The February 2008 Scanfest is Upon Us!

Attention, Scanfesters! Haul out those photo albums, boxes of unsorted pictures, stacks of documents, and other family ephemera! The second Scanfest of 2008 is coming up next Sunday, February 24th, from 11 AM - 2 PM, Pacific Daylight Time.

Sally Jacobs exhorted us in a post earlier this week not to let our New Years' resolutions to organize our photos fizzle out. Getting tired of all that snow? Wishing something new would come along? Can't bear to think of those unfinished projects? C'mon, now! Join us during Scanfest, and catch the enthusiasm once again. Get those projects finished up! Take advantage of the opportunity to get to know other family historians and archivists and chat away using Windows Live Messenger, and make a monotonous job much more enjoyable!

Here are the details:

To join us, you'll need a Hotmail or Gmail account, and Windows Live Messenger downloaded to your computer (Mac users go here to download Microsoft Messenger for Mac). Although WLM states that it is compatible with Yahoo! e-mail accounts, we have had difficulty adding Yahoo! users to our chat conversation. If you don't have a Hotmail or Gmail account, it's very easy (and free) to set one up. Just go to the links in the first sentence of this paragraph. Once you have gotten set up, send me an e-mail (my address is found on this page) and I'll add you to our chat list. You'll receive an invitation message from me at my hotmail address, which will be sent to the e-mail account that you've set up for Messenger (Hotmail or Gmail), and will need to verify that I can add you as a contact.

The second thing you need to do to prepare for scanning is go to Sally's website here and sign up for her free e-mail newsletter. This will then allow you to download her helpful information called 8 Blunders People Make When They Scan Photographs...and How You Can Avoid Them All. Then you will know how to set your scanner correctly to enable you to scan your items without damaging the originals or compromising the digital images you create.

Please join us! We had such a blast last month, our biggest attendance at Scanfest, ever! Remember, you don't need to be a genealogist or a blogger. All you need is a scanner, Windows Live Messenger on your computer, and a desire to scan your family's photos or papers. See you Sunday!