Do you post your family history information online?

...more results from the Canadian Genealogy Survey.

When we asked family historians if they had posted their family tree on the Internet, 57% responded 'No', but 40% answered 'Yes'. Then we asked, 'Why/Why not?' and the answers we received were both expected and unexpected. First, the 'expected.' People said they posted their family tree information online to 'give back.' And that made good sense to us since, in general, volunteering and giving back seems to be something that is very much a part of the culture.

Second, the 'unexpected.' Most people who said they had not posted their family tree info online said it was because they 'weren't ready yet' or 'didn't know how.' We found that a bit surprising since we expected to see a lot more people citing privacy concerns.

So, when I had the opportunity to speak with the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society recently, I asked them to help me understand this response. Two things stood our for me in their comments: 1) Ancestry's software facilitates keeping some information private, most notably, information about people still living, and 2) some family historians imposed their own limits on what was acceptable to share, uploading information only for certain generations. (In other words, they didn't rely on the software to 'hide' the information, they just didn't provide it in the first place.)

So, what is your approach to sharing your family tree info? Do you post any and all information online? Or, do you selectively post information only for family members who have passed away? Are you concerned about privacy issues? Or, as my students (almost all of whom are under 25 years of age), tell me, do you believe that privacy is 'dead'?

What do you plan to do with your research?

Thanks to all the OGS, Ottawa Branch members who shared their ideas with me last Saturday. And thanks to Mike, Heather and Tania for inviting me!

One of the questions we asked in the Canadian Genealogy Survey was what people planned to do with their family history research. Here's what they said (note that the numbers add up to more than 100% because we invited people to contribute more than one response):

• 79% plan to pass it on to their children
• 57% plan to publish it in some format (book, website) available to family members only
• 29% plan to share it online
• 26% plan to publish a book that would be available to all

What was really interesting was that when people had the opportunity to write in a response in the 'other' box, the plan most frequently mentioned was to donate their family history to a local history or genealogy society. And, these results were the same regardless of whether the person completing the survey was a member of a genealogy society or not. 

What do you plan to do with your family history research?