RootsTech 2021 Goes Virtual

RootsTech, which has been held in Salt Lake City, Utah annually for the last several years, will be held virtually in 2021 due to the current global health issues.  For the first time ever, this major international genealogical conference will be completely online, and completely free.

Features of the virtual conference include :

• Celebrity Keynote Speakers : Keynote speakers for this year's conference are Lorena Ochoa, former Mexican professional golfer, mother and entrepreneur ; Francesco Lotoro, Italian musicologist ; Sharon Morgan, founder of OurBlackAncestry.com,  writer and genealogist and Nick Vujicic, international motivational speaker and New York Times best-selling author.
• Classes from Speakers around the Globe : There will be dozens of classes in multiple languages on topics including as discovering your family story, tracing your ancestors, and preserving your memories.
• Virtual Marketplace : The Virtual Marketplace will provide opportunities to see the latest innovations, interact with companies from around the world, and find answers and resources to aid you in your work. There will also be opportunities to get real-time help via video or live chat.
• Cultural Activities : Celebrate the world’s cultures with activities such as homeland cooking demonstrations, yoga, and music from around the world. These experiences will be available throughout the online event and on demand. 
• Access to Content Year-Round : All recordings and videos will be available to you on demand throughout the year, allowing you to access the many talks and classes at you own pace.

Genealogy Events Online

As the Corona Virus pandemic shuts down so much across the globe and most of us are staying pretty close to home, more and more genealogy events that would have been held locally are now going online.  That means there are more and more talks, seminars, conferences and training sessions held around the world that we can attend online from the comfort and safety of home.  While for me attending online cannot beat personally attending these events - the chatting, the networking, the sharing ideas with other attendees - it does give me the chance to virtually participate in events I never could have traveled to in person.

Its really worth your time to look around at what is available.  Gould Genealogy has a list of online genealogy events on their homepage.  The Virtual Genealogical Association is completely online and offers a number of talks and presentations each month.  FamilySearch continues to offer a range of online classes and tutorials.  Legacy Family Tree is offering several webinars free each month.  And there are many more.

A number of research facilities are offering special or free access.  The UK National Archives has announced in April that it was offering free access to its digital records for as long as it remains closed to the public during the Coronavirus pandemic.  How much longer that access will remain free is unknown, but it has certainly been a boon to many who have been researching from home in the past few months. 
Ancestry recently announced that home access the Ancestry Library Edition for patrons of subscribing libraries will continue until 31 July.  The Family History Show made the move to host their annual conference online to replace the family history events closed due to the coronavirus outbreak.  The Family History Show Online took place in late June.  There are many more, from single talks to genealogy society meetings to major conferences, that have made the move to online in order to keep functioning.

Virtual tours of many cultural institutions have sprung up as well.  The British Museum is allowing virtual visitors to search the collection online to view specific objects or find out more about individual galleries. 
The Hermitage Museum announced they were preparing a large quantity of broadcasts to view on their YouTube and Instagram channels. So far they are only in Russian, but in the near future they plan to begin broadcasting in other languages too – English, Italian and more.  The Smithsonian Open Access applies to digital assets that are created, stored, or maintained by the Smithsonian. This might include text, still images, sound recordings, research datasets, 3D models, collections data, and more.

As the pandemic changes the way we live, genealogy has changed with it, and the way we research, learn and interact with fellow genealogists changes too.  For those who often miss out on conferences because of the cost of travel and demands of work and family, the increase of online participation may even prove an advantage in many ways.

So keep an eye on what is available online and check out some of the talks, seminars and conferences that are out there.  Happy researching.

Family History Show Goes Online

The Family History Show is hosting their new virtual show this weekend to replace the family history events closed due to the coronavirus outbreak.  The Family History Show Online will take place from 10am to 4.30pm on Saturday 20 June (UK time).

The promotional video promises “access to all your favourite family history features from the comfort of your own home”, including online talks, the chance to submit questions to a panel of experts, family history products available to purchase and download, virtual chat with exhibitors and a virtual goody bag worth over £10.

The speakers will include genealogy expert Mark Bayley, house historian Gill Blanchard and military historian Chris Baker.

Tickets are £5.50 in advance or £6 on the day and you can access the show on Windows 7 or newer, Mac, iOS and Android.  The Family History Show recommends a broadband speed of 10Mbs or higher to engage in video or chat.

The Family History Show is organised by the magazine Discover Your Ancestors and normally holds three annual events in Bristol, York and London.

If, like me, you will be attending from another time zone, lectures and live streams will be available for 24 hours and you can submit questions to their experts in advance.

RootsTech Free Videos

Another treat for those stuck at home during the CoronaVirus pandemic are the many videos of presentations to RootsTech.  Dating back to 2015 and coming right up to the recent 2020 conference, as well as last year's RootsTech London conference, there is a variety of keynotes and presentations available to watch free from home.

RootsTech 2020 talks now available to view

So take some time to catch up on the latest developments in the field and learn new skills from a variety of experts during your time at home.

A huge thank you to the people at RootsTech for making these presentations available - there is certainly a wide variety to choose from and I will be taking advantage of having some extra time to develop my own skills and knowledge.

Virtual Genealogical Conference

The Virtual Genealogical Association has just announced its upcoming 2019 virtual conference - one that can be enjoyed from the comfort of home by those of us who find it difficult - or impossible - to attend the wonderful genealogy conferences being held around the world.

While the VGA itself is based in America and the conference times for live sessions are largely in the middle of the night for us Aussies, all sessions will be available for viewing for 6 months after the conference, so we won't miss out (and can re-watch sessions if we want to pick up things we missed the first time!).  They will even be adding closed captioning of sessions within 7 days of the live broadcast.

The conference covers a wide range of topics, so there is something for everyone.  Australian research, British research, German and European research, DNA, preserving and archiving, oral histories - the list of topics goes on!

The conference is very reasonable priced too - $59US for VGA members and $79US for non-members.  Since membership for a full year is only $20US, you might want to consider taking out membership and seeing what else the VGA has to offer.

RootsTech From Afar

I have been watching with interest the developing program for RootsTech London 2019, coming up this October.  Living in Australia, the time and cost of travelling to Salt Lake City or London for the RootsTech conferences has thus far been beyond me, and I know I will not make it to London 2019 either.  Thanks to technology, however, I have had another option to at least partially participate in these wonderful meetings by watching the videos of presentations from home.

While there really is nothing to equal actually attending these conferences - meeting fellow genealogists, chatting during breaks and visiting the exhibition hall - being able to watch a selection of the presentations at least allows me to participate, to learn about the databases, the resources available and how best to access them, and it is always exciting to hear about new developments and upcoming digitization projects.

So if, like me, you cannot make it to RootsTech, don't despair.  Have a look at the video archive of past presentations and see what they have to interest you.  You might even like to join the discussion with others unable to attend - there is even a hashtag #notatrootstech.

RootsTech 2019

If you were unable to attend the wonder that is RootsTech, you may be interested in watching a number of the presentations from the comfort of home.  There are now an assortment of presentations and keynote presentations available to watch, free, on the RootsTech website.

Some of the RootsTech presentations available

One of my ambitions is to attend RootsTech one year when my work and general life schedule permits, but until then I have watched from afar, and plan to spend time over the next few weekends watching these presentations, taking notes, and applying them to my family history research.  There is a great range of topics and speakers, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Unlock the Past in Seattle Conference now to be live streamed

The uncoming Unlock the Past in Seattle conference will now also be livestreamed, for those of us (like me) who cannot attend in person at Seattle Public Library. Both streams – all 10 presentations – will be broadcast live and recorded for watching for a limited time after. So wherever you are, you can participate in this conference in the convenience of your own home. Watch up to five presentations live and/or all 10 (recorded as separate webinar presentations) at a later time convenient to you.

So if, like me, you love participating in genealogy conferences you cannot physically attend from the comfort of your own home, have a look at what's on offer at the conference and book yourself in for the livestream.  The conference takes place on Thursday 6th September.

Presenters include :

• BLAINE BETTINGER (USA) – Blaine is a professional genealogist specialising in DNA evidence. He is the author of the long-running blog The Genetic Genealogist and the books The family tree guide to DNA testing and Genetic genealogy.
• DR MAURICE GLEESON (UK) – Maurice was voted Genetic Genealogist of the Year 2015 (SurnameDNA Journal) and Rockstar Genealogist, Ireland 2016 (Anglo-Celtic Connections). He runs a variety of Y-DNA Surname projects and organises the DNA Lectures at Genetic Genealogy Ireland.
• CYNDI INGLE (USA) – Cyndi is the creator and owner of the award-winning web site Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet cyndislist.com, a categorised index to more than 333,000 online resources. In its first three years, Cyndi’s List was voted the best genealogy site.
• WAYNE SHEPHEARD (Canada) – A retired geologist, Wayne now spends most of his time on family history research. This has resulted in the pioneering publication Surviving Mother Nature’s tests: The effects climate change and other natural phenomena have had on the lives of our ancestors.

 Book yourself in and enjoy!

RootsTech 2018 Videos

For those of you who, like me, could not make it to the amazing RootsTech Conference last week in Salt Lake City, there is a selection of presentations available to view online.  While these gems do not make up for missing the event itself, they are a fantastic glimpse of what was available and a great chance to learn something new.
Go to https://www.rootstech.org/rootstech-2018-videos to see a what is available.  It is by no means the entire selection of presentations but a good cross section - and they only make me more determined to get to the full conference one day!
Clearly I an not the only one disappointed to be unable to attend - those who missed out even have their own hashtag https://twitter.com/hashtag/NotAtRootsTech which I have been following.

Researching Abroad Day 2

Day 2 of Researching Abroad was German-European research, with Dirk Weissleder as the main presenter.  His presentations included Primary and secondary sources on genealogy in Germany ; Introduction to European research ; The International German Genealogical Partnership  ; and Archives, libraries & institutions for genealogical researchers in Germany.  I had not had the chance to hear Dirk speak before, but I greatly enjoyed his expertise and humour, and would not hesitate to attend his presentations again, and I can only say that Dirk’s command of the English language is far, far better than my own very limited command of German.

I have been researching my own German ancestors for a number of years, both through online resources and by writing to archives and record repositories in Germany.   My single year of High School German is simply not up to the task of trying to communicate with officials, nor for translating the records I have managed to find.  Clearly I was not the only Australian with German ancestors facing this problem, and a recurring question throughout Dirk’s presentations was “Is that record/website in English?”  The answer was generally no, and I could hear a little sigh go around the room each time.

Some highlight points include :

• Remember to consider the history of Germany – the country only exists as a unified nation since 1871.  Before then, it was an amalgamation of Kingdoms, Principalities, Duchies, and Free Cities.

• For many people their regional background is more important than the national background.  Someone from Hamburg may identify as being from Hamburg first and from Germany second.

• Good preparation is essential.  Aim for precision not speed, and be defined in what you want to find.

• Destruction of records in Germany is going to be a problem that may require some lateral thinking and creativity to work around.

• Family Books were definitely a new resource to me, as were several websites and possible avenues for further research – there is always something else to look for!

Again, there were other presentations during the day.  The Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies and the Genealogical Society of Victoria both spoke about their European Resources, there was another presentation about My Heritage, and Patsy Daly spoke about using DNA to solve genealogical puzzles.

Finally - the opportunity to chat with other researchers, swap stories, successes and favourite resources, catch up with a few familiar faces I only see at days like these or have talked to online but never actually met – it is always a wonderful part of any genealogy seminar.  Many thanks the Alan and the team at Unlock the Past for organising yet another wonderful genealogy event.  I hope to see you at the Deniliquin Genealogy Expo in October, where I am happy to note Unlock the Past is listed among the exhibitors.

Researching Abroad Day 1

A while ago I said I was booked in for the Unlock the Past Researching Abroad roadshow in Melbourne - and if you have not booked in to the Roadshow at one of its locations you are definitely missing out.  Last Friday and Saturday I was at the Veneto Club in Bulleen, Melbourne for two days of wonderful talks.

Day 1 concentrated on the British Isles, with Chris Paton the main speaker.  His four presentations covered British and Irish Newspapers ; Scottish Research Resources before 1800 ; British Censuses and Substitutes ; and Discover Irish Land Records.  A few gems from among the 20 plus pages of notes I took during the day (I concentrate better with a pen in my hand)

• Some newspapers publish two (or more) editions during a day and each will vary - and not every version will be digitised.  It pays to check.
• Browse as well as search - you never know what you might find if you look around.
• Scotland is not England - Scotland has its own legal, religious and cultural structures and seems to have delighted in doing things differently than their English counterparts.  Before 1707 they even had their own units and measures - and Scottish handwriting had its own little ways too!
• Ireland is also not England - they too had their own structures and ways of doing things.
• People lie (this I already knew, but it is worth reinforcing).  Any record is only as good as the informant - and for a variety of reasons sometimes people lie!

 Also on the day Unlock the Past had a table of brochures to pick up and books for sale, and their were also tables staffed by VicGUM, Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies, Genealogical Society of Victoria and FIBIS.  Intersperced with Chris's talks there were presentations from AIGS and GSV on the British Isles resources they have available, and a presentation on what My Heritage and Living DNA have to offer.

Researching Abroad - Upcoming Conference

For those of you who somehow don't know, August in Australia is Family History Month.  This year, along with all the other talks, events and sessions happening around the country, the wonderful people at Unlock the Past are holding a roadshow "Researching Abroad : Finding British Isles and European Ancestors".
Check out their website for the dates and details of the roadshow, which covers Brisbane, Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth.

The two featured speakers are :

• Chris Paton - British Isles stream
  Professional genealogist, author, international speaker and writer of The GENES Blog concerning Britain, Ireland, and their diasporas

• Dirk Weissleder - German/European stream
  Coordinator of the German-Australian Genealogy Alliance and the International German Genealogical Partnership

I've booked my place at the Melbourne session and am looking forward to hearing these two wonderful speakers.  While I've had the pleasure of attending talks by Chris Paton before, this will be the first time I've heard Dirk Weissleder speak.  If you're attending the Melbourne session I hope to see you there!

Congress Post 6

Congress Booklet

It is the last day of the Congress and I have to admit my brain is a bit tired.  My note-taking is slowing down and I am very glad I chose to get a copy of the Congress Proceedings so I can read through all the speakers notes later - not to mention reading all the notes on the presentations I couldn't get to.  With 4 concurrent sessions most of the time there were some hard choices to make about which ones I would attend and which ones I would merely read about later.  Thank goodness for my conference booklet and the conference app on my phone - otherwise I would never keep track of which talk was on when and what room I was supposed to head for.

My day started with David Holman's "Fascinating facts and figures from five centuries", then Tim Sherratt's "The many meanings of Trove", morning tea, Roger Kershaw's "Getting the most out of the National Archives UK", Colleen Fitzpatrick's "Genealogy and the six degrees of separation", lunch, Cora Num's "Front page to back page : using online newspapers", then the family history research panel and suddenly the conference is closing down.  A final farewell to many of the people I have chatted to, sat with, lunched with and shared notes with and it is time to head our many various ways.

Map of the Convention Centre

A huge congratulations to the organisers of the Congress and the many speakers - you have done a magnificent job and created a great learning and sharing experience.  The next conference will be in Sydney in 2018, and I truly hope I can make it there - this may have been my first Congress but it certainly won't b my last.

Congress Post 5

Day 3 and there is a noticeably smaller crowd at the 8.30am Keynote address - where is everyone??  At church?  Sleeping in after the full day of talks then the Conference Dinner last night??  You're missing out!!  I'll sleep later.
First up today is Michael McKernan's "Meeting people at war : writing war on the home front".  This is followed by Paul Milner's "Tracing your Pre-WW1 British Soldier", morning tea, Simon Fowler's "Hidden gems : finding and using unusual record collections", Cora Num's "Mapping out families", lunch, Grace Karskens's "Men, women, sex and desire", Pauline Cass's "Harness the power of blogging" (preaching to the converted here), afternoon tea, and David Rencher's "Chasing the poor and landless".  During breaks I visit more of the booths in the Exhibition Hall, chat with fellow genies about which talks they have chosen and how much they have learnt, and am so busy talking that I forget to take a photo of the Exhibition Hall and am almost late to David Rencher's talk after afternoon tea.

The front of the Convention Centre

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Day 2 of the Congress began at 8.30am with a keynote address by Joshua Taylor from Find My Past "Connecting across past, present and future".  This was followed by Jenny Joyce's "Wills from England and Ireland", morning tea, Paul Milner's "Scotland - maps and gazetteers", David Rencher's "Irish census and census substitutes", lunch, Richard Reid's "Realities of 19th Century Ireland", John Blackwood's "Separation and divorce in Scotland", afternoon tea, and finally Perry McIntyre's "Remembering and commemorating our ancestors".  During lunch the Geneabloggers met to have a group photo courtesy of Jill Ball and Mr GeniAus (thanks to you both, and yes, I am there, I'm just hiding a bit). 

Geneabloggers - photo by GeniAus

A quick break then it was off to the official Congress Dinner in the great hall of Parliament House.  The dinner was one of the highlights of the Congress and again was a masterpiece of organisation, right down to the shuttle buses that took us from the Convention Centre to Parliament house and back at the end of the evening.

Congress Post 3

Day 1 of the main congress began with the official opening at 8.30am and the opening address by Dr Matthew Trinca of the National Museum of Australia in the main Royal Theatre - a huge space that gradually filled up with genealogists.  The three big screens were a bonus for those sitting further back as there was generally a camera on the speaker showing them on the main screen and any slides showing on either side - so no matter where you sat you could still see.

Royal Theatre

After the opening addresses there was morning tea.  All lunches and teas were served at several stations in the main exhibition hall, which was also where all the exhibitor's booths were located.  Breaks throughout the Congress were a great opportunity to mingle and chat, visit various booths, pick up brochures and purchase books and supplies and, if you were not already in information overload, visit the Ancestry Speakers Corner for shorter less formal talks.  You could also go for a short walk in the courtyard behind the Convention Centre or just sit quietly and soak it all in.
After morning tea the concurrent sessions began, with 4 different talks to choose from.  First for me was Cora Num's talk "What can I find using eRecords".  Unfortunately Cora was unwell and could not attend the Congress, but in true soldier on fashion she video recorded all her talks and they were shown on the big screens on the Royal Theatre - a big achievement and congratulations are well deserved by all involved.  Then it was on to Paul Milner's "Buried treasure : what's in the English Parish Chest", lunch, Roger Kershaw's "Tracing free immigrants to Australia", Carole Riley's "Dropbox and Evernote for family historians", afternoon tea, and Heather Garnsey's "The Joint Copying Project" - and that was just Day 1!!  A short walk back to my accommodations for tea and a good rummage though all the goodies in my Congress satchel, then off to sleep.

Satchel, lanyard and name tag, and blogger beads

Congress Post 2

The welcome function in Anzac Hall at the Australian War Memorial has been a blast.  What a great setting for our meet and greet.  After spending the day at the Librarian's Seminar, where most efficiently we had our conference satchels and tags delivered to us, it was off to the War Memorial.

The Australian War Memorial

One of the many World War 1 dioramas

Lancaster Bomber G for George

Congress Post 1

The National Library

I have arrived in Canberra and it is the day of the Librarian's Conference, held the day before the Congress itself begins, at the National Library.  This is a new feature of the Congress, a chance for library staff like myself to get together and discuss things like assisting new genealogists getting started in good research techniques and disillusioning them that all their information is just waiting for them in one place online.

As Genealogy and Family History grow ever more popular libraries have a lot to offer, with many of us offering free access to one or more of the major subscription databases, classes on various family history topics, local history information and assistance in finding that elusive record.

The day was a great start to the congress, my notebook already has several pages filled and it has been great to catch up with so many other librarians.  On to the Welcome function in Anzac Hall at the Australian War Memorial.

As my Canberra internet connection is a bit dodgy, I may end up drafting these posts and uploading them all when I get home.

Canberra Congress

There is little more than a week to go before the AFFHO Canberra Congress 2015 begins and I am in full swing getting ready.  The car is serviced, the suitcase is out, the neighbour has been organised to catsit and the cat is sulking.  My 'to do' list is finally shrinking rather than expanding as I am actually crossing off items faster than I can think of new ones to add.

This is the first time I will attend a Congress, having missed out on the last few due to family and work commitments, and I have been following official Congress Bloggers like Shauna Hicks and Jill Ball as they talk about everything in store for us and interview many of the speakers.  Many thanks to both these ladies, and all the other bloggers out there who have been talking about the Congress and how to get the most out of your time there.  I have even installed the Congress App on my smartphone.

It has been diffcult to choose which sessions to attend from each of the four concurrent sessions per time slot.  I considered each according to speaker, topic and relevance to my research areas and current expertise - and still wanted to be in two (or three, or even four) different places at once.  I'm also looking forward to visiting vendors in the Exhibitors hall, sharing and networking with colleagues and Congress delegates.  There is also the Librarian's Seminar the day before the Congress itself - just to make sure I really get into information overload!  We are fortunate to have access to so many international and Australian speakers during the Congress, as well as the exhibitors and other events.

See you at the Congress!

Blogger Beads at the Canberra Congress

Jill's Blogger Beads

The AFFHO Congress in Canberra is fast approaching and I am all booked up and ready to go.  There is a great list of speakers and vendors and Jill Ball from GeniAus has just arrived home from the Rootstech Conference in Salt Lake City bearing some lovely blogger beads so all the bloggers at the conference can identify each other. 

So if you are Geneablogger and would like to let others know by wearing Jill's Geneablogger Beads please let Jill know by emailing her at jillballau@gmail.com with Blogger Beads in the subject line and stating your name and the URL of your blog. 

See you at the Congress!