Monday, October 11, 2010

FamilySearch Beta has a new look - Part 2: Learning Resources

In the first post of this series last week, I noted that the FamilySearch Beta site looked different.  Over on the right-hand side of the home page are images for the Getting Started, How To and FamilySearch Centers:


I want to check out the "How-To" section, which was called "Learning Resources" in the press release last week.  The press release noted that:

"The learning resources section has been redesigned to try and make it easier to access the tremendous content created by FamilySearch and a community of volunteers. You can quickly search over 40,000 articles containing a wealth of knowledge about how to do research or where to find records all around the world. You can also add your own knowledge by updating an article or creating a new article. We’ve also added over 100 online courses dealing with a range of topics from Beginning English Research to Reading Russian Records. Watch these courses online to learn to research or improve your genealogy skills."

I clicked on the "How-To" image on the home page and saw:





While the information above implies that there is a link to the FamilySearch Research Wiki on the "Learning Resources" page, I could not find any link to the Wiki on the page. They will probably add the link soon.  [See the Update below]

This Learning Resources page (actually "Research Courses") provides the list of over 100 learning videos about many facets of genealogy.  The major topics are shown in the right side-bar, and the sub-topics are alphabetical in the main screen, divided by major topic.

For instance, here is a screen capture of the video "The Journey-Takers" by Leslie Albrecht Huber that provides a narrative and presentation about her recent book of the same title:



There are quite a few newly added videos on this "Learning Resources" page, including:

English Lesson 3: Reading Secretary Hand Documents  (35 minutes)
Italian Lesson 2: Italian Words and Phrases (25 minutes)
Italian Lesson 3: Reading Italian Records (35 minutes)
Polish Lesson 3: Reading Polish Records (30 minutes)
Portuguese Lesson 3: Reading Portuguese Documents (25 minutes)
Scandinavian Gothic Lesson 3: Reading Scandinavian Records (30 minutes)
Spanish Lesson 3: Reading Spanish Records (30 minutes)

The lessons above are audio only with slides, with no actual video of the presenters.  The videos below show both the presenters speaking and the slide presentation.

African American Genealogical Research at the Library of Congress (29 minutes, by Ahmed Johnson)
The Journey Takers (53 minutes, by Leslie Albrecht Huber, sponsored by Leslie Albrecht Huber)
The Library of Congress: Pursuing Your Family in the National Library (48 minutes, by James P. Sweany, sponsored by the Library of Congress)
A Key to Success: Your Online Presence (by D. Joshua Taylor, from APG Professional Management Conference, August 2010)
Choosing the Best Continuing Education Opportunities (by Elissa Scalise Powell, from APG Professional Management Conference, August 2010)
Expand Your Revenue: Produce and Sell Your Lectures in Video Format (by Donna M. Moughty, from APG Professional Management Conference, August 2010)
Get Published in Magazines! (by Leslie Albrecht Huber, from APG Professional Management Conference, August 2010)
Niche Planning and Marketing (by Paula Stuart-Warren, from APG Professional Management Conference, August 2010)

The videos from the Association of Professional Genealogists' Professional Management Conference in August 2010 provide a free view of how professionals work in the genealogy world today.  There are also videos from the 2009 APG PMC on this Learning Resources page. 

A beginning genealogist can learn many of the tricks of the genealogical trade by reading and watching all of the videos on this page.  A transitional genealogist could spend hours learning from the masters here!

UPDATED 12 October:  Reader Geolover corrected my statement about the link to the FamilySearch Research Wiki - the link to the Research Wiki is the Learn menu item at the top of each FamilySearch Beta page.  However, the press release highlighted the "Learning Resources" area on the home page, which I took to be the "How To" image and link, which led to the Research Courses page higlhighted in this blog post. 

1 comment:

Geolover said...

If you click on "Learn" at the top of the page you go right to the Wiki gateway page.