SLIG Tech Day - A Great Educational Gift

Saturday, 19 January 2019

Back by Popular Demand, SLIG Tech Day will feature hands-on workshops and classes on technologies that enhance the research experience. Registration is open and seats are available. 

Fees
Half-Day Workshops: $60; Classes/Demonstrations: $25
Students who register for a full day of sessions will receive $10 in SLIG SWAG bucks to spend.

Schedule

Hands-On Workshops

• Use Evernote to Create an Effective Research Plan and Log System (Cari Taplin)
• Scrivener Hands-On: Organize Both Your Research and Writing (Kimberly Powell)
• Using Google's MyMaps as a Research and Analysis Tool (Cari Taplin)
• Data Visualization Practicum (Ron Arons)

Classes

• Navigating Your AncestryDNA Test Results (Melissa Johnson)
• Genealogy Organization in the Digital Age (Patricia Hobbs)
• Making the Most of 23andMe (Melissa Johnson)
• Sharing Your Research by Setting Up a Blog or a Website (Patricia Hobbs)
• Family Tree DNA and MyHeritage: Company Tools (Melissa Johnson)
• Tools for Analyzing & Visualizing Family History and DNA Networks (Kimberly Powell)
• Mapping Chromosomes to Specific Ancestors by Generation (Karen Stanbary)
• Spreadsheet Tips & Tricks (Kimberly Powell)

Half-Day Workshops

Students should bring their own laptops, with any pre-requisite software or online tools installed. Electrical outlets will be available for each student unless specified otherwise in workshop description. Please review specific pre-requisites, if any, listed with the workshop. Each workshop will run 3.5 hours including a short break.

Classes and Demonstrations
These classes are intended to be instructive, but do not include a hands-on experience. Students with laptops may follow along as they see fit, as time permits. Classroom set will not include electrical outlets at each desk; however, there will be charging stations in a central location to utilize during the breaks if needed. Each class will run 1.5 hours; there will be a 30-minute break between class sessions.

SLIG Tech Day Highlight: Data Visualization Practicum

Learn data visualization techniques with Ron Arons at SLIG's Tech Day.

Modeled after the SLIG Advanced Practicum, this session will provide attendees with a set of data to be worked into a data visualization. After a 15-20 minute lecture covering the concepts and theory behind data visualization, Ron will explain the basics steps of using two free DV software programs that run on PCs and Macs (a third program will be taught if time permits). The remainder of time will be spent working on a specific problem provided by either the instructor or one of the participants. (Participants should be at the intermediate to advanced level in their technical/software skills. Mind mapping experience is preferred but not required.)

Past students have indicated that Ron's sense of humor and expertise provided them with new ideas for using the software and great examples for how it can be applied to genealogy.

Registration opens on September 15th!

SLIG Tech Day - Schedule Announced!

The SLIG Tech Day will be held on Saturday, January 19, 2019. It is the Saturday between SLIG 2019 and SLIG Academy.

Schedule

Back by Popular Demand, SLIG Tech Day will feature hands-on workshops and classes on technologies that enhance the research experience. Registration will open on Saturday, September 15th, and will be open to both SLIG and Academy students. If seats remain, UGA members will be invited to attend in December.

Fees

Half-Day Workshops: $60; Classes/Demonstrations: $25

Students who register for a full day of sessions will receive $10 in Hilton Bucks to spend during the day, or during their stay.

Schedule

	Hands-On Workshops	Hands-On Workshops	Classes	Classes
8:30 - 10:00	Use Evernote to Create an Effective Research Plan and Log System (Cari Taplin)	Scrivener Hands-On: Organize Both Your Research and Your Writing (Kimberly Powell)	Navigating Your AncestryDNA Test Results (Melissa Johnson)	Genealogy Organization in the Digital Age (Patricia Hobbs)
10:30 - 12:00			Making the Most of 23andMe (Melissa Johnson)	TBD
1:30 - 3:00	Using Google's MyMaps as a Research and Analysis Tool (Cari Taplin)	Data Visualization Practicum (Ron Arons)	Family Tree DNA and MyHeritage: Company Tools (Melissa Johnson)	Spreadsheet Tips & Tricks (Kimberly Powell)
3:30 - 5:00			Mapping Chromosomes to Specific Ancestors by Generation (Karen Stanbary)	Tools for Analyzing & Visualizing Family History and DNA Networks (Kimberly Powell)

Half-Day Workshops

Students should bring their own laptops, with any pre-requisite software or online tools installed. Electrical outlets will be available for each student unless specified otherwise in workshop description. Please review specific pre-requisites, if any, listed with the workshop. Each workshop will run 3.5 hours including a short break.

Classes and Demonstrations
These classes are intended to be instructive, but do not include a hands-on experience. Students with laptops may follow along as they see fit, as time permits. Classroom set will not include electrical outlets at each desk; however, there will be charging stations in a central location to utilize during the breaks if needed. Each class will run 1.5 hours; there will be a 30 minute break between class sessions.

Registration

The registration page can be reached here.

Tech Day Spotlight: Mind Maps with Ron Arons

The first ever SLIG Tech Day will feature a special Mini-Lab on Mid Maps by Ron Arons. Why is this so important for your genealogy toolbox? Let me have Ron tell you:

Why mind maps and other data visualization tools?

There is an old saying that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ This statement is so true. The brain actually processes pictures much faster than it does reading words. It is also much easier for you to recall items if you recall them from a setting (read: picture) than from a list of words. More than 60% of the general population are considered to be ‘visual learners’. That is to say, that they learn better and more efficiently by using pictures than by words or other means. About another third of the population learns aurally, i.e. through words. A very small percentage of the general population learns kinesthetically, i.e. through touch or movement. Suffice it to say, it behooves the vast majority of us to consider tools that help us learn and think visually. The tools that help with visual thinking are not necessarily replacements for spreadsheets and narratives but, rather, should be seriously considered as complementary tools for providing new insights and perspectives for organizing information, correlating data, and presenting research results to others.

Mind maps are radial outlining tools. They start with a central theme or concept and they radiate outwards, like a sun and its rays or a hub and spoke of an old chariot wheel. They can continue expanding with sub-branches, sub-sub-branches, etc., with increasing levels of details. Mind maps have been around for centuries and have been used for decades in Corporate America for brainstorming new ideas, for writers to lay out their stories, and by teachers with their students. Mind maps were certainly not designed with genealogy in mind, but they offer a compelling way to work with family history research data. Here’s why…Different types of genealogical documents have different types of data. For example, a census record might have a person’s name, their spouse and children’s names, age or year of birth, state or country of birth, occupation, residential address, etc. A vital record will usually have person’s parents’ names listed, whereas a census record would not (unless of course the parents are still living in the same household). A newspaper article would probably not list a person’s parents names, but might list a person’s residential address. In short, various types of genealogical documents together provide ‘unstructured’ data. To put all of the information from three such documents into a spreadsheet, a tool for working with ‘structured’ data, would be wasteful of space; there would be many cells completely empty. The beauty of mind maps is that they excel (no pun intended) with unstructured data. Furthermore, many mind map tools allow you to draw connector line from data in one location of a mind map to data in another location. This is particularly helpful in data correlation (step 3 of the Genealogical Proof Standard), arguably the most important aspect of genealogical research. Not being able to find such connections, similarly, can help with explaining away discrepancies (step 4 of the GPS).

The Mind Map / Data Visualization mini-lab at SLIG Tech Day will review the above theory in more detail as well as provide a hands-on introduction to two data visualization software packages – a mind mapping tool and another tool which is similar to, yet different from a mind map, but also useful in laying out genealogical data. Come to the mini-lab and expand your brain capabilities!

Mind Maps will be held Saturday, 20 January 2018 from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM at the Hilton Hotel. Price $30.00. Please visit www.slig.ugagenealogy.org to register. I hope to see you there! 

SLIG 2018 Hosts First Tech Day!

The first SLIG Tech Day is scheduled for Saturday, January 20, 2018.  SLIG's amazing speakers and guest lecturers will present four hands-on workshops, nine classes/demonstrations, and two mini-labs. 

 Check out the schedule of exciting classes!  Tech Day Information

Half-day workshops on Saturday morning feature Gena Philibert-Ortega and Pat Roberts guiding 3 hours of hands-on experience with  Evernote and Ancestry, respectively. 

After lunch, Cari Taplin will share Google's My Maps while Kimberly Powell presents Scrivener during the last two half-day workshops. 

Workshops require personal laptops with any pre-requisite software or online tools installed. (Please review specific pre-requisites, if any, listed with the workshop.) Electrical outlets will be available for each student. 

Not up for 3-hour workshops?  Then consider the nine other 90-minute courses: Cyndi Ingle teaches three tech classes (coordinating programs in the Cloud, foreign language tools and timelines), Dina Carson is presenting 2 courses on best publishing and imaging practices, while Mona Lambrecht will share tips on staying sane while creating a family archive, Elissa Scalise Powell updates our writing skill set and Kimberly Powell creates spreadsheet magic, and instructs us in social network as an analysis tool.

Three mini-labs from 7-8:30 pm are also available: Elissa Scalise Powell will boost our PowerPoint skills and Ron Arons will fascinate with mind mapping.

Don't miss out! Pre-registration is required to assure seat availability; registration for special events will open on Tuesday, 14 November 2017.

Join us at Tech Day 2018!