Talking About Genealogy Tools.

I guess we could say that today the greatest genealogy tool is the computer. It has provided access to more records and relatives than ever before. Like all things this is a blessing and a bummer sometimes. Learning how to use the computer is a non-ending experience. I learn new skills each time I want to accomplish some  new project. There is NO way that you can learn it all at once. The genealogy society that I belong to, Blue Hills Genealogical Society-Barron County, Inc. is relatively young (only 9 years old) and so we began without the old excuses of "but we've always done it this way...." No old habits or expectations. We also began with the VERY great good fortune of having some of our earliest members pretty darn proficient with a computer and as we continue to grow the size of our membership, we continue to pick up members with that knowledge and more.

Not all genealogy people are ONLY into their own research. Some like learning the history of an area, some like scrapbooking their family, some like to be involved in  preservation of their county materials, some like being with other people whatever their interests. Whatever it is, members will have a variety of goals so meeting them is the primary function of a society. Use of their computers, digital cameras and other new technology are some of the needs that come to mind.

We have found that most of us just simply do not know enough about our computers, so this past meeting, one of our very experienced computer guru's gave the monthly program called "Prescription for you PC" which covered the basic maintenance procedures that we should all be doing. It was great, he had power point presentation, with handouts and the members "ate it up".

Since our meetings are open to the public and advertised on local media, on our web site, in our newsletter and members reminded through our members only free mail list we do get the message out to the public.  But, we are now searching for a way that we can store and then make available to anyone, the handouts from our meetings. That way, even if someone is not a member or could not attend, but they see what our program was about a year ago, that they can go to a website or such and download and print the handout from a particular meeting. That does not of course provide the Q&A or discussion points, but it's better than nothing.

We still have not figured out which way is best to do this. Still talking about how to do it. But, it IS in our future.