Tuesday, January 01, 2008

My 2008 Goals

For 2008, I think it's worth recycling some of my 2007 goals, especially where I didn't do so well. So here we go:


1. Attend a national conference. Conveniently, the National Genealogical Society has planned its 30th Conference in the States and Family History Fair for Kansas City in May!

2. Make contact with more cousins to hear their stories. Although I gave myself a B+ here last year, this is always worthwhile.

3. Bring genealogy to more young people. I utterly failed at this last year, but it's so important that I'll give it a try again. Any ideas about this?

4. Write more about genealogy and the law. I don't intend to turn this into a legal blog, but I can and should share more of my legal knowledge in practical ways to benefit genealogists and bloggers.

5. Knock down at least two long-standing brick walls. Again. But when I review what I did last year, it turns out that I did better than I had thought. I learned the fate of my grand father's brother, Otis Preston Manson; I learned the name of Aunt Grace's mother; and I discovered James William Long's parents and siblings, correcting a family error of some time.

6. Update my records with accurate source citations.

7. Substantially reduce my scanning backlog.

8. Find more old photographs. They're out there, somewhere. (George, Colleen: Help! That is, once I find them!).

9. Improve the technology I use and my knowledge of it. I used to be a major techie, but I've fallen way behind--I get that every day as I read and see innovations out there. Time to teach this old dog some new tricks! (Denise, Sally, Susan: Help!).

10. Learn more about DNA. Thanks, Blaine, for your insights.

11. Improve my story-telling craft. (Tutors: David, Janice, Jasia, Tim, Tim, Miriam, Randy, Denise, Apple, fM, Becky, Taneya, Bill, Steve, Karen, Dana, Lori, Terry, and all who have or will contribute to the Carnival of Genealogy!).

12. Always Learn from others, Share with everyone, Enjoy this endeavor, and Appreciate the efforts of those who also Learn, Share, and Enjoy! This will always be on my list. When I stop doing this, it'll be time for me to cash in the whole thing. In this category, I'll include reading more of the excellent blogs out there; making some presentations for community groups (got one being worked on right now); and a few other things.

5 comments:

David said...

"Bring genealogy to more young people. I utterly failed at this last year, but it's so important that I'll give it a try again. Any ideas about this?"

I've always thought that each local society should have some sort of program for schools. You may have better luck getting your foot in the door and getting wider exposure as part of a society. Or get a local library to start up a youth program during the summer and volunteer to help with that.

I haven't tried this myself, but I'd like to. Once my local library opens again, I'll approach them with this idea. Thanks for making me think about this, Craig.

Susan K said...

"Help!"

Craig, what, specifically can I help you with? Now that you've written that great big post with all the intentions (good on you, btw!), how about one that focuses on your techie wishlist?

I'm aiming to write more how-to stuff this year, so I'm looking for overlap!!

JEWELGIRL said...

I really would love to hear about
your ideas about old photgraphs -
and who owns them. I find it hard
to think that a 100 year old photo
is owned by a 130 year old photographer. And I need a signature from the dead person so I can copy the photo for my family history album for a family member.
The new law drives me crazy.......
What do you think?

Craig Manson said...

Excellent question! I'll post sbout it in the next week or so.

Lee said...

Happy New Year, Craig! I have no doubt you'll reach all the goals that matter most.