FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH: A TRADITION OF TRANSLITERACY This presentation will examine transliteracy and information literacy through the lens of family history research. As librarians and educators begin to embrace their role in supporting transliteracy, they will seek out activities to develop and demonstrate transliteracy skills in their communities. My goal is to support these efforts by demonstrating that family history research is an activity that naturally fosters transliteracy.

1. Cristina Hernandez Trotter
chtrotter@gmail.com
slideshare.net/chtrotter
Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy, October 11, 2014

2. “Transliteracy is the ability to read, write
and interact across a range of platforms,
tools and media from signing and orality
through handwriting, print, TV, radio and
film, to digital social networks.”
From “Transliteracy: Crossing Divides” by Thomas, 2007

3. “...transliteracy is not just about computer-based
materials, but about
ALL COMMUNICATION TYPES ACROSS
TIME AND CULTURE.
It does not privilege one above the other but
treats all as of equal value and
MOVES BETWEEN
AND ACROSS THEM.”
From “Transliteracy: Crossing Divides” by Thomas, 2007

4. Family Tree by Norman Rockwell

5. Written Literacy

6. Scanned Handwritten Original Document
Transcribed Print Navigation

7. Oral Literacy

8. “Oral history interviewing is simple.
We’ve been it doing for years now.”
From http://www.familyhistoryproducts.com/oral-history-interviewing.html

9. Visual Literacy

10. Numeracy

11. Artifactual Literacy

12. Digital Literacy

13. i
LOCATE  EVALUATE  ORGANIZE  USE

14. “Historical data have three basic characteristics:
(a) their form (b) the knowledge of the
informant, and (c) the relevance and adequacy
of the evidence to answer a specific historical
question. Within each characteristic, quality
will vary."
From Evidence Explained by Mills, 2007

15. From Evidence Explained by Mills, 2007

16. Context, Connection and Collaboration

17. Multi-modal, Collaborative Creation

18. “The difference lies in transliteracy’s insisitance upon a lateral
approach to history, context and culture, its interest in lived
experience, and its focus on interpretation via practice and
production.”
From “Transliteracy: Crossing Divides” by Thomas, 2007

19. Resources
Darby, Paul and Paul Clough. “Investigating The Information-seeking Behaviour Of Genealogists And Family
Historians.” Journal of Information Science. Feb. 2013, p73-84. Available at:
http://jis.sagepub.com/content/39/1/73.full.pdf+html
Fulton, Crystal. "The Pleasure Principle: The Power Of Positive Affect In Information Seeking.” Aslib Proceedings.
v61: i3 2009, p245-261.
Leslie, Bill. “Make Mine 3-D: Mementos and Genealogy.” Discovering Family History. Jan/Feb 2010, p10-12.
Lucas, Scott Anthony. “The information seeking processes of genealogists.” Dissertation. EMPORIA STATE
UNIVERSITY, 2008.
Mathews Land, Jennifer Kathleen. From Gravestones To Google: The Impact Of Internet Adoption On Genealogists’
Information And Communication Behaviors. Dissertation. Univ of Alabama. 2012. Available at:
http://acumen.lib.ua.edu/content/u0015/0000001/0000832/u0015_0000001_0000832.pdf
Mills, Elizabeth Shown. Evidence Explained. 2007.

20. Resources
Morgan, George C. “Are You Information Literate?” Internet Genealogy. Feb/Mar 2010, p14-17.
Thomas, Sue, et al. “Transliteracy: Crossing Divides.” First Monday. Dec. 2007. Available at:
http://firstmonday.org/article/view/2060/1908
Thomas, Sue, et al. “Transliteracy as a Unifying Perspective.” Handbook of Research on Social Software and
Developing Community Ontologies. 2009.
Yakel, Elizabeth. “Seeking information, seeking connections, seeking meaning: genealogists and family historians.”
Information Research. Oct. 2004. Available at: http://www.informationr.net/ir/10-1/paper205.html
Willever-Farr, H., Zach, L. and Forte, A. “Tell me about my family: A study of cooperative research on Ancestry.com.”
Proc. iConference’ 12. 2012, p1-9.

21. Image Sources
Matchbooks: https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3418/3780836484_df97818fb8_b.jpg
Coney-Bowen Cemetery: http://www.georgiagenealogy.org/wilkinson/coney1.html
Hoffman Family Tree: ttp://hoffman-news.blogspot.com/2010/04/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-hoffman.html
1855 Laurens County Map: http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/histcountymaps/emanuel1855map.htm
1940 Laurenc County Census Map: http://media.nara.gov/census-1940/A3378/GA/m-a3378-00012-00169.jpg
Photograph of Brewton School students and teachers, Brewton, Laurens County, Georgia, ca. 1897-1899
http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/vanga/id:lau117
Augusta Stock Show: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/file/10393
Jewelry Inscription:
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/d-antonio-and-klein-jewelers-philadelphia?select=5qgDGeeLUlnkclHvM3HMxg#5qgDGeeLUlnkclHvM3HMxg

22. 6 4 G r e a t - G r e a t - G r e a t - G r e a t G r a n d p a r e n t s
O n l y 1 Y o u

23. Cristina Hernandez Trotter
chtrotter@gmail.com
slideshare.net/chtrotter
Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy, October 11 2014