Last week Ol' Myrt wrote about saving our research travel dollars by going online. But summer IS coming, and so are the family reunions. Scheduling research time in a nearby cemetery or county courthouse will double the impact of the dollars spent getting to and from the family gathering.
Cindy Thomson shows us how to make the most of our travels and take our research with us in her article "Family History on the Go!" in the January 2009 issue of Internet Genealogy, pages 50-51. Regarding that trip to your relatives, she takes it up a notch by suggesting:
"Even if you have no wireless access, take your laptop along. You can share photos, take notes and record valuable oral family history. If you have a digital voice recorder, record family stories and then immediately download them to your computer for safekeeping."
To this Ol' Myrt would like to add that many laptops come with built-in microphones, and it isn't necessary to buy expensive mics that plug into the mic port on your computer's sound card.
Audacity is free "audio editing" software that allows you to record interviews. Then use the software to combine multiple recordings, in addition to editing out long pauses, and adding background music and such. Jsut be sure you convert the file to .mp3 format to share with others.
Check out the tutorials at http://audacity.sourceforge.net and download the software for your PC. Mac users will remind us they have similar pre-installed software.
Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
Your friend in genealogy.
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