Well, we find ourselves among some august company indeed! The folks over at the MyHeritage.com blog have selected their top 100 genealogy blogs, and we are on the list! And all the same day I got some good Smart Matches too!
Check out the list at the link above.
By the way, Daniel Horowitz of MyHeritage.com is coming to this year’s Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree. Another good reason to be there in Burbank!
George Geder, Pat Salt, Elizabeth Saunders, and Deborah Andrew have each honored me with the “Ancestor Approved.” My backlog has kept me from ackinowledging them sooner. The terms are that the recipient must list ten things I have learned about any of my ancestors that has surprised, humbled, or enlightened me and pass the award along to ten other bloggers who you feel are doing their ancestors proud. Well, here are ten things:
1. SURPRISE! My maternal family is connected to the Clarke family of New Jersey Revolutionary times.
2. SURPRISE! My father appaers to be a direct descendant of the Birdsong family, originally from Virginia, but very prominent in antebellum Georgia.
3. SURPRISE! My father’s uncle, Elias Bowie, was the first African-American to participate in a NASCAR event (1955).
4. HUMBLED: Despite a life in the bondage of slavery, my second great-grandfather, William Sanford, survived to the age of 106. In 1854, according family lore, his masters moved from Tennessee to Texas. William walked the entire way, pushing a wheelbarrow in which rode the sons of the master.
5. HUMBLED: My second great grandfather, Ezekiel Johnson, escaped from slavery at age 17, and immediately enlisted in the Union Army.
6. HUJMBLED: By all the achievements of my ancestors!
7 . ENLIGHTENED: By the realization that my family is like many other American families with a variety of races and ethnicities in our family tree.
8. ENLIGHTENED: To learn that human relationships are a lot more complicated than they seem on the surface–and that’s been true for many generations.
9. ENLIGHTENED: To fully understand that where I am has been determined by where they were.
10. SURPRISED, ENLIGHTENED, & HUMBLED: To comprehend that all my ancestors, African, Scots, English, French, and Native American, were all the hardiest of their cohorts and ready to take enormous risks for the sake of future generations.
Please visit the blogs of my nominators:
George Geder: http://gedergenealogy.com
Elizabeth Saunders: http://elizabethsaunders.blogspot.com/
Pat Salt: http://www.genealogygals.com/blog
Deborah Andrew: http://debsresearch.blogspot.com/
Now for more recipients. I just chosen five, since during my recuperation. I haven’t kept up with as many as usal. Please visit these interesting folks:
Each time I find myself flat on my face,
I pick myself up and get back in the race.
(That’s Life, lyrics copyright by Dean Kay and Kelly Gordon)
I continue to gradually emerge into the world as my recuperation from back surgery progresses. It’s been difficult not to have had the time to write. I will have, however, an article in the upcoming April edition of shades the magazine. And there are some original posts here on their way.
But even worse, I haven’t had time to read a number of blogs that I usually keep up with. So I felt like I’ve been on the wrong side of the universe. I’m making my way back, however.
There’s been a lot of news that we’ve not reported on and so the next several posts are devoted to catching up with the news.
It was an honor just to have been nominated! Really.
Family Tree Magazine has announced its list of Top 40 genealogy blogs. And a well-deserving lot they are! Most have been in my reader for a long time. But one thing striking about the list is that there are a number o f relatively new bloggers on it. This is a good and positive sign for the genealogy community as a whole. Congratulations to all who were named!
While GeneaBlogie didn’t make the cut, I was pleased that Shades of the Departed did make the list. I have been a Weekend Shades contributor as well as a columnist for the monthly Shades magazine. Congratulations to Shades’ Maven-in-chief and all my colleagues at Shades!
Here’s the whole list. I heartily endorse them all. See MaureenTaylor’s piece about the list.
All-Around
Cemetery
Corporate
Genetic Genealogy
Heritage
How-To
Local & Regional
News & Resources
Photos & Heirlooms
Personal & Family
. . . Randy Seaver of Gena-Musings and Katie O’Hara of You Are Where You Came From, both of whom presented me with the Kreativ Blogger award in the past week!
The rules are that a recipient must reveal seven thing about oneself and then pass the ward on to seven other deserving bloggers. So seven things about me that you don’t know:
1. I was a registered lobbyist in New Mexico at age 14–advocating for the 18 year old voting law.
2. My favorite film is Fargo.
3. In my working life of 35 years or so, I’ve had more women bosses than male ones.
4. I was born in a hospital equidistant between the Missouri state Capitol and the Missouri State Penitiary [so I'm told--I don't remember!]
5. I have flown a jet plane around Pikes Peak.
6. I have two dogs [which surprises even me! Never in my wildest dreams. . . . I was always a cat person].
7. I have two cats!
So there you go! Now to pass the award on: my philosophy about this is not to duplicate awards if possible, and to use the awards as a way to spotlight interesting writers. This is harder than you might think, because there are so many good ones out there. With that in mind, I give the Kreativ Blogger award to:
1. The Missouri State Genealogical Association Messenger, eidted by Tom Pearson.
2. Be Not Forgot published by Vicki Everhardt
3. 100 Years in America by Lisa
4. Granny’s Genealogy written by Pam Warren
5. Elyse ‘s Genealogy Blog by Elyse Doerflinger
6. The Itawamba History Review: The Itawamba Historical Society, edited by Bob Franks
7. Before My Time, by TK Sand
Genea-bloggers who say anything positive about genealogical products from now on may required to disclose any “material connection” between themselves and the distributor of the product.
The Federal Trade Commission today adopted what it refers to as new “Guides” on endorsements and testimonials in advertising. The Commission’s 81-page document represents the first time in nearly 30 years that the Guides have been revised.
One of the most important aspects of the new Guides affects product endorsements in blogging and social media. The Guides contain a section titled “Consumer Endorsements,” and a section called “Disclosure of Material Connections.” The “material connections”‘ provision states:
When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product that
might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement (i.e., the connection is not
reasonably expected by the audience), such connection must be fully disclosed.
The FTC gives the following example:
Example 7: A college student who has earned a reputation as a video game expert
maintains a personal weblog or “blog” where he posts entries about his gaming
experiences. Readers of his blog frequently seek his opinions about video game
hardware and software. As it has done in the past, the manufacturer of a newly released
video game system sends the student a free copy of the system and asks him to write
about it on his blog. He tests the new gaming system and writes a favorable review.
Because his review is disseminated via a form of consumer-generated media in which his
relationship to the advertiser is not inherently obvious, readers are unlikely to know that
he has received the video game system free of charge in exchange for his review of the
product, and given the value of the video game system, this fact likely would materially
affect the credibility they attach to his endorsement. Accordingly, the blogger should
clearly and conspicuously disclose that he received the gaming system free of charge.
While I’m certainly sensitive about the ethical problems that may arise in these situations, I must say that I was generally not impressed on first take at the final Guides issued today. Overall, they seem to proceed on the notion that consumers are easily duped and are generally rubes at the mercy of advertisers. The Guides seem especially insulting to users of “new media” who are in fact are not unsophisticated babes-in-the-woods. But as I said, that’s just my first take on the document which I just received.
I and my administrative law students will study it over the next few days, and I’ll report back. By the way, if I “endorse” the Guides, will I have to disclose that I got a copy free of charge from the FTC itself?
Voting Opens in Family Tree Magazine’s 40 Best Genealogy Blogs–We’re on the Ballot!
Family Tree Magazine’s “40 Best Genealogy Blogs” feature opened its polls today at the Genealogy Insider blog. About 130 blogs are nominated in 10 categories:
- All-around
- Personal/Family
- Local/Regional
- Cemetery
- Photos/Heirlooms
- Heritage
- News/Resources
- \How-to
- Genealogy Companies
- Genetic Genealogy
GeneaBlogie was nominated in the All-Around category. Many Thanks to all those who helped make this happen!
The ballot includes most of my very favorite writers. There are some very obvious choices in some categories, but all are top quality. I won’t be expressing any preferences (except GeneaBlogie, Shades of the Departed, and the California Genealogical Society blog–they’re all in different categories) until the next round.
Voting is open at FamilyTreeMagazine.com, from today through November 5. You are allowed to vote for more than one blog in each category. You may vote more than once. As they say in Chicago: Vote early and often! The top 80 blogs will go through a final round and the top 40 will be announced in the May 2010 issue of Family Tree Magazine.
Thanks to all for the kind words on our Blgoiversary! The feeling is mutual, I assure you.
You know, every day some body starts a genealogy blog that will be interesting and appealing. And then there are thsoe would like to, but don’t know how or whether they should. A great resource is the GeneaBloggers site, created by Thomas MacEntee, along with the GeneaBloggers page on FaceBook.
And speaking of which, Thomas will be speaking on blogging issues at the California Genealogical Society & Library on Saturday October 10th. I’ll be joining him fr the last part of the program to talk about Blogging and the Law.
I hope you can make it if you’re in Northern California. That’s Saturday, October 12, starting at 1:00 pm at the CGSL, 2201 Broadway at 22nd, Suite LL2, Oakland, CA 94612-3031.
I started this blog five years ago yesterday. How nice of everyone to take the day off in honor!
I really had no idea what I was getting into at the time. I conceived of it as a place to update research, tell some family stories, report relevant genealogical news,and set out some opinions and philosophies. And I hope I’ve done that.
Some great people and terrific experiences have come my way as a result of this blog. I found cousins I didn’t now I had, reconnected with friends I hadn’t heard from in years, and made many new friends. I’ve learned a lot about genealogy and I have had the chance to ponder the role of technology in our lives. I’ve seen the blogosphere expand at an astounding rate and mainly for the better.
I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with other researchers on issues of common interest. And to dispel a misconception about the alleged insularity of the genea-blogging community, I have many regular readers who are not bloggers and some who are not that interested in doing family research themselves. Some come for a story or a bit of info about a hometown. All are welcome here.
It’s all been great fun for me. As longtime readers know, I’m an old radio guy (i.e., an old guy who used to be in radio). My first radio mentor nearly rorty years ago told me to speak to the audience as if it consisted of only one person. That was good advice then and I’ve tried that approach with the blog.
Sometimes, like on the radio, the blog misses the mark. Or I think it does. Other times , it hits exactly the right chord. For example, in hindsight, I thought the series on Paul Harvey was overbaked and even beyond the scope of what I usually do. The Walter Cronkhite piece on the other hand seemed to reflect the collective memories of my generation.
From a genealogical vantage, my favorites have been the discovery of my Birdsong relatives starting with the piece She’s Spanish, published on September 17, 2005, and continuing over several months; and The Greatest Genealogical Find Ever; and The Wrong Longs and The Right Longs.
Naturally I like doing the bits on the law: copyright, privacy and so on.
Pieces that I enjoyed writing the most were the three-part series Art, Science & Serendipity [the story of a week's visit from my parents to my then-home in Virginia] and the Revealing Heroes series about Medal of Honor winners.
On the side of whimsy, I loved doing the “Delta” series that began with Another Sleepy Dusty Delta Day in June, 2007.
I completely enjoyed our 2007 Research Trip [starting here ] and the French Negroes series, which now has become a major academic research study.
Come to think of it, I like it all! Most of all, I like the fact that I’m part of a community that takes pride in its work and enjoys what is does. That would not be possible without you–reader, colleague, commenter, occasional visitor who got a one-time chuckle or smile from something–thank you, merci, gracias, vehlen dank!
So on this anniversary, look forward to more to come because Resistance is Futile!
Two of the leading members of the genealogy community and genealogy media, Drew Smith and George G. Morgan, are “The Genealogy Guys.” They have a podcast which this week features Janet Horvorka, the “Chart Chick,” and moi. These guys do great work and they turn up just about everywhere genealogical news is to be found.
Our interview was done at the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree in June. I also met Janet Horvorka for the first time at that conference, though I have long admired her work, exemplars of which you can see at this link.
Check out The Genealogy Guys Podcast today and make it a regular habit!
GeneaBlogie