Every family historian involved in online research needs to build a digital toolbox of services and applications to support their efforts. Here’s my list of basic tools every researcher needs:

• a good web browser
• an online newsreader
• a Yahoo! account
• a Google account
• a Diigo account
• a Skype account
• a Lulu account
• screen capture software
• PDF reader and creator software
• a note-keeping system
• your own online presence.

Toolbox requirements include the following criteria:

• functionality. The software or service is available to all operating systems. In order to collaborate with other researchers, it’s important to use tools that work regardless of the computing platform each of us uses. As a Mac and Linux user, I don’t want to be cut off from my fellow researcher just because they use Windows.
• versatility. One system or account that provides multiple services is much easier to manage.
• cost. Whenever possible, I’ve recommended services and software that are free or open source. There’s so many research services and systems we have to pay for, let’s save pennies where we can.

You’ll notice when you follow the links above that each article has several related articles listed at the bottom.  A simple system of tags [keywords] helps my site software [I use WordPress] collect related articles throughout the site.