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Outline for JGS of Canada Workshop – October 26, 2008 Print E-mail

Outline for JGS of Canada Workshop – October 26, 2008
prepared by: Neil Richler

PART 1 – INTERNET RESOURCES

1)    Introduction – what is and isn’t available online?
        a)    Example from National Archives (USA) http://www.archives.gov/research/

2)    Tools for Effective Online Research
         a)    Save as PDF – PDFCreator http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/
         b)    Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org
         c)    Google Maps http://maps.google.ca 
         d)    List of other free resources http://genealogy.about.com/od/research_tools/Genealogy_Research_Tools_Software_Forms_Maps_and_Calendars.htm

3)    Blogs / Newletters
         a)    Cyndi’s List http://www.cyndislist.com/
         b)    Eastman Online http://blog.eogn.com/
         c)    Tracing the Tribe http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/
         d)    Avotaynu / Nu? What’s New http://www.avotaynu.com/nu.htm
         e)    Genealogue http://www.genealogue.com/

4)    Online Databases
         a)    Ancestry.com – census records http://www.ancestry.com/
            i)    Spelling is often very different from what you expect it to be, for example Acker spelled as Aker, and names of family members very hard to read 
                  ii)    Other vital records from Canada
                 iii)    Ontario births/deaths/marriages
                 iv)    Quebec births/deaths/marriages

5)    WorldVitalRecords.com http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/

6)    Tools to Make Searching Easier
         a)    Stephen Morse http://www.stephenmorse.com/
         b)    Google http://www.google.com
                  i)    Search within other sites, for example:
                   richler site: http://www.multiculturalcanada.ca/ to search for ‘richler’ appearing in   the site www.multiculturalcanada.ca
                 ii)    Use + and – to include and exclude (ie +richler –mordecai)
                iii)    Use allintitle: to search only in title (allintitle: cohen genealogy)
               iv)    Put names in quotes, and can also use wildcard to catch middle names, ie “Michael J. Fox” or “Michael * Fox”
               v)    Tilde ~ character – can use for synonyms, for example ~Jewish will also return list of sites using words like Israel, Judaism or Hebrew
               vi)    Book: Google Your Family Tree: http://www.googleyourfamilytree.com/

7)    Multicultural Canada – Canadian Jewish Review http://multiculturalcanada.ca/mcc_cjr
          a)    Very useful information, but not a great search
          b)    When digitizing, the ease of search should be taken into account in the same way as the quality of the scans

8)    Finding Ship Records using a combination of sites
        a)    Ancestry.ca to find the record and Library and Archives Canada to get more information
        b)    Search by name on ancestry.ca
        c)    Once you have the date and name of the ship, use the Library and Archives Canada site to get more info on the sailing dates, and possibly more pages from the manifest. Site available at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/passenger/001045-130-e.html

9)    JewishGen http://www.jewishgen.org
        a)    Databases now searchable for free through Ancestry.com: http://landing.ancestry.com/jewishfamilyhistory/default.aspx
        b)    Family Finder
        c)    Family Tree of the Jewish People
        d)    Discussion Group Archives
        e)    JOWBR
        f)    Ellis Island through JewishGen
        g)    Others as requested by workshop participants
 
PART 2 – USING YOUR COMPUTER  

1)    Organizing the data the you find online
        a)    Directory structure
        b)    What type of file formats to use? PDF, JPG

2)    Digitizing data you already have
        a)    Pictures and documents
        b)    Videos
        c)    Audio
        d)    Viewing with programs like Picasa

3)    Backing up data
        a)    Online services such as Mozy www.mozy.com
        b)    External hard drive
        c)    A second computer
        d)    Another computer at another location
        e)    CD / DVD

4)    Genealogy software
        a)    Everything entered should have a source to back it up
        b)    Enter what you know and what you are told
                i)    Use resources found online or from other research to back up claims
               ii)    Online software like PHPGedview http://www.phpgedview.net/
              iii)    Used to be that you had to be computer savvy to figure out how to install the software on a web server
             iv)    Now with sites like http://www.pgvhosting.com/ you can pay $6 to $9 per month to have this hosted

5)    Sharing Information and finding family
        a)    Publishing your family tree online using Ancestry.com
        b)    Geni http://www.geni.com
        c)    Facebook to try to find relatives and let other relatives find you www.facebook.com
       d)    Making your own website or use online photo and other services to share documents and pictures, example www.richler.net/family/gomberg 
        e)    Privacy issues online – be careful what you share