WeRelate -- genealogical social network

WeRelate is billed as the world's largest genealogical wiki. It is a cross between a wiki and social networking site with individual pages for ancestors rather than social networking "friends." It is a project developed by the Foundation for On-Line Genealogy, Inc. in partnership with the Allen County Public Library. Because it is a wiki, individuals can add and change information in real time, allowing relatives to collaborate on the details of their individual families. Individual pages can contain photos and scanned documents and can contain as much, or little information as may be available. Information can be added or changed at any time.

Because it is a wiki, WeRelate is responsive to change. Pages can be created indivdually or by uploading a GEDCOM file which will create a page for every individual in your file. There is an upper limit of 10 megabytes to the size of the file that can be uploaded. Pages can contain both text and graphic. Scanned images can also be annotated by putting notes on the image. Photo images can be tagged with the names of the individuals. Data can be viewed in pedigree format, and on a variety of maps and timelines through the Family Tree Explorer.

Individual pages can be put on a "watch list" so that the those on the watch list will be notified if any changes are made to an individual page. The wiki also contains research helps, including article, maps, place name pages, alternate name index and a source index. WeRelate claims to have the largest historical and current inhabited place name index with over 430,000 inhabited places. Users can also search over 1.2 million sources, including the Family History Library Catalog.

Each user can have a dashboard showing the people who are watching the same pages you are and allowing individuals to connect and communicate in the wiki without using their personal E-mail address.

The non-traditional interface takes some time to get used to, but this is a site worth exploring.

Live Roots

Live Roots went on the Web in October of 2008 released by Genealogy Today LLC. As described in their October 10, 2008 press release:

Live Roots extends beyond the typical bounds of a traditional search engine or link directory by facilitating access to offline records and publications through partnerships with amateur and professional researchers who either own copies or are geographically close to the libraries and archives that do. In a few quick steps, visitors will be able to hire a researcher to obtain digital copies (scanned or hi-res photo) of pages referencing a specific name (or surname).

A search on one of my family names showed some links to some very interesting resources, including some that I was already familiar with. In my particular search it appeared that most of the returns were links to commercial Web sites like Ancestry. com, but there were a few different kinds of sites referenced. This is definitely a site worth watching.

WorldCat focus on: genealogy

To quote from their promotional materials,

WorldCat is a cooperatively-created catalog of materials held in more than 7,600 libraries in the United States and the rest of the world, including public, academic, state and national libraries; archives; and historical societies. These libraries have cataloged their regular collections as well as many special collections—including digitized materials—devoted to local history. This makes WorldCat a unique tool for your research into your heritage.

Because WorldCat is a "super" catalog of more than 1 billion library holdings representing 54 million items held in libraries, you can reduce the number of places you search to locate useful material. WorldCat complements tools such as the LDS Family History Library, Ancestry.com and ProQuest's HeritageQuest™.

You can get access to WorldCat in two different ways, through a library offering FirstSearch service through on-site public access and through WorldCat.org on the Internet. See the publication "WorldCat for genealogy, A Tutorial." Depending on which part of the Web site you believe, the WorldCat has information on to up to 69,000 libraries world wide. WorldCat provides information about the library materials and where available, links to digitized versions of the materials.

As an example a search under the term "Nephi Utah" produced this document located in the Brigham Young University Library:

Greenhalgh, Sadie H. Chronology of Nephi Branch, 1851-1868; Nephi Stake of Zion, 1868-1877; Juab Stake of Zion, 1877-1974; Nephi Utah Stake, Jan. 20, 1974. 1982.

One amazing thing about WorldCat is that when you do find a book or other item, the Web site gives you the distance in miles to libraries holding the material arranged from the closest to the most distance.

WorldCat can also be featured on your Facebook and other social networking accounts. You can use this FaceBook connection to build your own list of favorite books and other links. This is one of the truely amazing programs on the Web and any serious researcher, in any discipline, including genealogy should be familiar with it.

Extensive list of family history Web sites

Professor Kip Sperry at Brigham Young University has compiled an extensive list of helpful Family History Internet Sites. Many of these sites contain specific information rather than general discussions of procedures. I have no feel for how up-to-date the list is or how often it is maintained, but it appears to be a good shorter reference list. Check it out.