2 June 2010
Dear family history consultants, center directors, and priesthood leaders:
We would like to draw your attention to a number of items that can help you in your family history calling or as family history consultants. Please feel free to share this information however you would like.
1. Modern technology provides blind individuals an easy method for working on their family history. The new.familysearch.org Web site can be accessed using the JAWS (Job Access With Speech) screen reader. Keyboard commands support signing in to the site, searching for ancestors, combining duplicates, adding new individuals, and clearing names for ordinance work. Blind individuals can also access PAF (Personal Ancestral File) using JAWS.
You can find documentation on how to access new.familysearch.org with JAWS in the Help Center (from the new.familysearch.org main menu, select Help Center, and then use JAWS as your search term). Also, blind individuals can receive personal training on how to use new.familysearch.org from a FamilySearch Support missionary at 1-866-406-1830 or by sending an e-mail to support@familysearch.org.
You can find documentation on how to access new.familysearch.org with JAWS in the Help Center (from the new.familysearch.org main menu, select Help Center, and then use JAWS as your search term). Also, blind individuals can receive personal training on how to use new.familysearch.org from a FamilySearch Support missionary at 1-866-406-1830 or by sending an e-mail to support@familysearch.org.
2. A series of online interactive courses on how to read handwritten genealogical records in different languages is available on familysearch.org. Additional lessons for each of the courses are currently being developed. The courses provide instruction and practice in reading documents written in 11 different languages or scripts.
To access the training, go to www.familysearch.org, click on the Library tab, clickResearch Classes Online, scroll down to find the Reading Handwritten Records series, and select the lesson you want to complete.
3. FamilySearch has announced a new test site where anyone can go and see the next generation familysearch.org Web site being built test-drive the site, and give early feedback so that changes can be made before the new site becomes official. To access the new test site, referred to as “Beta FamilySearch,” go to beta.familysearch.org.
4. One of the treasures that can be found at the Beta FamilySearch Web site is the following page: https://fch.ldschurch.org/
Listed below are “23 Things” (or small exercises) that you can do as a “possible” way to enhance your skills with Family History and/or Genealogy on any level. The exercises will expand your knowledge of the Internet and Web 2.0 technology. Please provide comments at the end of the various exercises and if so desired in your own blog which is covered in week 2. As in all educational endeavors of this type, the extent of your participation is your own personal decision.
We hope that this news brief has been informative and beneficial. Watch your inbox for more of these in the future.
Sincerely,
FamilySearch
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