Let’s Crowdsource Newspaper Indexing – Let’s Do Good Together

Well, the day is here – it is “officially” the last day of the RootsTech Connect conference, the global family history event put on by FamilySearch.

In years past, the conference has been a popular in-person event. I have not been able to attend in person, but I avidly followed along each year #NotAtRootsTech, trying to glean as much as I could. This year, understandingly, the event was 100% virtual. And, 100% free.  I had to indulge and indulge I did! Many blog posts have been written by attendees to describe their conference experiences – you will want to consult Randy Seaver’s blog compendium for a long list of posts — and of course, check the #RootsTechConnect hashtag on all social media channels. From my perspective, I wanted to share a specific component of my experience – the opportunity I had to present at FamilySearch’s “Let’s Do Good Together” booth.

The “Let’s Do Good Together” booth, one of the featured booths in the Expo Hall, includes a selection of genealogy goodwill projects. We had several live discussions designed for sharing and getting direct feedback from attendees via Zoom and spotlight videos to showcase additional projects. There was quite a variety!

I led one of the live discussions and shared my newspaper crowdsourcing index project; it was a phenomenal experience! Our “Live” discussions were listed in the Schedule of Events, so that meant all online attendees would see them as an option – and this meant high exposure. I also shared an announcement for it in a newspaper interest Facebook group. But, I was shockingly surprised that more than 100 people logged in to listen when it was time for the discussion! Standing room only really, because not everyone could get in. I’d increased by Zoom capacity, but I do not believe the change went into effect in time. In order to meet demand, I scheduled a second repeat session for Sunday the 28th on my own.  It will be a lot of fun again, I know!

What made it such a great experience? After I shared my project idea, the feedback from those attending was immensely helpful. Some of the ways they helped include:

• giving suggestions for technological approaches that could help inform the projects
• sharing their own newspaper research stories and how my project could potentially help them
• giving ideas for how to manage project workflow

These are exactly the kinds of feedback I was hoping for and I am incredibly thankful!

I am doing another session on Sunday, February 28th, 2021 and you can find the registration link on the RootsTech page here. However, if you happen to read this blog post after that and are interested in knowing more, I invite you to please join my notifications list so that I can keep you informed as the project moves forward.

I look forward to where this project can go and will share periodic updates along the way!