One of the best ways to share the stories your research discovers is a blog. There are all kinds of blog platforms to choose from. One of the easiest and cheapest ways to get started is with Tumblr. It’s part blog, part social network and a lot of fun. The blog you see here is my “family scrapbook”. It’s full of clippings, photos, artwork, family treasures and stories.
In addition to creating your Tumblr blog, you can also connect with other Tumblr users. When you follow a person, company or other entity, their posts will appear in your timeline. The item you see here was posted in Florida Memory’s Tumblr and also appears in my timeline. The icons you see below the post (from left to right) let you share this item with others, leave a message with the user who posted this item, “reblog” this post to your Tumblr timeline, delete the post or add a caption.
Tumblr operates in your computer’s web browser and there are free mobile apps for phones and tablets. To learn how to get started, visit the Tumblr Help Center.
Journaling Your Research Notes
Have you ever considered using a journaling app for your research notes? DayOne offers a number of features that make it easy to capture, organize and find the notes you add to your DayOne journals.
Each note created with DayOne automatically includes the date, place and time it was created. You can also include hashtags – keywords describing the content of each note – by including a hash mark (#) immediately ahead of each keyword. For example – DayOne will automatically identify the #Barrett hashtag as a tag for that note. Then, when you want to find all the notes related to that hashtag, go to the Search box and enter the tag in the Search box. Yes, it’s that easy.
Another useful feature is the sharesheet. Tap the share icon at the top right side of the note you are writing. Use it to email this entry to someone, post it to social media or you blog. I’ve tried it with both WordPress and Tumblr and it works beautifully!
October isn’t far off . . . How can you share your family stories? Here are a few ideas:
Create your own family history blog – with lots of pictures
Build a family slide show using PowerPoint (Windows users) or Keynote (Mac users)
Pull out family scrapbooks or photograph albums
Final Notes
Each new post published at SAGS Support is automatically emailed to member subscribers and/or delivered to their newsreader. Research Notes is published every Monday morning and other articles are posted during the week. Subscribers have the option to control how often these updates are delivered. Look down at the bottom of this message and you will find a Manage Subscriptions link in the fine print as you see in this example. Click it and you will be taken to the WordPress.com Subscription Management page. Use the Delivery Frequency column to change your delivery options from “Immediate” to either “Daily” or “Weekly”.
Sample of the “fine print” at the bottom of each post.
Also down at the bottom of each delivered post is a Comment button. If you would like to comment on something discussed in a post or ask a question, just click the Comment button and you will be taken online to the comment section of the post where you can share your thoughts and read what others have shared.
To learn more, download a copy of the SAGS Support Guide.
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