As I continue working on the family history project, I'm wondering about the next steps. The project started several years ago when I sent my DNA to Ancestry to find out about my roots. Unsuprisingly, my DNA showed exacly what my mom had always told me which is that my ancestry is about 75% Irish and 25% Polish.
Since that time I've learned a lot more about the positive and negative aspects of sharing your DNA, and how countries around the world are manipulating that data for their own gain. I don't think I'd recommend sharing your DNA without doing the research so you know what you are revealing about yourself and your family. That said, and the fact that my DNA has been shared, leaves me with a lot of data about my family, and questions about where I'll take the project.
Project Parameters
When you begin researching your family history, you discover both positive and not-so-positive aspects of family history. You have to tread gently with that in mind as I don't want to intrude on people's privacy or conjecture about what my research unveils. So one parameter for this project is to be respectful with information.
Next, I want to keep the project positive. The main theme of the project is to discover threads of good living throughout time--the traditions, routines, and decisions that people made that enriched life. For example, I have noticed that throughout time there has been a strong trend of valuing family and taking care of one another. That's a thread I want to support going forward, and a thread I enjoy learning about as I research past family members.
So, in general, the project parameters are to treat information with respect and to focus the research on finding positive threads of living throughout time.
Next Steps
The next steps will be to organize all the information I have to date in a website--that will take some time. Then, as I learn new information, I wil add that information to the website as well. Essentially I'm using that website to write a family history book that others may refer to when curious about our very large extended family.
Value
The value of this project is that it centers on one of my most loved life questions which is What is a good life? I truly love to think about this project, and a look back in time helps me to think about this question with greater depth and breadth.