Calls and revelations
This blog post has been in the pipeline for a while now. I’ve had several things on my mind about genealogy. Some good, some bad and some I just want to highlight.
I’ll start with something good. Every day, I’m so happy to see the community grow and develop into something wonderful. The Genealogy Twitter Community has been of use to many to ask questions and to just have a separate timeline that is just pure genealogy. I love seeing everything that appears and in many cases how quickly someone gets a very helpful response to their query.
Now that we’ve started on a positive note, it’s time to highlight something a bit more negative. For a long while, I was under the impression that the connection between younger genealogists and professional genealogists under the idea of mentoring was going in the right direction. That was until I saw this tweet from a colleague of mine, Katharine Andrew.
Katharine Andrew, MS/LIS 🏳️🌈🇺🇦 on Twitter: "1/2 It has occurred to me that more than a few people including myself have been subject to either grooming, unsolicited advances, or/and inappropriate behavior during talks about "mentorship" or with a "mentor." A well known one at that. / Twitter"
1/2 It has occurred to me that more than a few people including myself have been subject to either grooming, unsolicited advances, or/and inappropriate behavior during talks about "mentorship" or with a "mentor." A well known one at that.
To say this alarmed me, was an understatement. How very naive of me to think that something like this couldn’t happen in our community. Yet it has. On more than one occasion too. To whomever this is, I’m stunned. This tweet and issue should have gotten more attention so that is why I am mentioning it.
This next part will be brief as it’s about DNA which I will admit I am not knowledgeable on. I follow many genetic genealogists on Twitter as I’m interested in their work. I’ve seen some say that there has been false reporting and misleading information when it comes to genetic genealogy in the media. I’m afraid I can’t comment too much but this in itself is rather frustrating. One recent instance of this was in a YouTube video done by crime YouTuber Kendall Rae, covering the case of Holly Marie Clouse. There were two genetic genealogists in this case: Misty Gillis and Allison Peacock. She displayed photos for both genealogists, however, while getting Misty’s photo correct, for Allison’s photo — a photo of reporter Lise Olsen was put in the video instead.
Another thing was seeing this tweet, which in my opinion was forgetting about adoptees and others.
Ubaka Ogbogu on Twitter: "Stop sending your DNA to genetic testing and genealogy companies. Just stop. / Twitter"
Stop sending your DNA to genetic testing and genealogy companies. Just stop.
Being friends with an adoptee, a DNA test would be the main and sole way to find their family and if people don’t send their DNA and do not have a database of people to test, surely it’d be more difficult?
This discussion then led me to discover this thread from Rebekah Henson.
Rebekah #CitizenshipForAdoptees Henson on Twitter: "Here's something I really need people to hear and understand:ADOPTED PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS IN THIS COUNTRY. (🧵) / Twitter"
Here's something I really need people to hear and understand:ADOPTED PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS IN THIS COUNTRY. (🧵)
This is going to be a mix of a positive and a negative. In recent times, I started a course on Computer Science. I’ve met my classmates that I will know for the next four years but if there’s one thing that it’s shown me is how diverse in background my classmates are. There are people from Nepal, Pakistan, and Nigeria to name a few. But the thing that I realised is how much of a focus is placed on European genealogy and North/South American & Canadian genealogy. To give an example, this is what is online records for Nepal.
I think there should be a wider focus on other countries and highlighting their record sets.
Another thing yet a recurring theme is for stereotypes in general to stop. Stop thinking that young people aren’t capable of doing proper research & stop thinking that all experienced genealogists are against young genealogists. These are two generalisations that I’ve seen thrown about which should stop. We’re genealogists, we’re finding our ancestors, and we all have different backgrounds. Age shouldn’t matter, on either end of the spectrum. I won’t say any more on this part as I have discussed this topic before on many occasions.
The final thing I’d like to raise and mention is the importance of accessibility in genealogy. If we want to be more inviting, we need to make our content accessible for all internet users. One reason I tend to write with Medium is so you can listen to posts that you see on Medium. Dr. Sophie Kay has been amazing in promoting this policy on Genealogy Twitter. I’d recommend reading this post from Sophie about how you can make your content more accessible, it is well worth a read!
Dr. Sophie Kay on Twitter: "Can I get you on board with doing your bit towards a more accessible, disability-friendly #genealogy world?Start working through these six tips and you can help us make sure everyone is welcome at the #FamilyHistory table...https://t.co/GPjA4IFXhm / Twitter"
Can I get you on board with doing your bit towards a more accessible, disability-friendly #genealogy world?Start working through these six tips and you can help us make sure everyone is welcome at the #FamilyHistory table...https://t.co/GPjA4IFXhm
But I think things are definitely improving and I hope that we are on the way to being more inclusive and better. I hope that this didn’t seem to pessimistic but I think that this would’ve been better rather than a Twitter thread.