4YourFamilyStory.com
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Services
  • Resources
    • Research Resources
    • Getting Started with Genealogy
    • Organize Your Genealogy with Onenote
    • Organize Your Genealogy With Evernote
    • How do I make a Family History Site with Weebly.com?
    • How do I make screenshots & annotations?
    • Texas Genealogy
  • About
    • Welcome!
    • Where Else I Can Be Found Online
    • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Service
  • Connect
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Services
  • Resources
    • Research Resources
    • Getting Started with Genealogy
    • Organize Your Genealogy with Onenote
    • Organize Your Genealogy With Evernote
    • How do I make a Family History Site with Weebly.com?
    • How do I make screenshots & annotations?
    • Texas Genealogy
  • About
    • Welcome!
    • Where Else I Can Be Found Online
    • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Service
  • Connect

Find your family story.

Can I Use a Smartphone for Genealogy?

10/13/2011

3 Comments

 
Picture
That's An App Thursday Series

What is a Smartphone?
Basically, a Smartphone is a handheld personal computer, a digital camera, a video player, a portable music player, and a mobile phone.

Why would anyone want a contraption like that?

Well, if you enjoy doing the following, then perhaps you would NOT like a Smartphone:
  • Going to a cemetery with your digital camera and taking photos of tombstones & then going home, getting distracted by ‘life’ and then 2 weeks later finally getting around to downloading said photos so then you can upload them to FindAGrave.com.
  • Driving by a small neglected cemetery on the way to somewhere else & thinking you must start carrying your digital camera everywhere you go so you can stop to “walk the tombstones”.
  • And you’re wondering why you didn’t check the forecast before leaving home because you might have time to “walk the tombstones” on the way back from wherever you’re going to today.
  • Being behind the very nice lady with a big stack of books who’s digging for change in her purse at the only copier in the library that you haven’t broken. [Oops, I mean the only copier that isn’t possessed. Yes, it happens. Just check out Amy Coffin's We Tree Genealogy Blog post from today.]
  • Going home, turning on your computer, waiting for it to boot up; checking, responding  to, and deleting  email; finally checking your favorite social media flavor [mine’s Twitter]; and realizing if you had been on [insert favorite social media flavor] earlier you would’ve known about the 'can’t miss' webinar that’s been going on already for 30 minutes by [insert name of your favorite genealogist].
  • Wishing you hadn’t left your calendar at home because that’s where you wrote down the name of so-n-so’s husband’s 2nd great grandparent and now you’re at the library for, well, nothing. And, wow, if you had brought your laptop you could boot it up and email so-n-so to get the name again.
  • Sitting in the waiting area of the car wash watching a [insert whatever t.v. show is mind-numbing to you] on the t.v. with the sound off wishing you could be listening to a genealogy podcast on your iPod but you left it on the charger on the kitchen counter at home.
  • Booting up the ol' desktop, because you realized that you have a little spare time to surf eBay for family heirlooms.
  • Sitting at the library wishing you had remembered to pack your laptop charger so you could look up your 3rd great-grandfather’s 4th wife’s first husband’s name.
  • Getting into your car after photographing tombstones at an unfamiliar cemetery in an unfamiliar town wishing you knew of a place where you could get a quick bite to eat.
  • Driving around aimlessly because you forgot the directions to the [insert archives, library, cemetery, courthouse, etc.] at home on the kitchen table where you had been looking them over while eating breakfast.
If you enjoy doing all of the above, then don’t read any more of this blog post or series. Seriously. Just leave and go to your desktop and log on to Facebook and play Farmville.

But? If you don’t enjoy any of the above situations and if you are ready to become more efficient in your research - both doing it and sharing it - then stick around.  A Smartphone can help in these situations and so many more. [Lots more.]

Apps Are the Secret
The reason the Smartphone has so much functionality to it is because of what’s called a 3rd party Application that can run on it, also called an ‘App’. The developers of these Apps are quite clever and have created so many nifty tools that can be applied to genealogical and family history research. [Some of those developers didn’t even know they were helping us genealogists out.]

There are several types of Smartphones and they all run on operating systems that allow it to run its applications. Apple's iPhone runs on the iOS, Blackberry runs on the Blackberry Operating System, and there are various brands that run on Google's Android Operating System. I’m not going to get into the differences between them because that’s not the point of this post. The point is to convince you that a Smartphone can be very helpful to in your research, and dare I say, life. [How am I doing?] Hopefully, I've interested you enough to come back next week for the 1st app spotlight.

Additionally in deciding on a Smartphone, a big consideration should be which one has the apps that you’d like to use. And that’s the point of this series. I'll be presenting a new app each week, explaining how to use it, and how it can be applied to doing and/or sharing your research. I'll also let you know what operating systems it is available for.

Already have a Smartphone, but you haven’t ventured past email and Facebook? Tell me which App you’d like me to spotlight in this series. Or do you have some research difficulties that you think an App can help you with, but you don’t know how to use it?

Let me know. Comments are always welcome and strongly encouraged. [Really.]

Also, if you are a Smartphone user who has a favorite app that you use in your research, and you'd like to guest post for this series, contact me. [Especially if you have an Android-based Smartphone. Mine is an iPhone.]

~Caroline


3 Comments
Jennifer Shoer link
10/13/2011 10:26:42 am

Great idea for a series! My phone got wonky yesterday and today because of HandSent, which I have now deleted, but oh the pain of those periods of time when I couldn't jump on HootSuite or browse through Google Reader. Can't wait for your next post!

Reply
Kim Cotton link
10/13/2011 06:48:46 pm

Great idea for a series! Can I assume you're keeping it smart-PHONE specific rather than venturing in to the iPad realm?

I adore my smartphone, even though it's an older model (therefore cheaper) iphone. Can't wait to hear about new ways to use it in research.

Reply
Nancy Shively link
10/15/2011 11:10:00 am

I just got my first smart phone (Android) a few weeks ago and I'm looking forward to learning it's tricks!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    48 Hr Ephemera Challenge
    Arizona
    Beginner Series
    Book Reviews
    Conferences
    DAR
    DNA
    Genealogy Fun
    Genealogy On TV
    G+ Genealogy Research Community
    G+ Tech For Genealogy Community
    Heritage Crafts
    History Saturday
    Marriage Records
    Mexico
    New Mexico
    New Records
    Organizing Tips
    Press Releases
    Research Tips
    Shades Of The Departed
    Speaking
    Sunday Scanday
    Tech Tips
    Things You Need To Know This Morning
    What's Up Genealogy? Show

    Archives

    February 2017
    January 2017
    May 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011

About
Blog
​
Connect
Picture
Privacy
Disclosure
Terms of Service
© Copyright For Your Family Story 2016 - All Rights Reserved
Photos from contemplicity, ArchiM, MAURO CATEB, Marco Bellucci, DafneCholet, Outburner, louis konstantinou, laffy4k, foistclub, Phil Monger, epictures ... on & off, fontplaydotcom, Crystl, Patricia Figueira, Andrew Michaels, Daisyree Bakker, jking89, Jan Krömer, clicksense, justinbaeder, Kara Allyson, *sax, Blue Bunny® Ice Cream, mrmanc, mdanys, katmary, euthman, MelGX, Roadside Guitars, donjd2, Victori∀, quinn.anya, law_keven, Aidan Jones, Brocco Lee, lrargerich, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, Nadia Szopinska, Varin Tsai, ClaraDon, Jinx!, the Italian voice, GirlReporter, Peter, mrmanc, Navin75, SantaRosa OLD SKOOL, Rodrigo_Soldon, rharrison, 04deveni, Flashy Soup Can, lizzelizzel, ericmay, flossyflotsam, SMercury98, Tambako the Jaguar, trint, themaum, Robert S. Donovan, Ian Sane, Keith Williamson, owlpacino, joshparent, ellenm1, leppre, ivanpw, buba69, bastique, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, jpockele, Robert Couse-Baker, aesop