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Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Survey of Genealogy Activities

It's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun and Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings has a great one.

Here is my assignment:

1)  Answer these questions in my survey about your genealogy resources and usage:

a)  Which genealogy software programs for your computer do you use (e.g., Family Tree Maker, Reunion, GRAMPS, etc.)?
I use Rootsmagic as my primary genealogy program, but also have Legacy Family Tree and PAF loaded on the computer.  Sometimes I want to create a special report in Legacy. I also find details missing from some of my sources because of how PAF transferred the GEDCOM to Rootsmagic. So I have to go into the record in PAF and then copy and paste.

b)  Which online family trees have information submitted by you - in either a separate online tree (e.g., Ancestry Member Tree) or a universal (collaborative) online tree (e.g., WikiTree)?  I have no trees online except the tree uploaded to FamilyTreeDNA profile of my grandmother. I have added info to FamilySearch’s tree and I am now connected to the tree.

c)  For which subscription genealogy record providers (e.g., Ancestry) do you have a subscription?
At the present time, I am subscribed to Ancestry World, and Find My Past through the free year from being a member of NGS.

d)  Which FREE genealogy record providers (e.g., FamilySearch) do you use regularly?
I use daily the following record providers: FamilySearch, Chronicling America, USGENWEB, and occasionally use some state archive sites with record images such as Missouri.

e)  How much time do you spend each week doing actual genealogy research online?  [Note:  not reading, or social networking, but actual searching in a record provider].  Estimate an average number of hours per week. 
If working on a project, probably 4 hours per day. If working on my own family, I might work 2-3 hours per day. So for a weekly total, that would be about 14-20 hours per week.

f)  How much time do you spend each week doing actual genealogy research in a repository (e.g., library, archive, courthouse, etc.)?  Estimate an average number of hours per month over, say, a one year period.
 I volunteer at a genealogy library once a month and might do about 2 hours of research. I volunteer weekly at the local county historical society and might do 2 hours of research.  I also try to visit the FHL once or twice a year and that would be about 10 hours of research per day.  I order films from FHL several times a year, too. So my guess would be about 300 hours per year, or 6 hours per week.

g)  How much time do you spend each week adding information to your genealogy software program (either on your computer or online)?  Estimate an average number of hours per week over, say, a one month period.
 This I might do 2-3 per night while watching t.v. so say about 10 hours per week.

h)  How much time do you spend each month at a genealogical society meeting, program or event (not a seminar or conference)?  Estimate an average number of hours per month over, say, a one year period.
I am a member of three genealogy societies. I attend about 20 meetings per year for all three societies. I also a member of two society boards and spend 20 meetings per year for both, or about .75 hours per week.

i)  How much time do you spend each month on genealogy education (e.g., reading books and periodicals, attending seminars, conferences, workshops, webinars, etc.)?   Estimate an average number of hours per month over, say, a one year period. 
I attend 1 institute per year (SLIG or GRIP) so that would be about 30 hours. I might watch 2-4 webinars per month. I try to attend Mondays with Myrt, so 3 times per month. So about 75 hours per year or about 2 hours per week.

j)  How much time do you spend each week reading, writing and commenting on genealogy blogs, websites, and social media?   Estimate an average number of hours per week over, say, a one month period.
Here I probably spend too much time – but it’s hard to isolate what is genealogy base and family/friend base on Facebook an email.  Maybe 10 hours per week.

The total is about 21-25 hours per week on genealogy. This surprises me, so I may have under estimated the time in one of the above categories or my math is terrible! But I do other things: German classes, guitar class, ukulele club, volunteer work with a local creek group, reading novels, watching baseball and soccer, and doing puzzles (of course housework and sleeping and walking or bike riding and eating, etc. etc.)

2)    Answer the questions in a blog post of your own (and please drop a link as a comment in this post), in a comment to this post, or in a Google+ or Facebook post.  Here it is!

Copyright © 2015 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.

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