S is for Seminars Posted 23 April 2017 by Karen Rogers The Guild as part of its education into One-Name studies holds, sponsors and presents at seminars, conferences and events on a variety of One-Name and genealogy subjects worldwide. They provide an opportunity to meet other Guild members and learn something new. Most seminars are for both members and non-members and these include not only the annual conference but events and seminars that are held throughout the year. Why not take a look at some of the seminars that have been planned on our website. Be sure to visit the members website to see what seminars are coming up near you
R is for Regional Reps Posted 21 April 2017 by Julie GoucherAs genealogists and family historians join the Guild they are each assigned to a region. We have regions that cover the English and Wales Counties and in Scotland there are three regions, Scotland South, Scotland Aberdeen and Scotland North. There is one Regional Rep for Ireland, one for Europe and one for South Africa. Australia has five regional reps, with the majority of members in the South East Region, which looks after Victoria and New South Wales and ACT. We have four regional reps in Canada and six in the United States. We also have eleven members who sit in a region called “unattached” and the members in that region reside in a variation of Countries; Jersey, Guernsey, China, Thailand, Kuwait, Israel, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. The function of a Rep is to act as a support network between the member and the Organisation. Many reps produce newsletters for their members, some monthly and others not so frequently. Other reps arrange meetings and some reps do a variation of both. There is no hard and fast rule to the volunteer work undertaken by Regional Reps, simply that they support and communicate with the members in their region. Do you belong to an organisation that has regional support? Could you share what they do and the benefits of such a role? Are you a Guild member residing in a region where there is currently no regional rep? If you are and you would like to help then please drop us an email!
Q is for Quality Services Posted 20 April 2017 by Peggy ChapmanUnder the resources tab on the menu bar of the website, (you must be logged in), click on Guild Services and find a list of member services, some of which have been covered. But did you know about the Newswatch Project, Mentoring, WARP, Awards of Excellence and many more. Let’s look at a few and see what you might be missing: Mentoring is often what can make the difference between a satisfying experience and a frustrating one. No matter what your challenge is, there may be a member who can help you through it. All you need to do is ask. Newswatch Project refers to other members giving a bit of their time to review their local newspaper for Guild surnames. This is an excellent way to get hard-to-find information from across the world. Check the list of locations and newspapers. Awards of Excellence is what is sounds like. Click on this and see a range of awards that have been given to members for excellence in areas such as, articles, websites, books, blogs completed by Guild members. I like this site because I can access examples of good research and one-name study methods. RAOGK stands for Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness, a behaviour that seems to come naturally to most family historians, and the Guild is no different. Once logged in, there is a table of Offers and Requests. The requests lag behind the offers so don’t overlook these helping hands. WARP is an acronym for Warning, Advice and Reporting point. What is that you ask? This is a service that focuses on computer and Internet security alerts related to your email alias and other Guild technology. All you need to do is subscribe and if anything does become a concern, you will be in the know.
P is for Profile Page Posted 19 April 2017 by Peggy ChapmanWhen did you last update your one-name study profile page? Does it still contain the same information that you provided when you registered the study? Or even more dismaying, did you completely overlook creating one in the first place? April is the month of spring and renewal: a perfect time to refresh (or create) your profile to match the progress of your study. Despite many of us having websites that serve as the focal point to the study, there are many reasons why an informative profile page is advantageous: in doing a google search on my own study using the very broad search of “Messervey surname”, the Guild profile page was fourth in returned hits. As well, anyone searching the surname on the Guild website will go directly to the profile page. I also find it a way to assess progress: checking the profile page once or twice a year helps to keep focused. If you do have a website, the profile page gives the reader the URL; Facebook groups and contact information for a DNA study is also listed here. Have I convinced you? Why not try a few surnames in the search box on the home page to get an idea of what other members are doing. You will find some with lots of work to do; others have enough information for readers to know the goals of the study, what stage it is, whether there is a DNA project attached, and more. Some members have extensive profile pages that leave no stone unturned! The next step is to find your profile page and do the updates. I don’t need to give you all the information here because the very helpful website team has provided an excellent tool entitled “Managing your One-Name Study profile page”. This is all you need to complete and update your profile: once logged in, you can find this information under the Studies tab on the home page. See the screen shot below. Just click on Profile Page Help and get started.