I began tracing my family tree nearly forty years ago. I initially was interested in what my late father was doing. He was an old school researcher who had a paper pad and a box of index cards. The research was done by writing to people or on holidays visiting the areas that ancestors lived, and it was done in research centres where everyone was as quiet as a mouse scrolling away on microfiche readers and making pencil notes.
Sometimes it was done in graveyards, where we discovered the grave of my GGG Grandmother who had exactly the same name as me, middle name and all. Somewhere in a box of photos there will be an image of the ten year old Susan stood next to the gravestone. I can’t remember exactly what my thoughts were at the time, but I do remember a strange feeling in my tummy.
My friend the internet
As time went by and I got a computer and moved on from the old AOL internet to the age of broadband, I came across some genealogy software, if I remember rightly the first program I used was Gramps. I borrow Dad’s notebook and box of cards and added it all into the application and decided to see what else I might be able to find.
So many online resources
Once I got cracking I discovered so many resources. At that point I couldn’t afford a subscription but discovered community projects and staples such as FreeBMD, FreeReg and FreeCen. Probably within a month I had doubled the research that Dad had managed to do over a five year period.
The Family Genealogist
Pretty much from that moment on I became the family genealogist and my Dad and later, when I tackled her side of the tree, my Mum, simply showed an interest in what i had found. We also had a few Genealogy holidays together. In Cornwall where a big chunk of Dad’s paternal line is from and in Essex hoping to find out more about his illusive maternal line.
Genealogical Apps
Over the years since then I have used at least three other software packages looking for the perfect tool for me. There will be information about them on the Apps page, where I talk about the features of different applications, how useful they are and why I love them, or don’t.
Useful websites
On the Websites Page there will be details of useful websites I have found to help me along my genealogical way. There is that strange diving between what is an app and what is a website, but Genealogy is one of those topics where there is a very clear divide. The nature of the subject coincidentally attracts many on-line resources where the websites are built using dated technology.
Why is Genealogy so popular
Over the years since I have been researching I have seen a rise in the numbers of people interested in finding out about their ancestors. I think one reason might be because the state of modern living is so rapidly changing that more people feel that years to know more about their past rather than just hurtling to their future.
Interestingly I had a conversation with ChatGPT about the subject of why Genealogy may be so popular. I don’t know who she has been talking to (mine is a she, although I haven’t named her yet, I’m sure as some point I will, much like Alexa has a name.) I think she had some really good ideas, so much so that I am going to share her thoughts below.
What ChatGPT had to say about Genealogy
The enjoyment of genealogy can be attributed to a variety of psychological, emotional, and social factors:
Connection to Ancestry: Exploring genealogy provides a way to connect with one’s roots, understanding where one comes from and the stories of their ancestors. This sense of continuity can provide a deeper understanding of personal identity and a connection to history.
Sense of Identity: Learning about one’s ancestors and their experiences can contribute to a stronger sense of identity. Understanding the cultural, ethnic, and geographic origins of one’s family can help individuals develop a clearer sense of self.
Curiosity and Discovery: Humans are naturally curious, and genealogy offers the opportunity to uncover hidden stories, mysteries, and long-forgotten tales. The process of discovery can be exciting and intellectually stimulating.
Storytelling: Genealogy often involves piecing together narratives from historical records, family stories, and other sources. This storytelling aspect can be engaging and fulfilling, especially when it results in creating a coherent family history.
Connection to History: Genealogy provides a personal link to history. It allows individuals to contextualize their family’s experiences within larger historical events, helping to make history feel more personal and relatable.
Emotional Connections: The act of researching and discovering information about ancestors can evoke strong emotions. Learning about challenges they faced, successes they achieved, and the lives they lived can be emotionally moving.
Sense of Belonging: By connecting with distant relatives or finding commonalities with ancestors, individuals can feel a sense of belonging to a broader community, even if that community spans generations.
Preserving Heritage: Many people engage in genealogy to preserve their family’s heritage for future generations. This act of preservation is often motivated by a desire to ensure that the stories and legacies of ancestors are not lost over time.
Challenge and Problem-Solving: Genealogy requires research, critical thinking, and detective work to piece together a family history. This challenge can be intellectually stimulating and rewarding.
Connection to Others: Genealogy can foster connections with living relatives, distant cousins, and fellow genealogists who share a common interest. Sharing information and collaborating on research can create a sense of community.
Personal Growth: Engaging in genealogy can lead to personal growth and self-discovery. It encourages individuals to learn new skills, develop patience, and overcome obstacles in their research.
In summary, genealogy offers a multifaceted appeal that combines personal discovery, storytelling, emotional connections, historical context, and a sense of belonging. It allows individuals to explore their past, understand their place in the world, and build connections with both their heritage and other enthusiasts.
In today’s fast-paced work environment, it is crucial to have an effective system for managing information and knowledge. Personal knowledge management (PKM) is a process that enables individuals to collect, organise, and share information that is relevant to their work.
It involves developing strategies and tools for acquiring, retaining, and utilising knowledge to improve personal and organisational performance. PKM is an essential skill for professionals in all industries, as it helps them stay informed, make better decisions, and achieve their goals more efficiently.
PKM in Business or the Workplace
In this blog post, I will explore the concept of personal knowledge management in detail and discuss its importance in the workplace. I will look at the different elements of PKM, such as information gathering, organising, and sharing, and provide practical tips on how to develop a personalised PKM system.
I will also discuss the benefits of PKM, including increased productivity, better decision-making, and a competitive advantage in the job market. Whether you are a freelancer, entrepreneur or a drowning employee. I wish I was familiar with PKM in my last employment.
PKM for Students or Enthusiasts
If you are a student or just have a personal interest in the subject, this post should have something for you too. The art of PKM can improve your process of acquiring, organising, and sharing knowledge, in a manner that can enhance your personal productivity and growth, as well as develop skills and strategies for applying that knowledge to real-world scenarios.
This girl is clearly in the middle of a Personal Knowledge management session!
Personal Knowledge Management for the Digital era
Personal knowledge management (PKM) is becoming increasingly important in today’s digital age. With endless amounts of information available at our fingertips, it can be overwhelming to keep track of everything we come across.
Do you have an email inbox full of messages you thought you may just need again? Have you got an abundance of browser bookmarks gathered over a period of years? Do you have Facebook friends or follow people on the platform formerly known as Twitter, and can’t quite remember why they are there. Then PKM os for you.
PKM provides a set of strategies and tools to help you manage your information overload and increase your productivity. By organising and categorising information, you can quickly access the data you need and filter out irrelevant information.
PKM also promotes lifelong learning and skill development, as you are encouraged to continuously seek out new information and reflect on your own knowledge and experiences. In short, PKM is essential for anyone who wants to stay informed, productive, and competitive in today’s fast-paced world.
Types of tools that can assist with PKM
Note Taking Applications
Project and Task Management Tools
Mind Mapping Software
Creative Inspiration Galleries
Health Trackers
Financial Management Apps
Social Influence networking
Knowledge Databases
Why so many tools I hear you ask, the reason is that the most important letter in the PKM acronym is the P. It is personal. So a system that works well for one person may be next to useless for another.
PKM Influencers
There are many people on the Internet who current lead the conversation around the subject. Be it bloggers, YouTubers, Authors or often a mixture of them all. Some of the people I have taken influence from as I develop my system include but are not limited to:
Remember the key detail is that your PKM stack, that is the series of tools you use, needs to make sense to you. What types of information do you want to capture? Do you like to see clean tables of facts or prefer a more visual approach?
Learn from my mistakes
Building with Notion
When I first came across the idea of “Building a Second Brain” I saw it visualised in August Bradley’s Notion system of Pillar’s Pipeline’s and Vaults. I though it looked amazing. I wanted to keep lots of facts, I produced content for a blog and needed to keep track of that. His system seemed amazing. So I spent over a week building it out exactly as instructed. It was brilliant and I utilised it religiously every day for maybe two weeks, then I didn’t. It simply didn’t work for me, we didn’t gel, it wasn’t me or the system at fault.
First time Obsidian
I then came across Obsidian via Bryan Jenks and was attracted to the graph view. He was giving away a demo of his vault and this looked like a brilliant place to start so I downloaded it and tried using it but once again it wasn’t right for me. Obsidian felt right though just not this was of tagging things, and I didn’t need the same level of academic paper research.
Along came Nick
When I discovered Nick’s Linking your Thinking Vault that he was kindly giving away, you can feel it coming can’t you… Yup I downloaded it and sort of amalgamated it with the beginning of my vault and became swamped, even though I loved so much about it.
Finding my Flow in Obsidian
Obsidian had remained at the heart of my system because I have used if for 932 days at the time of originally writing this. I have a little gizmo on the front page that tells me that, I don’t have some weird obsession. I love the tool because it is so flexible, it can give a very different experience depending who is using it. There is also an amazing community who help create plugins for it and support each other in tweaking their setup.
Only taking the useful
Now when I see a video and I’m inspired I always thinking about what I already have, will this make things better? For instance when I saw Danny Hatcher’s Movie Library, I was inspired. I already have Movie and TV Series folders of notes, but my Dataview Query is nowhere near as nice to use as this looks, so it is on my todo list to develop a Movie Canvas and the same goes for the book one.
The Digital World surrounding Obsidian
Another big revelation I have had is that although one tool can be the apex of your system, it needs to have a network of support. It can’t do everything. Thankfully there are tools like hookmarks that enable you to connect applications to each other and flow where the data does. This is my stack.
Excalidraw
This image actually demonstrates one of the plugins within Obsidian. You can sketch out diagrams or oven basic drawings. The system has an intelligent layer working on top, all the names with brackets around them look like that and have the pin next to them because they are links to notes. So it I was to click on the word Obsidian I would be taken to the note by the same name. Clever right.
Of course this isn’t all the software I use there are many other tools that do small jobs related to PKM and of course tools that are for other purposes too, but these are some of the tools I use pretty much daily.
Investingating apps
As well as talking about Personal Knowledge Management I also talk about Apps on this blog and will cover specific methodologies and alternative apps you can use instead in more detail in weeks to come. Although notion and Obsidian are big names in the PKM arena right now, there are many other alternatives and I have stied a few of them and will review then all
In Conclusion
In conclusion, personal knowledge management is the process of managing and organising your own knowledge to achieve personal and professional goals. It is important because it helps you become more efficient, effective, and productive in your work and personal life. By implementing strategies such as creating a knowledge inventory, setting goals, and using technology tools to manage information, you can take control of your own learning and development. Overall, personal knowledge management is a valuable practice for anyone looking to improve their skills, increase their knowledge, and achieve their goals.
Tech has for a long time been one of the most important parts of my life. It is here that I will share with you the tools I use and why I love them. Also tools I may have used and why I moved on from them. As someone with a chronic illness I am often on the lookout for new devices that can make life easier.
Being a child of the digital revolution, like pretty much all of us, as it has lasted from 1947 to the current day. I was really blown away when I saw the stat:
Internet users: 4.54 billion (59% of world population in 2020)
It is hard to imagine the percentage is just under two thirds of the global population. Even allowing for infants and the elderly, knowing that they are even using the internet in parts of the third world I expected a higher percentage. The amount of times I said to my parents (born in the 1930’s) that not being computer literate now is on a par with not being literate full stop in their younger days. I struggle to get my head around people who do have the resources to access the internet choosing not to. All of life and knowledge is out there to be discovered.
My first computer
I still remember back to when I got my first computer, a Commodore 64. The games were on cassettes, I remember that Icicle Works and Fire Ant were my favourites. It amused me seeing a clip of the game play on YouTube. That once excitement I used to feel at what is now a pixilated antique.
Becoming Mobile
It the early days of mobile devices I actually got a pager, my logic at the time was unfathomable to me now, I don’t think anyone ever paged me. I guess I was one of those people who experienced shiny object syndrome before it was even a thing. I am still like that when it comes to new apps. At least now I have a purpose for experimenting with them. I can tell you all about it in the Apps section.
Apple Tech
Although I spent half of my adult life using a Window’s computer and an Android phone, around 2016 I transitioned to Apple devices and wasn’t disappointed. There is just something so buttery smooth about the Apple Eco system. It’s true that I use many third party applications but they all work seamlessly on the platform. It is only when I had a Window’s PC that I experienced a computer crashing or the blue screen of death.
I’m an Apple Girl in an Apple World waiting to bring my screens to life.
Technology is now ruling our homes
But of course Tech isn’t just computers and mobiles. In recent years, technology has seeped into our daily lives, and it is now taking over our homes. Perhaps, ironically for one who loves tech, this is why I also love crafting. It strips away the tech are returns you to using your hands to see what you can create – except of course if I am doing graphic design.
With the rise of smart home devices, we can control our homes remotely, monitor energy usage, and even automate daily tasks The main barrier really is budget, I’m not going to lie I am craving a robot vacuum cleaner…
The integration of technology into our homes made such a difference when we were going through the pandemic. Who is going to forget the chap on the news having his two young children bursting into the room. I saw the Youtube of that court case where someone’s filter was set to be a cat. There is nothing more amusing that people using technology that is just beyond their level of knowledge, unless of course you are that person, and we have all been there too!
Along Came Artificial intelligence
For such a lover of technology I was actually fairly late to the whole using AI thing. As a blogger I consider it my companion. If I am not sure what I want to say about something I will ask my digital assistant – I haven’t named her yet. She will give me a paragraph and I will be inspired, then maybe keep one sentence and rewrite the rest, I blog because I enjoy it primarily, if it can raise some much needed finance that would be a tasty icing on the cake. I have seen the videos of people churning out multiple blog posts an hour and auto posting them onto websites. That would never give me pleasure.
I have to say though my AI buddy can be a great publicist. I fed her a blog post I wrote completely on my own and asked for some tweets to promote it. They were better than anything I think I would have come up with. As a free assistant she is handy to have around.
AI Imaging
I have also began dabbling with AI imaging and I have shared some of them on this blog. On the one hand you can create some beautiful graphics, but with imagery especially we have to be cautious. It scares me how long it will take before the quality gets to the point that people can manufacture photographic evidence. There are always the maleficent among us. However, it is a while to go before then.
Amusing AI
Leading up to the Coronation I wanted to produce an image for the post What if the King had Fibromyalgia, over on Living Creatively with Fibro. In my imagination I was thinking of the image of the King, as the Prince of Wales in his red uniform, this one that seems to have featured all over the internet:
Credit Getty Images
The plan was to combine this with the famous stunning image of the late Queen Elizabeth by Sir Cecil Beaton:
Credit V & A Museum
Well I suppose I can’t deny I was given King Charles, a red uniform and a throne of sorts, but it was hardly suitable for anything other that a bit of a chuckle:
Created on Leonardo.ai
AI imagery is a lot of fun and it has created some lovely images, but I don’t suppose we are quite ready as a society to do away with photographers and artists. In the same way that most Kindle owners still have books that have to be the traditional paper kind. Technology and AI at it’s best.
The future of tech
So what will come along next, will we really have the flying cars we were led to believe in my childhood. Will we be able to write short stories, feed them into a processor and get out a short film of it? I guess none of us really know. But I sure as heck as keeping an eye out for what is coming around the corner and will sharing all my tech tips along the way.
If you are interested in my latest tech stack you can see it here in my Digital Garden
Blogging has evolved over the years from being a hobby to becoming an essential element of content marketing. What was once personal pursuit and very much an amateur past time is now embraced by companies everywhere. When did you last see a quality mainstream business website that didn’t have a blog in the menu.
The purpose of this post is to talk about blogging. How it has changed over the year and discuss some of the different platforms available to use.
Do you remember when you first created a blog, if you have had one before that is? I think my first was one I created on Blogger while on holiday. If I remember rightly it was probably nearly thirty years ago. I seem to think about 3 people read it. I then used another platform, I can’t remember which, or if it even still exists to create a private journal style blog, which was lucky if it lasted more than a month or two.
Social Media Growth
Then we had the likes of Facebook spring up and it was so easy to connect with people you know in real life that blogging took a back seat. I just didn’t see the need for it, I could express myself easily online.
Fibromyalgia changed everything
Finding help from Bloggers
When I went through my journey from perfect health to living with Fibromyalgia, two things happened at at similar time. I realised how helpful bloggers were in explaining some of the things to expect when living with a chronic illness. All of these strange things were happening out of the blue as it seemed and here were people who not only understood but had experienced it. They helped me a lot.
Do my friends really need to know all of this?
At the same time I came to the conclusion that, although some of my real world friends were interested in what I was going through, they didn’t all want to read about it in their Facebook feeds. Thinking about how much I had been helped by the other bloggers I remembered how much I used to enjoy blogging, but stopped because I didn’t have a purpose or focus. That is when Living Creatively with Fibro was born.
Choosing a Blogging Platform
Once of the first decision to be made when you decide to blog is which platform to use. For a long time there was only two real contenders.
WordPress
WordPress comes in two varieties. WordPress.org which I have used. The main attractions are that it is free (although you have to purchase hosting and a domain name) and that it is highly customisable. Think of getting a WordPress site like getting a mobile phone, there is a whole world of Applications available in the Apps store and you get the ones you want to use.
Then there is WordPress.com, this is the same WordPress basic platform but they do the work of setting things up for you. You have some degree of customisation like the theme design you wish to use but you have to be using the Business account level before you can install plugins of your choice. So basically like getting a mobile phone and being told what apps you are going to have. The pricing is for one blog only.
Blogger
Blogger as mentioned above is another long established platform. It is generally, but not always used more for personal and hobbyist blogs. To put it into perspective:
When it comes to the actual market share of WordPress vs Blogger, the numbers are not close. WordPress runs 43.3% of all the sites on the Internet. Blogger’s numbers are not nearly as impressive, as it comes somewhere around the 1.4% market share point.
However in recent years there has seen the rise of more choices. Some of these include:
Ghost
Ghost is a bit like WordPress in that the actual platform is open source and free to use if you set it up yourself. Although, I have to say as a fairly experience blogger now, setting up Ghost is not that easy. You will need you watch some tutorials or read a few blog posts. WordPress on the other hand is a one click install from most hosting providers. One thing Ghost does really well is make it easy to send a newsletter out straight from your blog. You can embed secret bits of text into a blog post that only email readers will see.
Squarespace
I have no experience of using Squarespace but it looks like it is a really clean blogging environment but from what I can see and have heard is rather limited in what you can do. In terms of the market share, the fact that spellcheck seems to think it is an incorrect word gives me an impression, correct or otherwise.
She is just waiting for inspiration to start blogging.
Choosing Hosting
If you decide to go down the WordPress.org route the next step is to choose a web host. This is both incredibly easy because there are so many but also difficult as opinions are so varied. Rather than make some suggestions I will tell you what I would have wanted to know when starting out.
When searching the internet and coming across comparison articles and videos first see who is making them. If it is made by the hosting company look for further opinions. If it is made by a user see if they have an affiliate link. I’m not saying what they say isn’t completely true but they have a vested interest and some bias. Using a site like Reddit to see what people are saying on the subject is good. Several users of a service with no reason to promote it is always a good sign.
It is also a good idea to try and find a service based in your country for logical reasons.
Two types of hosting
Having said all that there are two main types of hosting. Shared hosting which basically means that your files are on a huge hard drive shared with other peoples. Don’t worry they will have backups in case anything happens to that hard drive. Then there is cloud hosting. This is a bit like services like Dropbox and Google Drive. Your files are basically stored on the internet often duplicated to various places around the world, so the data doesn’t have as far to travel to your readers.
A simplified View
This is a simple overview of hosting and if you use shared hosting there are tools like content delivery networks that can help replicate the process of cloud hosting. If you are brand new to blogging it makes sense to use a shared hosting provider while you find your feet and get to know how it all works. My only other piece of advice is, it is not usually a good idea to go with the cheapest. Also look at the renewal cost as some companies give you a very cheap first year then it hikes up the year after.
I hope this overview has helped with some of the basics. If you happen to have Fibromyalgia or a chronic illness you may want to check out the post Why blogging is good for spoonies.
Recently I wrote about Growing My Second Brain and the Publication of Tiago Forte’s Building a Second Brain. Then last time I talked about BrainTool which I am using as a partner app to my Second Brain, in my case to organise my everyday bookmarks as well as the bookmarks that are saved for a specific purpose, in other words as a TO-Do item.
Since the publication of the book (I have been reading his blog posts and been aware of the system since long before this) I have become aware of an increase in tool to either create a second brain or to help support it. I thought I would mention a couple I am currently using, even if they overlap.
Matter
Matter is a reader tool, similar to Instapaper and Pocket. It is only for IOS and not Android at this stage (but I believe it will come to Android in the future). They also have a browser app that lets you add an article while browsing or read anything from your queue on a larger monitor. As expected, you can tag items and add highlights. The app is beautiful to use and there is an Obsidian plugin that lets you import your highlights straight into your 2nd Brain.
I came to Matter because as a new app, it is free. I am sure with time, some features will become premium, and believe me they deserve to be. As someone who lives on a limited budget due to my chronic illness. It will then be a cost juggling game.
Glasp
Glasp is very new to me, I am talking about a tool I have had for less than two weeks. It is not actually an app, but a browser extension. It is an intriguing concept, of knowledge influencing.
Highlights
At the basic level, you can highlight your article. Although it is considerably better as you have a choice of four highlight colours. After reading (and highlighting) this article about working with highlighters, I discovered the benefits of having more than one highlight colour. My scheme is: Yellow: Standard highlights, insights you gained. Blue: Facts or Terminology. Red: Statements I disagree with, and Green: The main takeaway point/s.
Shared Knowledge
As well as your own highlights page, you can select up to ten topics of interest and discover articles other people have been highlighting on the same subject. If there is somebody who regularly shares things that fit in with your areas of interest, you can follow them directly to see all their highlights. Of course, you can share your highlights straight to social media, or if you use it, your Readwise Account. Most importantly for me your highlights, with the key metadata paste easily into my Obsidian Vault.
A growing Industry
I think it is safe to say that knowledge applications are a growing industry. We all have our own quirks and ways of doing things. Also, fans of knowledge management are often tech and app fans and can easily be tempted to try something new.
Find your Tools
I am trying to not app switch if I can help it at the moment. The grass is always greener but to fully understand a tool, I believe will make you more productive.
Growing BrainTool
For instance, until I found BrainTool I was using Raindrop. I still think it is a beautiful tool, and I like the fact it is cross-platform. But the concept behind Brain Tool speaks to me. So other that some quick access bookmarks on the free tier, I am moving away from it to focus on ensuring BrainTool is as organised as I need it to be, and hopefully encouraging it to become a bit prettier 😃.
Matter or Glasp
If these two tools came together, it would be my perfect system. Well, basically, bringing in the three extra colour highlighters to Matter and being able to follow specific subjects rather than authors. I write about a selection of subjects, and I imagine the readership to all of them will be miniscule. Although, I know many bloggers/authors write about one subject in depth. My niche is broad, everything that is involved in my living with Fibromyalgia.
So, I can’t answer the question yet re: whether I will stay with either Matter or Glasp. Perhaps I will collect things into Matter and process them with Glasp. I don’t know, and it irks me. I want to streamline, and I have no clear direction. Furthermore, I have found recently I have struggled with some decision-making. I don’t think I can blame this on Fibro Fog, it is far more to do with perfectionism which, along with hyper-fixation, seem to come under the umbrella of ADHD. Not a condition I have been diagnosed with, but read quite a lot about the condition in adult females.
