Time Spent- Saturday Challenge

This Saturday’s challenge seemed complicated with a lot of hours of calculation and really how do I separate my genealogy from other things related? It wants me to account for all my genealogy time during a given week. So, instead I’m doing an old challenge from last summer that has some similar questions that don’t require me to calculate every single minute of my day!

1)  Answer these questions in my survey about your genealogy resources and usage:

a)  Which genealogy software programs for your computer do you use (e.g., Family Tree Maker, Reunion, GRAMPS, etc.)?

I use Reunion. It is a Mac based program only. Sorry Windows users! This program is easy to use and has a lot of different report creating capabilities as well as a good display for information.

b)  Which online family trees have information submitted by you - in either a separate online tree (e.g., Ancestry Member Tree) or a universal (collaborative) online tree (e.g., WikiTree)?

After a bad experience a number of years ago with someone taking my information and changing it after a distant cousin had given them a copy of the tree we had been working on, I do not put information into online trees. The short version of the problem is that sources were completely removed, information garbled- siblings are married to each other among other things- and he claims that he’s the only one to have done work on the family, and that this tree is gospel.

I do add information to Find A Grave, but not complete trees or all of the research.

c)  For which subscription genealogy record providers (e.g., Ancestry) do you have a subscription?

I have subscriptions to Ancestry and AmericanAncestors (New England Historical Genealogical Society). My husband has access to the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society databases as well through his membership.

d)  Which FREE genealogy record providers (e.g., FamilySearch) do you use regularly?

I regularly use Family Search, Find A Grave and rootsweb/genweb sites. Also, several newspaper and obituary websites: Fulton Postcards, New York State Historical Newspapers, and Legacy for the recent obituaries.

e)  How much time do you spend each week doing actual genealogy research online?  [Note:  not reading, or social networking, but actual searching in a record provider].  Estimate an average number of hours per week.

I’m probably online about 5 hours a week usually, more if I have a chunk of time to do some research. A lot of it is on Find A Grave as I want to get as many of my families stones and those of local cemeteries photographed as possible before the stones disappear. I wish I had more of a chance to get out and photograph the stones than I currently have, but request the ones I can’t get to.

f)  How much time do you spend each week doing actual genealogy research in a repository (e.g., library, archive, courthouse, etc.)?  Estimate an average number of hours per month over, say, a one-year period.

About once or twice a month I get a chance to go to an actual repository to do research. I usually am able to devote about 6-8 hours to researching when I do. Other times it might be a quick trip to get a certain record or a short visit to find out about that repository.

g)  How much time do you spend each week adding information to your genealogy software program (either on your computer or online)?  Estimate an average number of hours per week over, say, a one-month period.

Often, I try to enter information as I go along. However, that is not always possible if there is analysis to do or if I am quickly copying pages to get the information. On an average week, I probably spend an hour or two catching up with this. Right now I have a backlog of pages of various records that I photographed while at the New York State Library in Albany.

h)  How much time do you spend each month at a genealogical society meeting, program or event (not a seminar or conference)?  Estimate an average number of hours per month over, say, a one-year period.

I’m not going to average this all out as most meetings are clumped together into the spring/fall season. I average about 4 hours probably at the Central New York Genealogical Meetings- there are 5 per year, 2 all-day and 3 half-day meetings and I attend most of them. Half shire Society is about 3 hours per meeting and I attend about 3 during the spring to fall season. I have also started attending NYSCOGO meetings that are twice a year and vary widely in the time. This spring’s meeting was about 2 hours, but involved a day and a half of research with the group as well.

i)  How much time do you spend each month on genealogy education (e.g., reading books and periodicals, attending seminars, conferences, workshops, webinars, etc.)?   Estimate an average number of hours per month over, say, a one-year period.

I try to listen to at least one webinar each week, which can be an hour to an hour and a half usually. Also an hour-long podcast or two each month. Conferences and institutes are one or two times a year and are from 3 to 5 days long. I have no idea how much time I spend reading, that varies widely, but as an avid reader, I devote whatever time I can to it.

j)  How much time do you spend each week reading, writing and commenting on genealogy blogs, websites, and social media?   Estimate an average number of hours per week over, say, a one-month period.

This falls into the above of I’m not sure how much time I spend reading. As I read both print and online, I don’t differentiate in my mind.

Whew! That’s a lot of guesses in various categories. And the amounts vary widely week to week and from season to season. You can probably see why I took a look at a challenge that asked for hours spent in a week over large categories of things and said, no I could never calculate that; or if I did I would be wasting a lot of time. My time fluctuates day to day, week to week and season to season way too much to be able to figure out an average or typical week.