eBook Review: The Future of Memories

Denise Barrett Olson, blogger, writer, scrapbooker, and editor of The Moultrie Creek Gazette, recently released The Future of Memories: A digital publishing primer for the family historian. Anyone who has sung the "I'll publish the family history some day" blues should read this book; it makes some day feel a lot like today.

Denise has established a solid reputation as a tech-savvy writer at her several Moultrie Creek blogs, and I always learn something new from her software reviews, technique tutorials, and Research Notes. But what I enjoy most about Denise's blogs is seeing how she puts her tech know-how to work with her own family history projects. The Future of Memories is such a project.

From scrapbook-style photo layouts to video slideshows to Blurb Books, Denise offers her own digital publishing projects as examples for the services and techniques showcased in The Future of Memories. This is a unique feature of digital publishing unheard of in the world of print books. Read the Barrett family's story of a toy boat regatta, learn how Denise organized and assembled photos to build a photo slideshow and create a movie, and finally, click a link to watch the 4-minute "Caroline Cup Regatta". That's something you just can't do with paper and ink.

Denise is a big fan of Flickr, the photo-sharing website. I admit, I just can't find my way around it; every time I try to set up a group or photo share I end up creating a photostream of the wrong pictures with a really wrong name. I wish I had read Denise's step-by-step instructions first. I like her idea of using a Flickr group for events, like a wedding, as a way to collect photos from several people to build a photo book later.

Cemetery researchers will also be delighted to read "The LIving Book of the Dead," detailing how digital publishing tools are being used to develop a guide for the Huguenot Cemetery in St. Augustine, Florida. Digital publication allows a "living document," one that can grow and expand as new research comes to light.

Many eBooks are a horrible visual experience because the author/publisher fails to consider the vast difference between reading print pages and onscreen images. Happily, Denise Olson knows what she is doing and The Future of Memories is a pleasure to read onscreen. She has taken great care selecting appropriate fonts and designing a clean, crisp layout, and then presents the same design tips for the reader to follow.

The attractive layout is designed in a horizontal page well-suited for the computer monitor and iPad. Each page can be easily read without scrolling. The type is a simple sans serif font well-suited for screen viewing. Use of color and graphics is attractive without being distracting. Generous white space makes each page comfortable to read.

Denise's writing style is clear, concise, and friendly; she is a gifted technical teacher who must like her readers! The hyperlinks work as expected, page navigation is intuitive and unobtrusive.

Overall organization is logical and easy-to-follow. I appreciated the Table of Contents, and didn't miss an Index (Spotlight Search is even better and easier), but I would have liked to use a link roundup at the end of the book. The author gives so many useful site recommendations that I had a little difficulty remembering names to search for them later. I would also like to see a few recommendations for useful photo editing tools, although this may be a topic for another book.

Anyone who has ever thought of publishing a family history, making a slideshow or movie of family photos, or reproducing a treasured family album will enjoy the ideas and expertise shared by Denise Barrett Olson in The Future of Memories. Highly recommended.

The Future of Memories: A digital publishing primer for the family historian 84-pages Available at The Moultrie Creek Gazette, delivered in PDF format from Scribd; $2.99.

Disclosure. I purchased my own copy of The Future of Memories and did not receive any form of compensation for this review.

Using Bookpedia to Catalog a Genealogy Library

Most Januarys I get a surge of energy to whip my chaos into shape. Bookpedia book cataloging software is helping me tame the monster in my home office. I have one wall of bookcases that were double-stacked with books from my past and present lives as student, teacher, writer, researcher, and reader. I couldn’t find anything.

I’ve been chipping away at the stacks for the past week and this morning cataloged 71 books in just over an hour. With another half hour or so for re-shelving, I am beginning to see progress.

My major roadblock to previously cleaning up my books was rooted in good old sentimentality. I didn’t want to move along old books until I had cataloged them in some way. I am always trying to remember, “Have I read that before?” and I was tired of buying duplicate copies. There are too many new titles on my Wish List!

Bookpedia and the iSight camera on my new iMac have made relatively quick work of a big task. The program allowed me to set up my Library and use a checkbox “Sold” for books I am donating and/or selling. Using the built in camera, I can hold up the ISBN bar code. When Bookpedia reads the code, there is an audible “beep” and a window pops up pre-filled with information from internet book databases like Amazon. I check to make sure it is the correct volume, add my own genre keywords: Genealogy, New England, Handwriting, etc., and click Add.

The camera doesn’t work all of the time; many times the ISBN bar code seems to be too small, or maybe the book cover stock is too glossy for a good read. When that happens, I just enter the code numbers and Bookpedia finds the book information.

Many genealogy books and local histories don’t have an ISBN number. These books can be entered manually with as much information as you want.

The program displays your library in an attractive cover flow list that is fun to browse and much quicker that looking through dozens of shelves.

Bookpedia had an iPod Touch version, Pocketpedia, which is no longer available due to limitations from Amazon. Instead, the website suggests other ways to export your library catalog to your iPod Touch or iPad. I found it easy to “print” my genealogy catalog as a PDF and send it to Evernote. After syncing, I was able to view the list with cover photos on my iPod Touch. The website also describes how to export to MobileMe or a website for browser viewing.  

Even without the full-sync Pocketpedia, I think this will be a great help when travelling and attending conferences.

Heads Up: Fancy Nancy Does Family History

Fancy Nancy: My Family History (I Can Read Book 1) Now that I have four adorable nieces, I have become a BIG fan of the young girls’ book series, Fancy Nancy, featuring a little girl with a very BIG vocabulary. Maybe you are a fan too?

And as the designated family historian I am really excited about the forthcoming Fancy Nancy My Family History. The promotional copy on Amazon notes,

Nancy wants to do an interesting school report on her ancestor. (That's fancy for a family member who lived long ago.) But will she remember to stick to the plain truth?

The best thing about Fancy Nancy is her whole-hearted enthusiasm with every new adventure she encounters. I can imagine a bit of most new genealogists in this book and am anxious to see where the story leads.

I look forward to ordering a few copies of this book for the little girls on my birthday and holiday list. Maybe we can spark an interest in a new Family Curator!