I just started using Geni. It is a social genealogy site, which lets you start building a family tree in a simple, elegant interface. When you add relatives, you can specify detailed information including email addresses. Those members can then be invited to edit their own profiles and complete their branches of the family tree.
It seems to be a very viral and interactive way of approaching genealogy. I have had usability problems with similar software in the past, as well as issues with gathering the information on my own. It is hard for a few family members to spearhead the effort to create and maintain everything. With this approach, it seems easier for an entire family to participate in the effort.
A major problem with online genealogy information though, is privacy. Comments on the Digg story include a limited discussion of the possible problems with untrustworthy administrators and/or security breaches. A cursory exploration reveals that Geni is founded and backed by well known people, but the strength of that guarantee is subjective. Hopefully, user privacy will be protected according to the site's policy. For my part, I will just enter basic information and leave it up to each of my family members to decide whether they want to add more detail like I have.
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Saturday, February 10, 2007
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