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Making It Easy to Stay Organized
– Juliana Smith Sometimes it seems we are spending half of our lives organizing and reorganizing. Whether it is our work desks, kitchens, closets, workshops, cabinets, garages, family history materials, or childrens' rooms, we organize and arrange only to come back a week or two later and have to reorganize again. Where are we going wrong? Why do we have to keep reorganizing?
Today was my day to clean my daughter Maddy's room, and despite a Herculean effort to reorganize and rearrange it two weeks ago, it is already back to its normal chaotic state. I have decided that my organization plan had several fatal flaws. Upon closer inspection, these same flaws seem to be inhibiting my good intentions in keeping my family history materials in order.
First let's talk about some of the flaws.
A Place for Everything—I Wish First of all, my daughter just has way too much stuff. I have tried stashing some of it in a playroom downstairs, but in the winter, it is too cold for her to play down there for any length of time. So she goes down and grabs what she wants, and it gradually migrates back into her bedroom, the living room, and basically every room in the house.
I have the same problem. My office also doubles as the family dining room. This is really a necessity for two reasons: (1) This is a small house, and unless I confiscate the cold playroom downstairs, there is no other place for it; and (2) It is centrally located, and I can pretty much see or hear my daughter anywhere on the top floor from here. (She still hasn't figured out that I can see her reflection in the china cabinet when she is attempting a raid on the cookie jar in the kitchen. I prefer to let her think Mom knows everything!) But I digress. The bottom line is that despite the wonderful desk I found with the shelves built up all around the top and despite the side desk that we trip over in the dark, I still don't have enough room. So I have installed a large file cabinet in my room. Therein lies the problem. I pull the files from my room to begin some late-night research session, and they just never seem to make it back.
So a few weeks later, I have family history files mixed in with work files, which are mixed with sale flyers that came in today's mail, which are mixed with Maddy's school projects, etc. You get the idea.
The Stash Monster When the pressure is on, we compound the problem by stashing stuff. When threatened with loss of TV or other sanctions, Maddy tends to stash everything in her closet or under her bed. When I'm threatened with company, or when I just need to clear a space, I stash the now-mixed-up papers in my side desk, in canvas bags, or in piles. (I'm sure many of you are familiar with the "pile" method of organization.)
Problems of Access Most of us lead busy lives, and the time we have to work on our ancestry is precious. We need to be able access and locate our materials quickly and easily. Similarly, we also want it to be easy to put away so we don't end up with the above-mentioned problems.
Solutions? To solve my daughter's problem, I have come up with several large, flat, plastic boxes: one for Barbie and friends, one for other dolls and clothes, one for crayons and art supplies, one for Polly Pockets, and one for those darn little plastic figurines that always seem to find their way into the bottom of my feet. The boxes fit under her bed, so she can just pull out the one she needs.
I tried the box method myself with plastic file boxes, but their problem lies in the fact that there are just too many loose papers that tend to migrate away from the rest of the work and hide themselves in other paperwork. So the only real solution I have found that works is three ring binders. I can punch holes in the charts and forms I use constantly and cycle them in as I update them. Important documents are kept in plastic sleeves to protect them.
The notebooks, which are also kept by family, are easy to transport from the file cabinet to my desk and—more important—back to the cabinet when I am done. I also have several notebooks that include information by location. Maps, helpful and frequently used addresses, Web links, information gleaned from RootsWeb mailing lists, and other information about the localities I am researching all go into this notebook. I am trying to eliminate the loose papers by entering all of the papers' information into my computer and then filing the paper as quickly as possible. Dividers in the notebook help make items easy to locate within the notebook.
So am I organized now? Not quite. I still have some papers that don't quite have a home, and I am looking at ways of organizing those odds and ends that don't quite fit. As for my daughter, she still finds ways to circumvent my system. Organization seems to be an ongoing process.
Juliana Smith is the editor of the Ancestry Daily News and author of The Ancestry Family Historian's Address Book. She has written for Ancestry Magazine and Genealogical Computing. Juliana can be reached by e-mail at editor@ancestry-inc.com, but regrets that she is unable to assist with personal research.
An archive of Juliana's Monday column, The Family History Compass, is available online.
(Copyright © 1998-2001, MyFamily.com Inc. and its subsidiaries.), "Ancestry Daily News" (http://www.ancestry.com/dailynews)
Newsgroups
Newsgroups allow you to communicate with large numbers of fellow genealogy researchers.
Until recently you could only access newsgroups through your ISP (Internet Service Provider), and built-in or third party software was required to read and post newsgroup messages.
However this has all changed since the popular search engine Google.com acquired the main newsgroup provider deja.com.
Google.com allows you to post messages on "Usenet" ( the portion of the internet newsgroups reside on) through Google Groups.
What is the difference between Google Groups and Usenet?
"Usenet refers to a distributed computerized bulletin board system begun in 1979 at Duke University. Usenet users can post messages in newsgroups that can be read by anyone with access to the system and special news reader software. Over the years, the number of newsgroups has grown to the thousands, hosted all over the world and covering every conceivable topic about which humans converse.
Google Groups is the world's most comprehensive archive of postings to Usenet, dating back to 1995. Google Groups eliminates the need for a news reader and lets you search this archive in the same you would search HTML pages on the Internet. You can also use Google Groups to post your own comments to a newsgroup." ( Google.com)
Newgroup Netiquette
Once you've spent time observing the newsgroup postings of other people, the time will come when you will want to make a post yourself. There are a few newsgroup guidelines to follow when posting messages to newsgroups or mailing lists.
Remember to quote only as much as you need. Delete parts of a message that you are not responding to. You only need to quote enough of the message to let the readers know what you are talking about.
Follow the links below for all the answers to any questions you may have regarding the use of "Google Groups":
Note: you must be connected to the internet to view these websites.
Google Groups FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Google Groups - Usenet Glossary
What are the main genealogy newsgroups available?
Below is a list of the main soc. and alt. newsgroups. You can easily locate these newsgroups by typing it's name into the Google Groups search engine. Also try searching for alt.family-names.*, and soc.genealogy.surnames.* (Input your surname in place of the asterisks i.e. alt.family-names.wagner) into the search box in order to locate newsgroup messages mentioning your surname. You can also try a search for your surname by itself, Google Groups will then retrieve all newsgroup messages where your surname has been mentioned. Remember to use the searching techniques discussed in the First Chapter in order to improve your results i.e. +firstname +surname +location.
ALT. Newsgroups
alt.culture.cajun
alt.family-names.*
alt.genealogy
SOC. General Interest Newsgroups
soc.genealogy.misc - General genealogical discussions.
soc.genealogy.computing - Genealogical computing & internet resources.
soc.genealogy.marketplace - Geneology services and products.
soc.genealogy.medieval - Genealogy in the period from approximately AD500 to AD1600.
soc.genealogy.methods - Genealogical methods (Moderated)
SOC.Ethno-Geographic Newsgroups
soc.genealogy.african - Genealogy of Africa (Moderated)
soc.genealogy.australia+nz - Australia, New Zealand, and territories.
soc.genealogy.benelux - Geneology in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg
soc.genealogy.britain - Genealogy in Britain and the islands.
soc.genealogy.french - Francophone genealogy.
soc.genealogy.german - German Genealogy
soc.genealogy.hispanic - Genealogy relating to Hispanics.
soc.genealogy.ireland - Geneology in Ireland ( North and South).
soc.genealogy.italian - Italian genealogy and family heraldry.
soc.genealogy.jewish - Jewish genealogy. (Moderated)
soc.genealogy.nordic - Genealogy in Denmark, Faeroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
soc.genealogy.slavic - Slavic Genealogy.
soc.genealogy.west-indies - Geneology of the West Indies.
SOC. Surnames Newsgroups
soc.genealogy.surnames.global - Surnames queries central database.
soc.genealogy.surnames.britain - Surnames queries - Great Britain.
soc.genealogy.surnames.german - Surnames queries - German speaking countries.
soc.genealogy.surnames.canada - Surnames queries - Canada.
soc.genealogy.surnames.ireland - Surnames queries - Ireland & Northern Ireland.
soc.genealogy.surnames.usa - Surnames queries - USA.
soc.genealogy.surnames.misc - Surnames - regions not covered elsewhere.