing trend to identify ones' ancestors.

Recently, the Google Chrome Browser added an extension to help with Ancestral research by connecting through Ancestry.com which links an individual to the FamilySearch Historical collections of records. The original announcement was posted on Out of my Tree on the 18 March 2012, this is an online blog done by Barbara J. Starmans from Ontario, Canada. As I read the article I thought that I should give it try.

Opening the Chrome browser and going to their web store, the first screen that comes up when you go and add the extension is as follows:


This puts an icon in the upper right hand corner of your URL box like this:


As I have never shared my genealogical files with Ancestry I added myself and just my dad to see how it works and made my tiny tree private. The following screen shot is what happened when I just went to my dad:


Note how the upper right hand corner shows the tree icon and the words "Search for this person on FamilySearch.org". When I clicked it, it brought me right into the historical record collection like this:


Interestingly the place it brought me too did have some information on my grandfather who had the same name as his son, my father. I didn't see a way to add that information to my tree in Ancestry, nor did I see a way to add the new information to anything, however, I do believe it is a step in the right direction as far as trying to locate more information about an individual. 

It will be interesting to see if there are modifications and improvements as time goes on seeing this is the first venture into this type of linking for Ancestry and FamilySearch.org!

As always, comments are appreciated as well as anyone who may have had an opportunity to try this out even more than this first glance at a new application.

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved
     claire@timelessgen.com   





Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Mocavo - A New Way to conduct Ancestral Research?


According to their website, Mocavo can help individuals 'Discover Billions of Ancestors & Automatic Family Research'. They state they are the first and largest genealogical search engine that researches over six billion names. In addition to being a great search engine just barely a year old, they are introducing tools to bring in more collaboration throughout the family history search.

Dick Eastman stated that "all his future genealogy searches will start on Mocavo.com." They find the sites that normally don't make it to the top of other search engines that are what genealogical research is all about. At this past RootsTech conference they introduced the following new tools:
  • Android application
  • Discovery Stream
  • Free storage
  • iPhone application
  • Shareability of records
These new tools combined with their search engine capabilities, Mocavo is fast becoming a primary resource for genealogists and family historians. Their goal is to be a one stop place for all the free genealogical content which will allow for greater success for researchers.

Their historical record storage and sharing platform allows for self-publlishing, digitizing, and shareability. Their press release dated 1 February 2012 goes into greater detail. With their mission focus of making family history records easily locateable and accessible will certainly be of great interest to any researcher.

Their Genealogy Search Widget allows individuals to add a widge to their website helping to grow their data through other's already created websites. One could easily locate new family that also have additional family information to share. This combined with the ability to save and share your family history makes for a great combination of genealogical data.

This is an exciting company with much to offer ancestral research as it continues to add more records and dcocuments, it is only going to become a greater research tool with even more too offer each and every day. They have a free version and a paid subscription version, each has its own unique benefits depending on the seriousness of an individuals searches.

They have a genealogy blog where great information is being shared in combination with tips on genealogy. The blog is connected to their website with Michael Leclerc writing great blog articles!


You can connect with them on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and they have an RSS feed to easily have their updates sent to you automatically.

Check them out at Mocavo.com and tomorrow we will discuss the Google Chrome Browser with the Ancestry Family Search Extension.

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved

     claire@timelessgen.com   


Search Engines are Not All Created Equal...





When searching for one's ancestors there are many places to begin searching including the Internet. Long before online research became what it is today there were bullentin and message boards which allowed for surname searches in specified locations and the follow-up contacts through email.

Today, there are books being written on how to use search engines to aid in this type of research and so it may seem strange to suggest using multiple search engines. Recently, a new genealogical search engine was introduced called Mocavo which searches thousands of genealogical web sites with the focus on the words you have entered into the search. This fact alone shows how using multiple ways to search can be a benefit to the searcher.

Understanding how each search engine works can help to determine the reasoning behind using other search engines to conduct a more complete search for one's ancestors. Beginning with the most used search engine, Google, one has various publications to help with this type of research along with one's own curiosity of entering in various search terms to do ancestral research.

The familiar colorful logo came onto the search engine scene in 1998 according to their write up in Wikipedia. As with most companies, their history is quite fascinating and worth a few minutes to review it. You will discover that their analytical methods of search results includes relationships between websites.

There are a couple of publications currently available to aid genealogists as they use Google for research:

1) Google Your Family Tree: Unlocking the Hidden Power of Google by Daniel M. Lynch
2) Crash Course in Genealogy by David R. Dowell *

*There are many references within this book on using Google as an ancestral search engine. There are also many articles, blogs and other media created that review this search engines ability to aid ancestral research.

Some of the other search engines to consider when doing research because of the way their search engines perfom searches are:
  • Yahoo.com
  • Dogpile.com (search aggregator)
  • Ask.com
  • MSN
  • Bing
I am sure there are others that are worth investigating and hopefully some will share them in the comments section.

Tomorrow we will discuss the new 'all in one' genealogical search engine Mocavo!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved

     claire@timelessgen.com   


  

Monday, March 19, 2012

Reaching out Through DNA





When researching for ones' ancestors, individuals will use all possible methods to try and locate those ancestors. From early compiled geneaologies, microfilms of original records, to online databases in all possible types of known data available to make the hunt successful.

There are many new ways to link to other individuals today including the study of DNA. The history of DNA research is recorded in many different locations. A good history has been compiled by Oracle ThinkQuest is worth the read if one is interested in how this all came about.

Genealogy Suite 101 explains how Mitochrondrial DNA testing is used in Genealogy. Many organizations and companies have now joined in making these resources available to genealogists throughout the world with the end result being the ability to possilby locate distant family members or new areas where there are possible relatives.

After having my uncle participate in a DNA study, the results provided possible locations to look for ancestors that hadn't been our original plans. The testing was done by FamilyTree DNA and the following map was provided at the time:


Recently  MyHeritage.com has teamed up with Family Tree DNA too provide these services in conjunction with their regular genealogical connections and websites.

Chooseing to do a DNA study can be a wise decision when it is necessary to reach out and locate new resources.

There are many companies that provide this research and each have their own costs. A simple word search in a search engine will provide you with the a large variety of choices.

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved
     claire@timelessgen.com   


Thursday, March 15, 2012

1940s ~ Technological Advances




World War II brought about a spirit of community as businesses, government and individuals worked together to develop various products that would help to overcome needs and issues pertaining to this time in history and win the war.






Polaroid Camera: This was invented by Edwin Land and had the ability to have what was known as a one-step process for developing and printing photographs. In 1937, he formed the Polaroid Corporation to manufacture his cameras from his application of polorized light. He used his talents to help the military with developing infrared filters and special goggles that adaped in darkness. He released his first polaroid camera to the public in 1948 and the rest they say is history. Different versions of his full story is in a variety of places including Ideafinder and About.com.Inventors


Computer: The Atanasoff-Berry Computer was the first electronic-digital computer and built at Iowa State University between 1930 and 1942 by Professor John Atanasoff and a graduate student named Clifford Berry. At this point in history, it represented many innovations in computing. The ABC computer was built to solve linear equations. A US Army physicist, John Mauchly took this computer and developed it into an Electronic Numerical Integrator running on thousands of vaccuum tubes that computed artillery and bombing tables. John Mauchly and Presper Eckert were the first to patent a digital computing device, the ENIAC computer. There is much more to this interesting beginning of computers on About.com Inventors website along with pictures of John Atanasoff and Clifford Barry and the ABC computer. Heroism.org shows a picture of the vacuum tube set up used for this first computer!






Microwave Oven: In working on radar technology, Dr. Percy Spencer accidentally stumbled on the fact that vaccum tubes of magnetrons could cook food quicker and went on to invent the microwave while working for the Raytheon Corporation in 1946. He constructed a box to trap the microwave energy which would cook food quicker than a traditional oven . Raytheon went on to produce the first commerical microwave oven in 1947 and called it a "Radarange".  The full story of this is available on Raytheon'swebsiteGallawa.com provides a picture of Dr. Percy Spencer with additional information on his story.

Transistor: Vacuum tubes were inefficient as a signal switch and amplifier as well as bulky, Bell Telelphone Labortories had a team headed by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley who were all physicists exploring other devices that could do the job better. Together they came up with a transistor in 1947 which was used in radios, stereos and eventually in computers. This can be seen as a beginning towards the microprocessors that used silicon chips and had millions of tiny transistors within them. There is a great write-up of the history behind it at ideafinder.com along with with a picture of this first transistor.

Atomic Bomb: A number of key elements came together beginning in 1939 and ending in 1945 as the testing of what was then known as "The Gadget" in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico successfully ushered in the invention of the atomic bomb under the guise of 'The Manhattan Project". There is a long list of scientist where were behind this invention with Robert Oppenheimer who oversaw the whole project from beginning to end. It was used two times in war, the first being at Hiroshima and dropped on 6 Aug, 1945 and on Nagasaki on 9 Aug., 1945 and bringing World War II to an end on 10 Aug., 1945. While there are many articles on this subject, About.com Inventors article seemed to be the best.

There are other technological advances that happened during this time period that have grown into more modern devices that are in use today. As in decades past, during the 1940s, amazing individuals have pioneered inventions that continue to be improved upon resulting in making life easier each day!

Let's all join in and aid the indexing of the 1940s census to locate these amazing individuals as well as ones ancestors, just click 1940 Census Project!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved

     claire@timelessgen.com   

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Newspapers - Another 'often forgotten' Resource!






The history of newspapers if actually fasinating. According to Wikipedia, "earlier publications played into the development of what is known today as 'the newspaper' which began around 1600." There were earlier similar types of publications but to talk about the newspapers as similar to what we use today is closer to the 1600s. Some may say there were other similar publications that were much earlier which is true to a point, however, in comparison to the types of newspapers seen today the 1600s would be closer.

The news in these publications varied according to the locale and definitely provides clues as to the life styles of different time periods. One of the major issues with newspapers is how they are used. Even today, many are slanted one way or another depending on who is the writer and/or the publisher.

The first official (allowed by the govenor of the time) newspaper in the United States was in 1704 and called "The Boston News-Letter" and came out weekly. The London Gazette started on 7 November 1662 and was originally called The Oxford Gazette.

Newspapers provide a wonderful resource not only for genealogists and family historians but also historians in general. Most newspapers have been microfilmed and are usually located at a local library for viewing on a microfilm reader.

Since about the late 1980s, newspapers started to be digitized and so it is possible to look for an obituary of an individual who died after the ditizing began in that area and obtain a copy for a small fee. There are online databases of various newspapers, some are free and some are fee-based and/or can be viewed with a personal subscription or only through a local library.

ProQuest Newstand is an online database of newspaper articles produced by ProQuest. Another online database is GenealogyBank which is always adding new collections and is fee based. A free database is available from the Internet Archives which is the same group that provides the WayBack Machine which allows an individual to view websites as they were over a long period of time.

It's easy to check to see if the newspapers are online in your own area by doing a browser search with the additional word of 'online' to the title of the newspaper. It is also a good idea to check with your local library, historical society or a genealogical society in the area as this resource can and often has aided in breaking through brick wall pedigree situations.

Recently, the New York Times published an article on the physical archive of the internet archives in hopes of growing their collections to include more books, newspapers, etc. I have used obituaries to locate funeral homes which can lead me to the original papers filled out at the time of a death in a family. Additionally, there are often other family members listed who may have additional information. For instance, in the obituary below:


If the individual who cut this out of the newspaper also cut out the date or wrote it down, one would have to use another source to locate the actual date. A help here would be the funeral home as they may list them in their databases by the name of the deceased.

Additional clues are the surviving members of his family and a telephone directory would be a big help in locating these individuals if that was a necessary step.

If this is your own family member you may have had a relationship with the descendants in years past and contacting them again could be like renewing a past friendship or establishing a new one. I have found it to be rewarding to be able to share genealogical finds with other cousins I had not been in touch with for a long period of time.

Sometimes births are also recorded in a newspaper, however, one may not get the actual name of the child but only the parents as is shown in the example below:




Even though this provides limited information it is a begining to get more information as the hunt continues.

One should try and remember that events are what makes the news and individuals enjoy learning about all that is happening in their area.

If you'd like to share a success story about how newspaper clippings like these aided your research please do so!


Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved

     claire@timelessgen.com   

Monday, March 12, 2012

1940 US Census ~ A Community Project





The 1940 US Census will be released in just 21 days! So much happened during that time period and many of us have family members who are listed in this census, either our parents, grand parents or great grandparents. I recall one day working at the Family History Library and assisting an elderly individual to view herself listed as a child in the 1930 US Census. She just looked at all the names listed in the household with tears streaming down as she recalled all those who were no longer here and yet there she was just 8 years old!

My mom was born in 1927 and would be 13 years old and going to school everyday like many are doing today. She was the last of 9 children and had so much to look foward to as she pursued her life. Her oldest sister, Ozina married in June of 1940, while her other two older sisters and one brother were already married with children. Strange as it may seem, that means some of my first cousins will be in this census as young children!

It will be interesting to see where my Great Grandmother, Rose DeLima Limoges will be living. She was a wonderful person according to those I've interviewed in the past. She assisted in the delivery of most of her own grandchildren and was considered a healer and often in an emergency setting she would be sent for rather than a doctor.

My mother's mom, Lovina Theroux Marotte, didn't pass away till 1945 and her grandmother mother, Rose DeLima Limoges passed away in 1942 so both of them will be there. I never knew them in person but I will be able to see them listed in the 1940 Census along with their families. By 1945 my mother was finishing up with high school and entered nursing school at St. Joseph's hospital. Here she is soon after entering nursing school.






She graduated in 1948, but continued to work there for many years. She met my father in the hospital as he was a patient there.
She would travel from Pawtucket to work in Providence by bus as she didn't own a car or even have a drivers' license at this point in her life!

The freeway system known as Route 95 didn't exist at this time, in fact the best way to travel from Pawtucket to Providence was to follow Route 1 all the way which is what she did by bus!

This census will definitely shed some light on many individuals and perhaps solve some brick wall problems.

Join the community and help to index the 1940 census. To learn more about it, click this link and help make history by joining this national service project https://the1940census.com/getting-started/!

Thanks for all who are already signed up ... together we can do anything!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved

     claire@timelessgen.com   


Twitter - The Modern Telegram?





When my husband and I were married in the late 1970s, we received at least one if not two telegrams wishing us all the best from his family in England. At the time, I thought it stange, but was sufficiently amazed that individuals still sent them. Seems like it was a tradition, if one could not attend the wedding they would send a telegram which was read during the sit down portion of the reception.

We still have the telegram(s) and now with many years behind me of doing genealogical research I definitely appreciate them even more as the individuals who sent them have now passed on. 



While telegrams themselves are not used very often in 2012, I like to think of Twitter as a modern day version of these 'short, but important, messages'. All Twitter messages are limited to 140 characters which forces one to be precise and to the point. To aid with shortening long URLs, Twitter now provides this service but there are other companies that do this also like bitly and others.

Started in March, 2006 by Jack Dorsey, this social media service has gained popularity throughout the world with about 500 million users as of Feburary, 2012 according to an article by Jessica Roy in 10,000 Words. This company is based in San Francisco but has offices in New York City.

One of the main differences between Twitter and Instant Messaging is that one is "tweeting" to many individuals rather than just one. Users can group posts by a topic and using a hashtag "#" with the subject after it like "#genealogy", etc. An individual can post a message, retweet a message with "RT" and/or reply to other users with "@" followed by the username.

While there are just as many suggested uses as there are users of the product, some of the advantages of Twitter are that one can ask a question of many individuals with one 'tweet' and it is a great forum when attending conferences. Often individuals tweet what is going on at a conference in an effort to provide up-to-date information on a particular class. For those who are attending a different class this is quite helpful, especially if one was torn as to which class to attend in the first place. Additionally, a Twitter news feed is constantly going on for all to keep up with what is happening at the conference. This can be displayed on a large screen set up at the conference as well as in an application set up for the conference on your portable device.

A companion application known as TweetDeck and is great for obtaining information on many different tweets on diffferent subjects as the same time. My TweetDeck is set up to receive tweets from:
  • All Friends
  • #genealogy
  • #familyhistory
  • #technology
  • #familysearch
  • #socialmedia
I have found many a new link to some great resources by following the awesome shares by individuals from around the world on TweetDeck! I do turn the sound off as it chirps with each post.



As one looks at different ways to stay in touch it can be overwhelming and so I have restricted my TweetDeck to once or twice a week, otherwise I would get to distracted and not get much else done except to watch tweets all day!

Twitter and TweetDeck are great social media resources in a long list of applications available today to stay in touch with the world. Take some time to check them out if you are not already using it.

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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Twitter @TimelessGen

(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved

     claire@timelessgen.com   

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Making Life Easier with RSS...







Years ago, before computers, research was something that took a long time to do regardless of the topic. Trips to the library, locating the correct books and finding exactly the right materials was always a challenge and yet somehow we perservered.

RSS feeds are a great way to save time and energy in locating timely information again regardless of the topic. The above icon is a familiar logo on many websites today. That application provides an opportunity to be notified when something 'new' has been posted to that website. One would only need to go to the site when that happens which can be a time saver. These feeds can come to a 'feed reader' which generates an email notice of the update to the website. There are many feed aggregators but the one most used is the 'Google Reader'.


Once you find a site you can easily add it to your Google Reader.

Another way to take advantage of RSS feeds is through an iGoogle page or pages. This allows you to add what you need and view it when you wish. To locate iGoogle go to google.com and click on 'more' and scroll down to 'even more'. Once there locate iGoogle in the list of available applications and products and click to open. Being it would be a new page there are a few gadgets already there. In this clip you see an iGoogle page set up for Social Media. Note that the "Add Gadget" is in the upper left hand corner. Sometimes it is on the right, one just needs to check as they move it around!


Once you click the "Add Gadget" you can choose whatever subject you wish, in this case we stayed with the same topic of 'Social Media'.

Once you locate the feed you want, just click "add it now" and it will automatically go to the top left hand corner of the page where you can easily move it to a different place or keep it in the same place.



I have found checking these iGoogle pages daily keeps me up on what is going on in the choosen subject areas. Time is precious and hopefully using RSS feeds in your daily activities will provide an opportunity to save some time for other assigned projects or responsibilities!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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