Tag Archives: What Is Geneabloggers?

Blogiversaries

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blogiversary

A reminder to all members of GeneaBloggers: in order for your blogiversary (the anniversary of when you started your genealogy blog) to be listed here at GeneaBloggers, you need to submit the following information using the Contact Form on the GeneaBloggers site:

  • The name of your blog
  • The URL of your blog
  • The date when your blog started

Once I receive this information, your blogiversary will be entered into the various GeneaBloggers Calendars (see below).  In addition, on the day of your blogiversary I will mention you and your blog (with a link back to your blog) via Facebook, Twitter and Google+ via my social media network.

This is the only reasonable way for me to keep tabs on blogiversaries – you and your blog deserve the recognition but it won’t happen unless I have the information.

©2012, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Thank You for Your Donations to GeneaBloggers!

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I want to thank all those who’ve donated to the upkeep and maintenance of the GeneaBloggers site this year.  With your continued financial support  -as well as your comments, your guest posts and your support of the GeneaBloggers concept on social media – we’ve been able to accomplish amazing things in 2011!

For those of you who are interested, there is a Donate button here at GeneaBloggers based on feedback from members of GeneaBloggers. Donations are now accepted via PayPal and will help defray the expenses incurred in running this resource for the genealogy community for 2012 and beyond.

Most readers know that I try to be as transparent as possible when it comes to money and how I earn my income in the genealogy industry. As I’ve always said, I don’t want to make a killing, I just want to make a living. I don’t expect donations to be an ongoing revenue stream but every little bit helps maintain this site.

As I stated in a post earlier this year:

It continues to be an honor to work with the genealogy blogging community and sometimes I step back and am amazed at not just the quantity and the quality of the content produced by our bloggers on a daily basis, but at how our role has grown in the genealogy community.

Please continue to send me your feedback, your comments and, yes, even your gripes and complaints. This is your community. I am merely someone who tries to make sense of it each day and present it to the world in a format which can be fully appreciated, fully understood and fully utilized.

Thank you.

©2011, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Occupy Genealogy

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With a variety of Occupy protests taking place here in the United States and worldwide, I’ve watched the nightly news, read the online news sites and generally have kept tabs on both the issues and theatrics involved.

My intent is not to offer my opinion of the Occupy movement but to ponder the concept of an Occupy Genealogy movement. Seem silly?  Not really if you’ve followed recent changes in the genealogy community over the past few years.

But is there an Occupy Genealogy movement and, in fact, is one really needed? There is, and there isn’t and here’s why an Occupy Genealogy movement is nothing like the current ongoing protests:

  • Changes have been taking place in the genealogy industry during the past five plus years but without much noisy protest or clamor. Sure, we’ve had our moments: push back of the social media and blogging concept, copyright issues, etc. But as I see it, much of the change came about through healthy discourse and dialog. No bullhorns, no signs, no tear gas.
  • Slowly the community sees the value in various initiatives such as webinars, social media, blogging, and education. And there is room for a variety of voices and opinions. Discourse and discussion is lively, sometimes heated, but almost always positive and productive. There will always be naysayers and those who think any change is negative. But like most of our ancestors, and despite our obsession of “looking back,” we are a forward-looking people.
  • Genealogists see a difference in “holding on to the past” and “researching the past.” We cling to our ancestors as a means of learning about their lives and ultimately, about our own. But, for the most part, we are open to new ways of doing so, new ways of finding what is old.
  • What does it mean to “occupy genealogy?” To me, it means that I am right there in the thick of it. I get involved whether it is on the local level with a genealogy society, or on the national level with discourse, blogging and discussion, or on the international level with projects like Genealogists for Families. I am not content with just “witnessing” genealogy, I want to participate. I don’t want to merely consume the resources of the genealogy community and run off to my own corner of the world and see what I could get. I want to fully occupy genealogy. And I want genealogy to occupy me.
  • And what occupies your genealogy? Are you taking full advantage of what the genealogy community has to offer? Conferences, social media, message forums, institutes, webinars, and all the other facets of our community?
  • Our ancestors occupied not just their communities, and their time periods, but they occupied a generation and a place in history. Those who didn’t participate fully are those barely noticed, those whose voices are difficult to hear.

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I’m not trying to be controversial with this post or the post title. My goal is to get readers thinking. Think about your current role in the genealogy community and whether you need to amplify your voice, your opinion and your activity. And consider the rewards of doing so.

Weigh in with your opinion and tell us how you occupy genealogy over at today’s Open Thread Thursday post.

Oh, and for a laugh, click here and see how GeneaBloggers has already been “occupied.”

©2011, copyright Thomas MacEntee