Inspiring BlogsHello, hello and welcome to my latest Inspiring Genealogy Blogs post.

June had arrived, and as May was ridiculously busy, I missed doing an April Inspiring Genealogy Blogs post, so am combining it here with my May one.

This time we cover everything from …. how small societies and museums can survive without funding, family heirlooms, genealogy and microwaves, who owns your genealogy, browsing vs searching – what works better for you?, plagarism, RootsTech and it’s effect on smaller conferences, naming your digital files to be able to find them!, vlogs and a whole heap more.

I know that I’ve mentioned before (each time) that I find that reading blog posts helps me keep up with the latest news, products as well as what’s happening in general in the world of genealogy. And if you happen to already follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and to some extent Google+, you already know that I like to share with you the interesting things I read.

I know I really enjoyed reading each and every one of these posts, and have found them useful in many ways, and I hope you do too.

You Are Bigger than Your Genealogy Program
In my mind Dear Myrtle has hit the nail on the head with this post. In it she says “Your typical genealogy database program promotes “fill in the blank” thinking. Add the name, date of birth, place of birth, and so on. One entry for each database field. That’s it. Job done. NOT!!” Read the full article …

Genealogy By The Numbers – ONE
Kenneth Marks of The Ancestor Hunt blog starts his post off by saying that “You are the ONE. Yes indeed. Your ancestors are depending on you. Who is going to tell their story if you don’t? I’ll bet that no one in your family cares as much for those distant ancestors as you.” Intrigued … Read the full article …

Underdone Genealogy and the Microwave Generation
I fell in love with the title of this article, and even more so by the time I finished reading the whole thing. It’s brilliant! Thomas MacEntee uses the analogy of a microwave alongside genealogy and points out a number of similarities. Read the full article …

Finding Genealogy Data in an Unexpected Country
Judy Webster’s post on the WorldWide Genealogy blog gives the reader a bunch of examples on how to find your ancestor in another country. Read the full article …

Are We Really Better Off than Our Ancestors?
I admit when I read the title of this post, it is something that I’ve often wondered myself. And my response is that some things are better, while others aren’t. Anyway have a read of Dick Eastman’s post on the topic and see what he thinks. Read the full article …

Attributes of a Serious Genealogist?
This post started with one written by Helen Osborn of Pharos Teaching and Tutoring, who asks the question “Who Are The Serious Genealogist?”. She doesn’t name names, but she does include a list of potential traits. And from this John D. Reid of the Canada’s Anglo-Celtic Connections blog set up a poll using those traits, and gives us the results from his respondents. Read the full article … and the follow–up article here …

Do You Plan on Writing Your Own Obituary?
Mocavo put this question out to their readers, and got an interesting response. They have four categories, so which response would you answer? Read the full article …

Let the Computer do its Work of Organizing Your Genealogy
James Tanner of the Genealogy’s Start blog write about computers and organisation. He says “What do computers do? Find things quickly. What are organizational systems used for? To find things.” So while others use folder and colour-coded systems he simply let’s the computer do its job, and organise. Why use a computer to do genealogy if you don’t use it? Read the full article …

Small Museums Look to Make Big Impact
What do small societies and organisations do when there is no funding? Some might close up, but some are bucking the trend and making it work for them. While the organisation is no doubt primarily reliant on volunteers, there are always some costs. So how do you cover those costs? This articles is a must read for anyone involved in small to medium sized organisations (and not just genealogy or history related ones either). The concepts used here would work in any situation. Read the full article …

O is for Ownership: Do You Own Your Family Tree
Janet Few is the author of this post, and she has taken up a topic that was introduced by Dick Eastman on “Genealogical Privacy”. Unfortunately the link to his original post isn’t working since he’s changed his blog URL, but essentially it relates to people who say “I won’t put my genealogy information online because I am afraid someone might steal it.” While the information was gained from public sources. Or “I sent my genealogy information to person X, and now it is published all over the Internet! How can I stop that?” Many genealogists think the information they collect becomes private for some reason and that no one else has a right to view the info. Read what Janet has to say about this topic. Read the full article …

It’s the Little Things: Family Heirlooms are Family History
Lisa Louise Cooke, producer and host of the Genealogy Gems Podcasts, shares with us the joy of rediscovering a family heirloom, and how she has given it a new lease of life by using it in an unconventional way. Read the full article …

Not Your Grandma’s Genealogy Anymore
Ever heard of a Youth Family History Group? You probably haven’t. But it is a thing that is happening with young people (teens) getting involved in genealogy, and wanting to mix with others their own age. So what’s the trick to get high school students involved in genealogy? It seems it’s peer-to-peer advertising. Read the full article …

The Five Ws
This one is a good reminder that our digital files need to be named appropriately, or else we – as well as anyone else – will never be able to use them effectively., or even find anything! Read the full article …

What has Demography Got to Do With it?
Helen Osborn takes on the topic of Demographers and how they are invaluable to genealogy. Putting it simply without them we would never have been a census. <gasp> yes, exactly. Invaluable! Read the full article …

The RootsTech Stake Fair Effect and Other Influences on Genealogy Conferences
James Tanner is a big name in the genealogy industry. As such he travels a lot, a goes to a lot of genealogy conferences, and he’s noticing that while the BIG genie conferences such as RootsTech, are doing well, the smaller local conference are seeing a decline in attendees together with less sponsorship – making them ultimately unviable. And he raises the question about the RootsTech Stake effect. Have a read, and see what your thoughts are. Read the full article …

Plagiarism Is Not Flattery – What To Do When It Happens To You
This post is written by Richard from the “Worms in the Fridge” blog, and while It’s not specifically genealogy-related, it is useful for anyone who blogs, or has a website. Because it’s all about plagarisim, and sploggers (yes, that’s a legit word). And also what to do if someone does plagarize your work, which unfortunately has happened to a number of genealogy bloggers that I know. Read the full article …

Cyndi’s List: Browse Categories vs Search Engine
Do you use Cyndi’s List? If so are you a searcher or browser? Cyndi was asking users this question to help her understand how people actually use her site. If you search in preference to browse, do you know that you might be overlooking a whole heap of relevant sites? Cyndi says more about it in her post. Read the full article …

Is There Room for Blogging in a YouTube World?
Many of you will head heard of Dear Mytle. She’s one of the big US names in the genealogy world. I have been following her through her blog and other social media avenues now for several years. More recently she’s taken to “vlogging” (video blogging) as her new medium. But she asks the question of traditional blogs vs vlogs? And do both have a place? Read the full article …