14 May 2009, "Blogs, Wikis, and Flickr: Oh My!: Sharing and Collaborating on the Modern Web," NGS Family History Conference, Raleigh, NC, Syllabus

1. BLOGS, WIKIS, & FLICKR, OH MY!:
SHARING & COLLABORATING ON THE MODERN WEB
Jordan Jones
Jordan@GenealogyMedia.com
PO Box 90473, Raleigh, NC 27675-0473
Tel/Fax: 877-570-6873
For a revised version of this document and its accompanying presentation materials,
visit www.genealogymedia.com/talks/
WHAT IS THE MODERN WEB?
In the past few years, there has been an argument about whether or not we have left the early web and
gone to a modern web, whether or not we have progressed from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0.
In this context, Web 1.0 describes how the Web looked and worked from 1993 to 2003. Typically, a user
went to a website to read what the webmaster posted there. To the extent that a website in Web 1.0
invited input, it did so mainly for a user to share or post information, not to improve or augment
information posted by someone else. Web sites were not designed around collective volunteer efforts to
build the site or make it interesting based on what people were sharing.
The term “Web 2.0” gained currency at the first O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004. Web 2.0
marks a radical change in interactivity between users and websites. Genealogists have shared information
and research with one another using a number of Web 2.0 technologies, including:
• Folksonomies: collaborative tagging, classification, and indexing
• Syndication: aggregation and notification of data in RSS or Atom feeds
• Mashups: merging content from different sources, client- and server-side
• Blogs: light-weight collaborative publishing tools
• Wiki or forum software: to support user-generated content
Web 2.0 websites are multidirectional, collective, and collaborative. People contribute information and
build pages or databases collaboratively. The sites can then distribute the information using RSS (Real
Simple Syndication). Many sites are built around connecting people personally and professionally. Some
sites also allow people to mange at a very detailed level the openness or privacy of their information.
© 2009 Jordan Jones. Used by permission.

2. WIKIS
Wikis are collaborative websites that utilize technology developed by Ward Cunningham and named for
the Hawaiian pidgin work for quick (“wiki”). In addition to Wikipedia, there are also wikis designed
specifically for genealogical and biographical information. Some wikis important to genealogists include:
• CoNcE. www.conce.com
• FamilyPedia. http://genealogy.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
• Rodovid. www.rodovid.org
• WeRelate. www.werelate.org
• WikiTree. www.wikitree.org
• Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/
INTERACTIVE MAPPING
Using GoogleMaps, genealogists can create and share maps of sites of genealogical interest. Flickr and
other sites that create “mashups” with GoogleMaps allow genealogists to layer images (photographs, or
even scanned documents) over maps to see images in their geographical relationship.
• Flickr. www.flickr.com
• Google Maps. http://maps.google.com
• Google Earth. http://earth.google.com
BOOK LISTS
Many genealogists build large, specialized libraries. The social networking sites listed below can help
genealogists swap books or share lists of recommended or collected books.
• BookMooch. www.bookmooch.com
• LibraryThing. www.librarything.com
• Shelfari. www.shelfari.com
PRINT-ON-DEMAND BOOKS
In Web 2.0, print-on-demand has expanded the reach of small press-run publishing from the world of the
commercial publishers to that of anyone with something to share, even if only to a small audience.
• CafePress. www.cafepress.com
• Lulu. www.lulu.com
IMAGE & DOCUMENT SHARING
While Snapfish and Shutterfly both offer some online sharing of photos, their focus is on printing photos.
Flickr and Picasa provide advanced web sharing, collaboration, mashups, and folksonomies. While
Footnote is oriented toward presenting scanned documents — including some made available through an
innovative partnership with the National Archives — it also allows users to upload their own documents
and images as well as use folksonomic tagging.
© 2009 Jordan Jones. Used by permission.

3. • Flickr. www.flickr.com
• Footnote. www.footnote.com
• Picasa. http://picasa.google.com/
• Shutterfly. www.shutterfly.com
• Snapfish. www.snapfish.com
CONTACTS
Many social networking sites such as MySpace and Friendster can seem oriented toward a youth
audience. However, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Plaxo often have more professional users. LinkedIn helps
people (even genealogists) build networks of professional contacts. Plaxo helps keep addresses for your
contacts up-to-date. Increasingly, Facebook is used by family members to connect with one another.
Facebook and LinkedIn are often used by former classmates or business associates to find one another.
• Facebook. www.facebook.com
• LinkedIn. www.linkedin.com
• Plaxo. www.plaxo.com
LINK AND BLOG SHARING
It can be handy to share with other genealogists the blogs, links, or information you have found.
Additionally, you can use sites such as GoogleReader to gather together blog posts on any topic or
de.li.cio.us to gather together all your bookmarks, and these can be shared or stored for personal use.
• Digg. www.digg.com
• Delicious. www.delicious.com
• Reddit. www.reddit.com
• StumbleUpon. www.stumbleupon.com
• GoogleReader. www.google.com/reader/
• MyYahoo. http://my.yahoo.com/
• Bloglines. www.bloglines.com
VOICE, TEXT AND VIDEO CHAT AND VIDEO SHARING
Skype, allow for free computer-to-computer voice calls anywhere in the world and low-cost phone calls.
Vonage operates as your phone company and offers inexpensive phone calls over the Internet. Instant
messenger programs such as iChat and GoogleChat merge text “chats” with voice and streaming video.
Many genealogists use YouTube to share videos: interviews with family elders or from the family reunion.
Internet-based Roots Television has a channel called Rootstube, which allows genealogists to upload
video about genealogical research, methods, or findings.
• GoogleTalk. www.google.com/talk
• Apple iChat (part of OS X). http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/ichat.html
• AOL Instant Messenger. www.aim.com
• Yahoo! Instant Messenger. http://messenger.yahoo.com
• Meebo. http://www.meebo.com/
© 2009 Jordan Jones. Used by permission.

4. • Pidgin. www.pidgin.im
• Roots Television. www.rootstelevision.com
• Skype. www.skype.com
• Vonage. www.vonage.com
• YouTube. www.youtube.com
PRIVACY AND COPYRIGHT
It is important to consider issues of privacy and copyright while sharing and collaborating on the web.
You should read the privacy statements of websites you use as well as refer to the following resources:
• Electronic Frontier Foundation. www.eff.org
• Creative Commons. www.creativecommons.org
SOURCES
About.com. “Social Networking - Family & Genealogy 2.0 Web Sites.”
http://genealogy.about.com/od/social_networking/ Undated webpage. Accessed: 10 March 2008.
Scott Allen, Jay T. Deragon, Margaret G. Orem and Carter F. Smith. The Emergence of the Relationship
Economy: The New Order of Things to Come. (Cupertino, CA: Happy About, 2008).
Chris Anderson. The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More. (New York:
Hyperion, 2006).
Nate Anderson. “Tim Berners-Lee on Web 2.0: ‘nobody even knows what it means.’” Ars Technica:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060901-7650.html Published: 1 September 2006.
Daniel M. Lynch. Google Your Family Tree: Unlock the Hidden Power of Google. (Provo, UT:
FamilyLink.com, Inc., 2008).
Tim O’Reilly. “What is Web 2.0?: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of
Software” http://oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
Published: 30 September 2005.
Christian M. Smagg. “15 Golden Rules for Web 2.0” Social Media Today:
http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/27838 Published: 3 July 2007.
Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams. Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything.
Wikipedia. “Web 2.0 Map.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Web_2.0_Map.svg Revision
published: 28 February 2007.
Wikipedia. “Web 2.0.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0 Revision published: 10 March 2008.
Wikipedia. “Wiki.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki Revision published: 7 March 2008.
Wikipedia. “Wikipedia:About.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About Revision published: 10
March 2008.
© 2009 Jordan Jones. Used by permission.