Webinar try-out

One of the things that I like best about the day job at The National Archives is that there is always something new going on. I keep volunteering for things (and sometimes people higher up the food chain 'volunteer' me, and then tell me later! They know I'm always up for it).

This week's new experience was running pilot sessions for webinars. I've taken part in webinars before, and even been a ring-in interviewee, but I've never been the main performer before. This one had vision as well as sound, with my 'talking head' in the corner of the screen, next to the presentation slides. It felt rather odd, talking to a camera instead of a live audience, but I have done occasional recordings to camera before (although this was live and not being recorded) so I soon got used to it. This pilot session was on finding 'missing' people in the census, one of the 30-minute  'Focus on' sessions that we gave on the day before 'Who Do You Think You Are? - Live', and then at the show itself. 

One of my colleagues, John Wood, was the facilitator, doing the introduction and after the talk he asked me questions that had come up on the chat board. There's another pilot session tomorrow, 13 March, at 4pm GMT when John will be the speaker, this time on First World War records. If you are reading this in time, and you are free then, you can email for details on how to join in. Otherwise, keep an eye on the website for news of the webinars when they are launched for real. 

The software we are using is called Blackboard, which is already used by the Education Department as part of its work with schools. By the way, although the resources on that part of the site are aimed at school students, family historians will find much of interest there too. There is a neat little light pen that you can use on the screen, but I resisted the temptation to play with it - well I did use it just once, but it was integral to the presentation, honestly! 

I think these webinars are going to work well, and as we become more comfortable with the technology I'm sure we'll become more proficient. As it was, I thought the pilot session went pretty well, for a complete beginner. I hope that in a year's time I'll be able to point to a collection of archived webinars and a programme of forthcoming new ones. And that I'll have had the chance to do some more new things too. I like living in interesting times.

Life in a stately home

No, not THAT one, this is a real one. Arley Hall in Cheshire is one of many magnificent historic houses in Cheshire, and is a member of the Historic Houses Association. Many of us enjoy visiting houses like this to see how our ancestors would have lived - let's be honest, they were more likely to have worked in the kitchens or on the land than to have lived a life of luxury 'upstairs'. All the same, rubber-necking round other people's houses is utterly irresistible.

Now you can not only visit the house and gardens, you can see detailed accounts for the estate covering the period 1750 to 1790. This was a significant period in the history of this part of the country, as the industrial and agricultural revolutions were getting under way. A collection of accounts has been digitised and indexed on a new website Arley Hall Archives 1750-1790 These records are a wonderful resource for family historians, local historians and social historians. If you family comes from this part of Cheshire you may be lucky enough to find them named as servants, or suppliers of goods, or even among the local poor in receipt of Christmas presents from the Warburton family. The hall is roughly equidistant from Warrington, Northwich and Knutsford. Most of us won't be this lucky, but if your ancestors lived in a similar community around this time you can still get a real insight into the kind of lives they lead - their working lives, what they ate, and how business was carried on.

If only collections of documents like this survived for more places, and were scanned and indexed...oh well, we can dream.

RootsTech - conferences and technology

As befits a technology conference, Rootstech makes use of some neat tech toys. As a serial conference attender, this set me thinking about some of the tech changes I have seen in the genealogy conferences I have attended.

Back in Ye Olden Days (I think it was about 1988!) the event would be advertised is a printed journal, and you would send off your application with a cheque. There wasn't usually much advance information available, but on arrival you would get a conference programme, and possibly some paper handouts at the talks you attended. At bigger conferences there was often a whole stack of leaflets and fliers in the conference pack.

Things really began to change in the 1990s, when the internet began to make its presence felt, and the genealogy world made use of it. First of all it was a means of communication, and that was when I first remember chatting to people on genealogy newsgroups and then meeting them in person at conferences. But things really got going when conferences had their own websites, or at least their own pages on the host organisation's site. Even better, you could eventually book and pay for your conference registration and accommodation online, using a credit card. This is particularly helpful for those of us attending conferences in other countries, so that we don't have to get expensive foreign currency bank drafts. It wasn't all plain sailing though; it isn't all that long ago that I tried and failed to book online for a conference in the US because the online payment system couldn't handle addresses outside the US and Canada. Oh well, transatlantic calls are comparatively cheap now, and I could still pay by credit card.

Syllabus material from FGS Conference 2006

Now every self-respecting conference not only has a web presence, but probably a blog, a Twitter feed and a Facebook page too. Another feature I particularly appreciate is that the conference material has become much more portable, thanks to technology. American conferences tend to be much bigger than British ones, and instead of handouts, speakers are expected to produce syllabus material in advance. This was quite a culture shock - the first time I attended a US conference I was a speaker, and I really wasn't used to that! I could see the benefit, though, as it was impossible to attend more than a fraction of the talks on offer but you could still take home lots of valuable material. The only trouble was, with dozens of sessions at about 4 pages each, you had to lug around something the size of a large phone book, and with airlines getting meaner with their baggage allowances, it was no joke getting the thing home. But technology came to the rescue, and, not before time, you could get all this material on CD, then on a thumb drive. Better still, you can now usually download it as s PDF file in advance of the event.

Syllabus material is usually made available to people who have paid the conference registration, but sound recordings might be available for purchase, so that non-attendees can share at least some of the conference experience. Even more recently, some conference sessions have been streamed live, so that you needn't be present to share the experience in real time. Less formally, you can bet that people will be tweeting or reporting live on Facebook or Google+ so that you can be sitting at home, getting live updates from a conference session, or even attending one session while keeping up with breaking news in another.

You might think that all these means of remote access to conference proceedings would mean that fewer people would want to attend in person, but this doesn't seem to be the case. In only two years RootsTech has become the best-attended genealogical conference in the US, and arguably in the world; Who Do You Think you Are? - Live! in London has a higher attendance, but is a different kind of event so the two are not directly comparable. Not only does RootsTech attract enormous numbers of participants, they come from all over the world, with sizeable contingents this year from both Australasia and the UK On-site and online are not alternatives, they are complementary to each other, and I believe that both are the richer for it.

RootsTech 2013 app dashboard

Now RootsTech has made use of another piece of technology, it has its own app, available for Apple and Android devices, Blackberries and Google phones. There was an app for RootsTech 2012, but his year's version seems to work rather better, although it is still not without problems. It contains the conference schedule, details of the exhibitors and speakers, maps of the venue and of Salt Lake City. You can create your own personal schedule simply by highlighting the events you mean to attend, and you can add your own meetings and appointments too. You create your own profile which you can then make public, so that you can see who else has registered their profile, and invite them to join your Friends list. Other features include links to Facebook and Twitter. Whenever you are online you can download the latest updates, and you can have the app on more than one device. I have successfully installed it on my iPad, my iPod Touch and my Android phone. It works best on the iPad, because of its larger screen size.

It's a great idea, and it works fairly well, but I have a few reservations. The schedule includes the conference sessions, but not (so far) the lunches, so if you have booked one or more of these you have to add them manually. The Twitter and Facebook feeds are quite useful, although it's not yet clear to me how to make use of the Friends list you create. The app is also where you get the most up to date news, and as far as I can see it's the only place where you can get details of all the exhibitors, and a list of speakers. I'm all for making use of  technology, and an app is an excellent way to do it, but it's a pity that you can't also get all of this information on the RootsTech website. If your device of choice is a laptop or netbook you will find yourself at something of a disadvantage.  So it's not 10 out of 10, but I'd give it an 8 at the moment, and with a bit of luck it will make it to a 9 soon, as some of the glitches that were there on its release have already been fixed.

This time next week I'll be en route, and I can't wait to see what RootsTech 2013 has in store. The first two were certainly a lot of fun, and I met some great people. I have every confidence that it will be every bit as good. See you there, online or in person.

Genealogy goes to the movies

In the week when the 2013 Oscars were announced, the world of film has naturally been much in the news. But have you ever stopped to think of just how much the movies are part of your everyday life - and for anyone who reads this blog that is likely to mean your genealogy.

When you first set off on the Fantastic Voyage, you may have Great Expectations, then you find out It's Complicated but, determined to follow The Paper Chase, you Carry On Regardless, even if does sometimes feel as though you have taken on Mission Impossible. You do this because genealogy is an Affliction that has you in its grasp, Hope Springs eternal and you become Relentless in Hot Pursuit of The Departed

As you become more experienced you become quite the Sleuth, following every Clue as you try to recount The NeverEnding Story of your family. You'll need those skills when you find that Sex and the Single Girl has led to an awkward Three Men and a Baby situation, or when you are simply wondering What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? or O Brother Where Art Thou? and other mysteries in The Family Tree. Of course you can do some research online, and you might make some useful contacts using The Social Network of your choice, but if you need Help them you will find that The Librarian might just be you best friend. It's a good idea to get An Education and you can do some of this online too, and there are some excellent Teachers out there, like Tom Jones


Female ancestors can be particularly tricky to find, and whether yours was a Coal Miner's Daughter of a member of High Society, The Divorcee or The Merry Widow you have probably found this out. But however long it takes you to find all of her Four Weddings and a Funeral, and what is written on her Tombstone I sure you'll agree that The Hours you spent on it were worthwhile. If so, congratulations, you're one of The History Boys (and girls). People Like Us are everywhere!

Rootstech - last chance to register at $149 (soon)

Well, wouldn't you just know it, I blogged about today being the last  day to register for Rootstech at the special rate of $149 for a full 3-day pass, and exactly 20 minutes later up pops a message on Twitter from @RootsTechConf to say that the deadline has been extended by another week!

So you have little longer to crack open the piggy-bank (go on, you know you want to!). You get a lot for you money, with an amazing range of sessions to attend - at least a dozen to choose from in each time-slot, plus 'un-conferencing' activities and lots going on in the Expo Hall.

I attended the first two Rootstech conferences - I think I must have been one of the first to book for Rootstech 2011. That first year it attracted over 3000 attendees, last year there were more than 4000...who knows how many will turn up this year. Fortunately Salt Lake City has lots of hotels, although the two closest to the convention centre were filled up very quickly.

The full schedule for all three days has been online for a while, but as yet there are no details of the exhibitors, only a plan of the Expo Hall, which will be 40% bigger than before, and apart from the 'usual suspects' in the form of the major sponsors, I learnt today from the latest Family Historian Bulletin that Family Historian software will be exhibiting at Rootstech for the first time. This is my software of choice; although I also use (and like) Family Tree Maker and Rootsmagic, Family Historian is my favourite. If only they had a Mac version and a mobile app...

This time next week I shall be up to my neck in Who Do You Think You Are? - Live! but once that is over the suitcase will come down from the loft and I shall turn my attention to Rootstech, all the friends I will catch up with, and the research I plan to do in the Family History Library. I can hardly wait.