2012 SHACKFORD GENEALOGY RESEARCH SUMMARY
In November 2012, I attended an excellent Internet Marketing and Social Media class at the local Coconino Community College Small Business Development Center. I planned to also take their class Website Design the next week but thanks to the great instructor and the Weebly tool, I was able to create the SHACKFORD Genealogy WEB site and a SHACKFORD Genealogy Facebook Page a week after the class. I wrote 10 blogs in 2012 adding to my research on 15 SHACKFORDs or SHACKFORD descendents while developing WEB building and blogging skills. I learned how to find photographs, check for copyright, and asked for and obtained permission to use materials from libraries across the country. I also signed up to automatically receive blogs from other genealogy researchers and began learning how to improve my research and writing skills. I found these three blogs most helpful. (My choices show that I'm focused on genealogy education.)
http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/ - A wealth of information about copyright laws, a topic critical for new genealogy family research bloggers. Judy G Russell also does a fantastic job of documenting the many references to each of her articles.
https://www.evidenceexplained.com/ Elizabeth Shown Mills, the author of the book Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace posted a monthly quick lessons on using reference sources. I've gotten through four of them and have included purchasing her book as a 2013 goal.
http://genealogyeducation.blogspot.com/ Angela Packer McGhie blogs about genealogy education including very comprehensive lists of courses, some of which are free.
I found the Flagstaff Arizona Family History Center and used their computers to access newspapers finding information for my SHACKFORD research. I discovered some of the limitations of only doing research only via the InterNET and started a list of future places to travel to add to my genealogy research. (It's fun to dream of travel and important to start a list of the exact places I'd need to visit to complete specific research.) Also in 2012 I reconnected to some SHACKFORD researchers that I had cooresponded with in 2000-2002 while I was stationed in Korea. I enjoyed sharing and receiving informaton that added to our overlapping research.
Many family researchers bloggers have posted their genealogy goals for the New Year and gave me incentive to develop mine.
JOANNE's 2013 SHACKFORD GENEALOGY GOALS
1) Decide what genealogy research study path to pursue by Feb 1, 2013 and if possible begin an academic study program by Mar 1, 2013 (some programs only start at certain times of year).
2) Attend at least three genealogy meetings and one genealogy conference in 2013.
3) Identify at least three more genealogy research sources in Coconino or Yavapai County. I have not yet explored the Pioneer Museum, the Northern Arizona University library, or the Sharlott Hall Museum.
4) Find at least three others interested in genealogy research in Flagstaff and see if they are interested in carpooling to genealogy meetings (closest groups are Sedona and Prescott, 1 1/2 hrs away).
5) Add to my genealogy library and use the books. This year I purchased Profesional Genealogy but haven't used it yet. My 2013 book list includes Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence Explained.
6) Post a SHACKFORD blog at least once a week including at least five blogs researching SHACKFORDs in my own genealogy line.
7) Learn how to transition my WEB page from Weebly.com to another tool, possibly Word Press and make the transition. While Weebly.com is easy to use, I want to source my research using footnotes and really need a built in spell checker.
8) Establish and follow a digital genealogy storage system using that system for all new research material.
9) Add at least five more reference sources to the SHACKFORD Genealogy WEB page
10) Back up computer files monthly! (One blogger I'm signed up with sends a reminder on the first day of each month but I need to make the time to be sure I back up my research)