52 Weeks to Better Genealogy : Week 9 - the results...

Amy Coffin of the We Tree blog (and hosted by Geneabloggers) presents "52 Weeks To Better Genealogy", a series of weekly genealogy prompts / suggestions / exercises that (hopefully) will help anyone to become a better researcher.

The challenge for week 9:

Pick five genealogy blogs and read them every day. Meeting new people and networking within the online genealogy community is a great way to expand your own research and experience. Reading the blogs of others will help you get to know others. Try to find some blogs that are out of your area of expertise. Lists of genealogy blogs can be found at Geneabloggers.com and Genealogue’s Genealogy Blog Finder. If you already subscribe to many genealogy blogs, find five new ones that are “outside the box,” perhaps in history or archives. If you have a genealogy blog, write about the blogs you discover and introduce others to them.

The results:

Since I am a (relative) newbie on the geneabloggers circuit, I have been exploring the listings of blogs on both Geneabloggers and the Genealogue, especially those with a Canadian bent (for obvious reasons) and adding to my blog feeder.  Likewise with history blogs, especially those that deal with either Canadian or World War I subjects.  But outside my comfort zone?  This took some searching...

And this is what I've come up with:

Swedish Genealogy @ Of Trolls and Lemons

My step-great-grandfather was supposedly Swedish, but with a name like Frank Johnson, it's going to take some fancy research two-step to track him down! In the meantime, I'll start by reading about Swedish (along with Norwegian and Italian!) genealogy, of which I am completely in the dark.

Podcasts @ The Genealogy Guys Podcast

Isn't it sooo cute!  ;-) 
(And please ignore the cat food in the bottom right corner...)

At this years' staff Christmas party, I was the lucky winner of an iPod Nano! While I have an MP3 player (and will probably keep that for music as well as the handy built-in recorder), this new piece of technology (and thus the exploration of the Apple iStore) led me straight to podcasts and (of course) genealogy podcasts in particular.

I had never paid much attention to podcasts (bad genealogist!), but now I'm listening to the back issues? (shows?) of The Genealogy Guys and while there is a lot of useful information, I also find myself tuning out during the American-specific material (as well as the dated stuff - I've just started 2006).

Australian History @ Yarra Plenty Library Local History Blog

I know zip about Australian history, so when I stumbled upon this library's local history blog, based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, I knew it had to make the list. As far as I know, I only have one connection to Australia: a first cousin, 3 times removed, whose sister-in-law was apparently born "somewhere" there.

Wisconsin Genealogy and History @ Midwestern Microhistory

I (finally) found the same first cousin (3 times removed) mentioned above in Wisconsin (though he was born in Carleton county and is buried - or at least has a headstone - in Wellington county) with his wife. So in an attempt to education myself about the records available, I'm now reading "Midwestern Microhistory" (and learning about Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan to boot!).

Forensic Genealogy @ Identifinders International

I am a fan of C.S.I. (the older seasons, especially), but I tend to avoid anything DNAish as it pertains to genealogy - it holds no interest for me. However, when I found the Identifinders' Blog while searching GeneaBloggers for "outside-the-box" ideas, I couldn't help but be hooked!

Please Note: This challenge was originally published the week of 27 February 2010 at GeneaBloggers. I'm continuing the series on my own after a lengthy (cough, cough) break from genealogy...