During this season in which everyone—meaning well, I'm sure—rushes around in that annual frenzy of gift buying for everyone on "the list," I often wish for a different way. Yes, I know the reason for the season sprang from a kernel of mind-boggling generosity. We need to keep focused on that kind of gift. So while everyone is distracted with gift-giving, I'm starting to think about giving back.
In the genealogy world, in particular, I'm thinking of all the people who have poured themselves into the lives of others, helping them learn, making genealogical collections possible, connecting resources and researchers. Some of those people have been doing that kind of giving back for years. While generosity is its own reward, surely such angels could use a kindly-bestowed "thank you" every once in a while.
In the digital genealogy world, there is room for giving back, as well. Perhaps in the online world, because it is sanitized from the touch of human interactions, we lull ourselves into a detached sense of entitlement: "they" are out there, putting documents online, creating indices, sharing website links. Somehow, if "they" doesn't have a face, we forget to treat "them" like the real people they are.
I'm thinking primarily of resources like the website FamilySearch.org, where their overwhelming multitude of digitized documents may sometimes make us forget that it's real people who volunteer to "index" those records, one by one, so we can access them online. Sometimes that grand scale of enormity beguiles us into forgetting that it still is real people who provide the traction so we can access those useful resources.
I'm not suggesting that a full halt be called to the holiday season—hey, do you think the gal who can't yet bring herself to give up her Windows XP-driven genealogy program has got her Christmas tree up for 2015 yet?!—but that we plan to provide ourselves with an antidote.
I'm thinking about those quiet moments in the lull between Christmas and New Year's Day—now only two weeks away—and how I like to take that week to settle in and do the quiet work of organizing the upcoming year's utilities and tools. That would be an excellent time to do some giving back—like some indexing. Think of it as a form of thank-you note: a silent gesture that says "I appreciate all that others did to help get me started on my research, and now I want to help someone else the same way."
Anyone care to grab a glass of eggnog, pull up a cozy chair, and join me in a season of giving back?
Above: "The White Veil," landscape by American artist Willard Leroy Metcalf circa 1900; courtesy Wikipedia; in the public domain.
I'll have a nice cup of wassail and join you. I used to index a LOT but haven't aided FS in a while although I have been busy indexing those voter registration books for Greene County (VA).
ReplyDeleteIndexing for an internationally-accessed website or for a local genealogy project, it's all very beneficial work, Wendy! And yes, I'd love to have you join me in my virtual indexing party!
DeleteI wish I could find the time, I hope to join you someday! You go girl...My one tree is up with no decorations:(
ReplyDeleteYou and I are tied on the tree decorating score, Far Side! It may be a photo-finish, but we'll get there. I keep reminding myself of ethnic heritage stories of the parents decorating the tree after tucking the children into bed on Christmas Eve.
DeleteI'm a firm believer in heritage, you know ;)
As for indexing, I hope you can join in! Once you load the program onto your computer and do the simple training, the program provides work in batches that generally take about 30 minutes each. They are labeled as to level of complexity. The easy ones are a snap! And you can always come back to a project if something comes up and you need to set it aside for a while. It really is an accommodating system.
I don't know how you find time for all these things!
ReplyDeleteOh, this one is easy, Iggy! Once you learn how to index, you can set aside a mere 30 minutes for a session. Doing something like that every day could be possible, but I generally end up finding seasons of life when I can set aside some time to do so. I find some things just don't get done unless you decide to schedule it in.
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