7 Genealogy - Technology Links

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Here are this week's 7 Gen-Tech Links to help you out with your research efforts. Why just 7? 

Because as a researcher, you'd like to actually do some research, right? [Novel idea, eh?] Or maybe you'd like to do some writing or blogging about your research and the stories you've found.

I mean, sure, you like the new tech tools, but you love to research and find all those ancestors and their silly stories, right?

So. I've decided to bring you just 7 links to tech tools once a week [plus the 3 bonus Gen-Tech links in the Genea-Tech Newsletter]. By cutting the links down, you'll be getting a more meaningful and curated list [And might I add that this is a hand-curated list just for family history researchers?] of some really helpful tools that you can review, select, and put to use over the weekend or whenever the next scheduled research time that you have is.

Because success in researching is not really about finding tech tools. Trust me, there's lots of them. It's about finding the best ones for you and your research style. And then putting them to good use to find those ancestors and their stories.

It's about execution of your research and writing.

Speaking of execution, here's this week's 7 Gen-Tech Links:

1. Voice Recorder HD 6.2 Featured With Trimming And More Playback Controls by Barbh from appcraver.com ~ The holidays are fast approaching. You're about to be rubbing elbows with family members which is a perfect time to capture family stories. But how are you going to do that? [With their permission, of course.] Here's an app that might be able to help you out. Read Barb's review of it.
   
2. Livehistory App for iPad by AlgoCoil ~ This is an interesting app that I haven't been able to play with yet. Developed by AlgoCoil, it boasts GEDCOM import, a Time-Slider for viewing events on a certain date for a particular person in your tree, looking at household information [like when someone enters or leaves a household], importation of photos from your iPad photo library or camera, and more.
3. Irish Homeland Photography ~ Have Irish ancestors? Have you narrowed down where they lived in Ireland, but have yet to make it back to the ancestral homeland? Well, you might like this idea for yourself or perhaps as a gift for a loved one for the holidays. Ryan O'Rourke, an American photographer with Irish ancestry who has moved to Ireland, offers his photography services with scenes from Ireland commissioned by you. I'm just gonna say right now that if you showed up for the holidays with a gift like this, you're totally gonna wow your loved ones. You know, if you & they have Irish ancestry. It's a neat idea for a gift, I think, so check out Ryan's site. I especially like his story. [But I'm a sucker for a good family story. ;) ]
4. The Best Camera Is The One You Have With You (Mobile Photography TIPS) by Michael Toye from digital-photography-school.com ~ With more and more folks getting and using smartphones, more and more folks have cameras on them all the time. Thus making the smartphone is a very handy tool for the family history researcher. In this article, Michael goes over some basics of taking good photos with your smartphone.
5. PhotoCircle is Private Photo Sharing at its Best by Greg Dawson on appcraver.com ~ Speaking of photos, do really like to share all your family photos with the world? Some of y'all are probably not going to believe me, but I don't. Greg does a great review of PhotoCircle, a private photo sharing app. You know, so you share your family photos with just your inner circle. Additionally, you can make multiple circles, or groups. I would also venture to say [because I haven't used it yet] that one could use this for old photo collaboration with relatives because it has commenting features for each photo. So. quite literally, you could snap a photo of an old photo with your iPhone [or 'scan' it into your iPhone although there are better ways to scan photos for long term archiving] and then share it with family members or other researchers who are helping you to identify old family photos. Worth a look and try, no?
6. Scapple Is Way to Get Messy Ideas Down Quickly by Thorin Klosowski on lifehacker.com ~ My name is Caroline and I am a messy researcher and writer. No, seriously, I am. However messy I am, though, doesn't necessarily mean I'm unorganized. It's just that I have artist tendencies.  I 'see' what I want to write or research. I guess you could say that I attack writing and research projects in an artistic way. In an odd way, I tend to draw out ideas and usually a dry erase board is my best friend. But I'm a techie kind of person, so that's why this app, Scapple, caught my attention. I'm not a Mac owner, but Scapple, now free while in Beta, allows the user to just 'dump' ideas down as quickly as you can in a free-form kind of way. So take a look at Thorin's review of it to see if you could use it for researching and writing.
7. Great local search apps for iOS by Jason Parker from cnet.com ~ Many family history researchers find themselves researching in towns and cities they've never been to before, and don't know where the local restaurants, ATMs, gas stations, etc. are located. In this article, Jason puts together a great list of iOS [iPad, iPod, and/or iPad] apps that you can use to search local areas where you might be researching. Very handy tool, no?

If you enjoyed this week's list of Genealogy-Technology Links, I invite you to sign up below for the free Genea-Tech Newsletter where you'll receive a round-up of blog posts, 3 additional Gen-Tech Links, occasional special promotions, and an exclusive article with helpful info for family history researchers.

Happy Researching!
~Caroline

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