52 Weeks to Better Genealogy: Catching Up

I'm a bit behind on the 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy challenges (developed by my friend Amy of We Tree and hosted by Geneabloggers.com), so this is a catch-up post. Challenge 9 was:

Pick five genealogy blogs and read them every day. Meet new people and networking within the online genealogy community is a great way to expand your own research and experience. Reading the blogs of others will help you get to know others. Try to find some blogs that are out of your area of expertise. Lists of genealogy blogs can be found at Geneabloggers.com and Genealogue’s Genealogy Blog Finder. If you already subscribe to many genealogy blogs, find five new ones that are “outside the box,” perhaps in history or archives. If you have a genealogy blog, write about the blogs you discover and introduce others to them.

I tried to do this one, but to be honest, a the moment I already follow way too many blogs, both personally (genealogy and book review blogs) and professionally (library-related blogs). I did pick five genealogy blogs and followed them for more than two weeks, but I did not find enough of use in those five (I was particularly looking for "how-tos) to continue to follow them. I do appreciate the links to the lists above so I can look for more blogs in the future that might help me with tips and techniques.

Challenge 11 was:

Read the back posts from the Transitional Genealogists Forum. This is a message board for genealogists who are taking the steps needed to become professional genealogists. Even if you aren’t interested in that goal, you will benefit from the questions and answers provided on this excellent discussion list. If you have a genealogy blog, write about a question or subject from this board that was helpful for you.

Being just a beginner genealogist, I didn't find this discussion forum particularly useful. I wish there was a way to expand an entire discussion thread and read it at once rather than have to click on each post individually. It's also frustrating when the title of a message doesn't give much information about its contents. Plus, responders often veer off-topic, or worse yet, respond publicly when they should respond privately. Just as I have trimmed down the list of blogs I follow, so I have also cut way back on discussion list-serves. I just don't have the time. However, once again, I'm glad to be made aware of this resource and who knows, it could come in handy in the future.

However, I LOVED Challenge 10 and have a separate post coming on that.

© Amanda Pape - 2010