Genealogy Do Over — Week 1 Goals

Genealogy Do Over: Breaking with the previous research materials and with previous practices •  Preparing to Research

Relocation of physical objects: This activity is on hold until the house has been restored to some semblance of order. I know where these items are and don’t wish to lose them, so they will stay where they are. I won’t dig into them during these 13 weeks, thereby repeating my errors.

Electronic information: I have five genealogy folders on my computer.

Within my Drop box folder, where the files have the advantage of cloud storage and backup as well as backup to my backup hard drive through the Apple Time-Machine app, I;m retaining four folders. “!Genealogy (NOT Reunion) contains largely unsorted old information. I will use this only if I need to search for an image collected in my early work which is necessary for my current work. Basically, this is stored “off-limits” material. A similar folder is on my hard-drive but not in Dropbox.

Within Dropbox, in a folder accessed by my software program, I have organized three new folders.

“Do Over Files.” This folder is brand new; it contains only four items at this point. My new Heredis tree, created so that I can share tree information online during the course of these studies. It replicates as best I can my new data in my software program. A pdf of the manual for the Heredis software (the manual is awkward to use in the furnished version). There is a fourth temporary item: a FileMakerPro database that is a duplicate and extension of my first attempt at log keeping. It doesn’t work, but it will serve until the upcoming lessons and discussions in the Do Over group help me format a method of keeping logs that fit my style and include all the pertinent data. I think the Do Over group is going to keep telling me KISS (Keep It Simple Sue) while I work out my style of log.

Another folder holds the original database and files used in support of this data. This folder and the third folder are required by my database in order for it to reach the information it points to in the files. The original (packed away folder) is called “Reunion Files on Hold;” the remaining folder is called “Files for Both Versions” 

I believe that this work has me ready to address the third aim for Week One: Aim 3- Establishing Base Practices and Guidelines.

This is tough for me. I keep starting off in all directions (maybe that’s why I haven’t done productive research? Maybe this is why I NEED this 13-week discussion/course?) I’m going back the the Do Over Facebook page and pore over the postings there. I’m going to study the blogs that have been produced in the warm-up period. I hope that by the end of week one, I shall have formulated simple Practices and Guideline that will work for me.