Kim -- Thanks. Your path sounds a lot like mine. (It really was fun being a name collector!) But I never had much of a feeling of being put out of any club that I wanted to be a member of. If and when I received criticism I tried to make use of it . . . when I understood it at all. These days, the judgments I see made are not exclusionist -- they're made not because people are not certified or accredited, but because they just aren't doing good work. The article that started all this discussion named no names, but did name some basic standards, and left it up to the readers to decide where they fit in. Nothing elitist about that in my book. (Plus, anyone who is certified or accredited knows good and well that it does not in itself prevent them from making mistakes or having bad judgment.) More at http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com/2012/11/misteaks.html. Harold On Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 11:49 PM, Kim Ostermyer <kim_ostermyer@yahoo.com>wrote: > I have a confession to make-- > > I used to be one of those genealogists mentioned. I was a genealogy > greenhorn at one point and it was a lot of fun. I had adrenaline rushes > when I was doing my drive-by genealogy. I enjoyed the casual aspect of the > hunt. I've matured a lot in my ten years of researching--what I am capable > now is a wholly different level than what I did even five years ago. I've > become more technical and more deliberate in my research, and certainly > more analytical. > > I don't have credentials but I am fully aware that I am not a hobbyist, > amateur or hack. In the view of some, no credentials would seem that my > abilities are mediocre at best, which is a slippery slope to be on. Drawing > a line in the proverbial sand and casting out potential clients, colleagues > and fellow seekers because of their inexperience is unkind and > counter-intuitive to say the least. I think it's important to have > standards to aim for, but not to such a degree as to dissuade the curious. > > > I have always had a concern over the undertow of the elitism that I was > exposed to early on. For someone new to the field, it certainly would seem > a bit daunting and disconcerting. While I understand the desire to have a > field full of academic types with credentials and licensing, I feel it is > unrealistic to expect this of lay genealogists. I wonder if the advocates > for these standards quantify their everyday conversations with sources. I > don't mean to imply citing sources while chit-chatting, but having a > realistic expectation that a conversation is based on what could be > considered facts and not the further repeating of the opinions of someone > else. > > > I'm not on the restricting lay genealogists from joining the party, nor > will I join up. Even as I am aiming for certification myself, I know that > such a level of scholarship is atypical. If we assume that Malcolm > Gladwell's theory that it takes 10,000 hours to master something, then most > lay genealogists will never reach that point. This is what Bill Gates has > to say on the matter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsGihiSE6sM. I know > that I am beyond the drive-by genealogy because when I tell people what I > am researching, I have to break it down into simpler terms. > > > Just a few thoughts. > > Cheers, > Kim Ostermyer, futurecertified genealogist > The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive > environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to > professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > -- Harold Henderson midwestroots.net Research, Writing, and Brickwall Dismantling from Northwest Indiana Regularly Researching at the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center Certified Genealogist (SM) No. 1029 Certified Genealogist and CG are proprietary service marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists® used by the Board to identify its program of genealogical competency evaluation and used under license by the Board’s associates.