Content
About this webinar
Every family historian needs a solid foundation of digital skills to research, organise, and share their findings effectively. This session introduces ten essential digital competencies that genealogists of all levels can master. From managing files with confidence, to leveraging spreadsheets for analysis, to keeping track of your research, these skills will save time, reduce frustration, and improve the accuracy of your research. Drawing on real-life examples and practical demonstrations, Andrew Redfern will highlight the digital shortcuts, tools, and habits that make a difference. Attendees will discover not just how to use technology, but how to integrate it into their genealogical workflow in a way that supports both everyday research and long-term preservation. Whether you’re new to digital tools or looking to sharpen your skills, this session will equip you with the essentials for today’s family history world.
About the speaker
Key points and insights
In the modern digital landscape, family historians face the unique challenge of managing massive volumes of digital records, historic media, and complex ancestral data. This insightful genealogy webinar features expert researcher Andrew Redfern presenting "10 Essential Digital Skills for Family Historians," a comprehensive guide designed to transform technical overwhelm into ultimate research efficiency. By establishing a proactive digital mindset, genealogists learn to prioritize universal technological concepts over temporary, specific software tools, ensuring long-term adaptability as technology evolves. The presentation offers powerful, foundational strategies that seamlessly bridge the gap between historical discovery and digital organization, ultimately liberating researchers from administrative friction so they can dedicate their valuable time to uncovering their ancestral lineages.
- Systematic File and Folder Standardization: Implementing a rigorous, formula-based naming convention—such as utilizing a standardized "who, what, where, when" sequence separated by hyphens—establishes a single, logical point of authority on a computer. This structure ensures instantaneous file retrieval and effortless internet sharing while avoiding digital chaos.
- Leveraging Spreadsheets for Advanced Data Analysis: Moving far beyond financial calculations, spreadsheets serve as invaluable, formula-free research logs. By structuring data with consistent column headings and utilizing filtering or sorting functions, researchers can simultaneously cross-reference and isolate multi-layered genealogical questions that isolated text documents simply cannot answer.
- Adhering to the 3-2-1 Backup and Security Protocol: Protecting highly sensitive family history data from inevitable hardware failures requires modern safety measures. This includes utilizing dedicated password management systems, enabling multi-factor authentication, and strictly maintaining three separate copies of research data across two different media types, with at least one copy securely stored offsite or in the cloud.
To fully optimize a genealogical workflow and seamlessly integrate these dynamic technological shortcuts into daily research routines, viewing the complete webinar recording is highly recommended. Observing the live demonstrations of online image manipulation tools, advanced search parameters, and database logic provides a practical clarity that static instructions cannot replicate. Genealogists are also invited to thoroughly explore the additional technical resources, structured formulas, and comprehensive reading materials included in the companion syllabus. Investing the time to cultivate these fundamental digital skills ensures that irreplaceable family archives remain secure, organized, and perfectly preserved for future generations of family historians.
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Comments (113)
Excellent Andrew! I learned a lot. Thank you.
Andrew is always so helpful, and I’m now well and truly ready to get stuck into sorting my files. Thank you, Andrew —
Thanks Andrew, great webinar as usual. Always learn something new.
As alway, Andrew Redfern provides extremely clear, thoughtful, useable, and inspiring ideas and information. His webinars always make me review my work to date, learn and try new things, fix what's wrong in my tree or research. Redfern's webinars ALWAYS make me a better genealogist!
Brilliant! This is one of the very best digital talks I have heard. Andrew explains everything so logically and clearly with relevance to family history. Thank you
Great review of Essential Tech Skills by Andrew Redern. My absolue favorite presenter...always so clear, thorough and logical. Thanks Andrew!
brilliant webinar. I'm going to have a busy weekend trying to implement what he's said , particularly security and backup. Two to start with then on to organising folders. Thank you.
Good, practical advice