Your Ancestors in Pictures (YAP)

Earlier I'd talked about the value of various genealogical communities, particularly of online communities. Tonight I'd like to introduce you to a specific community on AOL that is venturing onto the World Wide Web. You are invited to join us in this endeavor.

The genealogy community on AOL has created an Internet-based website called the Genealogy Community. This site houses many resources for those of us immersed in, playing around in, experimenting with, the Wonderful World of Genealogy. There are message board on which you can browse through and post messages on your searches, find answers to questions, post questions, and get to know other people with this interest. There are links to community members' websites and links to genealogy resources. There are pictures. There are files to download on a number of topic areas. It is a growing community built just for us! Oh, did I mention there are chat rooms with scheduled chats on various genealogy-related topics?

One chat in particular that I'd like to introduce you to is incredible! It is among the most special chats I've ever seen! (Well, I WOULD say that since *I* host this particular chat!). It is called Your Ancestors in Pictures, or YAP. In this chat we talk about many things picture related and how pictures can be an important part of our genealogical journey. Topics have been known to include equipment needed to incorporate pictures in our searches, identifying ancestors in pictures, preserving and protecting pictures, the value of blogging, and even scrapbooking! Important to note: While I host this chat, I am not even close to an expert! I am learning like everyone else! This chat is generally run as a member-helping-member chat unless I have a pre-researched and pre-written presentation.

I am going to host this week's chat in the Genealogy chat room at www.genealogycommunity.com this WEDNESDAY, April 12 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. This week's topic will be two-fold: First an introduction to the chat and the format for those who are new to us, and Second, we will be discussing digital cameras. I hope you will join us with any information you have about cameras: what to look for when purchasing them, how to use them, how to get them onto your computer, etc. Whether you are an expert on the topic or a novice looking for help, I hope to YAP with you there this Wednesday!

You will need to register at the website before entering the chat room, but this is a FREE and painless process. Once registered you can click on the "Discussion Room" link in the center of the page!