Gen-Tech Tip: How Can I Help the NGS?

I was in a hurry that morning. And that was my mistake. Google+ had just released their Communities feature the day before, and after sleeping on it, Saturday morning I decided to create 2 communities. Being a big proponent of creating images with my iPhone for my blogs, I, of course, knew that I'd be taking photos with my iPhone to create images that represented my communities. 

And for the Tech for Genealogy Google+ Community I wanted to convey tech as a tool for doing research. Not as the be-all-end-all thing that will give you your family history, but as a tool that can help you find your family history and share those family stories. One that aids you in your research journey.

In my mind's eye, I could see my husband's great grandmother's farm books...especially the older one...opened. I could see some maps that I owned peeking out from underneath Pearl's farm book. I could also see a photo of my Big Paw Paw being in there somewhere as well as Big Paw Paw's parent's marriage certificate.

And then, of course, my new iPad needed to be in there as well showing Pearl's pedigree chart with my favorite picture of her. But I had wanted the iPad to be in the background...and kind of fuzzy so that the message was that we use tech as a tool to help us work more efficiently and, at times, faster, when trying to build that bridge between the present and the past.

Why? Because I think people sometimes let tech take over to the point that it is not a tool or a means, but the end. And in doing so, people can get the wrong idea, like thinking they can purchase an iPad and an app and Presto! Here's your family history. It doesn't work like that. Ever. At least not yet. {And if we're truly being honest, probably never.} Technology is a tool to help you with your research and it can be a tool to help you share those family histories...those family stories...those secrets...with your loved ones.

And that's how and why that photo was painstakingly staged that morning. I was so excited to get it with the right kind of natural light coming in my kitchen window. And I hurriedly took several photos to make sure I got a good one with my iPhone. Then I used an app called Snapseed and a setting on that app called Tilt-Shift in order to make the background with the iPad fuzzy and out of focus forcing Pearl's farm book to be more in focus as that is most important, in my opinion. Those entries of Pearl's are what tell me about life on the Pointer farm in Story County, Iowa from the early 1900's to the mid 1940's. The pedigree chart on my iPad helps me to keep all the family members straight while reading her farm books while her photo on the iPad reminds me of just who made those entries.

Then I uploaded it to the Tech for Genealogy Google+ Community as its image straight from my iPhone. Now, on my blog BloggingGenealogy.com, I've suggested before that I upload photos to the internet with the full expectation that they will be taken and used without permission. It is what it is and I don't have time to go find them even though I could very easily do so with Tin Eye Reverse Image Search. And? I usually don't care if someone takes a family history photo off my personal family history blog Family Stories and uses that for their family history research...all without contacting me or using image according to the stated Creative Commons License that is located in my sidebar. I don't know why that doesn't bother me...it just doesn't. My blog is there for collaboration but also? If you don't want to collaborate and just take and you're related to me, then I guess you're pretty darn lucky because I just don't have "My Tree-itis." I just don't. Call it my family history outreach program, if you will. {Stick around because I tend to do a lot of that in a lot of different ways.}

However, I realize others are quite protective of their research and stuff for whatever reasons {and I'm not judging...so don't judge me} so I created a blog post on BloggingGenealogy.com that suggested some ideas for image theft prevention, like putting the name of your blog or URL on the image with the Phonto app like I do. If someone, um, borrows it then at least your blog address is right on there for everyone to see. {Of course, these can be stripped off of there by other apps, but most folks in the genealogy world tend to be a bit behind in the tech department so I'm not really worried about that.} And then another good idea is to take a picture with your iPhone of the family photo or collection of photos, make it kind of different with some filters from a photo editing app, slap your blog address on the front and there ya' go. It's a preventive measure at the very least and it is at the very most a Family History Outreach Program that encourages collaboration. And I talk about that in depth in that blog post so definitely go read it ~> Blogging Genealogy: Deter Image Theft with FHOP.

However, when creating my Google+ Communities, I wanted to convey that they were not about me or my business, but about the communities and the people that I was hoping would make them up. I wanted the communities to eventually be self-helping. I also imposed a 3-link per day per person limit so that the community didn't become a link dumping spot where no real helpful engagement occurred at all. I mean, to me, an online community is just like an in-person community. For it to really work well and be useful, the community members need to be there in person. You know, communing about technology for genealogy. In my opinion, link-dumping and then running in an online community is the equivalent to someone coming into a community center's meeting room, opening the door while a meeting is taking place, and yelling out, "GO SEE THIS!" and then quickly leaving.

It leaves everyone thinking, "Why should I go see that? I don't know him or her. What's in it for me? I'm busy. Would it have hurt tell me more about it?" And so on and so forth.

It was highly important to me that those who were deciding to join my communities didn't think these were Caroline's Communities where Caroline posts all her stuff and gives her opinion on everything. I wanted the communities to be helpful and self-sustaining communities that only really needed to be moderated by myself and a few others in order to, well, keep order to and for the community. Therefore, I chose not to use my handy dandy Phonto app to mark the photo with a copyright symbol or my business URL address like I do usually for my Family History Outreach Program, a.k.a., my personal family history blog {or when it's on my business blog I like to think it's a part of my Marketing Campaign. And maybe I've listened to too much Zig Ziglar over the years and maybe that's made me put too much of a creatively positive spin on things. ;) }

And because I was in a hurry to get those communities setup that morning, I didn't bother with adding meta data to the images.  I just wanted to get going on the communing. And I wanted the communing to be about tech for genealogy and the community and not me.

And then the image was taken and used elsewhere.

However, I am of the belief that the responsibility lies with the taker or, rather, the one who takes something and uses it, to thoroughly understand that they are taking something that is not theirs and using it without permission. And if the entity that had taken it was a personal family history blogger, especially one who was new, I would have privately contacted them and informed them politely of the rules of copyright. {Actually, I would have just sent them to Judy G. Russell's blog, the LegalGenealogist.com. Why re-invent the wheel? I'm lazy like that. ;) }

However, it was a blog from a professional organization within the genealogy community that has taken my photo that I painstakingly created for the Tech for Genealogy Google+ Community. {And by professional, I don't mean that it's only for professionals - however one defines that particular term. I just mean that it is an organization that always presents itself in a professional way.}

Now, I used to belong to the National Genealogical Society, but then dropped it for a while then recently joined them again. They have wonderful resources on there. I'm a HUGE fan of their quarterly because I'm a genealogy nerd and they make back issues accessible online to members. {Which I need because I recently joined Sheri Fenley, the blog author of The Educated Genealogist, and her NGSQ Back Issue Discussion Group that meets monthly in a small Google+ Hangout, the kind that's not recorded.}

I've been waiting for NGS to update their Home Study Course, and I just found out that they are doing so and putting it in the cloud. {Thanks to Jen, the blog author of the Scrappy Genealogist, for tweeting about that from the APG Professional Management Conference last week because without that tweet I wouldn't have known about it.}  I've always wanted to take the course, but I had heard from others that it was woefully behind the times. I'm guessing that they meant technology-wise as it applies to research workflows and not research methodology because that doesn't change much like technology and tools change.

I love their online courses that the NGS already provides. In fact, back in 2008 I completed the Introduction to Genealogy course, and then chose to self-educate via books galore instead of ordering the Home Study Course. At the time, this seemed the right choice given the feedback that I had heard about the course and because of family commitments that limited me in going to week-long educational opportunities offered elsewhere in the United States. Therefore, I applaud them for now deciding to offer the updated course online {at some time in the near future, I hope.}. True, they are late in offering it, but I can't think of any other organization in the world of genealogy, online or off, who should be doing it other than the National Genealogical Society.

And there are many other features and benefits that it offers its membership, and I highly recommend people visit the NGS website for more information.

Additionally, I've always thought the organization could do better with not only some updating, but some better marketing. Therefore,  I was excited when they started blogging, which can be an effective social media tool in an organization's Marketing Toolbox. For an organization, in general a blog should do the following:

• Spotlight the features and benefits of the organization;
• Add value to current members in their research journeys;
• Add value to prospective members as they start their research journeys;
• Lead the online and offline genealogy community by example.

Currently, in my opinion, I don't think it does any of the above except for adding value to current members. Again, I'm discussing the blog and not the organization itself. Unfortunately, the blog for an organization does and should reflect the organization. In my opinion, the Upfront with NGS Blog is not at the level of any of its other publications. 

And it certainly does not lead by example when it takes a photo from the internet and uses it without permission on its blog. The source used for it is a URL for the image itself as if it appears from no where when indeed it was probably found via Google Images. 

How can we, as an online genealogy community, expect the every day genealogy and family history researcher to respect copyright when a professional genealogy organization established in 1903 doesn't respect it?

Now, I understand this is probably a volunteer position, and I, being a person who has volunteered many times for different organizations, understand how difficult it is to get that volunteer job done that you're not being paid for, and get it done well.

I understand the intricacies of the internet, search engine optimization, social media, and, in particular, blogging are very difficult to understand, much less keep up with. 

I understand that copyright is difficult to understand. {Again, thank goodness for the LegalGenealogist.com powered by Judy G Russell, CG.}

I also understand that the NGS is a community...a community that is made up of individuals who have unique talents. Surely, there is someone there who can apply those talents to the NGS blog to benefit this over-a-century-old organization.

And I also understand that when I attend NGS' conference in Vegas in May that I will probably be on the outside looking in, so to speak, because I dared to say anything about this. That's all right. I'm used to that. In fact, I didn't apply to be an Official Blogger for the NGS conference because I didn't think I'd be accepted, but I'll wager that I'll be the loudest NGS Conference social media advocate that you will hear from during that week in Vegas.

I'm not just a genealogy blogger, but a genealogist who utilizes social media overall to get my word out, and that tends to mean I don't blog as much as others do which was one of the first questions that was asked on the NGS Conference Official Blogger application. I like meeting people on the platform of their choice. In fact, it's why I advocate that there be Social Media Representatives at conferences and not Official Bloggers. {Vetting them would be nice as well. Otherwise, it doesn't mean anything.} Combining all of my social media platforms, I have well over 7000 in my platform audience that spans many countries and genres. Meaning, I network with folks within as well as outside of the genealogy world. That's a valuable audience to my business as well as organizations I happen to be affiliated with.

For my business and brand, the idea of networking outside the online genealogy community is extremely important. My thinking on this has always been that every one has some kind of family and that family has a history. And maybe - just maybe - they hadn't thought about it quite that way. Maybe they hadn't thought about it all, but when I connect with someone online or off through a different interest and when they ask me what I do and when I tell them, well, I can tell they start thinking about it. It's a soft sell. They may never hire me to research for them, to teach them how to research, or to teach them how to use technology, but I know I've got a chance - however small - they'll remember me when the subject comes up again. And maybe they'll spread the word about me. Maybe they'll even start searching themselves. Maybe they'll read my blogs or tips. The fact is my entire social media platform is set up to be a Family History Outreach Program in some form or fashion. I give to the community.

And I don't like controversy or conflict. I just don't. It makes me sick to my stomach. However, I think copyright is a very important subject and it should start from the top. And I can't think of a better organization than the National Genealogical Society to lead the way on it. 

Further, there is no reason why their blog should not be the first one everyone wants to read every single day. It should be that good. And I believe it could be and can be. Whether they are a genealogist or not, blog readers everywhere should wake up every morning, reach for their tablet or smartphone, navigate to the Upfront with NGS Blog and be given the most valuable piece of information that they can take and use in their genealogy and family history research journey, or be given the best inspiration that day to start their family history research journey. Who wouldn't want to join an organization who not only creates a community but gives to its community like that?

Now that I am a member again, how can I help the NGS Community?

~Caroline

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