As I type this, here in the Midwest, we’re hoping that temperatures will climb into the 20s from the frigid temperatures that we’ve been experiencing. With heating costs skyrocketing, I have become the “energy police” in my house, running around behind everyone turning things off and quoting my father -- “Turn that off! We don’t own stock in the electric company.” “We’re going to end up in the poorhouse,” and of course, the ever-popular, “Do you think I’m made out of money?”

During the days when I’m home alone, I turn the thermostat way down and bundle up in layers. Despite my warm and cuddly sweats and fleece, it still gets quite drafty in my office though. The old windows in there aren’t quite what they should be, so I began moving my “pile” filing system to block the drafts. While somewhat helpful in keeping me warm, it really wasn’t the most energy efficient solution to the problem, and it most certainly wasn’t a help to my research. So I dutifully filed the pile correctly and replaced it with that mammoth pile of holiday catalogs that grows with every visit from the mailman. Much better!

Of course the media is all over this story. You can’t turn on the TV without some newscaster showing you how Buster Doright has turned to burning last year’s fruitcakes or something similar to heat his home. There are all the usual tips about reversing your ceiling fans, installing weather stripping, and putting plastic wrap over the windows (which I finally did use to replace the catalogs when the pile got so high I began worrying about being buried alive by them).

Of course my duties as chief of the energy police require that I watch all these broadcasts and learn all about the latest gadgets that will save me money in the long run. I’m finding that some are no-brainers and require little or no expenditure on my part. With our family history, we may be overlooking some opportunities to make our research more “energy efficient” as well. Let’s take a look...

Do Your Own Broadcasting
Back in April, Megan wrote about the virtual post-its that are available on Ancestry.com and EllisIsland.org. RootsWeb.com also supports post-its (or post-ems as they call them) on WorldConnect, the SSDI and several of its vital records databases. Post its tag records found in databases with additional information, alternate spellings, contradictions, or even questions. Then when someone else runs across the record, they can read you post. If you include your email address within the text of the post, they can also contact you to exchange information.

Online trees like the Ancestry World Tree, message boards and mailing lists can also help you to broadcast the surnames you are interested in and possibly connect with other researchers working on the same lines. The MyAncestry page at Ancestry.com also provides the opportunity to list names and places you are researching through the appropriately named, “Names and Places I am Researching” feature (a new and improved version of the old Research Registry). All of these tools allow you to broadcast your family information so that you can connect with others or be notified of records that may help pull down some of those brick walls. Very energy efficient!

Been There, Done That?
If you’re like me, you probably jumped on the broadcast bandwagon years ago. So are you still being energy efficient. Think back to the message board posts and queries you put out years ago; how many email addresses ago was that? Will people still be able to locate you through those posts? To locate old posts, try doing a vanity search for some of your old email addresses to locate old posts. On the Ancestry.com/RootsWeb.com message boards, use the advanced search and search for your name in the author field. Then you can update the email address by posting a reply to the thread.

Automated and Ranked Searches
When ranked searches first became available through Ancestry.com, I shied away from them. Then one day I was playing around with Family Tree Maker and checked out the search function there, which also uses the ranked search, and I happened across an entry for one of my ancestors in a database where I didn’t expect to find him. That opened my eyes a bit.

In contrast to the Exact Search, the Ranked Search casts a wider net and because of this, you’ll want to include more details to bring the closest matches to the top. You will see imperfect matches, but that’s the idea. It helps you to locate ancestors where names and dates aren’t correct in the records or index. Because it is a more flexible search, it sometimes turns up unexpected results. I still like to go in and do more direct searches in databases where I believe my ancestors are included, but when that fails, it’s nice to sit back and let the technology sort through some of the alternatives for me.

People I'm Looking For
I’m also becoming a fan of the People I’m Looking For feature, also on the MyAncestry page. Not only does it help you to keep track of the records you’ve found on your ancestors, but once you enter their profiles, Ancestry.com searches its databases periodically and will notify you by email if it locates a possible match. You can control how often Ancestry.com notifies you of possible matches by going into My Accounts (in the upper right hand corner) and then clicking on “Update My Communication Preferences” (in the top right box titled “My Account Information”). At the bottom of the page it allows you to specify whether you’d like to receive alerts once a week, twice a month, once a month, or not at all.

Make Time to Get Familiar With Your Tools
I’m really bad when it comes to learning about the tools I have. I tend to skip the whole manual thing and dive right into using them. Often I find that there are features that I overlook this way—features that could be helping me save time and energy. Since my life really has to run on a schedule these days, I’m penciling in time each week to get familiar with the software programs and electronic tools I have. I bought a photo editing program that had all kinds of neat features, like creating calendars, newsletters, cards and the like, and although I finally have installed it, I have only briefly looked at the manual and have attempted (unsuccessfully) to use it once. This week it is on my schedule and I will start this time by reading the manual. (What a concept!)

Juliana Smith is the editor of the Ancestry Daily News and author of The Ancestry Family Historian’s Address Book. She has written for Ancestry Magazine and Genealogical Computing. Juliana can be reached by e-mail at ADNeditor@ancestry.com, but she regrets that she is unable to assist with personal research.

Copyright 2005, MyFamily.com.