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Archiver > GEN-EDITOR > 1997-10 > 0876001445


From: Janet Reinhold <>
Subject: Editor stuff
Date: Sat, 04 Oct 1997 14:44:05 -0700


Thanks to those who responded to my plea for "updated" reference books. I
am especially grateful because until now I didn't know that the citing of
references in genealogy might be different than, for example, in a term
paper. This is very interesting and I am looking forward to learning
more. I am also looking forward to finding something which addresses
citations of "electronic" sources e.g., websites and such.

Which leads to another thought I've had more & more recently. Forgive me
if this is so "old hat" that it might be boring. But it seems to me that
we are at a sort of "turning point" - by "we" I mean, perhaps, genealogists
(in one sense) and yet, if you think about it, the "we" may have broader
ramifications to society in general....

It's the computer. It's email. And then, it's the internet.

As an editor of a print periodical dedicated to surname genealogy, I should
be more specific. I have maybe 30% of my subscribers (just a guess) who
don't have computers at all. Then, of the 60% or so who do have them,
perhaps 20% aren't on line at all. So we have on one hand a group of
researchers who aren't computer literate, and on the other hand we have a
group who is. Some of them talk to each other in a way which is faster and
perhaps more ephemeral than others.

The "turning point" I refer to is, I suppose, an in-between place in which
not everyone is speaking the same language yet.

One has to see that instant communication is a good thing. You are
immediately international in scope. Now, thanks to the internet, we have
researchers of our name in Australia, Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, and
Canada. Thanks to email lists (I now moderate KUNKEL-L) some information
can be disseminated to all of them at once. Web sites are terrific for
bringing new folks into the fold.

But what about the non-computer types? Some feel they are too old to
learn, or don't want to. Others can't afford a computer. Now all they
have from me is what I print for them. I guess I am afraid they will miss
something. Actually, I am wondering if there's a place in a hard copy
newsletter for "internet things."

And yet, there are disadvantages to the email society, too. I know I'm not
alone in feeling frustrated when a person you want to contact about a line
has changed his email address! I try to swap mailing addresses whenever I
can so that this won't happen. And an email address, even if it's good,
means nothing to someone who doesn't have access to email.

Janet Reinhold
PO Box 4001
Covina CA 91723
Family genealogy at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/8878
Editor for the Kunkel Kunkle Conkle Gunkel "Spindle" Family Genealogy
Newsletter at http://www.flash.net/~conkle/INDEX.HTM
Fax: 626-915-0798
Email:
New: Listowner for

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