2022 Class 1: Introduction

Agenda

The OLLI Furman eGenealogy course material will be accessed through this blog:  https://olliegenealogy.blogspot.com.  (Note the “s”) Through the blog you can link to a sequence of Power Point presentations (stored as PDFs) that provide both outline and detail to each topic I discuss.

This first class will cover these topics:

• Personal introductions all around
• Zoom Installation and Protocol
• eGenealogy:  Course Intro
• Using the Blog
• Ancestorian
• Teamviewer (view video in playlist)

Reiterating the tools

• Ancestry.com (web-subscription and library edition- free)
• Family Tree Maker (desktop), obtained through the link provided to you.
• Browser Search (web and on line).  FTM has its own Chromium browser that works like the Microsoft Edge browser or Chrome, without all the personal information exposures.
• For DNA:  23andMe, myFamilyTree, Ancestry DNA, Gedmatch.com
• A picture editor (and scanner if you need to get the pictures into electronic form).  
• Google Maps (web) and the Places Workspace in FTM
• A backup method for your data and trees (Recommend Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, Box etc so that you can recover data and also work in locations where access to your own computer is not possible.  If you buy FTM, they provide a backup method, but you have to access the data through FTM.  If you are concerned about security, use a flash drive as backup, or use your operating system backup manager or Box.  (I can provide private meetings to help with this.)
• A password manager.  You need one because your data sources are spread across many web sites that require passwords to access. The password managers imbedded in today's browsers are NOT recommended because access to your passwords is available on the web by using your usual email or browser password.  Those passwords are typically/almost always not strong enough to protect access to a password manager.  Lastpass is my choice.  This link is to the free version, which works on one type of device.  If you want Lastpass to work on your smart devices and computer, you will need to purchase a Personal license.) 
• Several different ebook websites, many free
• Ancestorian for ongoing help with research.
• Teamviewer for personal help

Security, Privacy and Ownership

• Internet security is the new excuse for relatives not providing information.  (If they only knew!)  Facebook, Linked In, and other social networking sites are alternative sources of information. :-).  I recommend you personally staying off these sites otherwise, because of personal information concerns.
• The legal terms for ancestry.com  In general, always read the small print through to the end