Logan Family History Expo - 9 May 2009
Using a Blog to Write About Family History
A blog is a fun, easy-to-use way to share family history. Whether you want to use it as an online journal, document your family history research, share your ancestor’s stories with your family or record your own thoughts, just open it up and start to write.
What is a Blog?
Short for Web Log, its basic components are:
- short, informational posts
- usually shown in reverse chronological order
- date and/or time each post is made
- links to other blogs or web sites
- archives of all previously posted entries
- photos, charts, links, videos, etc. to illustrate your posts.
Where Do You Start?
Establish Your Purpose - A family history blog can be used for many reasons:
- to tell family stories
- to document your research steps
- to share your findings
- to collaborate with family members
- to display photos
- to coordinate activities
- to promote interaction
- to share tasks
- Blogger - http://www.blogger.com/start (Google)
- LiveJournal - http://www.livejournal.com/
- WordPress - http://wordpress.com/
- Select a template - most blog services offer some pre-designed templates, so you just choose the one you like.
- Categories – To organize your blog more effectively, select some standard categories. Depending on the purpose of your blog, you may choose to categorize by surname, by locality, by record type (census, cemetery, deaths, etc), or by topics (memories, events, hobbies, etc.). You can add more as you go, but be consistent.
- Authors/readers- Will the blog be private, limited access or public? Will you be the only one who posts, or will it be a collaborative effort?
- Comments – Do you want others to be able to post comments about your information?
Publicize Your Blog – You may want to keep your blog private to begin with, as you experiment with options and posts. When you’re ready to share it, just send an email to friends and family to let them know about your blog. (On Blogger, you do this by selecting Customize > Settings > Permissions > Add Readers [or Add Authors if you want them to be able to add content]. If you want to make your blog public, under Blog Readers, click “Anybody” instead of “Only these readers”.)
Keep Posting - You do not have to post every day, but you do need to post often to keep people following it. Be creative. Not only does it keep others interested, it makes it more fun for you. Include pictures whenever you can. Think about what will interest or help your intended readers. The interactive, ongoing nature of a blog is great for genealogists - it keeps you thinking about, searching for and sharing your family history!
Change Templates - Blog building sites have several free templates to get you started and you can change templates whenever you want, however, do this BEFORE spending a lot of time changing fonts & colors, because it will all be reset to the defaults of the new template.
Customizing your Blog
- Blog List - Show off a list of blogs you follow making it easy to access them for yourself as well as your readers.
- Slideshow - Add a slideshow of your photos. (Photos must be uploaded first to Picasa, Photobucket, Flicker, etc.
- Subscription Links – If your blog is public, this will allow your readers to easily subscribe to your blog with popular feed readers
- Poll - Survey your visitors by adding a poll to your blog.
- List - Add a list of your favorite books, movies, etc.
- Link List - Add a list of links to your favorite websites.
- Picture - Add a picture from your computer or from a web site.
- Feed - Add content from an RSS feed to your blog.
- Labels - Show all the labels of posts in your blog so others can navigate your site quickly and easily find what they are interested in.
- Newsreel - Add current headlines from Google.
- Video Bar - Display clips from YouTube and Google Video for your readers to watch without leaving the page.
- Profile - Display information about yourself.
- Blog Archive - Display links to your older posts.
- Page Header - Customize your Blog's title and description.
Change Fonts & Colors – Templates have pre-defined fonts and colors, but you can get new fonts at http://www.freefonts.com There are instructions for changing fonts in the html code: http://sjhblogdesign.blogspot.com/2008/06/i-am-always-getting-asked-question-how.html
Create you own background - Perhaps you want a background other than the available templates. You can create your own and insert it by editing the HTML code. This is a great site for step-by-step instructions so even the novice can create their own unique background and add it to their site: http://sjhblogdesign.blogspot.com/
Try some of the following ideas on your genealogy blog. For even more ideas, go to: http://wetree.blogspot.com/2009/01/jump-start-your-genealogy-blog-52-ideas.html
- Select an experience from the life of an ancestor. Include a picture of the person and/or event.
- Describe a humorous (spiritual, unusual, etc.) event from the life of a family member. Include a picture of the person and/or event.
- Include of a list of upcoming events important to the family (birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, ordinations, programs, advancements, etc.)
- Use a blog (private) for a journal or as a way to write your personal history, one event or experience at a time. Check out the “lists” on this blog (see blog index) to get you started on your history. (Blurb.com offers software – BookSmart – that will import your blog and allow you to edit, then print in book format.)
- Record your research notes, goals and/or sources.
- Upload your favorite picture and talk about it on your blog. Answer the who/what/when/where/why of the subject matter and explain why it is your favorite.
- Take a genealogy day trip and blog about it. Discover the local history and genealogy in your area. Take a trip to a cemetery or other historic location. Describe the day, what you learned, where you went, how it looked, how it sounded. Armchair genealogists will love the mini travelogue.
- Share your holiday traditions. How did you spend the 4th of July? Did the fire truck ever come to your house on Thanksgiving? Share your memories of all holidays, not just the December ones.
- Use your blog to break down a brick wall. Posting a name may ring a bell with a reader. Maybe you’ll make a connection in 5 minutes. Maybe it will take 2 years. Either way, asking for help is the first step to knocking down that wall.
- Talk about the different types of technology you use in your genealogy research. Whether it’s a new search engine, a special application, or anything else “2.0,” let readers know what you’re working with, and how it’s working for you.
- List some vital signs. Talk about specific birth, marriage and death certificates. Topics may include misspelled names, fudged dates, other anomalies that stand out in your records.
- Write down your genealogy goals. Then you can look back and see what you’ve accomplished.
- Make a research task list. Posting these items will help you get your tasks done, and may encourage readers to do the same.
- Showcase a favorite blog or blogger.
- Talk about military battles and your ancestors’ connections to them.
- Talk about historical events and your ancestors’ connections to them.
- Talk about natural disasters and your ancestors’ connections to them.
- Talk about any unusual occupations your ancestors had.
- Share a newspaper article about an ancestor on your blog.
- Create a family history quiz, poll, survey, etc. There are several websites that help you create your own quizzes such as http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/
- Down
- The Geneaholic – http://www.geneaholic.com/
- Apple's Tree - http://appledoesntfallfar2.blogspot.com/
- Before My Time - http://krentz.blogspot.com/
- Diggin Up Dirt – http://catrackgraphics.spaces.live.com/
- Tippy Toes and Tantrums - http://tippytoesandtantrums.typepad.com/
- Hayes & Green Family History - http://hayesgreene.wordpress.com/
- Lorelle's Family History Blog - http://www.cameraontheroad.com/family/
- The Oracle of OMcHodoy - http://omchodoy.blogspot.com/
- Taneya’s Genealogy Blog - http://www.taneya-kalonji.com/genblog/
- Tracking Thomas and more - http://family-ancestors.blogspot.com/
- In My Life - http://anaharcockermom.blogspot.com/
- Wearing Grandpa's Hat - http://www.paulabecker.com/genblog/
- Starting a Blog - Reviews, Tutorials and More, by Susan Gunelius, About.com Guide to Web Logs - http://weblogs.about.com/od/startingablog/u/StartingABlog.htm
