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28 April 2018 By Margaret Eves Leave a Comment

Want more people to look at your genealogy blog?

If you write a family history blog and want more people to read it, here’s a way to attract more readers and, potentially, discover more cousins.

I’m going to say one word, but you have to promise to keep reading.

Promise?

Here’s the word: VIDEO

I know. You think video is hard and techy and time-consuming. But I’ve found a way to create an instant video from a blog post. And it’s free. Below is an example video and under it the secret to turning a blog post into a video.

 

Here’s a video about my grandma I made from a blog post on my personal family history blog called Family Album Journey.

 

 

(See a behind the scenes demo of how I made the video by going to vidgen.me/L5demob to sign up.)

 

     

 

How did I make the video? I used a free online app called Lumen5.

Here’s a link to the original blog post so you can see what I started with.

All you do is enter the web address for your blog post into Lumen5 and then you choose the phrases you want to tell the story. Lumen5 adds royalty free photos and lets you choose music from its royalty-free library. 

Of course, I like to use my old family photographs to go with my video story. Lumen5 lets you easily upload your digitized family history photographs and drag them in to replace Lumen5’s images. It’s really fun and rewarding to see the video come together quickly. I found the video making process helps me to tighten up my writing and make my story more engaging.

Now, you may notice, Lumen5 promotes its app to marketers. You may not be marketing a business, but you ARE trying to get your family to be more aware of their family history because you understand the benefits of knowing about your ancestors.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably noticed people like to watch video online. A video is a great way to get the attention of younger family members, which is important because we want them to know about the family stories. A short video can pull the next generation and even some older folks onto your blog. You can have the video on your text blog post so once a viewer sees the video they read the story, too.

You can also use Lumen5 to create videos from “scratch” if you want to bypass writing a blog post!

I encourage you to go ahead and pick a blog post to feed into Lumen5. Just play with it! You can try it at Lumen5.com.

Better yet, watch the live demo showing how I made the video about my grandma, Betty. Sign up for Using Lumen5 For Family History and Genealogy Videos to attend and get access to the recorded demo. Click the button to sign up.

 

Want help coming up with some stories for a video?

I invite you to get my free Ancestor Story Brainstorm Tools. The printable sheets help you springboard ideas from photos and heirlooms and get the ideas into a story. Get your family excited about their family history. Tell us where we can send your tools below.

 

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Filed Under: Articles, Examples, Resource

1 December 2017 By Margaret Eves Leave a Comment

3 Questions (and 3 Short Answers) About Digitizing Family Videos and Photos

Frequently Asked Question:

I want to get my family videos and photos digitized. What do you recommend?

The short answer: (For the longer answer for rabid genealogists and family historians go here.)

I use Larsen Digital to digitize videos, photos and slides. You can too, and get 10-15% off here.
Use the code VIDGEN15 or VIDGEN10.

Larsen Digital came highly recommended and I was happy with their work. I digitized 100 slides recently. Seeing those digitized images really took me back in time and helped me rediscover family stories, as you can see by this video.

     

 

Your next step question:

What should I do after I get my family’s precious images digitized?

Your best step answer:

Share the images and the stories behind the pictures with short, engaging videos.

Your make-it-hard-for-yourself question:

Isn’t it hard to make a video?

Make-it-easy-on-yourself answer:

No. It’s fun! Learn how to easily create videos with the fun, activity-filled Ancestors Alive On Video course, where I guide you step-by-step through the process to complete your first video so you can share it with your kids, cousins, and other relatives.

With Ancestors Alive On Video, you get access to a whole community of people who feel as passionate as you about connecting the next generation to their ancestral legacy.

Bonus question:

Is there a bonus?

Yes! Act quickly to get holiday pricing and a special bonus – a *FREE* 30-minute consult with me, Margaret Eves. I love tapping into my 20-plus years experience as a librarian, video editor, and professional genealogist to help others find and share their ancestor stories. I look forward to hearing your questions!

You will find creating and sharing genealogy videos to be rewarding and helpful in discovering and sharing your genealogy. Start today! Click here or on the snazzy yellow button below to learn more.

For the longer answer to the question “Where should I digitize my videos and photos?” go here.

 

Filed Under: Articles, Examples, Resource

27 November 2017 By Margaret Eves Leave a Comment

A Story Behind The Picture?

I digitized 100 slides over the summer.

While sorting through the images, I discovered two photos from Thanksgiving 1967, when I was seven years old.

As I looked at those photos of my seven-year-old self and my relatives, most of them now gone, my adult self suddenly realized something. I discovered a story behind the pictures.

I got an idea and quickly jotted down a script. Saturday morning, I gathered the photos into a folder on my computer, opened my online video editor, and recorded my narration, added photos, and then, the music. By noon, I had a family history story to share with friends and family.

Here is the video story:

     

 

Seeing the slides I digitized 50 years later, helped me to understand the story behind the picture.

Even if you weren’t there when your ancestors lived, your family history research allows you to tell the stories behind the pictures.

Help the next generation experience the stories…so they won’t forget.

Imagine making an Ancestor Video Story you can share with your family — a gift that will last for generations. Yes, you can do it!

Learn how with Ancestors Alive On Video, where you’ll learn by creating your own Ancestor Story Video.

If you purchase by Tuesday, November 28, 2017 you’ll get into the Ancestors Alive On Video course for just $47.

You’ll have access to the training forever (or as long as the internet lasts), including the new resources I add to it. Plus, during December I’ll be adding more video tutorials on topics as students request them. So if you join now, it will be like having a customized training!

You can learn all about the Ancestors Alive on Video training (and the pretty amazing bonuses you can get) by clicking here.

I look forward to seeing the stories you tell.

 

Filed Under: Examples

8 November 2017 By Margaret Eves Leave a Comment

Family History Case Study: What I Learned From A World War II Veteran

Getting mired in technology when trying to share your genealogy discoveries?
See how this nonagenarian bypasses tech swamps.

My neighbor, Staci, reached out to me a few weeks ago because she wanted me to meet a former neighbor named Ted, who is a 91-year-old World War II veteran. “He’s been working on old photos and family history stuff and was asking for help, but he doesn’t do computers,” Staci advised me.

Enticed by the opportunity to meet a World War II vet, I gave Ted a call and we agreed to meet at the apartment he shares with his wife, Nancy, in the basement of his son’s home.

When I arrived, Ted met me in the driveway and guided me down the flagstone path through a lovely landscaped backyard.

“Watch your step,” he advised, “it’s a bit steep.” Ted adeptly handled the walk with his cane.

My first impression was how well organized Ted is with his photographs. He has already created a spiral bound book with an image on each page with a handwritten description underneath the photo. His method is to affix the photo to the page with clear photo corners, write the description (this is important), and then take the pages to a copy center to make color copies and then bind the copies together–that simple.

His first book contains seventy pages with content on each side of the page. He wants to expand the book to include forty-five more two-sided pages.

After looking through the wonderful photos and hearing about Ted’s early life in small-town South Carolina and his adult years in Atlanta (when there were still streetcars!), I discussed the challenge of making his new expanded photo book so he could share it easily with his family.

Fortunately, Ted had taken many of his photos to a store that scanned them and created Kodak picture CDs — about twenty CDs altogether.

Unfortunately, the JPG image files on the CDs are not in any particular order and have non-descriptive file names. And, remember, Ted does not do computers.

Does this sound a little familiar? A family elder with lots of old photos; who knows about the photos, but identifying and sharing the photos in a digital format is beyond their skill set.

So, the challenge is how to get Ted’s physically copied and pasted photo pages with the descriptions (remember descriptions are VERY important) into a digital format so it’s easier for Ted’s family and future generations, eventually, to manipulate, edit, and share their family history images.

The KEY issue here is to get the photographs digitized WITH DESCRIPTIONS. Ted’s descriptions are neatly handwritten. Once we get a digital image of the description to share, later on, Ted’s family can transcribe the descriptions to combine with the photographs in the photo’s file metadata, use on a digital scrapbook page, repurpose in a video, or whatever.

But, the main objective here is to serve Ted’s needs, let him describe the photographs in the easiest way possible for him and print multiple copies of his new expanded photo book to show his family. Of course, there are multiple ways to approach this challenge.

Ted could hire me to sort through the scanned JPG photos on a computer with him at my side to add metadata, organize and layout the photos into a digital scrapbook and THEN print it.

Did I mention Ted is on a budget?

My solution (for now):

  • Research pricing and services at photo digitizing services and copy services for the digital scans. (Ted asked me to do this saying “I wouldn’t even know what to ask for!”)
  • Advise Ted to keep writing up his descriptions to prepare his pages for scanning. (Note: Ted is comfortable doing this already, so I see it as the easiest way for him to do this task, rather than voice recording or typing.)
  • Get Ted’s pages scanned and saved onto a flash drive. (I’ll go into the details of JPG vs. TIFF vs. PDF formats in another post).
  • Help Ted (or recruit a tech-savvy family member) to get the digital file ready for printing.
  • Find a good deal for printing the digital file with a cover and spiral binding the way Ted likes it.
  • Help Ted (or show a family member how) to get his digital file out to the family. Ted knows how to share his printed book.

Initially, my gut reaction was “get the photographs digitized in a higher resolution!” I even considered rescanning all the photos (hundreds of them) previously scanned in JPEG on the CDs into the higher resolution TIFF format. I also began to think about various means (all involving computers) to combine the photographs and descriptions — all tasks that would take LOTS of time and/or money.

For future generations, combining Ted’s photographs with descriptions in a digital format is important. But getting the descriptions combined with the photos is what counts, whether in a print or digital format.

As the saying goes, “Done is better than perfect.”

In this case, I saw that Ted’s way, for the most part, is the best way, because he is getting his book DONE his way.

I am grateful to Ted for his World War II military service.

I also appreciate Ted for showing me how DOING and SHOWING family history is what MAKES family history.

Do you  have an amazing ancestor photo you’d like to share? If you “do” smart phones, one way  is to record the photo with the video camera on your smart phone while telling the story about the picture. Then be sure to send the video to family members or share on social media with your family.

I’d like to offer you some free tools to brainstorm and organize your ancestor story ideas. The Ancestor Story Video Tools help you discover photos, heirlooms, and items to illustrate a family history story and then get the story into a video. Click here to get your tools and more ideas for sharing family history.

Filed Under: Examples

21 September 2016 By Margaret Eves Leave a Comment

What’s Football Got To Do With Genealogy?

If you have an ancestor or relative who played on a sports team while in high school or college, a video about their athletic activities can catch the attention of current sports fans in the family. Click on the image to see the video I made about my family’s Georgia Tech football player, Albert “Red” Davis, who became a “Ramblin’ Wreck” in the 1920s.

     

 

Not sure about making a video? Let’s walk through the process together with the Ancestors Alive on Video course. Click here to learn more. 

Check college or high school archives for yearbooks, student newspaper articles, alumni publications and photograph collections that may have images and information about your athletic ancestor’s sports activities and participation in other organizations. Check archives for the local town newspaper for coverage of college and high school sports events.

Images published before 1923 (in the United States) are in the public domain, but always remember to cite the source. For images published in 1923 or later, request permission from the repository to use the images in your video.

The school fight song makes for a great music track to go along with the images. While putting together the video about my uncle, I discovered a free downloadable MP3 audio file of Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech performed by the Georgia Tech marching band at swag.gatech.edu.

The Georgia Tech swag site allows downloads for personal, non-commercial use. Try searching for “fight song” or the title of a school’s fight song if you know it, combined with the school name to find similar music files. Always check for copyright information and permission to use the recording.

NPNP-book-coverYou can see where I found some of the images for my video in the FREE eBooklet No Pictures? No Problem! 7 Great Sites for Finding Photos From Your Ancestor’s World. Click on the book cover above or click here to request your FREE eBooklet.

Make a touchdown with your family by making an ancestor story video that gets them cheering for their family history.

Want more coaching for your video making game? Join the Ancestors Alive On Video course now. Along with a bonus consult with Margaret Eves, you’ll get to play with your VideoGenalogy Facebook teammates. Have fun learning and doing! Click here to learn more.

 

 

 

Credits:

Football Game. [Between 1920 and 1930?] Image. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2013645852/. (Accessed October 13, 2016.)

Artist Unknown. “Lithograph of the Georgia School of Technology Campus, Aerial View.” Georgia Tech History Digital Portal. Accessed August 31, 2016, http://history.library.gatech.edu/items/show/1128.

Underwood & Underwood, photographer. [Woman With Headphones
Listening to Radio]. [Between Ca. and Ca. 1930, 1920] Image. Retrieved from
the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2012649424. (Accessed
May 29, 2016.)

“Ramblin’ Wreck” Fight Song courtesy of Georgia Tech at http://www.swag.gatech.edu/

Filed Under: Examples

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