It is Follow Friday! This is a blogging meme in which authors recommend other blogs, websites, repositories, or anything else. In keeping with the theme of this blog, I will spotlight different resources for professional and aspiring professional genealogists each week: not only genealogy-related, but also others of interest.
Two weeks ago, I posted “The Genealogy Paradigm Shift: Are bloggers the new ‘experts’?” A valuable discussion has occurred both in the comments on that post–which I would recommend that everyone read–and in posts on other blogs. To say the least, not everyone agreed with my observations, and in fact some people read more into the post than I intended, even somehow coming away with an impression that I disapproved of or somehow blamed the online community that I have spent literally hundreds of unpaid hours working to support and help develop.
This Follow Friday, I would like to point folks to some of these other posts. Almost all of them do provide a constructive discussion of the subjects that I broached:
- Russ Worthington, “Are bloggers the new ‘experts’?,” A Worthington Weblog blog, posted 16 December 2011 (http://worthy2be.wordpress.com : accessed 30 Dec 2011).
- Marian Pierre-Louis, “Are Bloggers Really the New Experts?,” Marian’s Roots & Rambles blog, posted 20 December 2011 (http://rootsandrambles.blogspot.com : accessed 30 Dec 2011).
- Marian Pierre-Louis, “Are Bloggers Really the New Experts Part 2,” Marian’s Roots & Rambles blog, posted 20 December 2011 (http://rootsandrambles.blogspot.com : accessed 30 Dec 2011).
- Elyse Doerflinger, “Are Bloggers Leading the Genealogy Community?,” Elyse’s Genealogy Blog, posted 20 December 2011 (http://elysesgenealogyblog.com : accessed 30 Dec 2011).
- Jennifer Holik-Urban, “My Thoughts on Genealogy Societies & Blogs,” Generations blog, posted 20 December 2011 (http://www.generationsbiz.com : accessed 30 Dec 2011).
- Thomas Macentee, “Open Thread Thursday: Defining the Genealogy Community,” Geneabloggers blog, posted 22 December 2011 (http://www.geneabloggers.com : accessed 30 Dec 2011).
- Marian Pierre-Louis, “Genre and Genealogy,” Marian’s Roots & Rambles blog, posted 27 December 2011 (http://rootsandrambles.blogspot.com : accessed 30 Dec 2011).
- Sierra Pope, “New Year’s Resolution – Research Log,” Up in the Tree blog, posted 31 December 2011 (http://upinthetree.blogspot.com : accessed 1 Jan 2011). [Added 1 Jan 2011 – MH]
- Christy Fillerup, “Societies, Communities, and Gatekeepers, oh my!,” Living Ancestors blog, posted on 26 December 2011 (http://livingancestors.blogspot.com : accessed 30 Dec 2011).
In this post, she promises a few blog posts specifically addressing different topics I had discussed. The first of these posts is “What have you done for me lately?” and discusses genealogical societies. She captures a major concern from the point of view of societies. I recommend that all members of the online community read this post and those that will surely follow.
Happy New Year!
Planting the Seeds 
Michael
I want to personally thank you for all your contributions to the online genealogy community during 2011 – you should be recognized for adding to the conversation and helping to move ideas forward. Although we don’t need to always agree, I feel we do need to keep the channels open and the dialog going.
Here’s to 2012 and I know I can look forward to more great content on your blog!
Thomas –
Let me return the gratitude. I think that, without your contributions, we would be discussing a very different “online genealogy community.”
Have a wonderful New Year!
Thank you, Michael. I’ll add my voice to both comments before mine; thank you both for all of your contributions to genealogy in 2011.
Christy – still waiting on the next blog post!!
Ack! I know. I may have bitten off more than I can chew while putting SLIG together . . . but this week, I promise! Thank you for the encouragement.
Finally . . . http://livingancestors.blogspot.com/2012/01/why-we-need-american-society-of.html