The world, through the magic of technology, is at our fingertips. A search on Google or any search engine brings forth more information than we often have time to digest, but it’s there waiting for when we do.

I was an early embracer of all things Internet, and technology in general, because I was teaching in the eighties and nineties when both emerged. Somewhere between 1984 and 1986 we bought our first computer while living in Malaysia. Not wanting to break it, I took a night class to learn computer basics. Perhaps I didn’t read the advertisement properly, because I ended up learning how to write computer programs in DOS (the old Disk Operating System before Windows 95 took over), rather than the basics of how to use a computer without breaking it. And yes, I did manage to successfully write a simple program and use the computer.

When the Internet became available, I sat my students around a computer and watched animals drink from a waterhole at night, somewhere in Africa, where a webcam had been set up. With the time difference we could see it in realtime, and it was amazing.

We’ve come a long way since then and as hard as I try, I can’t keep up with the changes that are happening around me in the wonderful world of technology. But, I’ll keep plodding along.

Perhaps the most significant change has been the advancements that impact my latest obsession – genealogy. DNA testing and websites that link families to their ancestors through DNA, have advanced significantly with the growth of the Internet, and technology.

The number of websites that offer DNA testing and matching is gaining momentum, almost daily. Most have a cost-free component, with limitations, and almost all have a subscription basis for more sophisticated results.

And that’s where I have landed, in March 2023. Fifty percent of my DNA is of British heritage, especially those who came to our Australian shores in chains in the 1700s and 1800s from Britain. The convicts belong to my mother’s side of the family, which is fitting given that she was a bit of a larrikin (in the nicest way). Finding my maternal ancestors hasn’t been too difficult because their antics are well documented in the history of this ancient land of Australia, and freely available.

But the other fifty-percent of my DNA is a very different story. My father’s father was born in Sweden and arrived in Australia in the early 1900s, which means my paternal ancestors are in Sweden (except for some who migrated to other countries). Records from Sweden were, and continue to be meticulously kept, but are not necessarily freely available.

My DNA was tested with Ancestry, and if I didn’t need to search Swedish records, I could manage with a reasonably affordable subscription that covers Australia and Britain. But I need access to worldwide records and DNA matches to find my ancestors beyond my Swedish great-grandparents. Ancestry’s worldwide membership is more expensive.

In the past twelve months I’ve become fixated on verifying information, which I should have been doing all along but wasn’t, so the focus is now on finding original documents rather than trusting information from other people’s family trees. And for those documents I need another subscription – ArkivDigital – a Swedish database of Church and other records. Fortunately, an annual membership isn’t too outrageous, but it comes with the added necessity to access a reasonable translation website because the documents I need are in Swedish. To their credit, ArkivDigital has a component that translates as much on the page as possible, but the documents are still worded in Swedish. The document searches are a work in progress and I’m learning as I go.

With all the advancements in technology, our search for ancestors has been made easier. The world is at our fingertips, but some parts are just out of reach unless we sign up for a paid membership,. The cost is justifiable given that someone has to locate and digitise the documents and maintain the website. If nobody pays, what would happen to our access to all those records and documents?

Memberships and subscriptions are sometimes a necessity, but always worth it.