The first step that they talked about was collecting oral histories. The most important thing to do is to just get started. Do it in small bits, don't overwhelm the person with lots of questions - this isn't the Spanish Inquisition. Make it enjoyable for them and let them share their memories. Ask questions that elicit feeling and follow up with questions to bring out the details. Avoid yes/no questions and questions that can be answered with one word.
They also discussed tools to make writing easier. Look for tools that enable idea banking, brainstorming, mind mapping, or timeline development. Idea banking is collecting your ideas as you have them. This is like a series of post-it notes that act as reminders of your ideas later on. Brainstorming should be a spontaneous thing. Write down ideas and follow that train of thought without taking the time to edit. Mind mapping is a visual representation of your thoughts showing interconnections and relationships of ideas by connecting them with lines. You start with your main idea and begin to build branches with related ideas. Timelines allow you to organize your ideas in a chronological order so you can see where gaps may exits that need to be followed up. Each of these processes can help you organize your thoughts. Some examples of tools they discussed include WiseMapping, MindMeister, MindMup, Coggle, and Scapple. There are also several timeline applications that can help you organize your ideas. These include Twile, the Timeline on FamilySearch, and OurTimelines. The OurTimelines webpage provides historical context and events. You can also make your own timelines with Preceden and Aeon:Timeline2.
Once you get your ideas together you need to organize them. They suggested using Trello and Scrivener to help organize. Scrivener helps organize your ideas, maintains versioning of the documents, collects research notes and the report all in one dashboard, and links to other applications including Aeon Timeline and Scapple.
Now you can start writing. They suggested Blurb Book Wright and Kindle Create since they format the pages into print styles for books. Once you start writing you may need help editing your stories. Websites such as Grammarly, Pro Writing Aid, Ginger Software, and Hemmingway Editor can help you with this process. Some of these are apps which integrate into your Chrome browser and check your writing as you do it. You also need to keep on task by creating to do lists. ToDoIst is one way to do this.
Now that you have laid out the pages and created the stories you are ready for printing. Printing your stories can be done at home on your own printer, at an office supply store, or at a printer. You can also print it online at sites such as Lulu or Amazon Prints. So, what are you waiting for? Just start and see where the story goes.
The second class this morning was Family History Activities in Minutes. The activities in this class focused on the FamilyTree and Memories apps from FamilySearch. These apps have a variety of activities that can be done in 5 to 10 minutes. The FamilyTree app has a menu item "Family History Activities" with a variety of interactive activities based on the information for your ancestors in the Family Tree. One activity, Picture My Heritage, provides an ethnic breakdown based on your tree and allows you to take a selfie with the clothes of your country of choice. You can also create a fan chart of your family from the pedigree view on your phone. Go to settings and turn on the Fan Chart function. Once you see the fan chart go to the bottom of the page and click on the green slider bar button to change the way the fan chart looks. Another activity is Relatives Around Me. This can be found under the pull down menu. It searches for others who have the app turned on and lists their relationship to you based on the FamilyTree. These apps can help introduce family history in a fun way that is not intimidating.The rest of the day was spent in the Expo Hall talking to the various vendors. I hope to have a series of blogs in the next couple weeks discussing the companies that I talked to. Many of them have some extraordinary ideas that could change the way we look at family history.
Now that RootsTech is over for another year (unless you're going to London on November 5-6) I will be trying out the new ideas that I have learned. Many of the ideas are fun while others are more technical or business related. That is what is so great about RootsTech, there are classes for everyone of all experience levels and interests. If you are interested in attending future RootsTech events remember that the 2021 conference is scheduled for February 3-6, 2021 in Salt Lake City. Begin making your plans now.
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