Genealogical Education: Finding Internet-Based Educational Content for Hobbyist Genealogists

Abstract

The hobby of genealogy is today one of the most popular leisure pursuits for everyday people. Not since the mid-19th centurys period of fluctuating genealogical popularity (Taylor & Crandal, 1986) have we seen so many people in the western world tracing their family tree. In the United States alone, Maritz reports a rise in genealogical interest from 45% in 1996 to 60% in 2000 (genealogy.com, 2000), and since that date, the figure has been steadily rising to 75% in 2003 (Pew Research Centre, 2004). Not only are people of all ages, from all over the world, adopting the hobby as their own, many (Hornblower, 1999; Tedeschi, 2001) report that millions of genealogists use the internet for their research. Although, as Wellman and Haythornthwaite (2003) declare, the internet has grown to be of common use in our everyday lives, it has also revolutionised genealogy (Willard & Willard, 2001); a catch phrase utilized no less that four thousand times on the internet. Genealogy is the science of studying family origins, generally utilizing pedigrees. A genealogist is, at the very minimum, one who collects vital statistics about birth, marriage, and death events and organizes these facts into pedigree charts and family trees. The hobby can be a personal endeavour and social phenomenon; though it is also extremely methods- and learningbased; a fact-finding and information-seeking pursuit requiring knowledge in family structures, life records, history, and methods.