My First Impressions of Twile - Winner of The Peoples Choice Award at Rootstech 2016

This photograph is from the Twile Blog to find out more see the link below.

What is Twile?

Twile is a website which creates a timeline of your family memories that you can share with those in your family who may not be the avid genealogist that you are. 

Only the people you allow can see what you share but it allows us to share all those moments that we forget to record in our software programs.

Here is a link to why it was created and I shall leave you to explore their blog to find out more.

How I found the site

I first found out about this website when the semi finalists for the Innovator Showdown at Rootstech 2016 were announced and decided to sign up for the trial to see what it was all about. 

The Demonstration at Rootstech 2016

Life got in the way and I saw the video of the Innovator Showdown Semi-Final and decided I needed to get my GEDCOM file uploaded to the site so that I can start adding memories and sharing with my family. I know that many others are interested in this site as it won the vote from the audience including those watching online. Here is a link to the Innovator Showdown Finals 2016 if you have not had a chance to see it.

Exploring the website

I am only just starting to use this but I am impressed by the feedback from the team who run the website. They will be inundated with people wanting to join and try out the website. They are still managing to get back to answer individual queries and provide a solution in a timely manner.
Customer service is so important if you want the users to keep coming back.

Gedcom is up and working and I am adding profile pictures to my ancestors and adding living members. You can invite your family by email, and as the website can be accessed by tablets and smartphones, I expect it to be popular with the younger generations of the family.

The comment from my son after I sent an email invite  was " I received an email saying you added me to your family tree, I thought I was already a member! ". This sparked a conversation and I showed him the family timeline I am building which currently has only my side of the family and my husband. He looked at the date his grandfather died, knowing it was the same day that his cousin was born and the date the following week when we had the cremation, these are things that he remembers. 
He also asked if it was private so I told him that only the family could see this if I invite them. 
The more of them that join, even just the free part of the site, the better it will be for everyone. 
I love the timeline as it really helps to put things together in relation to each other in a way that those in the family, not "doing genealogy", can interact with and add contributions.
I like that you can add more than just the usual things like births, marriages and deaths. 
I have uploaded a few photographs from a couple of family get togethers today as milestone events.

From what I have seen so far I am almost certain I will sign up to be a premier member. 

We should all share in the mission to get the younger generations engaged, to ensure that the stories and memories we are creating today and have created or had passed on to us are saved, in a way that our families will want to share in the future. 
Photographs and stories are what inspire us to find out more. 
We have so many ways to record and store them but the best thing we can do is to share.

Just as I finish writing this there is more good news for Twile in this announcement. 
I already have an ongoing subscription with find my past so hopefully this will lead to integration between the sites.

Late Posting

Steve Rockwood, Familysearch CEO 

I have a very good excuse for delaying my post this month. I was totally immersed in the madness that is Rootstech, the greatest family history show on earth. Rather than skipping the post I am playing catchup and writing it now I am back in Australia. I will backdate so it appears in its correct spot in our blog archive. 

Why do I travel for hours across the Pacific to attend this event?

I previously wrote that I wanted to be Challenged, Educated, Entertained, Informed and Inspired. Rootstech with its broad program can deliver on all of these needs.

• I like to renew old friendships and meet online pals in the flesh, a solitary life in the geneacave can be lonely sometimes. 
• As an Official Ambassador for the event I like to attend in person and be a voice for Australia. I like to be on hand to help newbie Australians negotiate Salt Lake City and Rootstech. 
• I enjoy the opportunities given to Ambassadors to interview celebrities and attendees. I love being able to ask my own questions. 
• I was honoured to have a presentation proposal accepted and I was not going to miss out on sharing my thoughts with the attendees. I think I was the only Australian on the program and I like to see our nation represented. 
• I appreciate the opportunity to have research time at The Family History Library. 

Some Rootstech Ambassadors

When I arrived home my husband asked "Did you learn anything?" I said "not a lot if you are talking of learning as acquiring skills". I said that I had been educated and enriched by the experience.

Did Rootstech Deliver?
I was challenged, as I listened to others' opinions in my presentation where I moderated a panel discussion "Ethical Dilemmas in an Online World".

Panelists from Four Nations

I didn't really find any of the presentations I attended,with the exception of Josh Taylor's, particularly challenging, Perhaps there needs to be more discussion of issues on the Rootstech program.

I was educated about DNA in the several sessions I attended on that topic. Outside of the formal program I learnt a lot about the Mormon faith through Ambassador visits to the new Provo Temple and The Church History Library. I did acquire some skills in an excellent presentation on Audacity given by Andrew Lee. I didn't go to many "How to"sessions as I like to learn by myself through trial and error.

With Sharn White (Australia) and Audrey Collins (UK)

I was entertained in several of the keynote sessions. There was the humour of AJ Jacobs, the passion of David Isay and the determination of Paula Williams Madison. There were many opportunities to be entertained at the formal and informal social events the occur around the time of Rootstech. I seemed to have a different party, reception and/or dinner every evening for nine days.

I didn't have to go to any sessions to be informed. A walk around the Expo Hall with over 300 exhibitors provided many opportunities to hear about products and services both old and new. I try to avoid formal sessions that are infomercials by company representatives. I prefer to visit the booths and ask my own questions.

I was inspired by Steve Rockwood, David Isay and Paula Williams Madison (Google them). Much inspiration came from hanging out with my genimates, ordinary people like you and me who have a passion for discovering their ancestors and their stories. Their enthusiasm is contagious and will carry me through until I return to Rootstech in 2017.

The icing on the cake for me is meeting up with people I have known online for several years. This year I finally met Tony Proctor from Ireland, True Lewis from the US, Jana Last from California and Geoff Mulholland (an Aussie) from Germany.

With Geoff Mulholland

With True Lewis 

Two Years Down the Track

Reflection is so important to me as as a family historian and lifelong learner. For the past few years I have published the Accentuate the Positive Geneameme, a tool genies can use to reflect on the things they have achieved. You can access it and join in here.

http://geniaus.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/a-tradition.html

In my first post on this blog two years ago I  introduced myself. Things have remained very much the same in my Geneaworld although I have picked up a couple of extra volunteering activities.

I am sorry that when travelling I have missed a couple of monthly posts to this blog - I will endeavour to correct this in 2016 when I already have about four months of overseas travel planned. I may rejig some of my old personal blog posts and reblog them here.

The work I have done with another local family historian and our local studies librarian to establish the Hornsby Shire Family History Group makes me feel so proud. In just 11 months we have grown to have over 70 members and have exhibited at various community events.

Jennie Fairs from The Surname Society approached me last year and asked me, as a genie who trips about, to write a regular column for their newsletter, The Surname Scribbler. I was honoured to be asked and appreciate the opportunity it gives me to reflect on my geneactivities. Although my columns are fluffy the bulk of the articles are most informative and instructive. It is worth the modest membership fee to receive copies of this epublication (it's cheaper than many commercially produced publications).

You might note that I use a bit of geneajargon in my writing. I have always been fascinated by jargon and made up words so in August 2014 I started the Geneadictionary blog, a lighthearted publication, in which I share words I find and those that my Genimates find for me. Although it doesn't have a massive readership I enjoy putting this blog together. While I had been dabbling with Wordpress for a few years I had never blogged with it seriously. I now use Wordpress for Hornsby Shire Family History Group website and my  surname study blog CurryAus.

I continue to be involved in Rootstech, the greatest Geneaevent on Earth, and will be an Ambassador and Presenter again in 2016. I wonder which of my fellow bloggers I will meet there this year.

Have you reflected on your geneactivities lately?

To conference or not to conference

 To conference or not to conference? That is indeed the question!

Over the last few months I have been heavily tied up with family history conferences.

First it was RootsTech-FGS in Salt Lake City in February and before I knew it the triennial Australasian Congress of Genealogy and Heraldry (the equivalent of the USA’s FGS conference) had arrived.

At RootsTech-FGS I was just there to learn, hit the family history library, maybe do a blog post or two, have fun, and meet up with genimates. Congress 2015 was a little more pressured with responsibilities as one of the three official bloggers (Jill Ball aka GeniAus, and Shauna Hicks) and also because I was presenting two papers. You can meet the speakers and learn about their topics by looking at this summary by TravelGenee, Fran.

We’ve had post-Congress blog reports from many genimates (you can see a list here – thanks GeniAus) as well as a Congress review hangout by GeniAus this week with its “kiss, kick, kiss” approach.

More recently others have been hanging out at WHYTYA Live! in Birmingham.

PROs and CONs

All of which has made me think in general about the pros and cons of attending genealogy conferences and how we make the choice. 

This decision differs in some ways from work-related conferences where we have to convince managers and purse-holders that our attendance will benefit us, but also the organisation, and that we will add value in some way by either presenting or reporting back to colleagues. Even if we pay for it ourselves, it becomes a tax deduction (usually).

So here’s my “five bob’s worth” (Aussie-speak for opinion) on decision-making considerations for a family history conference, whether a local, national or international one.

FINANCIAL

Put simply, dollars will be the first consideration for most people. Is there even enough money in kitty to consider it at all?

The funds may be available, but what are the competing priorities or possibilities for the individual or the family? What other travel opportunities are in the mix? (See the later section, touring).

What will the person gain from attendance? How will it improve their family history research, their skills and knowledge? Will the genea-obsessive be joined by other family members?

KNOWLEDGE: SHARING & LEARNING

No matter how long we’ve been researching, whether we’re internet-driven or like to do on-site visits to libraries, archives and cemeteries etc, we will always have something we can learn from others.

Each of us develops special skills and interests, largely driven by the need-to-know basis of figuring out information relating to our ancestors. Depending on how wily they are at hiding from us, we will utilise, but also develop, brick wall strategies.

Others have suggested that it’s good to attend sessions which aren’t applicable to your own family. This doesn’t work for me simply because I don’t get many chances to attend such events as I live a long way from the hub of such activity. When I am spending significant amounts of family money on a conference I want to get maximum bang for my buck, and focus on presentations which will increase my knowledge and understanding of topics. This is why DNA talks were high on my list at RootsTech.

I also look for depth of content from speakers with a wide knowledge of their topic as well as a passion for it. Yes I’ll learn from every talk I attend, but I also want to be stretched.

Probably my key criterion to assess a presentation is whether the speaker has inspired me as well as imparting knowledge. For these speakers I will have notes which include “think about….”and maybe some mind-maps on how it might come together.

The Find My Past exhibit at RootsTech was very popular.

In the 21^st mind-set of entertainment we expect the speakers to be skilled presenters but the reality is that they may not be professional speakers, just fellow family history obsessives who want to share their passion for a topic.  We also need to cut them a little slack.

Of course all this is difficult to assess in advance, so when making your decision you can only analyse what’s been submitted in the abstracts. If there’s more than one talk per session that really interests you (as there so often is) then you should be able to get knowledge value and the option to be flexible.

There's other opportunities for learning in the many displays by sponsors and exhibitors. What a great way to learn about new products, check them out on-site and get the advice of other researchers.

SOCIALISING or NETWORKING

While this sounds a little frivolous it can play a huge role in your take-home vibe from a conference.

This is your opportunity to talk about family history for days on end without putting people to sleep or sending them running for the hills.

Geneabloggers at Congress 2015, Canberra.
Thanks to GeniAus and Mr GeniAus for the photo.

Do you know lots of other genimates from blogging or social media? This is your chance to meet them face-to-face over coffee/lunch or an informal dinner outing. One of the benefits of blogger beads (initiated by Geneablogger guru, Thomas MacEntee and shared at Congress by GeniAus) is that you can readily identify fellow bloggers and have an immediate bond.

Are you a newbie who feels they “know no one”? Conferences can be a great way to meet new people with a common interest, perhaps even new cousins. Where there’s an opportunity for research interests to be listed do take advantage of them. 

TOURING

Sydney Opera House and Bridge and a large cruise ship
- our immigrant ancestors would be astonished.

Perhaps not the most critical aspect of the decision-making, or is it? The venue of the conference may be a temptation in itself. I’m sure it formed a part of my decision to attend RootsTech/FGS as it meant I could visit the genealogy holy grail, the Family History Library.

Congress 2015 was held in the Australian capital, Canberra, which was certainly a temptation with the National Library, Archives, Australia War Memorial, old and new Parliament house and other wonderful research and touring opportunities. Congress  2015 social events were held at the AWM and Parliament House – what a privilege!

And for those who’ve always wanted to visit Australia, perhaps Congress 2018 is something to put on the bucket list? It’s being held in Sydney, perhaps our most well-known city with its spectacular harbour, Opera House and Bridge. Appropriately the Congress theme is “Bridging the Past and the Future”.

Informal Survey – HAVE YOUR SAY

During a final-day Congress panel session led by GeniAus, Josh Taylor mentioned that perhaps the term “society” is out of date for younger potential genealogists. Do you agree? Are you a member of a family history/genealogy/local history society?

Also I wonder if the word “genealogy” continues to fully reflect how we refer to what we do. What is your preferred term when you tell people about your hobby obsession? Is it genealogy or family history?

What other things do you consider when you make a choice about attending a family history conference?

Have you been to conferences locally or nationally? Were they of benefit?

It would be great to hear your views and comments!

Worldwide Genealogists Are Getting Ready For RootsTech/FGS 2015!

made with wordle.net - thanks

I am pretty excited to be attending RootsTech/FGS 2015 which starts next week in Salt Lake City. It appears that the weather is going to surprise all of us and we will have pleasant temperatures and no chance of snow. I have been to Salt Lake City three times in the late January time-frame and although we had cold temperatures and snow, the City does an amazing job of clearing sidewalks. No matter the weather, it is a beautiful and clean city to walk, shop and visit mecca (the Family History Library).

I am an FGS Ambassador so I have posted on my personal blog for the past few Sundays about preparing for the conference. Over the weekend I worked on my packing list, made a shopping list for the few things I needed to pick up, and worked on some handouts to use with my session “Who Does That? An Introduction to One-Name (surname) Studies.” I think we will have a good time on Friday, February 13^th (thank goodness I am not superstitious!) at 1:00 pm and if you have any interest in learning a bit about surname research or one-name studies, please join me! 

I am a member of the Guild of One-Name Studies and am quite excited to finally meet several other Guild members – Jill Ball, Julie Goucher, Paul Howes, Drew Smith, Helen Smith, Darris Williams, Russ Worthington – to name a few. It will also be nice to finally meet up with several of my genealogy friends (although I “know” them online, we haven’t met in person) Jen Baldwin, Linda McCauley, Caroline Pointer, Pat Richley-Erickson, Cheri Hudson Passey, and Thomas MacEntee.

So this morning I sat down and played with both the online and the mobile versions of the schedule/agenda for the conference. It is a bit overwhelming and if you are going to RootsTech/FGS you will definitely want to spend some time reviewing all your choices. Here are a few tips that might help you go through the process. 

1. Be sure to have your transportation and accommodation information on both your smartphone/tablet and printed out (you just know Murphy’s Law will wreak havoc otherwise). Are there any special things you need to think about – like checking in with the airlines, confirming your hotel reservation, determining if you will have excess luggage charges, contacting your credit card companies to let them know you will be traveling (and charging in a distant place), having cash (you remember cash) for the taxis, porters, or last minute minor purchases.
2. Put together a rough draft of your schedule. I use a page a day while I am playing around and I list the days and time to check in (and register) with RootsTech and/or FGS. Do you know where you are going at the Salt Palace and what you need to pick up your registration packet (hint – photo identification). Get that “stuff” early so you can go through it at your leisure and “lighten your load.” Have a highlighter or pen handy for making notes on the conference guide and marking the booths at the Exhibit Hall that you don’t want to miss. You can also do this on the mobile apps – so whether you are old school (paper and pen) or new school (mobile apps) or a combination of both, take the time to note the “must see” and “must do” booths and sessions.
3.  What is on my page a day sheets right now?
• The general session (and whether I plan to attend)
• The sessions I am interested in by session number, title, time and location (and if there are alternates, I make a note of both – something may change, a session might be full, or I might not decide until the last minute – bring a coin to toss!)
• My plans for lunch – whether a planned lunch or an idea of a walk and a place nearby to try
• The late afternoon or evening social or program (and whether I registered and have my ticket or confirmation)
• My plans for dinner – I will be meeting up with Jill Ball and the Aussie contingent on Tuesday and attending the “after party” at Dear Myrtle’s home on Saturday. In both cases I have responded to the invitation, checked the location, signed up for transportation if need be, and put the information on my sheet.
4. Looking at the page a day sheets shows how much of my time I have pre-scheduled and will be helpful when I decide to print out the syllabus for my final selections – and know there will be print kiosks at RootsTech so why not take advantage of getting your printing done on-site once you have made your selections.
5. I am not going to schedule my sessions back to back to back for the four day conference (I am attending both FGS and RootsTech). Wednesday will be a busy day as it is Society Day and I have lots to learn for the genealogy societies and groups that I belong to, but I will still limit it to four sessions because you start to burn out and stop enjoying and learning if you get too tired. I did check to see which sessions were being recorded and that will help me narrow down my “in person” choices. Thursday is a four session day and Friday and Saturday are both three session days. I certainly want a mix of attending sessions, visiting booths at the exhibit hall, visiting with genealogists at lunches, evening socials and just that sit down and chat time (preferably with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine – depending on the time of day).
6. I intend to focus on sessions that are new to me and will raise the bar a bit (mostly intermediate and advanced sessions OR sessions on topics I am not familiar with and haven’t had in my personal family history). Right now I am leaning toward 21^st Century Italian Genealogy, Native American Research, African American Research, Railroad Records Research, Manuscripts & More, and School Records – to name a few. Hopefully these new ethnic and record type courses will provide some “aha” moments with my own research or add to my knowledge base.
7. Together with three Guild members, I plan to work the FGS Society Showcase on behalf of the Guild on Saturday morning – probably from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. If you have questions about surname research, one-name studies, researching record sets in various parts of the world – or you simply want to pick up our Guild flyer and chat about how to find out more about your particular surnames, please stop by. I think the FGS Society Showcase will be amazing with flyers from genealogical and historical organizations and societies. It promises to be one of the highlights of the Exhibit Hall with many FGS member groups represented (flyers are available whenever the Exhibit Hall is open so definitely put the FGS Society Showcase on your “must visit” list). 
8. My conference pie (love pie!) is divided into sessions, exhibit hall, meals, research at the FHL, volunteer time, and a little bit of walking to clear my head and get that exercise in. 

How is your conference pie being sliced and what have I left out? Let me know in the comments and please add me to your list of friends in the mobile app (the next project on my to-do list) and let’s meet up, if only to say hi and exchange genealogy cards. This time next week I will be through with my Society Day sessions and ready for the Behind the Scenes FGS Opening Social – hope to see you in Salt Lake City in a week. 

Catch up on your sleep this week and have a safe journey. 

Geneavlogging

Don't know what it is?

Please watch the video clip below.

---

EXPECTATIONS

WHAT CAN I EXPECT IN 2015?

It is at this time of the year that we all get bombarded by new year resolutions and with the launch of the Genealogy Do-Over by Thomas MacEntee many of us are reviewing our work at setting ourselves goals for this coming year.

It is important that we give ourselves time to reflect and for those of us in the northern hemisphere the long winter evenings can be the best time of year to do this.

As I may have mentioned previously last January I attended one of The Boot Camps that Thomas and Lisa Alzo have been running. 

Next weekend they are running their Research Right Boot Camp (which sold out within a day), if you have not been able to sign up for this then it will be available from the following week. I have managed to sign up for this and hope to pick up some useful tips.

I have not managed to do much research at archives in the past two or three years and have been concentrating on getting a new organisation system in place. 
Those limited visits I have made were to look for parish registers not yet available online. 
I am hoping that next weekend's Boot Camp will help me optimise my research process so that I can make the most of my visit to Salt Lake City next month.

GOALS

1. Complete my reorganisation process
2. Optimise the research process
3. Ensure that all my sources are cited as accurately as possible
4. Make the most of visiting my cousins in the US and Salt Lake City for the Rootstech/FGS 2015 Conference

HOW WILL I ATTAIN THESE

This may sound a little "corny" but as the words of that song say "with a little help from my friends".

The genealogy community are a supportive group of people and by sharing and supporting each other we can all achieve our goals.

We must be realistic in what we aim to achieve and reassess the situation when we don't reach the endpoint we wanted.

Thomas MacEntee urged everyone who participating in the Genealogy Do-Over to slow down. Speed is not important getting it right is our aim.

The right plan with realistic goals will get more done. "More haste, less speed" is the saying that comes to mind.
I have parish register microfiche and some English counties have digital images available online, once I know what I have then I can concentrate my research objectives on those records not available in my home or via the Internet.
Some may say that goal number 4 should be number 1 and in the short term that is true. However without the other goals then I may not attain number 4. Goals 1 and 2 may not be reached before I leave the UK and 3 most certainly will not but that does not mean I cannot achieve number 4.

Preparation will be the key to my success and in my March post I will tell you if I achieved my goal and in April how I plan to make the most of my trip to Who Do You Think You Are Live.

Next month I hope to give you my impression of the first day at Rootstech 2015/FGS conference.

Rootstech 2015 in 50 Words

The following can be found on Jill Ball’s blog at http://geniaus.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/where-geniaus-gets-chance-to-play-santa.html?m=1

Where GeniAus gets a chance to play Santa.

Rootstech 2015



One of the nice perks of being a Rootstech Ambassador is that I get to give some lucky person a nice Christmas present.



The kind folk at Rootstech have given me "One complimentary RootsTech 2015 3-day pass ($239 value) for one of your lucky subscribers." If you have already registered for Rootstech you can still enter this competition as I will supply a code to the winner and, if you have already registered, you will get a refund from Rootstech. If you haven't registered yet winning this competition might just change your mind about attending this premier event in Salt Lake City in February 2014.


This prize only covers your entry to the event, you will be responsible for all travel, accommodation and incidental expenses.


So what do you have to do to win this prize?


You need to tell me in 50 words or less using as much Geneajargon as you can from my Geneadictionaryhttp://geneadictionary.wordpress.com why you are or why you would like to attend Rootstech 2015. Of course you could use newly created geneajargon that can be added to the Geneadictionary. As a condition of entry you give permission for your entry to be posted in the Geneadictionary.

Jill has requested that entrants email their entries the closing date is today 12th December 2014. As it coincides with my day to post here I decided to add what would have been my entry as this month’s post.

The reason I do not have to enter can be found here.

I am going on a geneajaunt to Rootstech 2015 to get a genealogy overdose. I expect to wear blogger beads whilst meeting with other geneabloggers, doing some geneatweeting and joining a geneawebinar.

Then back across the pond to WDYTYA Live by which time I will need to join Ancestors Anonymous.