Earlier I discussed the new type of community that I've begun to notice evolving. Really, it's been coming for years but I remember commenting to a more philosophic friend of mine how when I went for a neighborhood walk I would notice smaller yards, larger houses, and few people working outside or playing. The common thing, if I were walking at twilight or later, was that the iridescent glow of a television or computer monitor was often prevalent inside many homes. Granted, when I first made my observation not a lot of homes had computers so I'm reasonably sure this was the glow from the television. I believe times have changed and more people are getting their entertainment and interaction through their computers.
Instant messaging lets me video chat with my brother in Australia and his wife and newborn son. It lets my mother see my new daughter instantly and now interact with her. I can post photos to my photo site and my friends and family can keep up on activities of ours at their leisure. I'm able to send e-mails to my friends in Europe I made twelve years ago when I traveled there for business for several years.
A particularly neat thing happened last year as a result of the Internet. I have become the family documentarian and have scanned nearly every photo I have along with my parents' old family photos. Some photos date back to the 1910s. I've also made a point of labeling the photos with first and last names and dates where applicable and if possible, places. I posted all of these to my family tree web site early in 2006. Let me give you a bit more perspective now... On both my father's and mother's mother's side of the family there has been relatively little knowledge of the families. My grandmother came to the US after WWII from Italy after having married my grandfather. While she had photos and letters from her family, most of the communications didn't make it past her (not by design, it just kind of happened). As time has gone on and I've taken up an interest in my lineage, I gathered as much information as possible from my mother and my uncle. It just so happened that they seemed to have more information in their heads than they might have realized and I included it in my documentation. That should hopefully give you a better sense of how the information on my mother's mother's side was lost. So, within a couple of months of posting the information on the web site with photos, I received a communique from someone who turns out to be my mother's cousin in Italy! We corresponded and I passed the information along to my mother. It so happens that they had been curious about what had happened to my grandmother's American family. My mother and her brother had also been planning a trip to Europe and after some correspondence with the Italian family they adjusted their trip to take them to Italy to visit and stay with the Italian cousins. It turned out to be a small reunion in Italy and they had a grand visit. This summer my mother's cousin's 18 year old daughter came to the US for 6 weeks and stayed with my mother, my uncle, and my brother. She had a great time and was able to see more of the US than most Europeans do in a lifetime.
So, with that verbose story, I can only emphasize that there is a new community on the web. I still don't believe life should exist solely on the web but it can be used to enhance your life and bring infinitely greater connectivity to family and friends than you might ever hope without it!
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