The genealogy research that you do is important! You might be creating the only record of your family tree that has ever existed. In addition to learning more about your own family, you can use your genealogy related skills to help out others. Here are a few suggestions about how to do that.
There used to be a website called Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness, (or RAOGK). It was run by a woman named Bridgett Schneider. The website started in 1999 and ended in 2011 when Bridgett, who was 64 years old, passed away.
The original website for RAOGK is no longer available. However, there is a Facebook page that is still functional. Genealogists who have hit the infamous “brick wall” go there to post information about exactly what they need help with. Other genealogists can connect with that person through Facebook by posting comments on the RAOGK page. This is a great way to use your skills at genealogy research to help out a fellow genealogist.
Find A Grave allows people to add their relatives to the website. The photos that you took of your relative’s and ancestor’s tombstones could be posted to Find A Grave, where other genealogists can get access to them. To get started in that process, you need to fill out their submission form.
FamilySearch is still working on indexing the records for several different projects. You can get started right away, and then submit the information that you copied to FamilySearch. If you have questions about how this works then I recommend checking the FAQ page on their website.
As far as I can tell, the indexing work on the 1940 census is still a work in progress. FamilySearch also has a bunch of worldwide indexing projects going on, and plenty of future indexing projects for when the current ones are finished.
Ancestry.com wants people to take a survey. They are interested in learning about your opinion of their website. There is potential that the comments, ratings, and suggestions that you make while taking the survey could be a starting point for making Ancestry.com, one of the most popular genealogy websites, even better!
RootsWeb has tons of suggestions about how to use your genealogy research to help others. There is a way that you can submit your records to their user-contributed databases. You can post your family surnames on the RootsWeb Surname List (RSL). Genealogists can upload their family tree to the World Connect Project. It is a database of family trees submitted by thousands of RootsWeb.com researchers.
Image by John Karakatsanis on Flickr