The 161 Meme

I've been tagged for a meme by my friend Lori Thornton at the Smoky Mountain Family Historian, a very interesting and informative blog that's on my daily to read list.

I'm to open up the book I'm currently reading to page 161 and read the sixth sentence on the page, then think of 5 bloggers to tag.

Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson, page 161, line six:

At Christmas, Abba sang and played with the children, trying to cheer them as the snows mounted outside the door.

I'm writing this very quickly, because if my husband catches me blodging instead of lying in bed, I'm toast.

As the sentence discusses Christmas, I tag Jasia at Creative Gene who's well on her way to Christmas.

Chery Kinnick of Nordic Blue who's already done her "Yule" Love This! post.

Terry Thornton of Hill Country of Monroe County, because I think he's probably a Christmas kind of guy. You have to love a man who loves his cat.

Thomas MacEntee at Destination: Austin Family who's got us all going on Family History Advent Calendar posts, and

Dr. DNA (The Genetic Genealogist), because well, Christmas is in the genes. And don't you think a sentence from a book he's reading might create a really interesting 161 Meme?

I hear footsteps, pretend you don't see this!

Down But Not Out

Just a short note to let everyone know that I'm a bit under the weather.

I'm seeing the doctor and taking the tests to determine if I have pneumonia. I don't think I do, but I'll let the doctors do their job.

I'm staying down, as I've been instructed and am reading a new book called Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson. A really good book, when I'm able to concentrate.

Back to posting soon!

Good Good Good Good Citations - Lee Anders

Good good good good citations
I'm pickin' up good citations
Your giving me excitations
Good good good good citations [1]


Lee Anders of the I Seek Dead People Blog has given us several examples of beautiful citations in her blog post, Calling All Historical Photo Enthusiasts, not to mention the fact that the entire post is a thing of beauty. From her writing, investigation, and photographs, to her attention to detail, this is a great read and very easy on the eyes.

There has been a lot of discussion recently regarding standardization of citation formatting for blogs. I am researching and testing all the different ways source citations are being used in online magazines, scholarly articles, books, blogs, etc. in an attempt to develop my own style sheet.

For bloggers, it is the ease of use we would like to retain. None of the dreaded html coding for us. In my own citations I have employed the same method of notation as has Lee. Here is an example of her footnoting method:

The little girl looks about 3 years old, the little boy about 4 or 5, and both are impeccably dressed. I haven't been able to find out much about boys' clothing, but the girl's dress and hairstyle appear to be from the Edwardian era (1901-1910).[3]

The simple bracketed number method [3] following the section being cited.

Lee then places all her citations at the end of her post and labels them Endnotes.

It is a debate among online scholars as to whether these are in fact footnotes or endnotes. I see no difference; the placement will be the same for blog posts. The end of blog posts are both the bottom of the page (footnotes) and the end of the article or chapter (endnotes). I prefer Lee's use of the term endnotes.

My personal preference is not to use inline citations (citations contained in the article itself) in blog posts or to break the article to insert a source citation. I believe this interferes with the readability of the article.

Here is one of Lee's endnotes:

Endnotes:

[1] 1910 U.S. census, Patrick County, Virginia, population schedule, Dan River, p. 15b, dwelling 258, family 258, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 November 2007); citing NARA microfilm T624, roll 1640. The only evidence we have that a 6th child probably existed is the 1910 census in which the number of children reported born to Dora Craddock is 3, and the number of children reported still living is 2.

Lee meets the three criteria of a good citation listed below; complete, consistent, closely follows the Mills Standard. Lee doesn't stop there, she also annotates her citation. I am a big fan of annotated citations, both where the annotation gives the reader extra insight into the source, or where the annotation adds an explanation of the material being cited that if placed in the article would disrupt readability. Alone this would be considered a note, here it is a note on the use of a source.

Lee also cites two online sources by creating a direct link to them. This works very well where the use of the post will be online only. The problem will occur where the article is to be viewed in printed format. At that point a complete citation to the online web site and article will be required rather than a link. (See endnote for this post.)

As none of Lee's citation were direct quotes, it was not necessary to add copyright information. (See endnote for this post.)

So great work Lee, you've given me excitations with your Good Good
Good Good Citations!

Criteria:

1. Complete - no further information is needed to find the source.
2. Consistent - citation form used is consistent throughout the blog.
2. Mills Standard - the source citation closely follows the recommendations in Mills, Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace (Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co., Fall 2007).



Notes To Good Good Good Good Citations - Lee Anders


[1] Wilson, Brian, and Mike Love. “Good Vibrations.” Lyrics. Good Vibrations, Single. Brian Wilson, 1966. Copyright ©1966 & 1978, Brian Wilson and Mike Love. Lyrics Freak (http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/beach+boys/good+vibrations_20013757.html
: accessed 18 October 2007).

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Do you know a GeneaBlogger with great citation habits? Email the footnoteMaven with your recommendation.

Little Red Genetic Hood

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Little Red Genetic Hood who lived on the edge of a large forest full of endangered male of the species and the rare parthenogenesis.

"Red Genetic Hood lived with a nurture giver whom she sometimes referred to as 'mother', although she didn't mean to imply by this term that she would have thought less of the person if a close biological link did not in fact exist."

On her way to her great-great-great-grandmother's house, the one who had had a brief encounter with some stray DNA, she ran into the Big Bad Ethics Wolf. The Wolf lived in Hill Country, a community deep in the forest. He was on his way to the Carnival to stop the proliferation of DNA testing and return the forest to those days of yesteryear, when love triumphed over all.

Red was recognized by the Wolf as the product of an obsolete sperm donor, the antithesis of all he found wrong with the proliferation of unchecked unfettered genea-genetics.

"Where are you going and what do you have in that basket?" asked the Wolf.

"Why, it's a Maternal Lineage DNA test from Ancestry.com. I'm taking it to my great-great-great-grandmother's house to see what I can find," said Red.

"DNA, Mendelian genetics, mtDNA, nuclear DNA, parthenogenesis, genea-genetics, XX phenotypes, bioethics," the Wolf snarled at Red.

"Oh my, what big words you use," said Little Red Genetic Hood to the Wolf.

"All the better to put the genie back in the bottle," he replied. "Skip Grandma Red, I'm off to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of DNA. He's at the Carnival. Perhaps if we go together he can settle all the questions about DNA and Genetic Genealogy that have come out of the forest."

So the Big Bad Ethics Wolf and Little Red Genetic Hood headed hand in hand into the uncharted path of just because you can doesn't always mean you should. See them at the Carnival!

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