Search Terms that Brought You to Me

Shortly after I started blogging, another blogger (maybe Amy on We Tree Genealogy?) posted an article on search terms that brought people to her blog.  With my curiousity spiked, I took a quick peak at search terms for my blog:

• family
• geneabloggers
• blog

Bummer, all very generic search terms for family history blogs.  I realized that I needed to wait after I had more content posted.  Today, on a whim I took a look again and found some interesting results.  Google and Blogger provide different results, which intrigues me because Blogger is a Google product!

Blogger indicates the following search terms are popular for my blog:

• Ida Waage blog
• Ida Waage was my Great-Great-Grandmother.  I'm certain she didn't have a blog of her own as she passed away in 1939, but I do have a few posts about her (err .. my) family.  Check the posts labeled with Waage (her husband's name) or Wicks (her maiden name).
• christie michelle sumstad
• I'm afraid you've been led astray.  It appears that search results took content from two posts and sent you here.  Rev. Sumstad officiated at Madala Wicks' funeral. Christi Sjursdatter, Madala's mother-in-law, was listed in the 1865 Norwegian Census.
• norm jorenby spanish american war
• The Spanish American War occurred in 1898, four years before my great-grandfather Norman Jorenby was born in 1902.
• weinkauf haugesund
• Were the Weinkauf's from Haugesund too?  I'm not sure, but I might have to research that now.  I announced the arrival of a new bundle of joy last September, when my cousin Isabella Weinkauf was born.   My Waage family came from the Haugesund, Norway area.

Google provided the following popular search terms:

• Haktor  (also variants Hector and Hactor)
• I've been researching Hactor/Hector/Haktor Wicks recently.  I have four posts all about Haktor Wicks:  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
• Susanville CA
• You'll find one post about a Susanville, California postcard in Grandma Leola's collection.
• Mrs May
• I don't believe I have anyone by the last name May.  Though I did a post containing Mrs. May Schrode Reep's obituary.
• stack of postcards
• Interesting choice of keywords; are you working on a postcard project?  I do have a series of posts titled "Those Places Thursday - Postcards", beginning with the Susanville, CA one listed above.
• teddy girl
• I love this one - if only because I love my teddy bears!  In Grandma Leola's collection, I found two pictures of the same girl with a teddy bear.
• emma handy wiki
• I'm quite certain that Emma Rittman, who passed away in 1918, wasn't very handy with a wiki.

Enjoy your reading!

Tuesday's Tech Tip: Tag Photos For Easier Comparisions

After scanning my Grandma Leola's collection of photos and memorabilia, I frequently found myself digging for similar photos.  I see a photo of a farm and wonder if that was the same farm in another picture, but alas it is impossible to remember where that other picture is. 

Then I realized that Google's Picasa photo program had a tagging feature, so I could be adding tags or keywords to all the photos as I went.  Windows Explorer (at least with Windows Vista) also allows you to add tags to photos.

Now as I review pictures I have scanned, I tag them with words like kids, dogs, horses, farm, and cars.  I also tag any photographer or location references that are on the pictures. 

When all the pictures have the appropriate tags, it should be easier for myself and others to look through any photos of farms and identify if they are the same farm.

Neat little tool for photo collections

Today while chatting with a co-worker about the collection of photos from my Great-Grandma Leola, I learned that Google's photo album tool used facial recognition to help users identify the people in the pictures.

So I thought I'd give Picasa a little test. I uploaded the photos from my great grandma's collection. For some of these photos I have identified the people, but for others we're still guessing. I was hoping that this little tool might help with our guessing game.

After uploading the photos I began tagging the photos using the "Name Tag" feature. Several photos in, Picasa began giving suggestions. Some suggestions were right on target. Then there were a few photos where Picasa suggested the individual could be my great-great aunt, a cousin, or my grandpa ... hmmm, do they really look that much alike? Take a look and let me know what you think ...

Picasa has suggested the boy on the left in this picture is Sara, Dennis or Don. Here are pictures of Sara, Dennis and Don. This particular boy is actually Larry. Sara is Larry's aunt, Dennis is his nephew and Don is his brother.

Now keep in mind that these photos are at least 30 years old and were all scanned images, so the incorrect suggestions could be caused by the lack of clarity in the images.

My conclusion, I'm not sold on Picasa yet, but it looks promising. Maybe after several more pictures, Picasa will have some better suggestions.