Connections Reflections

Just a few of the presentations I attended at Connections2025

Just back from three days of learning in Brisbane my thanks to GSQ, AFFHO and History Queensland for hosting an excellent conference. The mix of historical content along with AI advances and traditional genealogy was a good combination.

The opportunity to meet and mingle with like minded souls who are all keen to learn and share their expertise was a bonus. I caught up with many geni-mates known online and others I knew in real life.

Now to to refocus my research:

• Investigate the networks or friends and neighbours of my ancestors more closely
• Investigate the other passengers who travelled with my ancestors, were they from similar villages, towns, where did they settle etc.
• Pay more attention to the political and social circumstances of the time
• Work more on the organisation of my genealogical records and photos
• Continue to use a variety of AI tools for routine data extraction and organisation tasks

Family history is never finished, there is always more one can learn and do no matter one's age. Being open to learning keeps the brain active. 

This post first appeared on https://carmelgalvin.info

Mission Creep in Family History

Logo on FHF Really Useful Family History Show

Mission Creep : a gradual shift in objectives, when one sets out on a certain research path and gets  taken down another path into side issues.

I learnt this definition this weekend while watching the presentation by Helen Tovey of Family Tree magazine as part of the FHF Really Useful Family History online conference. 

"While on a mission to find out one thing, it's all too easy to get side-tracked when tracing our family histories. Helen Tovey takes a look at how to make a 10 minute task take 10 hours, and learns some salutary lessons along the way."

Helen outlined her research question and then showed the many paths taken as her research expanded to cover social circumstances well beyond her original enquiry. This was a delightful presentation with reflection along the way phrased as “What have I learnt?” 

Time to pause and reflect of what have I learnt from this conference. 

1. This was just one of the many excellent value learning opportunities provided online for family historians. For just 7 pounds (about $12.70 Australian) 21 talks were provided, all available across 48 hours. I watched 10 of those talks, the ones that interested me most, so for less than $2 per talk I had access to experts in a variety of fields in English and Scottish research. One should choose wisely how to spend online time. I would not have attended 21 talks in a one day, or even a two day conference, so do not expect myself to attend every talk in the online environment. [edited; 24 hours later now and I see 23 videos available]
2. Once again I was reminded of the importance of recording every detail from available records to save wasting time by having to revisit searches, no matter how trivial the information may appear at the time.
3. The FamilySearch wiki is always worth a revisit as a wealth of information is continually added there. The England Genealogy page provides an excellent list of all the likely sources and record types one needs to exploit when investigating family history. Navigating the wiki is simplified by the use of a similar boxed layout on all pages with multiple access points provided throughout.
4. It is always worth learning new skills and attending presentations from experts in fields other than one's own interest to look afresh at different ways of doing things. The Trade and Occupation Sources presented by David Cufley and the My Ancestor was an Agricultural Labourer by Ian Waller both provided a wealth of sources along with useful background information about terminology and occupations in the UK.
5. A comprehensive coverage of a variety of ways to search the three Free UK Genealogy sites, Free BMD, FreeCen and FreeReg was concise and clearly presented by Graham Hart with an important reminder to always check the coverage of any database one may be searching.
6. Not all organisations have yet managed to provide a seamless online experience by providing videos, chat and links to speakers' notes in a single platform. The push to sign up for yet another platform was less than optimal with a flurry of underlined words in emails that were not links. However I am thankful to the Family History Federation for providing the opportunity to attend this conference from Australia, an opportunity I would not have had, had the conference not been online. 

To return to Mission Creep, that gradual shift in objectives. I started researching family history in 2013 with the objective of finding and recording the stories of direct ancestors. Over time this has expanded to distant relatives on both sides of our families. Whilst the hunt for sources is half the joy of family history for those of us who enjoy the research process, it is the recording of those ancestors stories that should be my focus. 

Time to move back to that objective, know that many sources are out there, but stories need to be told to be preserved for future generations.

Congress on Slate

Here's an elegant new way to share your stories from your ipad. Just add text, photos and links to the app Adobe Slate.  Professionally designed layout features add another dimension to your content. This easy to use tool may appeal to family historians who would like to present their information in a visually attractive manner. Your story can include headings, text, quotes, images and buttons to link to websites.

Slate pages can be public or private, can be embedded on your blog or website as below, or shared via email and various other social platforms. There are 11 different themes to choose from so with a simple click the page or post can be modified to your preferred style. I've used the 'Tereza' theme. I've added only small snippets of text but longer blocks of text can be written.

If you have an ipad why not try it? Photos can be added from your own collections whether stored on your device or in Dropbox. There is a Creative Commons search if you do not have suitable visuals and the sources are credited at the end of your page. This is a free app, you will need to use your free Adobe ID as the pages are stored on Adobe's servers.

Here's an overview of last weekend's Congress made in Slate on my ipad. Click or tap on the picture below then scroll to view. The back button will return you to this post.




This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2015/04/congress-on-slate.html

Sharing the goods

Canberra - City Walk

At the AFFHO Congress 2015 held recently in Canberra a lot of information was shared in sessions and through social media. Subsequently I have added a wide range of people and organisations to my social networks. Here's a few I've recently followed on Twitter. To see more view my profile @crgalvin To get an excellent overview of Australian libraries, museums and archives on Twitter view the range followed by the National Library of Australia and those followed by Trove .

Books

I love a new book to read and the titles shared below are just a few mentioned during sessions I attended. As I read the rest of the Congress papers supplied on a nifty USB, no doubt there will be plenty more titles to read and recommend.

The labour of loss by Joy Damousi
Broken Nation: Australians in the great war by Joan Beaumount
The invisible history of the human race by Christine  Keneally
Help! Historical and genealogical truth by Carol Baxter
In darkest England and the way out by William Booth
Farewell my children by Richard E. Reid
Single and Free: Female migration to Australia 1833 - 1837 by Elizabeth Rushen
Fair Game Australia's first immigrant women by Elizabeth Rushen and Perry McIntyre
Forensic genealogy by Colleen Fitzpatrick

This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2015/04/sharing-goods.html

Congress doggerel

For those headed to Canberra for Congress 2015, a little light relief, just 1 minute 25s of your time.

Made with Adobe Voice on iPad

Checking out the app stores

Canberra bound

My pre-planning routine for any travel includes a check of the App stores to see what is available for my mobile devices for the intended destination. I already have Trip-it which provides me with access to my itineraries, accommodation bookings and any other bookings I may have made or added to the event calendar in Trip-it.

So to the destination, in this case Canberra. It is many years since I lived there. What's new and what's about in mobile apps?

First to the App store on my iPad. A featured collection in the Travel category this week in the Australian store is Explore Australia with links to apps for capital cities and states. Canberra reveals only 7 apps in this category.

If I search using the word Canberra, I am presented with more than 30 apps to explore.

Here I choose the free Canberra Map and walks, The Canberra Region visitors guide and the Canberra Travel companion.

Now to Google Play store for my Android phone. Choose Apps, search Canberra

Mobile Canberra looks good

Welcome to Mobile Canberra, an initiative by the ACT Government and the NICTA eGOV Cluster! Mobile Canberra is a powerful platform for showing points of interest and services around Canberra. The app provides access to geolocational Government datasets and services. Current services include bus stops, public toilets, playgrounds, libraries, TAFE campuses, schools, public art, and public furniture.

The Canberra Guide is another useful app.
I won't be using buses or taxis this time, but if I were there are a good range of apps here.

Using the web to locate apps

Sometimes I prefer to find apps via my computer browser, rather than on one of my devices.
Very quick and easy - search Canberra, select More from search results,choose Apps.

The results claim to list more than 48000 so I certainly won't be going past the first few pages of those, but I do like this search because at a glance one can see all the ratings users have given, whether the app is free or not and for which platform the app is made. Further into the results are reviews and articles about the apps.

Now for some wardrobe planning. I suspect my usual daily dress of shorts and tshirts will not be adequate warmth for Canberra at the end of March!

If you are planning to be at AFFHO Congress 2015, news from Pauleen assures us that an app is on the way. 

Update: Get the Android app for Congress here https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=rcd.congress2015

This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2015/03/checking-out-app-stores.html

Evernote for conferences

Advance preparation for conferences

A simple method to avoid carrying excess paperwork when attending a conference and trying to keep track of sessions, is to centralise any conference administration, notes and papers into Evernote. To this end I download the conference program, save it to Evernote then mark and annotate the sessions I want to attend.

To keep my memories and notes of the event all in one place, I set up some basic templates that I can use again and again. There are templates for individual sessions and for days of the conference as well as a general overall note to help me focus on information I may wish to collect and remember.  Each template is tagged with a tag individual to the conference to be attended.

The general and the individual day templates are in the form of lists and remind me to add photos, contacts and a variety of other materials at the end of each day. This way I can keep track of the who, what, where and when  - particularly with photos or tips and tricks garnered along the way.

The individual session template has the room, location and time, title of session along with the speaker's abstract. I then type my notes from that session directly into Evernote on my ipad while listening to and watching the speaker and their presentation. My handwriting is poor and I find keeping notes on a tablet quick and easy. Any handout given can be scanned to the notebook, I then incorporate it into my session notes so that the material is kept together.

The notebook also contains a guide to using maps to determine travel times to various venues.
An Index is provided for the notebook and individual note links can be added to this as the templates are duplicated and renamed for the days and individual sessions. Using this method one can leave a conference with notes organised and centralised for later review.

My shared notebook for AFFHO Congress 2015  to be held in Canberra at the end of this month, can be viewed and/or saved to your Evernote.
Notes are all tagged AFFHO as are my travel, accomodation and transport details all saved into my version of the notebook. AFFHO is also the tag to use if you are tweeting during Congress.
This notebook can be adapted for any conference that you may attend. I hope you find it useful. What else would you add to a Conference Notebook?


This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2015/03/evernote-for-conferences.html

Let them learn!

Ah the angst! You present, you want people to learn what you have to offer but are you really ready to let them learn in the way that best suits them?

You are thrilled to be acknowledged as an expert in your area but worried that someone may steal your ideas. When you present whether to a conference, a meeting or in any circumstance, you are sharing the ideas and the knowledge you have so that others may benefit by learning from you.

Why are you afraid if someone takes photos of your slides? It's the detail and the expertise you have to offer they will benefit from, not your pretty pictures. Oh no! there's no inspiring images, it is all text and screen dumps - ah, that was how the teacher did it back in school all those years ago. Text heavy presentations invite photography. How else will the learner get to note down all those points you've decided are so important they must be listed? Remember the scramble to copy everything from the blackboard (whiteboard) before the end of class back in school or university days.

Have you provided a place where the audience can retrieve the links you've provided? How will  they remember the long name of that fabulous site or organisation you just mentioned,  - snap, a quick photo will do it. Is it really a surprise that the person who has paid to attend your presentation needs more than the memory of your words to take away, to revisit and learn? If they are busy trying to copy everything from your slides, are they getting the best from your talk?

How do you learn best? Are you a visual learner? Does audio suit you better? Have you supplied the attendee with online notes/slides so they can concentrate on your message? Have you given them notes at the beginning of the presentation? Will the presentation that they have paid for, be accessible?

If not - expect participants to take photos, expect folks to use every means at their disposal to capture the information being presented. Why not share? It is sure to generate more interest and if your presentation was sooo.... good, of course you'll do it again and again, and by the next time you'll have new up-to-date information to add - the slides will be outdated or at least outmoded.

Get your Creative Commons licence here Explain it to your audience too so they understand their rights and responsibilities.

Display a QR code that leads to your slides right at the beginning of your presentation and allow time for participants to scan it. Now they will have your slides on their phone or tablet and need not interrupt you or their neighbours by trying to get a shot of every slide.

One day:

• you will be too old or infirm to present
• the information you have to share will be outdated - let people make good use of it now.

Check up on what you agreed to do. The audience are clients, are you not bound to provide them with best learning experience possible?

I've written this post in response to so many negative things written about participants by some presenters after RootsTech, a large genealogy conference in the USA.  No, I did not attend - out of my budget range, but I learn so much from the caring souls who share their content online. It seems many conference participants were using their phones to photograph slides - it may be that some presenters had not given their audience a variety of other options to access the content. My genimate Jill has also addressed this issue which has prompted me to revisit this post.

I respect copyright and acknowledge sources but thank the YouTubers, the slidesharers, the Facebookers, the edTechers (yes often teachers) bloggers, webinaries, screencasters, geniesharers and too many more to mention. I've learnt and continue to learn from your visuals, audio and text.

All content, your presentations and mine are built on previous knowledge. Where did we get that from? We read, we learnt, we watched, we absorbed, we processed, we were inspired and sometimes we came up with an original idea. Our knowledge is built on the foundations provided by others. We adapt, add to and remix just as suggested in the creative commons licences. Help others learn with your visuals and text.

Slideshare, Dropbox, Box, Google docs and slides, YouTube, blogs and more. There are dozens of ways you can share your content online. Excellent examples of sharing using both paid and freemium models are Thomas MacEntee, Richard Byrne and Lisa Louise Cooke to name but a few. What are you waiting for? Times have changed!



Library Currants by Carmel Galvin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.