2010 - The genealogy year in review

iPads, iPhones, MacBook Pro, FamilySearch.org, all sorts of things happened to me this past year to change how I do things as well as what I do. During the year, I had a slow but steady growth in the popularity of Genealogy's Star blog and that fueled a lot of changes. The year started off with the opportunity to be a Blogger of Honor at the Mesa, Arizona Family History Expo. That set the tone for the whole year of blogging and I got one of my first introductions to the Blogging community.

One of the most interesting events during the year was the first ever Blogger's Day at FamilySearch's heaquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. The contacts made at that meeting have developed during the rest of the year into a number of interesting projects. Some of which I will be able to share with my readers during the coming months. One of the projects we are now well involved in is transferring the huge resources of the Mesa Regional Family History Center to the FamilySearch Wiki. We set up a committee of interested volunteers and they have started to transfer the Center's library of Quick Start Helps and other materials to the Wiki.

I am really grateful for all of the help and contacts I have made with the FamilySearch folks. They have been more than helpful and considerate of some of my ideas.

During the year, I taught well over 200 classes from one attendee to hundreds. I will continue teaching in the coming year beginning on Monday, January 3, 2011 with three classes that day at the Mesa Family History Center. Probably some of the most satisfying experiences involved helping people breakthrough barriers and find information about family members. There were quite a few notable experiences during the year with some real success stories.

2010 seemed to be a year of technology with the introduction of the iPad and updates in most computer systems. I found dozens of new uses for my iPhone and my wife began using her iPad in ways that she never imagined. I finally switched completely back to using Apple computers with my acquisition of a new MacBook Pro and found it to be one of the best changes I have made in computers. I now have a machine I can actually use on the spur of the moment and is portable enough to use anywhere and anytime.

Online there were a lot of really interesting new developments. Some of the ones most notable include the implementation of the FamilySearch.org website and consolidation of resources. I am sure that 2010 will go down in history as the year FamilySearch increased its online presence with millions and millions of images of original documents. Although FamilySearch Indexing and the addition of the Historical Records Collection have been going on for some time, we really began to see the potential of this huge effort in 2010.

Well, I am starting off 2011 with a bang, being a Blogger of Honor again at the Mesa, Arizona Family History Expo, presenting two classes for the first time, being a featured Blogger at the RootsTech Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah in February, continuing my projects with FamilySearch and writing away at this Blog. Stay tuned for new developments.