The Internet is in the process of changing from a collection of corporate,
organizational and personal websites, to a social network of dynamic services
full of user-contributed contents (think Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube etc.). The
benefits of participating in this universe of expanded and shared information
are incalculable and will lead, potentially, to the greatest exchange in
information in history. Genealogists in particular will thrive in this new
Internet environment of sharing, exchanging and interacting.
This book describes the wide array of social networking services that are now
available online and highlights how these services can be used by genealogists
to share information, photos, and videos with family, friends, and other
researchers. Each chapter guides you through a unique category of social
networking services using genealogy-related examples. From blogs and wikis to
Facebook and Second Life, author Drew Smith shows you how to incorporate these
powerful new tools into your family history research.
Specifically, you'll find chapters devoted to the following social networking
services:
- Blogs
- Collaborative editing
- Genealogy-specific social networks
- General social networking (Facebook)
- Message boards & mailing lists
- Photos and video sharing
- Podcasts
- RSS feeds
- Sharing personal libraries
- Tags
- Virtual worlds
- Wikis
Destined to become a classic, this book is about the type of social
networking that has been made possible by the development of international
computer networks, the availability of network access to most homes (especially
broadband access), the creation of websites dedicated to particular kinds of
networking (posting photos, viewing and commenting on videos, seeing what books
friends have in their libraries, etc.), and the ease of participating in these
sites without having to be a computer expert. More to the point, this book is
intended to identify those kinds of social networking sites and services that
will be of the most interest to genealogists.
Contents:
1. Introduction
2. RSS
3. Tags
4. Message boards and mailing lists
5. Blogs
6. Wikis
7. Collaborative editing
8. Photo and video sharing
9. Social bookmarking
10. Sharing personal libraries
11. Podcasts
12. Social networking for its own sake
13. Virtual worlds
14. Genealogy-specific social networking
