Blogging for Archivists

Sandusky & Erie County OH librarians effectively blog to get the word out

DearREADERS,
The single hardest thing for genealogy researchers to do, is to put aside our current cultural orientations, in order to place an ancestor in historical perspective. One “official” blog goes a long way to improving the odds of our understanding the history of an area.

Sandusky History - http://sanduskyhistory.blogspot.com/ “A blog dedicated to the discussion of topics relating to the history of Sandusky and Erie County, Ohio; inspired by the collections of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center and Follett House Museum. A service of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.”

Ol’ Myrt thinks this sort of informative and colorful blog is an excellent method for archiving photos and informing the public about the history of the area in Ohio. It is also logical extension of the bloggers’ original charge as archivists & librarians. Certainly our work isn’t confined to those that come into our brick and mortar research centers. Sites like this go a long way toward preserving history in one corner of the world. BRAVO!

The only thing I wish is that the blog would recognize the contributions of individual authors of the blog entries. Ol’ Myrt even went so far as to suggest that credit be given perhaps in the form of a byline. This allows researchers to zero in on a specific archivist or librarian’s common topic of interest. No one can be all things to all people. I knew during my shift at the Family History Center to refer Virginia researchers to Audrey, England researchers to Elsie and DAR researchers to Barb.

The combination of a photo of an artifact and the text in the Sandusky History blog really "tells the story" and helps us 21st century genealogists understand life 200+ years ago in Sandusky and Erie County, Ohio.

Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
Your friend in genealogy.
Myrt@DearMYRTLE.com
www.DearMYRTLE.com

(c) 2007 Pat Richley All Rights Reserved.

Let's talk about blogging

DearREADERS & LISTENERS,
How about getting together TOMORROW in real-time to discuss how genealogists can benefit from BLOGGING?

Ol' Myrt will be presenting this topic at FamilyHistoryLiveOnline.com's (free):

IN-HOME FAMILY HISTORY FAIR
Saturday 4 May 2007
Registration: free

TODAY, get ready by:
1. Going to www.FamilyHistoryLiveOnline.com

2. Clicking "DOWNLOAD VIEWER"
3. Double-clicking the "SG ReGL Viewer" icon on your desktop.
4. Clicking "UPDATE REGL" and selecting "UPDATE CONTENT."
5. Typing in this content code " fhlo.paf" (without quote marks.)
6. Clicking OK.

TOMORROW, shortly before a session begins log on by:
1. Turning on your computer's speakers (and microphone is you wish to ask questions verbally.) Ol' Myrt is using a Logitec headset with earphones and a microphone in one.
2. Double-clicking the "SG ReGL Viewer" icon on your desktop.
3. Clicking the "CLICK TO LOG ON" button, and selecting "JOIN A SESSION."
4. Typing in the code " fhlo.fair " (without quote marks.)

The schedule of 13 sessions is found online at: www.FamilyHistoryLiveOnline.com Times posted are US Mountain Time.

Myrt's "BLOGGING: Getting the word out" session will be held tomorrow at:

1pm Eastern US
12pm Central US
11am Mountain US
10am Pacific US (Myrt's time zone!)
(Daylight where applicable.)

My session will run for 45 minutes, and I have included time for questions and answers.

Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
Your friend in genealogy.
Myrt@DearMYRTLE.com
www.DearMYRTLE.com

(c) 2007 All Rights Reserved.

Why your genealogy society should blog

DearMYRTLE, your friend in genealogy
---------------------------------------------------------
WHY YOUR GENEALOGY SOCIETY SHOULD BLOG

DearREADERS,
If getting the word out is what you need to do, then encourage your local genealogy society to start its own blog.

HOW
1. Go to www.blogger.com and sign up for free blog space.
2. Assume the default blog format, and make postings about society events, favorite links, etc.
3. Be sure to include words like:
-- Name of your society
-- Full dates, times of calendar events
-- City & state
-- genealogy, family history, roots, ancestry

WHY
Since Google owns Blogger, within 5 minutes of your blog posting Google picks up on the posting.
This means that when anyone uses Google to search for word or phrase you've mentioned in your blog, a link to your blog posting will come up with a high-level match.

LATER
1. Customize your blogger by choosing another design template.
2. Decide if you want to accept posting from others or not.
3. Provide a link to the blog on thesociety's website.
4. Explain how to susbcribe to the new blog using FeedBlitz, www.feedblitz.com (rated a snap by DearMYRTLE readers) at the society's next meeting and on the society's website.

PS - Google Alert, mentioned in DearMYRTLE's blog earlier this month http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/2007/04/what-is-google-alert.html will send out an alert within 5 minutes or so of a posting. You can see that BLOGGING is a great way to spread the word about your society's genealogical activities.

Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
Your friend in genealogy.
Myrt@DearMYRTLE.com
www.DearMYRTLE.com

(c) 2007 All Rights Reserved.

MOVE to BLOG format by 1 May 2007 ALTERNATIVES

From: Marian
DearMYRTLE,
Please email me instructions to change from the RootsWeb mailing list to your BLOG.

DearMARIAN,
Several have written Ol' Myrt to explain they wish to CONTINUE to receive DearMYRTLE columns via email. Since I am dropping my RootsWeb mailing list because of delivery problems, let me mention the newest and easiest alternatives for making this move.

EASIEST
Readers who wish to receive Myrt's column in their email, please fill out the form and follow the directions using this service which will send my blog to your specified email address: http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=195561

FeedBlitz will look for DearMYRTLE blog postings, and then send them to you once a day for free. If you wish notification as each posting is made, then upgrade your service for a minimal annual fee.

My only caution is that AOL subscribers, and services which require pre-authorization of email addresses must add feedblitz@mail.feedblitz.com on the approved list.

FAIRLY EASY
When asked, specify "blog.DearMYRTLE.com" without the quote marks.

Traditionally, one had to download some sort of RSS feed Aggregator to "pull in" my DearMYRTLE blog. WIKIPEDIA explains that "Aggregator features are being built into portal sites such as My Yahoo! and Google; modern web browsers; and e-mail programs." For the techie story see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregators . I used SharpReader for many months before FeedBlitz seemed an easier alternative.

For a list of RSS aggregators useful on a variety of platforms see: http://www.newsonfeeds.com/faq/aggregators

For a comparison of such RSS aggregators, see this techie page: http://www.aggcompare.com/

-- Mozilla Firefox is a free-software web browser that can display feeds as bookmark folders.

-- Mozilla Thunderbird is a free-software email program that can read RSS blogs.

-- "My RSS Toolbar" for Internet Explorer can be modified to show a list of blogs in your favorites folder.

-- MyYAHOO SUBSCRIBERS - Although you may certainly use the above referenced method, it's also possible to add RSS feeds to your email. You'll note that the columns show up on this list about 12-24 hours after I make a posting. Sign in, then click "Add Content" at the top of the left column, then select "Popular from the Web" and go from there.

-- OUTLOOK 2007 - RSS feeds can be pulled into a specific folder located under the "outbox" in the list of folders in Outlook 2007. For directions on adding an RSS feed such as DearMYRTLE, see: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA101595391033.aspx

NOT RECOMMENDED
Do not rely on the RSS Gadget in the new Windows VISTA sidebar. It shows titles of my columns too late and for too many days. Takes over a day sometimes for a link to a blog title to appear here. The other problem is that if one subscribes to 15 or 20 blogs, such as Ol' Myrt here, there is not enough room within the confines of the VISTA RSS Gadget box for more than a few to show up. Since I don't sit in front of my computer all day, things scroll off that list too quickly.

All in all, it might be easiest to use the first option in this column.

Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
Your friend in genealogy.
Myrt@DearMYRTLE.com
www.DearMYRTLE.com

(c) 2007 All Rights Reserved.