genie on the go
Entering the
blogosphere
Genealogy blogs can be a wealth of information for family historians, as the immediacy of content is just an upload away. Jill Ball looks at the growth of blogs, and the best 50 to follow.
A
s a blog writer and reader I use blogs to share and learn about news, resources and events in Australia and overseas. I can publish anecdotes about my ancestors and read stories about fellow bloggers’ forebears. As a member of the geneablogging community (www.geneabloggers.com) I have forged relationships with people who share my passion for genealogy. Blogs allow me to connect with other genealogists on a daily basis. I do not feel as though I am working in a vacuum. Blogs are like diaries that one publishes on the internet using free software such as Blogger (www.blogger.com) or Wordpress (www. wordpress.com). The software uploads “posts” that appear in chronological order. The collaborative nature of blogs allows readers to add comments to individual blog posts thus initiating online
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conversations. Blogging provides an easy and efficient way for genealogists to share information online. The greatest percentage of genealogy blogs are written by individuals but there is also a huge collection published by societies, institutions and commercial organisations as vehicles for sharing news. I find it disappointing that more societies do not use blogs to communicate with their members and market their resources, events and services. Some blogs allow one to subscribe by email so that when a new post is published an email alert is sent to one’s mailbox. I subscribe to 301 genealogy blogs, which I read at my leisure. Sometimes, if I’m busy, I choose to ignore them. One cannot let one’s blog reading become a chore! With that in mind, here are my top 50 blogs every genealogist needs to follow. These are not in any ranked order, but are grouped by topic.