How to Technology

As you go about your genealogy research, what technology questions do you have?  I’m sure you have at least one.  Maybe you want to know how to use your cell phone to take tombstone photos and upload them to the internet with GPS coordinates?  Or, what do you look for in purchasing a scanner?

I have a whole list.  Sometimes the technology is so new, I don’t even know it exists, let alone what to do with it.  For instance, what’s that QR code we see on things today?  You’ve seen it, it looks like a square box of white where someone played with a felt pen and colored in only certain squares.

If you’re like me I have twenty questions for every new device.  Often when I ask a question and get an answer, I don’t understand the answer!  Reminds me of the times Bruce and I have traveled in a foreign country and we don’t know how to get where we want to go.  The scenario goes something like this:

Bruce says to me, “Jump out of the car at the next light and ask someone for directions.”  I’m such a good wife that when we get to the next light, I jump out, walk up to a stranger, ask for directions in my broken limited foreign language, like in Italian everything ends in “io” so I tack an “io” on some American word.   English does have Latin roots so I think it should work.

The stranger then proceeds to give me VERY detailed directions, along with hand signals showing a right or left turn.  I just don’t know WHEN we’re supposed to turn right or left, so when I get back in the car and Bruce asks for the directions, I have to admit, I have no idea what the stranger said to do.

For me, new technology is like that.  Often it’s speaking a foreign language to me and I have no clue what it is saying or what I should do with it.

FamilySearch has a free new tool to help you!  It’s found at FamilySearch TechTips.    This site covers “how to” articles  written by a variety of authors that walk you through step-by-step everything technology you should know to help in your genealogy searching.   There are tabbed sections of “How To’s and Tips,” “Learn About,” “Apps and Tools,” and “Learn How to Buy” scanners, cameras, computers, GPS devices, mobile devices, printers and storage media.

If you tap into this great new tool, you just might be able to give someone directions the next time they ask you how to use a cell phone to take tombstone photos!

Related Posts:  Conquering the Technology Trap.