E-mail is always a problem for me when I'm on the road. I just returned from Pittsburgh after attending the National Genealogical Society Conference there. I've tried many creative ways to deal with travel e-mail over the years, and I've written about a few of them in my columns of GC Extra on Ancestry.com. After all this time, I still don't have a workable solution, primarily because I have DSL at home and therefore don't have a dial-up connection for when I'm on the road.

On this trip I tried something new and was less than enthusiastic about it, but I was able to check my e-mail. The hotel where I stayed offered high-speed Internet access through the room television for about $10 per 24-hour period. I had little trouble logging on to my DSL account and receiving my 500+ e-mails, but answering them was a challenge. The keyboard provided in the room was not very responsive for someone who types close to 100 words a minute. If I didn't watch what I was typing, strategic letters would be missing from words. So I had to slow down and watch the screen. The screen was the other problem. It was not a great view for reading e-mail and wasn't totally in focus. But again, I was able to check my e-mail and clear out the spam so the e-mails I wanted could get through. It was an interesting experience and I hope the technology continues to improve so that checking e-mail on TV would be as seamless as it is on my desktop computer.

On the subject of e-mail, I'm continually frustrated by the overwhelming amount of spam that I receive. Of those 500+ e-mails, only about 25 were for me; the rest were garbage. I try to get rid of spam, but it just gets worse. Well, there may finally be some action on this front. In this issue's Bits ‘N Bytes, Candace Doriott talks about some actions that genealogists can take to help eliminate spam and to keep some records open. Be sure to read and heed!

Our feature articles are a wonderful variety of subjects and something should appeal to everyone. Richard Robinson revisits genealogy auctions on eBay; Barbara Krasner-Khait has some ideas to get your kids interested in genealogy research; John Mountain discusses the USGS Geographic Names Information System; and Wesley Johnston explains his success at tracking non-blood relationships.

As usual, we have plenty of reviews for you, including Family Tree Maker 10, Family Tree Legends, and GeneWeaver 1.1. Our Innovators column focuses on the founders of GENTECH and the Cybrarian makes some sense of file formats. Plenty to read!

I'm happy to be home and able to read my e-mail without incurring extra charges and without having to squint to make out the words.

Managing Editor

Return to the July-September 2003 Genealogical Computing Table of Contents.