Speakers at the Society of Genealogists’ Conference

Breaking the Barriers – Innovative Genealogy in the 20th and 21st  Centuries

Royal Overseas League , London . 7 May 2011

Dr Bruce Durie  FLS, FSAScot, FHEA  will be talking on -

The Future of Genealogy Education 

Session 2B, 11.45-12.45

Genealogy is at a cusp – increasing professionalism requires more formal educational provision, and the public is coming to expect educational and professional credentials.

At the same time, Genealogical Studies is becoming a recognised academic discipline. How will this be delivered, and what are the implications for existing and intending professional genealogists.

Dr Bruce Durie is Course Director, Genealogical Studies at University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, where he is responsible for the postgraduate professional Genealogical Studies programme (up to MSc) as well as a cluster of lower-level courses.

Author of over 16 books on historical, IT and genealogical subjects plus crime fiction, and many magazine and newspaper articles, he is best known for weekly appearances on “Digging Up Your Roots” and “A House with a Past” for the BBC.

His latest book is Scottish Genealogy (The History Press, 2010)

Dr Bruce Durie appears with the support of the Halsted Trust

Technorati Tags: Breaking the Barriers- Innovative Genealogy, Centenary Conference 2011, Family History Conference, Society of Genealogists

Speakers at the Society of Genealogists’ Conference

Breaking the Barriers – Innovative Genealogy in the 20th and 21st  Centuries

Royal Overseas League , London . 7 May 2011

Beverley Rowe will be talking on -  Beyond Soundex 

Session 5A, 16.30-17.30

Name matching systems, such as Soundex, have been seen as a tool for social and local historians but lacking the accuracy needed for family research. But as available datasets get larger and larger, search automation seems more attractive.

This paper compares many different methods of name matching and suggests how a family historian might proceed.

Beverley worked in social research but then (in 1962) switched to computing. Until 1985 I was mainly with educational / research organisations (e.g. London University, North London Polytechnic, International Statistical Institute). He was primarily concerned with software for social surveys and with computer centre management.

After that  he was an independent consultant and worked for a very wide range of clients on many types of application.

Beverley was a vice-president of the British Computer Society and founded the Association for Survey Computing.

HIs main computer work now is connected with a prosopographic study of a small area of Camden, London.

Technorati Tags: Breaking the Barriers- Innovative Genealogy, Centenary Conference 2011, Family History Conference, Society of Genealogists

Speakers at the Society of Genealogists’ Conference

Breaking the Barriers – Innovative Genealogy in the 20^th and 21st  Centuries

Royal Overseas League , London . 7 May 2011 

Alec Tritton will be talking on -

Family History Communication in the 21^st Century – Blogging, Social Networking and Ezines 

 Session 4B, 15.15-16.15

The digital world is changing; no longer is it sufficient to just put up a static website as there are more people using YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other Social Networking sites than search the Internet daily. The search engines today prefer blogs with regular fresh new content. This creates a challenge to the average family historian wishing to make their genealogies available to the widest audience on the World Wide Web. This lecture will help to explain how these new uses of the Internet can be used for family history.

A family historian for over 25 years specialising in burial grounds, graveyards, grave robbery and obscure nonconformist sects. From 2002 to 2006 Alec was Chairman of the Federation of Family History Societies and for the previous 3 years, the Chairman of the Guild of One-Name Studies. He has also been Vice-Chairman of the Society of Genealogists and is currently on the Lectures Working Group and Chairman of the Halsted Trust. Alec maintains the Society’s three blogging websites as well as their mailing list and professional research directory.

Having sold his business in 2002, he works selling investment property in Florida and as a Professional Blogger and SEO Specialist.

Technorati Tags: Breaking the Barriers- Innovative Genealogy, Centenary Conference 2011, Family History Conference, Society of Genealogists