SL Virtual Genealogical Society

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SLVGS to be Live-Streamed on YouTube!

October 9, 2018 /

Tami Mize to Discuss Joyflips

Watch SLVGS Live on YouTube

Have you missed out on our genealogy events because you thought Second Life was too difficult to use?

Then please join us for our next meeting LIVE on YouTube on 14 October 2018 at 5:30 p.m. PT!

Be sure to head over to our YouTube Channel and hit the SUBSCRIBE button so you won’t miss any of our videos. You can also hit the bell icon on our upcoming live video to get a reminder sent to you.

Members can watch recorded videos of our meetings and speakers. Please JOIN our group to take advantage of this, and other benefits.

October Meeting to Feature Tami Mize

Popular genealogy speaker Tami Mize will give a talk entitled “The 21st Century Family Photo Album – Audio, Video, Always with you and All For Free.”

What started out as a simple photo scanning app has developed into your complete family history media solution. Not only can you quickly and easily scan photos with your smartphone and import already digitized ones, with Joyflips’ groundbreaking technology, you can also add audio storytelling to any or all of your photos and invite others, family and friends around the world, to a shared Family Room chat, and record their stories as well, right within the app!

From scanning, to editing, organizing, videos, storytelling, sharing, and uploading directly to FamilySearch, it’s no wonder that FamilySearch has chosen Joyflips as one of only five top-tier technology partners! Come find out more about Joyflips.

For members and guests attending the meeting in Second Life, please meet at the Fire Pit at Just Genealogy.

About Tami Mize

Tami Mize (a.k.a. Genie Weezles)

Tami Mize (a.k.a. Genie Weezles in Second Life) is a genealogical researcher, author, and speaker specializing in discovering and sharing creative ways to use technology, not only for quality genealogy research but to help simplify and streamline research processes. She has been a speaker, as well as an Ambassador, for RootsTech, has written numerous articles for genealogy publications, and maintains both RelativelyCurious.com and the ConferenceKeeper.org genealogy calendar of events website.

Tami was instrumental in the organization of two groundbreaking virtual genealogy societies: the Second Life Virtual Genealogical Society (SLVGS), the first virtual society to be affiliated with the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS); and the Golden Chapter Award-winning Second Life Chapter Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), the first virtual APG chapter.

Tami is the Communications and Social Media Director for the technology platform Joyflips, a free smartphone app and collection of tools to scan, edit, and organize photos, voice-record memories, create videos, and share and collaborate with family.

We hope you will join us on October 14th, either in Second Life or on our YouTube live-stream!

SLVGS to Take Virtual Field Trip

August 11, 2018 /

SLVGS August 2018 Meeting

SLVGS August Meeting Includes a Field Trip!

This month, the Second Life Virtual Genealogical Society will be taking a tour of the Community Virtual Library to see the new exhibit “Genealogy Journey: Finding Our Ancestors, Discovering Ourselves.”

This instructional exhibit teaches visitors how to: begin researching their family history, conduct responsible research, utilize tools and resources for understanding DNA results, and find genealogy educational activities in Second Life. This exhibit is presented by Cheri Daniels.

Cheri Daniels (a.k.a. Sifriya Devin), curator of the exhibit, will be our special guest host for this event. Read more about her exhibit HERE.

Please meet at the Just Genealogy Fire Pit for a brief business meeting before the tour.

WHEN: Sunday, 12 August 2018
TIME: 5:30 p.m. SLT (same as Pacific Time)
WHERE: The Fire Pit at Just Genealogy SLurl

Lara Diamond to Discuss Genealogy and Changing Borders

June 7, 2018 /

June Meeting to Feature Lara Diamond

The Second Life Virtual Genealogical Society is pleased to present Lara Diamond as the speaker for the June 2018 chapter meeting. Lara’s talk is titled “Reconstructing the Rutners: Tracing a family through changing borders & Languages.”

European borders were fluid, meaning that records for one family can be written in many languages and kept in disparate locations. This talk examines one large family that lived in the area that now spans the Ukraine/Romanian border. They lived there while it was part of Hungary, Czechoslovakia & Romania, Hungary again, the Soviet Union and Ukraine. Records from this area were kept in multiple languages and are currently held in several modern countries and different archives within those countries. What ended up being a very large family was reconstructed using a variety of methods, including religious records, vital records, census enumerations, Holocaust documents, DNA and more. This talk will discuss how the family was reconstructed over the course of decades, bringing the family back to the 1700s and tracing distant cousins across the world.

WHEN: Sunday, 10 June 2018
TIME: 5:30 p.m. SLT (same as Pacific Time)
WHERE: The Fire Pit at Just Genealogy SLurl

About Lara Diamond

Lara Diamond

Lara Diamond has been researching her family for 25 years, starting as a middle school student. She has traced all branches of her family multiple generations back in Europe using Russian Empire-era and Austria-Hungarian Empire records. Most of her research is in modern-day Ukraine, with a smattering of Belarus and Poland. And she is an Ashkenazic Jew, she gets to have particular fun with her completely endogamous genome.

Lara is president of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Maryland, leads JewishGen’s Subcarpathian SIG, is on JewishGen’s Ukraine SIG’s board of directors. She also runs multiple district- and town-focused projects to collect documentation to assist all those researching ancestors from common towns.

Lara blogs about DNA and her Eastern European research at Lara’s Jewnealogy.

December news!

December 9, 2017 /

At our last meeting, in October, the vote passed to hold our meetings every other month, so that they now alternate with the SL Chapter of the APG group. Our next meeting will be this coming Sunday, December 10, at 5:30 pm SecondLife Time (Pacific), at the Just Genealogy Fire Pit

For our December meeting, we hope everyone is able to attend what will be a short, but exciting meeting. Elections for next year’s officers will be held, and we’d love to have you participate in the leadership process, either by running for an office or even just voting on those nominated.  We’d also love to hear your ideas on our next choices for book club/study or any other special discussion groups. Please plan on attending!

Dues for 2018 should be paid by the end of this month as well, and it is easy and quick to do so when you’re in SecondLife. Our Clubhouse now has a sign out front that will accept Linden payments with a simple click! Dues are 1200 Lindens, which is roughly $5, for the entire year.

December 18 at 5:30 p.m., Dee and Sherlock are hosting a Genealogists in SecondLife Christmas Dance, with our fave DJ J
affee Gaffer and his fine collection of Holiday music! They always go all out on the decorations, and I excited to see what all they’ve come up with. Past years have included ice skating and snowball fights! Watch the Facebook page for more information, or IM another genealogy group member when in SecondLife for a teleport to the party.

A SL Christmas Dance

 

 NGSQ (National Genealogical Society Quarterly) study group will not be meeting in December. Watch for the schedule and topic list for 2018 to be posted soon.

Ellington recently posted this article from December issue of  The Atlantic “The Digital Ruins of A Forgotten Future.” A long read, but well-written. Of course, there are many views on the pros and cons of SecondLife.

As always, everyone is welcome to our meetings; however, only members may vote in elections.  Membership has its privileges 🙂  Our society is a member of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, so our members have access to all of the benefits of FGS membership as well, including discounts! It’s easy to join, and our dues are the lowest of any I know of. See the About section for more information on joining our society.

I look forward to seeing everyone December 10!

Just Genealogy Halloween Party

October 30, 2017 /

Halloween at Just Genealogy

Hey guys and ghouls! Come out tonight for some frightfully good fun at our Just Genealogy Halloween Party!

WHEN: Monday, October 30, 2017
TIME: 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. SLT (same as Pacific)
WHERE: Just Genealogy Dance Floor in Wollah (click here for Slurl)

Our favorite DJ, Jaffee Gaffer, will be spinning the tunes, so hop on a dance ball and dance the night away (for an hour or so). Be sure to enable your media player so you can hear the music.

Come in costume or come as you are.

You won’t want to miss this fun event! 😀

October 2017 Meeting

October 7, 2017 /

Please join us on Sunday for our monthly society meeting.

When: October 8, 2017
Time: 5:30 p.m. SLT (same as Pacific Time)
Where: Fire Pit at Just Genealogy

We will be voting on an important change to the bylaws at this meeting. Members, please plan to attend so we can have a quorum to conduct this business. A copy of the proposed change to the bylaws was sent to all members in September; if you did not receive a copy, please contact vice president Ellington Sweeney.

Society president Genie Weezles will give a presentation on “visual bookmarks and easy access to your favorite websites.”

The SLVGS is open to all genealogists in the virtual world of Second Life. To join, or for information about membership, please visit this link.

Our meetings are free, and all are welcome to attend!

August president’s message

August 3, 2017 /

It’s August and the end of summer is almost in sight! For some of us that means life may settle down again to a normal pace soon. (One can hope, right?).   At our July meeting we discussed possibly switching to an every-other-month meeting schedule, that would alternate with the SL-APG group meetings.  Then we completely forgot to send out notices so that there could be 30 days prior to the next meeting to vote on this at our August meeting. So! Watch for an email or in-world notice in the near future, so that we may vote on that at our September meeting instead.

Our August meeting will proceed as usual, on the second Sunday of the month, August 13th at 5:30pm Second Life Time (Pacific).  Ellington Sweeney, our VP will be giving a presentation titled  “Lineage Society Checklist: Increase Your Chances of a Successful Application!” 

You’ve finally decided that this is the year you will apply to the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Mayflower Society, or other lineage society of choice. But… how do you begin? Find out what steps you can take to prepare a successful application before you start filling it out.

August 6 & 20: Also this month we are picking up our study of Blaine Bettinger & Debbie Parker Wayne’s book “Genetic Genealogy in Practice.” We’re at chapter 6, ‘Genealogical Applications for X-DNA.’ Feel free to come listen in, or better yet participate, on the first and third Sundays at 5:30 p.m. SLT at the Family History Centre in Second Life. Everyone is welcome, no matter what your knowledge of experience level.

August 24:  Looking for a nice rousing scholarly discussion? Plan to attend the NGSQ (National Genealogical Society Quarterly) study group on Thursday, August 24 at 6pm SLT.  Ellington leads this casual group monthly. You can see this month’s reading here.

Have you got an idea for a one-time or monthly group discussion? Let us know!

As always, everyone is welcome to our meetings; however, only members may vote when one is called.  Membership has its privileges 🙂  Our society is a member of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, so our members have access to all of the benefits of FGS membership as well, including discounts! It’s easy to join, and our dues are the lowest of any I know of. See the About section for more information on joining our society.

I look forward to seeing everyone August 13!

June President’s Message

June 25, 2017 /

June has slipped through our hands, and between board members travelling, working, and holidays, we’ve really gotten off our regular meeting schedule! But, we’re determined to jump right back in!

Our society meetings have been the second Sunday of the month, and July will be no exception. Everyone is welcome to our general meeting on July 9 at 5:30 p.m. at the Just Genealogy Fire Pit.  We’re going to have a brief business meeting, followed by a presentation on “Using Airtable for Research Logs.”

Airtable is a completely free, incredibly useful organization tool — it’s kind of a spreadsheet, kind of a database, but better than any you’ve used before, and absolutely wonderful for genealogy research logs!

Everyone is welcome to our meetings; however, only members may vote when one is called.  Membership has its privileges 🙂  Our society is a member of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, so our members have access to all of the benefits of FGS membership as well. It’s easy to join, and our dues are the lowest of any I know of. See the About section for more information on joining our society.

I look forward to seeing everyone July 9!

February President’s Message

February 13, 2017 /

RootsTech has officially come and gone , and those of us that went are still trying to recover.  What an amazing week! It was great to meet some of our members in person!

Thank you to the group members who have paid their dues and are now official members of both the SLVGS and the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS)!  For those dues-paying members, we now have a private section of this website  (Members) which will include the FGS newsletter and other benefits.  If you are a member and would like instructions to register, see your SecondLife notices for the SLVGS group, or contact Ellington Sweeney, MilesAMeyer Resident, or me, Genie Weezles (Tami Osmer Mize) for more information.  Our SecondLife Virtual Genealogical Society dues are 1200 Lindens (roughly $5 US) annually, paid in-world, and cover a full calendar year, Jan-Dec.

COMING UP!

  • Monday night, February 13, Clarise Beaumont is hosting a Valentines Day dance for the Genealogists in SecondLife at Just Genealogy, with our favorite DJ, Jaffee Gaffer. Everyone is invited. There will be prizes for best costumes/outfits.  Please don’t hesitate to come and join in the fun. SL dances are a great time for conversation, and “dancing” is as simple as clicking on a dance-ball – no talent or coordination needed!
  • Next Sunday (the third Sunday of the month), February 19, at 5:30 pm, we begin our DNA study group study of the NGS book by Blaine T. Bettinger & Debbie Parker Wayne “Genetic Genealogy in Practice.” As I mentioned last month, the plan for this group is to help extreme beginners get an understanding of DNA .  For me, up til now, it pretty much has stood for “Don’t kNow Anything”  🙂  If you’ve been wanting to figure it out, but felt a bit overwhelmed, join us! The book is available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle edition, and through the National Genealogical Society’s website.
    Please read CHAPTER ONE thoroughly prior to the meeting so we can discuss our thoughts and learn together. We will meet on the porch of the Family History Centre for this.
  • The fourth Thursday of the month is the National Genealogical Society Quarterly NGSQ study group which is open to anyone, to discuss an article from the NGSQ, led by Ellington at the Fire Pit. You can find the reading list here.
  • The fourth  Sunday of February will bring a fun, entertaining, and educational FIELD TRIP led by Ellington Sweeney. We will meet at the Fire Pit at 5:30 pm SL time, and then teleport for a short 3-5 minute tour of our SLVGS Clubhouse, and from there, on to a very cool site that Ellington has found for us to explore. The details and a Landmarks will be at the fire pit for latecomers to follow.

In March:

We will start holding our traditional “Meet & Greet,” a very informal and casual get together to help newcomers to SecondLife with basic functions – walking, clothing, focusing, etc. – on the first Sundays of each month at 5:30 pm (SL / Pacific time) at the Just Genealogy fire pit, possibly other locations in the future. Everyone is invited to bring their questions. We’ve all been newbies!

All of these events can be found on the Calendar here on the website.

Hope to see you soon! Leave a message here or on the Genealogists in SecondLife Facebook page if you’d like more information, or need some SecondLife help.

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