The following recent blog posts are those that I consider important or notable. Unlike other similar blog lists, I cannot guarantee that they will all be from the past week. (Some weeks I simply do not have time to read any blogs.) But I will try to write this on a fairly regular basis.
Lucy Ferriss, “In Defense of Browsing,” Lingua Franca blog, posted 8 February 2012 (http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca : accessed 8 February 2012). Not a genealogy blog. Lucy Ferriss discusses why the loss of brick and mortar bookstores, in favor of the online alternatives, is detrimental to writers and bibliophiles.
Polly Kimmitt, CG, “Open-Mindedness and Compromise Not Dirty Words,” PollyBlog, posted 16 January 2012 (http://pk-pollyblog.blogspot.com : accessed 8 February 2012). In “The Genealogy Paradigm Shift” I discussed the technological changes in society that are also affecting the genealogical community. One example that I used was the closing of many local genealogical societies compared with the growth of online genealogy communities. In this post, Polly further explores this topic with grace, and discusses how genealogical societies and tech-savvy genealogists can work together to move into this new era.
Judy G. Russell, “SSDI Hearings: OUCH!,” The Legal Genealogist blog, posted 3 February 2012 (http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : accessed 8 February 2012). Judy watched the hearing of the Ways and Means Committee on the Social Security Death Master File (“Social Security Death Index”) and it did not look good. I agree!
Fred Moss, “RPAC launches ‘Stop Identity Theft NOW’ Petition,” Records Preservation and Access Committee blog, posted 7 February 2012 (http://www.fgs.org/rpac : accessed 8 February 2012). Rather than just complaining about the potential loss of the Social Security Death Master File, the RPAC–a joint committee of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, National Genealogical Society, and International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies–has introduced an alternative that continues access while limiting the potential for abuse. This post describes a petition on the White House website in support of this alternative.
Randy Seaver, “Answers to Questions from Ancestry.com,” Genea-Musings blog, posted 10 February 2012 (http://www.geneamusings.com : accessed 11 February 2012). Randy asked a representative from Ancestry.com some pertinent questions about how the site will develop over the next few years. The responses are enlightening.
Planting the Seeds 