Former first lady Melania Trump is scheduled to appear for a speech at the National Archives on Dec. 15, Bill of Rights Day, during a ceremony to swear in new U.S. citizens.

At the ceremony, 25 people from 20 countries will be sworn in as new American citizens.

Trump, who was born in Slovenia and became a citizen in 2006, will speak alongside U.S. Archivist Colleen Shogan, in her latest public appearance amid her husband's third presidential campaign.

The former first lady's husband, former President Donald Trump, has a troubled relationship with the National Archives as he is facing criminal charges for mishandling classified documents following his departure from the White House in 2021.

After adding Drive support in recent weeks, Google now also lets you scan documents using the Files app.

Last week saw some great updates to Google Drive's document scanner. First of all, it's finally available on iPhone (thank god), but the Android version also received some exclusive new features, including automatically capturing documents when the camera detects them, an improved viewfinder, and the ability to upload documents directly from your phone.

But apparently Google doesn't just have its sights set on Drive to serve as your document scanning hub. As Twitter user @Nail_Sadykov discovered, the company is also rolling out similar functionality for Google Files (at least on Android).

Once the feature hits your device, you'll see a camera icon appear towards the bottom-right of the Files window, just as it appears in Google Drive. When you tap it, you'll open the same document scanner Google added to Drive, including all the new upgrades. 

The tool gives you a choice for how to scan your documents: "Manual" or "Auto Capture." Manual capture means you can line up the document in the viewfinder yourself and take the scan as you would a photo. Auto Capture, on the other hand, gives the controls over to Files: When the app detects the borders of the document you're trying to scan, it'll automatically capture it for you.

You can read more in an article by Jake Peterson published in the lifehacker web site at: https://lifehacker.com/tech/you-can-now-scan-documents-in-google-files.

Over the last ten years, researchers have gradually been working out how to teach computers to read handwritten documents. As in most machine learning, a computer is fed training data: in this case, images of handwriting and details of what it says. It then learns how the marks on each page correspond to letters. It learns that that half circle is a “c”, that that short vertical stroke is an “i” and that it might therefore be “rice” that you wrote on your shopping list, for example.

How it does this no one is quite sure – machine learning is often a black box. But it seems likely it is at least partly learning which characters are likely to occur in sequence, thus determining that you are unlikely to want to be shopping for “qvjx”, however much the word might look like that.

This technology has been applied to handwriting from many countries and periods, from medieval manuscripts to 19th-century diaries (if not yet 21st-century shopping lists), in languages from Latin to Old French to Hebrew.

Because the technology works on the basis of image analysis, it is in theory applicable to any writing whatsoever, from Egyptian hieroglyphs to copperplate. Ten years after its initial development, some truly exciting consequences of the development of handwritten text recognition (HTR) techniques are becoming clear.

You can read more in an article in theconverstation web site at: https://tinyurl.com/4bf62k5h .

The Fellows of the American Society of Genealogists are pleased to offer grant opportunities in support of important continuing genealogical research projects. These grants are intended to assist with those projects sitting unfinished (or unstarted) on every genealogist’s “back burner” for lack of financial aid to help cover researching and writing time, costs of copies, fees, travel, and other usual expenses associated with genealogical research and publication.

Each grant is for $2,500. Projects are not limited regarding subject, length, or format, but the value of the work to other researchers and institutions will be an important consideration. Examples of possible projects include, but are not limited to, compilation of single or extended family genealogies, transcriptions or translations of original documents, bibliographies, indexes, studies of ethnic groups, geographic locations, migration patterns, legal history, etc., using genealogical resources and methods. Publication is not required, but acknowledgement of the support from the American Society of Genealogists in any distribution of the project results is requisite. Fellows of the American Society of Genealogists are not eligible for these grants.

Submission deadline: All applications for the 2024 grants must be received on or before March 1, 2023: Email to: acwcrane@aol.com, or mail to:

ASG Continuing Grants

c/o Alicia Crane Williams, FASG

4 White Trellis

Plymouth MA 02360

Purpose:

The American Society of Genealogists (ASG) was founded in 1940 to “advance genealogical research standards, encourage publication of scholarly studies, and secure recognition of genealogy as a serious subject of research in historical and social fields of learning.” Because research, compilation, and publication expenses are usually borne by the genealogical researcher, funding is often reliant on the individual’s means. Significant genealogical projects often do not meet the requirements of standard funding sources, such as academic or commercial entities. The American Society of Genealogists’ Continuing Research Study Program contributes financial support to advance important genealogical projects.

Project Scope:

Consideration of projects may include, but is not confined to, the importance of original research to be undertaken, the goal of the project – e.g. compile a genealogy of descendants of an individual or an all-my-ancestor compilation of a single individual; explore a “brick wall”; a treatment of extended families, ethnic groups, geographic locations, migration patterns, legal history, or other important studies for the use of genealogical researchers? Will the transcriptions of difficult archaic or partially illegible records be made available to researchers? Are indexes, catalogs, or bibliographies to be created?

Grants may be made for any size undertaking of any expected duration and are not required to be finished under a single grant. Publication is not a requirement of the grant, but if published or distributed to the public, acknowledgement must be made of the contributions by the American Society of Genealogists.

Project Requirements:

Applicants must complete and submit the Application Form, including a genealogical resume, a comprehensive description of the project and its history (if it has already been started), the importance of the records or subjects being studied, who will most benefit from the project and why, how the ASG Grant is expected to be used in the project, a listing of anticipated actions to be taken under this funding opportunity.

Benchmarks:

The application must include benchmarks to record the progress of the project. These benchmarks are not time sensitive. They should indicate expected development and completion goals for the grant. Benchmarks may include such things as number of pages transcribed, completion of research prior to writing, writing and production of written articles, books, website content, number of index entries made, etc. At least one interim benchmark is recommended, with the final benchmark for completion of the grant.

Adjustments to research schedules and benchmarks are allowed provided the Grant Committee is kept apprised. Recipients are required to send written reports to the Grant Committee of all benchmark achievements or adjustments when requested. Failure to send timely reports on project progress and benchmarks may result in the requirement to return funding, total or partial, to ASG.

Funding:

Each grant is for $2500 and such grants can be sequential, but not overlapping. Funds will be distributed by the ASG Treasurer after applications are approved by the Grant Committee and the Executive Board.

Terms:

Applicants should understand that acceptance of the grant means agreeing to the publicizing of the grant by ASG in social and other media, and that photos and news stories will appear tied to this activity, as well as notices posted on the ASG website.

Application

2024 Continuing Genealogical Research Project Grants

American Society of Genealogists

Phone Number(s): (cell or landline?)

E-mail address:

Website:

Please attach written responses to the following topics: Your genealogical resume.

Project background:

Is this a new project, or is it ongoing? If so, how long have you been working on this project? What does this project mean to you? Who do you think will most benefit from the results of this project?

Project size and duration:

We recommend that each proposal for a grant be for projects estimated for completion within the individual grant funding. Continuing projects may be eligible for further grants in the future. Tell us what work you intend to accomplish under this grant and how long you expect it will take. If this is part of a larger project, tell us what else might be needed. What monetary contribution do you expect to make to the project, yourself. What additional financial support are you receiving, or expect to receive, from individuals or institutions?

Project tasks: What tasks might be involved in the project?

• Research in original records in libraries, repositories, the Internet

• Research in secondary sources in libraries, repositories, the Internet

• Abstraction, transcription, or interpretation of records for this project only

• Abstraction, transcription, or interpretation of a collection of records

• Creating a database, index, or bibliography

• Compiling genealogical or historical text

• Other

Project participants: In addition to yourself, will there be others involved in the project? If so, who?

Project benchmarks and outcome: What goals do you have and how will you measure the progress of your project?

• A compiled genealogy of descendants of a single individual or extended family

• An all-my-ancestor genealogy of an individual

• An article on exploration of a difficult “brick wall,” or discovery of new information

• Transcriptions of difficult, rare, or obscure original documents

• Indexes, catalogs, or bibliographies of source materials

• Database of individuals

• A genealogical study of aggregate groups by ethnicity, religion, origin, settlement, etc.

• Other outcomes

• Expected benchmarks: e.g., number of pages or records transcribed, indexed, or entered

in a database, number of research repositories visited, compilation from research, drafting and writing articles, books, or reports, publishing articles, books, creating website content, other?

Your comments:

Please submit application on or before 1 March 2023 to: acwcrane@aol.com  or mail to:

Alicia Crane Williams, FASG

4 White Trellis

Plymouth MA 02360

 

Activists are trying to end secrecy for sperm and egg donors — a campaign that troubles some L.G.B.T.Q. families.

A thought-provoking article by Emily Bazelon published in the New York Times:

A few years ago, when he was in his early 30s, Tyler Levy Sniff took a home DNA test he received as a gift. The results revealed a staggering truth: His father wasn’t biologically related to him. Levy Sniff confronted his parents, who explained that after years of trying and failing to have a baby, they turned to a sperm donor. Following the standard advice at the time, they decided not to tell him for fear of driving a wedge into their family.

Levy Sniff felt as if he’d found a key to his identity that he was looking for. “It made sense of why I felt different from my family,” he said recently. He wanted more information about the person he called his “bio father” to understand his genetic heritage. “It was so important to me to know my bio father’s life story, his personality and talents and struggles,” Levy Sniff says.

But by the time he found his donor, through relatives on two genealogy websites, the man had died — another revelation that shattered him, he says. To Levy Sniff, the value of knowing where you come from is self-evident. “A lot of influence comes from your biology,” he says.

There’s plenty of support for this way of thinking. Recent findings in behavioral science show the role of genetics in shaping certain individual characteristics. Questionnaires from doctors routinely ask for generations of family medical history. And learning about your genetic ancestry can be emotionally powerful — one reason millions of people buy inexpensive at-home DNA tests and sign up for genealogy websites.

Levy Sniff has helped found the U.S. Donor Conceived Council, a group that advocates for more transparency when it comes to donor anonymity. In a sense, it’s a battle that has already been won: For earlier generations of donor-conceived children, secrecy was commonplace, but today the widespread use of DNA technology has ended any guarantee of anonymity for donors. As a result, major sperm banks in the United States are requiring donors to agree to disclose their medical histories up front and reveal their identities when a child turns 18.

You can read more at: https://tinyurl.com/46wfb66s.

Here is an interesting article by Caitlin Rearden published in the wfmz web site:

Forensic genealogy is being used more and more to help the police and victims' loved ones get answers.

"Forensic genealogy is being used to identify DNA that we don't know who the source is," said Teresa Vreeland, BODE Technology director of forensic genealogy services.

Investigators recently used Virginia-based BODE Technology to help solve the murder of Cynthia Baver, who was killed at her home on North Tenth Street in Reading in 2001.

The company used forensic genealogy to help pinpoint her killer.

"We use that DNA, we process it in a lab and then we upload those results to genealogy databases," said Vreeland. "We use Family Tree DNA and GEDMatch Pro. Those both allow for law enforcement use and matching and from there we are able to find who is related by DNA to this unknown profile."

The company uses the DNA collected from crime scenes or human remains to build out a family tree. It basically generates new leads for detectives by giving them names of possible DNA donors who could be a match or related to the person of interest.

"Then the police do their normal investigative work to see who might have been in our area of interest at the time that we needed that person to be there from that family list we've provided," added Vreeland.

In Baver's case it led investigators to her then next-door neighbor, Timothy Bernard, who was arrested 22 years after her murder.

You can read more at: https://tinyurl.com/4vx9tfsh

Dear Fellow Genealogists,

The Program Committee for the 44^th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy is pleased to announce that the Call for Proposals is now open. The 2024 Conference will be held in Philadelphia from Sunday, August 18 through Thursday, August 22, 2024 at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel in Center City Philadelphia. 

The deadline for submissions is 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time on Sunday, January 28, 2024.

We expect to notify proposal submitters of acceptance of their proposals before March 15, 2024. 

Conference Themes 

Speaker Compensation

Speakers may submit up to four (4) unique proposals for regular sessions, panel discussions and computer labs. SIG (Special Interest Group), Research Division and BOF (Birds-of-a-Feather) meetings are not included in this limit. 

Financial compensation for speakers is based on the number of accepted sessions. Speaker compensation is provided only to the primary speaker of a session. 

All primary speakers will receive one free Conference Registration. Only one free registration is allowed per session. Speaking or coordinating a SIG or Research Division meeting or luncheon or a BOF session does not qualify the person for compensation from IAJGS.

Speaker compensation is summarized below:

The compensation in this table only applies to the primary speaker. Hotel nights will be provided and paid for by IAJGS at the Conference hotel. The one exception to this remuneration table is the travel allowance for speakers living within 25 miles of the Conference Hotel. For those speakers, no hotel nights will be provided and the travel allowance will be $50 and is not increased if the speaker has more than one session. 

How to Submit

To begin the process of submitting your proposal, click here: Call for Proposals, then scroll down and click on the blue "Start Application" bar. All of the proposals, subsequent processing of proposals and accepted sessions will be handled on the PheedLoop conference software platform. 

Thank you for your interest in the IAJGS 2024 International Conference on Jewish Genealogy and your proposals. 

Evernote has become an industry leader in note-taking apps. However, it is not everyone’s cup of tea and has a few severe limitations. If you are looking for an Evernote alternative that offers all of the same features (or more), check out these fantastic note-taking apps that all serve as alternatives to Evernote.

1. Best Overall: Joplin

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS

Joplin is a free, open-source note-taking app that is a great alternative to Evernote. It packs many of the same features: you can access it from virtually any device and easily migrate all of your existing lists to Evernote.

Joplin supports multimedia notes, meaning you can insert images, videos, and audio files into any note. You can write math expressions and diagrams, which can be handy for students using the app to take notes during class. Best of all, as Joplin is open source, you can customize the app with plugins, custom themes, and multiple text editors. 

That being said, Joplin does include a few shortcomings. For example, it doesn’t offer the same real-time collaboration features that some other note-taking apps support. It also doesn’t include the ability to record handwritten notes or document importing. Finally, Joplin requires users to pay for cloud storage, meaning you can’t easily sync notes between multiple devices. However, if you can live without these features, Joplin is an outstanding note-taking app and the closest Evernote alternative currently available.

2. Best for Google Users: Google Keep

Platforms: Android, iOS, Web

If you rely on Google for everything, then Google Keep is a great Evernote alternative for you. It is a simple note-taking app designed to store reminders like virtual sticky notes, but it can also handle basic note-taking as well. 

With Google Keep, you can record typed or handwritten notes, voice memos, and audio notes. You can also add images, assign labels, and add collaborators, all with a simple click. Because everything is stored on Google Drive, you can access your notes from Keep on any device after you log in to your Google account.

Unfortunately, Google Keep doesn’t have any sort of desktop app, meaning you are limited to using it on a mobile device or within your web browser. Also, Keep doesn’t support any sort of sorting beyond labels, which doesn’t compare to Evernote’s organization system.

3. Best for Microsoft Users: OneNote

You can read the rest of the (extensive) article by Megan Glosson published in the marketcheasier web site at: https://www.maketecheasier.com/5-amazing-evernote-alternatives/. 

The following is a press release issued by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration:

WASHINGTON, December 4, 2023 – Today, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is making its fourth Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) release of documents related to the transfer of Obama-era Presidential records from President Biden to NARA, beginning in November 2022. 

NARA has received approximately 25 FOIA requests related to NARA’s receipt of these records. We are processing the requests on a rolling basis and posting any non-exempt, responsive records at https://www.archives.gov/foia/biden-vp-records-covered-by-pra. Today’s release consists of 15 pages of communications with NARA’s Office of Inspector General about the Penn Biden Center records. 

This statement is also posted online here: Press Statements in Response to Media Queries About Presidential Records.

Company says it believes breach was the result of customers recycling passwords 

DNA-testing company 23andMe confirmed Monday that information about 6.9 million people, about half of its 14 million customers, was accessed illegally. 

"Roughly 5.5 million customers had their 23andMe DNA Relatives profile files accessed in an unauthorized manner," a company spokesperson said in an email to MarketWatch. "Additionally, roughly 1.4 [million] customers participating in the DNA Relatives feature had their Family Tree profile information accessed, which is a limited subset of the DNA Relative profile information." 

The spokesman added that the company (ME) has no indication "there has been a breach or data security incident within our systems, or that 23andMe was the source of the account credentials used in these attacks." 

The spokesperson continued: "Rather, our investigation indicates threat actors were able to access accounts in instances where users recycled login credentials - that is, usernames and passwords that were used on 23andMe.com were the same as those used on other websites that have been previously hacked." 

The breach was originally reported by 23andMe in October.