Google Wave

Perhaps the newest big thing in social networking is the recent announcement by Google about its new...product? platform? protocol? All of the above? The new thing is: Google Wave.

Google Wave was presented at the recent (May 27) keynote address at the Google I/O Conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. What happens when you make a browser capable of mashing together all of the following communication/collaboration tools?

E-mail, mailing lists, message boards, Instant Messaging, blogs, wikis, collaborative documents, tags, photo sharing, video sharing, Facebook-like features...(you could probably throw in other stuff like bookmark-sharing, too).

Anyhow, my description will fall far short of any possible demo, so run, do not walk, to the video of that keynote demo, which you can find here:
wave.google.com

Watch the video, and then tell me...can you imagine what this might do for collaborative genealogical research? The mind boggles!

Second Life - the book talk

I'm going to play a little catch-up on the blog with a few postings. First, I want to thank those who set up my recent book talk on Second Life, especially SLers Abbey Zenith and Cindy Elkhart. Second, I want to thank those who attended.

And finally, I'll share a photo taken during the book talk by Barbara Collazo:

PBwiki is now PBworks

And now we know!

PBwiki becomes...?

I had just finished a quick snack (a peanut butter sandwich), and by coincidence, saw this:

http://blog.pbwiki.com/2009/04/21/official-announcement-were-changing-our-name/

And there are some additional details here:

http://pbwiki.com/content/newnameFAQ

Since the fine folks at PBwiki will still own the pbwiki.com domain, I'm sure that those going to the old address will be automatically redirected to the new one (which means that the link in the book will still work). I can't wait to see what the new name is.

The crazy world of Twitter

The social networking service that seems to be getting the most press these days is Twitter, but if you were a genealogist unfamiliar with Twitter, you'd probably get the impression that Twitter is apparently nothing more than a marketing scheme to advertise the likes of CNN, Ashton Kutcher, or possibly Oprah.

For those who haven't tried Twitter, don't worry: If you join Twitter, you won't be obligated to follow Kutcher or Oprah or any other celebrity. Twitter is a big "place", and you can use it to stay in touch with family, friends, and other genealogists, without ever seeing a single message about personalities you don't care about.

More than young whippersnappers on Facebook

I don't know whether or not genealogists can take the credit for this, but statistics are showing that the fastest growing age group for Facebook users is women 55 and older (and men 55 and older are the second fastest growing age group). Perhaps this is merely parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents keeping up with their younger relatives.

To read more about this phenomenon, see the recent CNN story.

Even more sites - LinkedIn and Twitter

There are a few more sites that I would have included if I had had the time. One is LinkedIn, a great site for business networking, and another is Twitter, which has recently seen a dramatic increase in usage.

LinkedIn would have fit in the same chapter with Facebook. While there are probably far more genealogists on Facebook than on LinkedIn, LinkedIn would probably appeal more to the person who wants a more serious networking experience (without so much emphasis on photos, games, etc.). I see LinkedIn as a very appropriate networking site for professional researchers, librarians, archivists, writers, editors, speakers, and instructors (just to name a few).

Twitter has become the predominant networking site for the short message user. It may become especially handy at helping genealogists connect at major conferences.

If you're using either LinkedIn or Twitter as part of your genealogical life, why not let us know here in the comments?