by Lisa Cooke | Dec 20, 2013 | 01 What's New, Church, Conferences, RootsMagic
The official RootsTech 2014 app is available for downloading from the App Store or Google Play! There’s also a web version for those who don’t use an iPhone, iPad or Android device. Like last year’s app, the RootsTech 2014 lets you create your own class schedule, learn about speakers, connect with other attendees and more. For example, here’s my speaker page, below: it tells all about me and Genealogy Gems and lists all my speaking sessions. If you click on the titles of individual sessions you see below, you’ll see more details: the length of the session, a description of it, what track and level the content is and what room the class is in. You can click right from that screen to add my classes (or any others) to your should you buy medication online schedule in the app.
But wait, there’s more you can do with this app! Access maps of the venue, which is enormous. Chime into social media conversations and check for daily news posts. Look up more about specific exhibitors so you can plan which booths to visit. (My booth is filed under “Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems”–I hope you’ll come say hi!)
RootsTech 2014 will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA from February 6-8, 2014 at the Salt Palace. It’s a huge event that focuses on harnessing today’s technologies to discover and share our family history. Whether you’re brand new to genealogy or a professional researcher, there will be something for you there! Early bird pricing is available until January 6, 2014.
by Lisa Cooke | Dec 29, 2013 | 01 What's New, Holidays
90 years ago, on page 1 of the Ford News 12/15/1923, Henry Ford shared the following Christmas Greeting: “Christmas stands for the human factor which makes life tolerable midst the hurry of commerce and production. All of us need the annealing effect of Christ’s example to relieve the hardening we get in the daily struggle for material success.”
In the following short film from the vaults of the National Archives the Ford Motor Company wishes “A Merry Christmas to All” in 1926:
National Archives Collection FC: Ford Motor Company Collection, ca. 1903 – ca. 1954
Production Date: ca. 1926
Earlier that year Ford Motor Company became one of the first companies in America to adopt a five-day, 40-hour week for their employees in its automotive factories. The policy started in May with the factory workers and extended to office workers in August.
The decision to reduce the workweek from six to five days had been made in the year before. According to an article published in The New York Times that March, Edsel Ford, Henry’s son and the company’s president, explained that “Every man needs more than one day a week for rest and recreation….The Ford Company always has sought to promote [an] ideal home life for its employees. We believe that in order to live properly every man should have more time to spend with his family.”
by Lisa Cooke | Dec 27, 2013 | 01 What's New, British, Conferences
It’s always a joy for me to get to get out and about and meet readers and listeners in person. In July 2014 there’s a wonderful opportunity for us to get together in person, talk genealogy and experience the joy of travel: the Unlock the Past Cruises for their 2014 British Isles Cruise!
I’ll be joining eight other incredible genealogists to bring cruisers an exciting assortment of family history classes aboard the beautiful Marco Polo ship (right). Check out the Presenters page
You’ll have around 40 topics to choose from, held mostly in the evening so there will be loads of time to explore the breathtaking landscape.
Itinerary:
- day 1 – depart Tilbury, London – 6pm (boarding from 12.30pm)
- day 2 – at sea
- day 3 – Invergordon, Scotland – 7.30am-10pm
- day 4 – Kirkwall, Orkney Islands – 7am-6pm
- day 5 – Stornoway, Outer Hebrides – 7.30am-10pm (transfer to shore by tender)
- day 6 – Tobermory, Isle of Mull – 7.30am-4pm (transfer to shore by tender)
- day 7 – Dublin, Ireland – 8am-5.45pm
- day 8 – St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly – 9am-6pm (transfer to shore by tender)
- day 9 – St Peter Port, Guernsey – 7.30am-6pm (transfer to shore by tender)
- day 10 – Honfleur, France – 9am-5pm
- day 11 – arrive Tilbury, London – 9am
My understanding is that this cruise is filling up very quickly so if you’re interested be sure and click here for more details.
by Lisa Cooke | Aug 27, 2015 | 01 What's New, Digital Archives, Evernote, images, Mobile, Organization, Photographs, Technology
Snagit and Skitch can help you highlight screenshots and other digital images you capture for genealogy. Here’s how!
Recently Diane from Alberta, CA sent in this question:
“I am trying to find how to highlight a portion of a document such as a birth certificate. The document has three people listed for the county and prior to adding it to my tree on Ancestry, I would like to highlight my ancestor so he will stand out. Can you offer any suggestions. I tried Evernote without success, also my family tree program. What am I missing?”
I suggested Diane use Snagit 2019, compatible with Windows and Mac
software to highlight her documents. In fact, I use it constantly for a variety of genealogical projects. The full-blown software has loads of cool features!
You can also download the free Snagit Chrome extension here. After you install Snagit, you’ll see it show up on your browser page. Here’s what it looks like on Google Chrome (the blue “s” button):
When you see something on your screen you want to capture, just click on the blue “S” icon. You’ll be asked at the outset to give Snagit access to various cloud storage options so it can store the image for you. Once you allow it access, then you’ll be able to name your file and add your own shapes, arrows and text. Use these to call attention to part of a record; annotate what you learned from it or even mark your ancestor’s face in a group photo.
As far as doing something similar in Evernote: Evernote only allows you to highlight typed text, not portions of an image. However, you can download Skitch and drag and drop the document from Evernote into Skitch. Then you can highlight an image to your hearts content. When you’re done you can Save to Evernote in the menu (SKITCH > SAVE TO EVERNOTE).
Thanks to Diane for a great question! I hope you’ll all share this post: Snagit is free and makes it so easy to take notes on your digital images, for your own use or to share with others!
Resources
How to Add Text to a Web Clipping in Evernote
Should Evernote Be My Digital Archive?
Annotating and Transcribing Documents in Evernote (What Evernote Can and Can’t Do for Family History)
by Lisa Cooke | Sep 13, 2015 | 01 What's New, Apps, Dropbox, images
Now you can save the links to your favorite websites in Dropbox. It’s another great way to use Dropbox for genealogy! Here’s how….
Big news: Dropbox recently announced that you can now save web page URLs to Dropbox on the web or on your PC. It’s as simple as drag and drop!
Here’s a link to a quick-read article all about it, and it includes a super short video showing you the feature in action:
Think how handy this would be for tracking genealogy website sources! Those bookmarks we create in our web browsers can get pretty cluttered. A Dropbox folder dedicated just to your genealogy would be a great place to store URLS for those websites you find yourself consulting a lot: a Rootsweb site, the Genealogy Gems blog, JewishGen, and even specific pages within those sites for articles you love.
If you’re a Dropbox user, why not try saving this article URL to your Dropbox? The article we link to above has a video in which they show the drag-and-drop in a web browser, but it works just as well when you click on the URL and drag it onto the Windows Explorer icon on your computer’s task bar. When Windows Explorer pops open, just “drop” onto the Dropbox folder! And if you’re on a Mac, try the equivalent.
I use Dropbox every day. Below I have some great resources for you including an article on the types of items a genealogist could use Dropbox to save and share with other researchers.
Resources
Tips for Collaborative Genealogy: Dropbox for Genealogists
Genealogists’ Guide to Dropbox, a video presentation available to Genealogy Gems Premium members
Dropbox v Backblaze: Does Cloud Storage for Genealogy Replace Computer Backup?
