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technology

Online Genealogy

I stumbled upon a site called Geni today that was supposed to be a tool for online genealogy collaboration. What I found was not exactly what I had expected. It seems to be more heavily focused on the living generations and making connections. If I had been trying to describe its function with no knowledge of what they say they are trying to do I would have compared it to friendster, myspace, or facebook – a way of making connections online with people, in this case with those to whom you are related.

I had always seen genealogy as more interested in finding and connecting with generations past. Obviously this can lead to making connections with other relatives further from your immediate family. I found Geni through a post by Paul Allen who is actually working on an online genealogy collaboration site called FamilyLink. Based on what I could see I thought that FamilyLink might be more what I would have expected.

I am curious to know what other people think of Geni. Is it what you imagine when you think of genealogy, or could it be used for genealogical purposes? Does it look like something you would want to use? I am, as yet, undecided.

By David

David is the father of 8 children. When he's not busy with that full time occupation he works as a technology professional. He enjoys discussing big issues with informed people, cooking, gardening, vexillology (flag design), and tinkering.