Next MCGS CIG Meeting

MCGS COMPUTER INTEREST GROUP MEETING

Our next meeting will be on Saturday, May 18, 2013 from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm

Topic: Pot Luck - Open Discussion - Note: No meeting facilitator will be there so Members are on their own to introduce themselves, cover topics of interest, share research successes and brick walls

Location: Villa Marin, 100 Thorndale Drive, San Rafael - The Meeting will be held in the Auditorium, which is to the left and down the hall from the entrance.

Villa Marin has wireless Internet access! If you have a laptop computer with wireless, you can bring it with you so you can follow along with the presentation. Note that laptops are optional and are not necessary for you to attend our presentations.

Contact Gene Pennington if you need more information.

These meetings are free to the public.

Visit the MCGS website to see the 2013 schedule, topics, locations and directions.

California Genealogical Society Presentation - Seminar: Using DNA to Solve Your Genealogical Mysteries, Katherine Borges and Tony Hoskins

I will be attending this seminar next Saturday, April 27, 2013 in Oakland. I will be driving from San Rafael. If anybody is interested in carpooling, please let me know.

The seminar will be held at Preservation Park, 668 Thirteenth Street, Oakland.

Registration starts at 9:00 am so I'll be leaving around 8:00 am. There is a fee to attend. Box lunches are available.

For more information go to: http://californiaancestors.org/ and look for "Seminar" about half way down the page in the middle column.

You can download the flier and register online. I believe the registration deadline is pretty soon.

Research Field Trip to Sutro Library

MCGS is having a field trip to the Sutro Library on April 11, 2013 (rescheduled from April 4).

Meet at Family History Center (220 North San Pedro Rd., San Rafael) at 9:00 AM to carpool.

Please join us for day of research in the newly relocated Sutro Library in San Francisco on Thursday, April 11, 2013. The field trip, originally scheduled for April 4, has been rescheduled for April 11 at the request of the Sutro Library.

We will meet in the parking lot of the Family History Center, 220 North San Pedro Road, San Rafael at 9:00 AM to carpool to the library.

To learn more and to register, go to: www.maringensoc.org and then look in the upper right for "What's New?" in the upcoming events box. Then click on the "Research Trip to Sutro Library".

For more information contact Will Deady at wcd001@sprynet.com or (415) 491-4204.

Next MCGS CIG Meeting

MCGS COMPUTER INTEREST GROUP MEETING

Our next meeting will be on Saturday, April 20, 2013 from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm

Topic: Google Earth: How to use for research and/or family history

We'll check out how you can use Google Earth for genealogy research and/or family history. Presented by Gene Pennington

Location: Villa Marin, 100 Thorndale Drive, San Rafael - The Meeting will be held in the Auditorium, which is to the left and down the hall from the entrance.

 

Villa Marin has wireless Internet access! If you have a laptop computer with wireless, you can bring it with you so you can follow along with the presentation. Note that laptops are optional and are not necessary for you to attend our presentations.

Contact Gene Pennington if you need more information.

These meetings are free to the public.

Visit the MCGS website to see the 2013 schedule, topics, locations and directions.

A major announcement from The Digital Public Library of America! From Dick Eastman's blog.

The Digital Public Library of America will launch on April 18 and 19 according to an announcement in Dick Eastman’s online newsletter.

This is a major effort to “.. bring all the holdings of American’s research libraries, archives, and museums available to all Americans, and eventually to everyone in the world, online and free of charge.”

Click here to read Dick’s newsletter and this article.

Handout & Other Links from RootsTech 2013 Presentations

Here are some links to the handouts and other resources that were shared with us at RootsTech 2013 held at Salt Lake City, Utah from 3/21/13- 3/23/13.
For more information and other perspectives, I suggest the reader check out the following websites and blogs.

• Official RootsTech 2013 website: http://RootsTech.org –There are many resources on this website including video streaming of many of the keynote speeches and presentations.
• Thomas MacEntee at Geneabloggers.com: http://geneabloggers.com/
• Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings: http://www.geneamusings.com/

Session Syllabi available at: http://rootstech.org/downloads:  This is a large file and comes in a zip format.  Each day’s presentations are in that day’s folder.  Excellent resource!
“MindTap” - http://www.cengage.com/mindtap/ - for educating people. It is a personalized learning experience available to teachers and students.
50 Google Searches Every Genealogist Needs to Know – Barry J. Ewell founder of MyGenShare.com and College Professor.  Handouts available by sending an e-mail to Barry J. Ewell {bj57barry@gmail.com} with RootsTech 2013 in the subject line.  He will send you three messages with tons of links and information.  One of the messages contains the link to the presentation I attended.  To help, here is a link to that presentation. - https://www.yousendit.com/download/UVJoM25EQ0MzS3J2bk1UQw Note:  This link contains four (4) presentations.  Barry added to his last message the following invitation.
If you have friends or associates that would like a copy of the free resources, have them do the following:
Send email: bj57barry@gmail.com
Subject Line: RootsTech 2013

Deadline for requests is Friday, April 5, 2013.
FamilyTree DNA presentation: 
http://www.relativeroots.net/downloads/ and look for IGG-handout.pdf. – Also, see Session Syllabi for session information and for handout information.
Mom It Forward Media (http://momitforward.com/)
Google Newspapers for genealogy research at http://news.google.com/newspapers
Do Your E-Book Right: Self-Publishing Secrets for the Family Historian – Lisa A. Alzo
http://www.lisaalzo.com/ - Look in the upper right corner for box titled “Conference Handouts”. Also, see Session Syllabi for session information and for handout information
FamilySearch Family Tree:  https://familysearch.org/tree/

RootsTech 2013–Pictures

Here are some pictures of RootsTech 2013. 


Above:  Some of the bloggers who were given a sneak peak at the exhibits before the Exhibit Hall opened on Thursday morning.

Above:  A look at some of the work stations setup by FamilySearch for you to use during the conference.

Above:  Keynote speaker Syd Lieberman – Nationally acclaimed storyteller, author, and an award-winning teacher.

Above:  Snow in the mountains around Salt Lake City.

Above:  Snow in the mountains around Salt Lake City.

RootsTech 2013–My Notes Part III

The following are my notes from the RootsTech 2013 Conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah from 3/21/13 – 3/23/13.
For more information and other perspectives, I suggest the reader check out the following websites and blogs.
· Official RootsTech 2013 website: http://RootsTech.org –There are many resources on this website including video streaming of many of the keynote speeches and presentations.
· Thomas MacEntee at Geneabloggers.com: http://geneabloggers.com/
· Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings: http://www.geneamusings.com/
Session Syllabi available at: http://rootstech.org/downloads
I will publish three (3) postings covering my experiences at RootsTech 2013.
This is my third and final posting.  I will do a couple more postings with some pictures and links to a few of the handouts from the presentations I attended.
Day Three - Saturday, 3/23/13
Keynote Speakers
1^st Speaker: David Pogue – He is the weekly personal-technology columnist for the New York Times and a monthly columnist for Scientific America. Main points:
David gave a very interesting display of current and future smartphone technology. He was very informative and entertaining. You should check out the streaming video of David available on RootsTech.org.
2^nd Speaker: The original speaker had to cancel his appearance. Two other people whose names I forgot to record in my notes (sorry) gave presentations on MyHeritage. You should check out the streaming video of David available on RootsTech.org.
Presentation: Taking Your Family History Electronic – Creating Your Own Amazing Ebook – Luana Darby – Main Points:
Why publish an Ebook?
· Reader can adjust font size for readers
· Reader can add notes and bookmarks
· Reader can highlight words, sentences and paragraphs
· The text of the book is searchable
· Saves storage space for both the author and the reader
Creating an Ebook – Software tools
· Sigil (free from Google)
· Feedbooks (on line and is shared with others – not a good option if you want to keep the book private (family history for example) or if you plan to sell it.
· Word (have to convert from Word format to another Ebook format but many epub software will do this for you).
· Apple Pages (have to convert from Pages format to another Ebook format but many epub software will do this for you).
· Adobe Design (very difficult learning curve but does have many advantages for experienced author)
More about Sigil
· It is free and is open ware and is downloadable from Google
· All imported documents (from Word or Pages) are “cleaned up” for epub formatting.
· It supports metadata entry (tags)
· It has a Table of Contents Editor feature
o Pages are automatically renumbered if you add/remove a page/chapter, etc.
· It can make html modifications if you want to do this yourself
· It can create an index
· It is very good functionally – easy to use
· Has tabs for TOC displayed for chapters
More about MS Word
· You can save your document/file as HTML web page in 2010 and 2013.
· You can import your document/files directly into Sigil and Calibre
· It may have problems/difficulties with images
o Suggest removing images from Word. Use a place card holder and name the image so you know where to place the image later in epub.
o Then import/paste the images later using Sigil or Calibre
More about InDesign
· Problems importing older Indesign files
· Create directly in application – no need for secondary conversion
· Refer to her syllabus for details on formatting and how to get around formatting and publication restrictions.
General Information
· Use chapters and subheadings to make it easier for reader to navigate and to locate something in book.
o Sigil will do up to six (6) subheading types
o Sigil can add video and audio clips but they must be very small (file size)
o You must create your book cover (front, back and side spline) as single files.
§ Use photo editing software such as Photoshop, Paint Shop, GIMP or Photoscape (free) to create your book cover file/s.
· Don’t use iBook format UNLESS you want to copy the book for people with iPhone, iPad ONLY
o You can send the file via e-mail or share on a cloud storage service
Calibre – free eBook Library Management Software
o Management software
§ Convert pdf files to ePub or ePub to Kindle
§ Use output format to select which conversion you want to use
· Tip – For mobile devices, keep file size to 300k or less.
o Tablets, iPad have no problems with larger files
· She says it look like pdf and Kindle format are best for most genealogical societies and associations who want to publish their publications in eBook format.
o Calibre can covert pdf file/s to other format and then save the new file in its new format.
o Upload both file types to website/cloud and offer both formats for sale/distribution
Lulu.com – Best overall publication/distribution service in her opinion.
· Offers great help
· Let’s you offer your book/publications in printed, pdf or eBook format (as well as multiple formats of eBooks such as Kindle)
· Takes a percentage of book sale price
· Handles all orders and shipping
Handouts available - See Session Syllabi for session information and for handout information
Presentation: FamilySearch Family Tree – Ron Tanner, FamilySearch Family Tree – Main points:
· FamilyTree is the NEW replacement for FamilySearch sharing trees website
o He wants everybody to start using it NOW
o He strongly suggests users of FamilySearch switch to the NEW FamilyTree NOW
· FamilyTree is worldwide shared genealogy research
o It is preserved forever in their archives
· New FamilySearch limited edit/add to just the contributor but the new FamilyTree makes trees open
o “Share data and get it right and stop duplication”
· He said that if we all work together we can build an amazing database
· We need sources for our family trees to improve quality of shared research
o Users can directly communicate via FamilyTree when you add/change/delete a person/source.
§ You see what was removed and who removed it or who added it, etc.
o Users can collaborate with sources and research directly on the tree.
· He suggests interested researchers go to FamilyTree now and use the tutorials and learning wikis to help get started.
o Go to: https://familysearch.org/tree/ to start.
§ You should create a free account for yourself if you do not have one now.
Handouts available - See Session Syllabi for session information and for handout information
Handouts
Session Syllabi available at: http://rootstech.org/downloads

RootsTech 2013–My Notes Part II

The following are my notes from the RootsTech 2013 Conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah from 3/21/13 – 3/23/13.
For more information and other perspectives, I suggest the reader check out the following websites and blogs.
· Official RootsTech 2013 website: http://RootsTech.org –There are many resources on this website including video streaming of many of the keynote speeches and presentations.
· Thomas MacEntee at Geneabloggers.com: http://geneabloggers.com/
· Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings: http://www.geneamusings.com/
Session Syllabi available at: http://rootstech.org/downloads
I will publish three (3) postings covering my experiences at RootsTech 2013.
This is my second posting.
Day Two - Friday, 3/22/13
Keynote Speakers
1^st Speaker: Jyl Pattee, founder of Mom It Forward Media (http://momitforward.com/) . Main points:
· Create those WOW moments now! Her receipt is to create, capture, archive and to share the WOW moments.
· Hand postcard recipe as example of one of her WOW moments. It was for banana Cookies from her Mom’s recipe book.
· Showed a video of a WOW moment with her sisters in their Mom’s kitchen making the banana cookies. Mom had passed away recently.
2^nd Speaker: Tim Sullivan, President and CEO of Ancestry.com. Main points:
o Can’t we all just get along? Beginners, all the way to experts? He says “Yes”!
o Adds, “It’s worth it”!
Presentation: Social Media Part 1 – Tauni Everett, Stephanie Hansen and Emily Hill
Main Points:
Facebook: Private vs. public – important to understand privacy settings and use them accordingly to protect your privacy, or to “let the whole world get to know everything about you”.
Twitter: Use the privacy settings! Can put photos with tweet.
Instagram: Use the privacy settings. Can share photos from Instagram to Facebook and Twitter.
Google +: Use the privacy settings! Circles, communities – get to know what these are and how to use them to share your genealogical research and other information. Can link from blogs to Google +.
Handouts available - See Session Syllabi for session information and for handout information
Presentation: Social Media Part 2 – Tauni Everett, Stephanie Hansen and Emily Hill
Main points:
· There are many apps to use to access and post messages to Facebook and to Twitter. You can also have multiple accounts in Facebook and Twitter and access all of them using these other apps.
o TweetDeck
o TweetCaster
o Hootsuite
· You can use Blurb.com and Keepsy.com to turn your Instagram pictures into memory books.
· On Facebook, use Groups and Pages for communicating/sharing for your genealogy research/associations/locations or high school/college reunions.
o Use the Event and calendar and list features to help.
o When you create a Group page or special Page on Facebook, you decide if it will be public, or closed.
Handouts available - See Session Syllabi for session information and for handout information
Presentation: Google Search… And Beyond – Dave Barney and Robert Garner - Main Points:
· Google Newspapers for genealogy research at http://news.google.com/newspapers
o List of newspapers
· You can search newspaper archives Google has at this time
· Suggested it may start project again
· New app – Google Keep – Free. It’s a website and an app for Android phone; the two are automatically synchronized.
· Image search – look at optimize bar, then “Search Tools” and “Search Filters”
· Can add as an extension to Chrome – puts a camera icon on bar. Allows you to upload an image or link.
· Google will try to find similar images to the image you uploaded – works on people and buildings – use for older genealogy images
· Maps – street view. Use it to find a cemetery or other public buildings or locations in a community. You can actually see what the location looks like from above or at street level. Great use for genealogy research and/or family history.
· Google screen capture – An extension for Chrome.
· Google has cemetery data for all US locations.
o Use the “near” for all cemeteries near a city, town, and location.
o Works for churches and similar buildings.
· Google translate – paste text into box and it will translate from one language to another that you select. You can also paste the entire website URL and it will translate the entire web page.
Handouts available - See Session Syllabi for session information and for handout information
Presentation: Do Your E-Book Right: Self-Publishing Secrets for the Family Historian – Lisa A. Alzo – Main points:
· Remember to do a draft of work before you get to any type of publication end product.
· Kindle has about 50% of the e-book market
· Steps to publish and e-book:
o Research
o Planning
o Writing
o Editing
o Layout
o Publishing
o Selling/Sharing
· Be sure to proof read your material BEFORE you go to publish.
o Suggest you use another person/company to proof read your material
· Tip – Know your audience!
· A book with lots of images needs a specific format and will probably cost more to publish.
· A book with color needs a specific format and will probably cost more to publish.
· Distribution
o Single – one format only – she suggests you do not use this if you plan to sell or share your book to many people.
o Multi-channel distribution – Act as middlemen – push book to multi retailers and distributors – usually offer conversion services from your selected format to other formats.
o Example companies are Smashwords and Bookbaby
§ Smashwords does not do Kindle format books
· Formats
o e-pub – global standard for e-books
§ Can’t create e-pub format from MS Word
o Mobipocket (.mobi or .prd)
§ Amazon Kindle
§ Free mobipocket creator
· Can import Word documents
o iBooks – Restricts sale to other publishers – only to iBooks via iTunes
o PDF
§ Most common format for e-books
§ Difficult to convert to standard e-pub format
§ Doesn’t display well on gray scale reading devices
· ISGN.org – Buy your own ISBN
o Lulu.com will give you one as part of their service
· Platform
o Create Space – Amazon.com
o Kindle publishing
o Lulu.com
o iBooks (Apple)
· Tip: Judy’s Copyright blog for great resources and information on copyright
· Management and Conversion
o Calibre – www.calibre-ebook.com
o Sigil
Handouts available at http://www.lisaalzo.com/ - Look in the upper right corner for box titled “Conference Handouts”. Also, see Session Syllabi for session information and for handout information

RootsTech 2013–My Notes Part I

The following are my notes from the RootsTech 2013 Conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah from 3/21/13 – 3/23/13.
For more information and other perspectives, I suggest the reader check out the following websites and blogs.
· Official RootsTech 2013 website: http://RootsTech.org –There are many resources on this website including video streaming of many of the keynote speeches and presentations.
· Thomas MacEntee at Geneabloggers.com: http://geneabloggers.com/
· Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings: http://www.geneamusings.com/

Session Syllabi available at:  http://rootstech.org/downloads

I will publish three (3) postings covering my experiences at RootsTech 2013.
This is the first posting.
Day One - Thursday, 3/21/13
Keynote speakers
Shipley Munson, FamilySearch. Says there are over 6700 registered attendees at this year’s RootsTech Conference. It is now the largest family history gathering in US.
1^st Speaker:  Dennis Brimhall - President & CEO of FamilySearch International. Main point: Use technology to turn hearts and connecting with family.
· Stories are what family history is all about
· Genealogy association/groups must invite others in to grow.
· Get youth involved with your own family history and with your genealogy association/groups.
· Goal:  What would our great grandchildren wish we had recorded?
· 2013 RootsTech will be held in 14 countries.
· In 2014 it will be in 106 locations worldwide.
2^nd Speaker: Syd Lieberman – Nationally acclaimed storyteller, author, and an award-winning teacher. Main point:
· Make your own story from the little experiences in your life and that of your family.
3^rd Speaker: Josh Taylor – Creator of findmypast.com. A featured genealogist on NBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? Is President of Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS). Main points:
· Look forward
· Global thinking
· Ability to understand and to digitize other languages due to immigrations from other countries.
· Said we should use “MindTap” - http://www.cengage.com/mindtap/ - for educating people. It is a personalized learning experience available to teachers and students.
Presentation: 50 Google Searches Every Genealogist Needs to Know – Barry J. Ewell founder of MyGenShare.com and College Professor. Main points:
· When searching, put your query into the form of a question asking who, what, when, where and how. Then look for the key words in the question and use them to form your query search. Had many examples of using “+” “-“ “and” “or” and “:” in search query. See his handout for more examples.
· Start with a broad search and then narrow search by removing some of the key words and/or operators.
Handouts available by sending an e-mail to Barry J. Ewell {bj57barry@gmail.com} with RootsTech 2013 in the subject line. As soon as I have my set, I’ll make them available on our website.
Presentation: Organizing and Presenting your Photos: Picasa and Other Freeware – Donald R. Snow – Google. Main points:
· Picasa is free and has many features of value to genealogists. Available at http://www.google.com – Go to More > Even More > (Scroll down) Picasa
· Features such as:
o Easy method to organize your pictures
o Face recognition technology
o People albums
Handouts available – See Session Syllabi for download information
Presentation: Transform Your Note-taking and Remember Everything With Evernote – Tonia Kendrick
Main points:
· Install on desktop as well as mobile apps for iPhone, iPad and android devices. All can access and share all type of data.
· Can record notes/photos/videos and website URLs and pages on the go
· Has built in OCR technology
· Available then to share across any platform
· Add on or extensions are available for IE, Chrome and Firefox.
· Free but premium is available for larger storage plans as well as multiple accounts
Handouts available – See Session Syllabi for download information
Presentation: Introduction to Genetic Genealogy at Family Tree DNA – Elise Friedman
No significant points. Just demo of what services Family Tree DNA offers and how the website works and what your results can tell you about your genetic genealogy.
Handouts available – http://www.relativeroots.net/downloads/ and look for IGG-handout.pdf. – Also, see Session Syllabi for session information and for handout information

Native American Indian Research at Family History Library

So much for finding an application for one of my ancestors that I believe is a Native American Indian.  I confirmed his information using the computers on the 2nd floor of the Library where the books and other research material for Native American Indian research are kept as well as plenty of computers and helpful staff.

To my surprise none of the professional staff could answer my question about finding and viewing an application found on the index for the Dawes Rolls or for the Guion Miller Roll.

I was able to find an index listing for Andrew J Pennington with a application number.  I could print a copy of the page but that was all I could do online.

It turns out that Family History Library accesses the same database that we can from NARA websites.  Once you find a listing for a person you're hoping is your ancestor, you need the application number as well as the complete name.  Nothin else is needed but you must request a copy by submitting an request for the application either by mail or online.  Cost is $20.00.

Bottom line - no luck finding the application at the Library.  I'll submit an application request whenI return home.

I managed to get in a couple of hours of research on other ancestors so the time spent was not a total loss.

I completed my registration for RootsTech 2013 when I returned to hotel.  Tomorrow the conference starts.