RootsTech 2015 Sample

This morning, I happened to watch an archived presentation which is worthy of sharing.  The following link (URL) may not last long, but some ideas will. 

http://rootstech.org/video/4050134760001
"30 Pieces of Tech I Can't Live Without"  (58-min. video) 
presented Thursday 12 Feb 2015,  by D. Joshua Taylor, and sponsored by FamilySearch.

My rough notes were typed on Notepad as I watched; later copied here:

He takes a tablet everywhere; rarely uses his laptop anymore.
Favorite apps: MoodBoard and FlipBoard.

Dropbox -- cloud storage; no need to synchronize on multiple devices.
Evernote for notes, to-do lists, collaboration; (saved jpeg snip: 
  Roots5-videoSlide-Evernote-JoshTaylor-30techMustHave)
Social media: Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, ...
Spreadsheets: Excel or Google Docs; organize & prioritize (sort).
FH software -- uses them all; manages relationships; never perfect, but needs to be close.
Online subscriptions -- current research focus; 
  "searching is old-school now in genealogy; it's what you do with it."
Breaks up family tree into projects, and has several smaller trees online.
Portable scanner -- beyond the mobile camera: HoverCam and FlipPal.
Library card -- access to archived-resource collections,
  e.g. American Antiquarian Society
JSTOR: scholarly journals (art, music, religion)
Dedicated Email to separate genealogy from personal, business, spouse's.
Portable external drive -- keep current (model)
WordPress and Blogger: plug-ins help FH; WordPress widgets; put partial family tree(s) up to share for collaboration.
Google maps, drive, books, advanced-search pages/options; 
  to find it, (of course) Google: advanced search.
  Try starting with results on page 10, and work back to page 1.
Webinars: e.g. how to use gen software; ISGS Webinars; Genea Webinars has calendars.
  Google webinars, e.g. "Preserving Your Personal Photographs"
WorldCat connects research libraries world-wide, including SLC; not all is online; e.g. Kingsley genealogy  1630-1961
ArchiveGrid -- the "WorldCat of archives"; "find archives near you".
Find a Society through Federation of Genealogical Societies.
DNA "testing is a necessary tool now for genealogy."  Test many places;
  "2015: Most bang for DNA buck" blog post.
Web clipping software; he often does quick capture;
  Snagit captures website or other scrolling screen completely.
Book cataloging -- personal collection; beyond docs & books; stories of items collected; LibraryThing, Collectorz.com, goodreads (what are others reading); alternative to reading blog after blog to catch up on things; 
  inventory for when it's time to distribute things to others.
Task management tools -- what works for your style;
  Trello -- online collaboration; set up lists for projects and individuals, etc.;
  he has Trello board for "the dream trip"; color codes; list for each FH site.
Image editing software -- restore & repair, recolor, embed source citations on top of docs; e.g. yellow box to enhance microfilm (vs. ylw legal pad.)
Skype for interviewing relatives, reference help, distant cousins; 
  talk to archivists & librarians before going to there to research.
Audio and video -- move beyond docs; produce your own research-experience YouTube video, e.g., like "Who Do You Think You Are?"
Cyndis List -- best resource for lists; odd obscure things; occupations, entertainment, museums, etc.
Portable power essential for travel.
Physical labels -- contents, power cords, color-coding.
Outdated technology -- e.g. he still has floppy disks at home; 
  Danish research notes in PAF 2, e.g.
Distractions: group IMs, social groups, online games; 
  10-min break may help you bounce back, refocus, and find.

Final words: "to each his own"; tech is constantly changing; 
  read in-between reviews (not 1-star or 5-star), and ask around.

Four of fourteen conference sponsors.  Images courtesy rootstech.org

Lincoln's Big Day

Today is a birthday for someone special!  My historian friend reminded me last night, still upset that it was swept under Presidents' Day ("Washington's Birthday" per opm.gov) – always a Monday, of course.  So now we have a grand federal holiday honoring ALL of the U.S. presidents, whether we like them or not. (See timeanddate.com.)

Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, in Kentucky, "in a log cabin at Sinking Springs Farm."  – nps.gov

One of my treasured acquisitions from a DI thrift store is a large paperback book titled Lincoln – A Photobiography by Russell Freedman ©1987, Scholastic Inc., New York NY.
(Wish I could show some photos published in this fascinating, copyrighted book.)

"It's true that Lincoln had little formal 'eddication,' as he would have pronounced it.  Almost everything he 'larned' he taught himself.  All his life he said 'thar' for there, 'git' for get, 'kin' for can.  Even so, he became an eloquent public speaker who could hold a vast audience spellbound, and a great writer whose finest phrases still ring in our ears.  He was known to sit up late into the night, discussing Shakespeare's plays with White House visitors."  – Freedman, p.4

"... infinite wisdom has seldom sent any man into the world better fitted for his mission than Abraham Lincoln."
– Frederick Douglass, "abolitionist writer and editor", former slave; Freedman, p.5

"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.  This expresses my idea of democracy."  Abraham Lincoln  – brainyquote.com

I have heard and read both good and bad, but personally I stand in awe of the man Lincoln.  How do you celebrate his birthday?

"with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right"  – Lincoln
Monument we visited at Gettysburg PA 15 June 2010

Positively Dispositive

Words are fun.  With words, we learn something new every day – how exciting is that?  I started talking when I was 3 years old, and reading at 6 – no hurry.  With today's technology, toddlers start having fun with words at 18 months.

Editing a document for an attorney friend yesterday, I was stopped by a word I heard him use the day before: dispositive.  In context, it still left me clueless: "dispositive issue decided by the Supreme Court ..."  
I theldom thumb through my dusty dictionary, now that Google defines: "relating to or bringing about the settlement of an issue or the disposition of property.  
LAW: dealing with the disposition of property by deed or will.
'... signature after making the dispositive provisions'
dealing with the settling of international conflicts by an agreed disposition of disputed territories.  'a peace settlement in the nature of a dispositive treaty' "
Positively aha!  Of course – why didn't I think of that – not what I first thought it meant.

Find a good word today!

Time running out looking for LOST words like WEEDS in Anthem Arizona 2 July 2014 

Sedona Arizona caution sign 30 December 2014