Yesterday was the last day of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa’s 20th annual conference. As in previous years, the volunteers ran an excellent conference. The lectures were terrific, and I enjoyed browsing and shopping in the marketplace.
What I especially like about genealogy conferences is that I can spend time with people who like talking about our mutual passion for family history. It was great to meet old friends, make new ones, and to finally meet some of my online friends in person.
Yesterday morning I delivered a presentation about how Facebook can make us better genealogists. This rather addictive form of social networking brings together an enormous community of genealogists. It is like coming to a giant dinner table where some of us talk, some of us nod our heads, and others just listen to the conversation.
I admitted to the audience that I was not an early convert to Facebook. In fact, it took me almost two years before I realized it could help me with my family history research. Only when I joined and followed genealogy groups and pages did I learn how much Facebook can help genealogists.
Unfortunately, because of its length, I could not include Katherine R. Wilson’s 188-page document, Genealogical and Historical Groups/Pages on Facebook, in my handout. It contains more than 4,000 groups and pages, organized by country, state, province, and category. For Canada alone, there are more than 100 listings. Ms. Wilson updates her list on a regular basis and encourages us to share it. She only asks that we credit her. You can download her list here: Facebook list Sep 2014.
If you have not joined the Genealogy à la carte Facebook group (see banner below), you may do so here.
I really enjoyed your Facebook talk – it inspired me to browse in new places. Thank you!