If anyone knows about this and cares to respond, please reply directly to josh.tapper@gmail.com. Thanks, Janet Begin forwarded message:
From: Josh Tapper <josh.tapper@gmail.com> Date: April 30, 2010 2:48:42 PM EDT To: abbate@computer.org Subject: question, re: Internet history and online genealogy
Dear Prof. Abbate,
My name is Josh Tapper;; I'm a freelance journalist and student at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in New York. For the past few months I've been reporting a story on the rise of mainstream, or popular, genealogy and what that means for the field at large. Ancestry.com, an online genealogy search engine and data compiler, is the world's most prominent source for genealogical research. Essentially, it controls how people do genealogy.
Generally speaking, genealogy has been on the web for years. I've often heard that it's one of the most search topics. I've also heard that genealogy (and porn) was behind most Internet activity.
I was hoping you might be able to comment on the historical relationship between genealogy and the Internet. If not, would you be able to recommend someone who might?
Thank you very much,
-Josh Tapper M.S. Magazine '10 Columbia Graduate School of Journalism
Dr. Janet Abbate Dept. of Science & Technology in Society Virginia Tech