Barbara Tien discusses her role as the “ringleader” of Project Kin on the Photo Detective podcast. After her startup, Ponga, shut down, Tien decided to keep her team together and transitioned to creating Project Kin, a community focused on storytelling and family history without any financial gain. She emphasizes the platform’s global reach, privacy importance, and its emphasis on story preservation and sharing. The platform is built on a foundation of helping members tell their own family stories, with tools and support provided for free. Tien also touches on her previous use of Substack to enhance community engagement.

• Project Kin fosters a community centered on storytelling and family history.

• It’s a non-profit initiative with a global outreach, particularly across English-speaking countries.

• Tien emphasizes privacy and the preservation of family stories in digital and physical forms.

• Project Kin offers regular events and resources to help members document and share their stories effectively.

Related Episodes:

Episode 237: How Storied.com Transforms Family HIstory into Captivating Stories

Episode 240: The Hidden Stories of Tattooing: Dr. Matt Lodder on Tattoos in Photography and Society

Links:

• ProjectKin on Substack.com 
• The Lafayette Project
• Sign up for my newsletter.
• Watch my YouTube Channel.
• Like the Photo Detective Facebook Page so you get notified of my Facebook Live videos.
• Need help preserving your photos? Check out Maureen’s Preserving Family Photographs ebook 
• Need help identifying family photos? Check out The Family Photo Detective ebook
• Have a photo you need help identifying? Sign up for photo consultation.

About My Guest:

Barbara is the “ringleader” at Projectkin, a community of family historians hooked on stories. After a career in technology startups, she turned her long-time love of family history into a free, platform-independent community that encourages families to tell their stories. Through free events, tools, and articles, community members share creative inspiration, tips, and proven “recipes” for storytelling projects.

About Maureen Taylor:

Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective^Òhelps clients with photo related genealogical problems. Her pioneering work in historic photo research has earned her the title “the nation’s foremost historical photo detective” by The Wall Street Journal and appearances on The View, The Today Show, Pawn Stars, and others.   Learn more at Maureentaylor.com

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

The post Episode 258: Exploring Project Kin: Barbara Tien’s Community for Storytellers and Genealogists appeared first on Maureen Taylor.

This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by author, genealogist, and educator Nathan Dylan Goodwin. Nathan and Maureen discuss how writing, genealogy, and historical fiction intersect, and what it means to write for each. His successful Forensic Genealogist series features a mystery-solving genealogist Morton Farrier who applies genealogical research techniques to crimes.

Related Episodes:

Episode 176: Ancestor Trouble with author Maud Newton

Episode 94: Dead Still: Postmortem Photography and Crime Fiction on Acorn TV

Links:

• Nathan Dylan Goodwin
• Sign up for my newsletter.
• Watch my YouTube Channel.
• Like the Photo Detective Facebook Page so you get notified of my Facebook Live videos.
• Need help organizing your photos? Check out the Essential Photo Organizing Video Course.
• Need help identifying family photos? Check out the Identifying Family Photographs Online Course.
• Have a photo you need help identifying? Sign up for photo consultation.

About My Guest:

Nathan Dylan Goodwin is a writer, genealogist, and educator. He was born and raised in Hastings, East Sussex. Schooled in the town, he then completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Radio, Film, and Television Studies, followed by a Master of Arts degree in Creative Writing at Canterbury Christ Church University. A member of the Society of Authors, he has completed a number of local history books about Hastings, as well as several works of fiction, including the acclaimed Forensic Genealogist series, and Mrs McDougall Investigates and Venator Cold Case series.

About Maureen Taylor:

Maureen is a frequent keynote speaker on photo identification, photograph preservation, and family history at historical and genealogical societies, museums, conferences, libraries, and other organizations across the U.S., London, and Canada.  She’s the author of several books and hundreds of articles and her television appearances include The View and The Today Show (where she researched and presented a complete family tree for host Meredith Vieira).  She’s been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, The Boston Globe, Martha Stewart Living, Germany’s top newspaper Der Spiegel, American Spirit, and The New York Times. Maureen was recently a spokesperson and photograph expert for MyHeritage.com, an internationally known family history website, and also writes guidebooks, scholarly articles, and online columns for such media as Smithsonian.com. Learn more at Maureentaylor.com

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

The post Episode 190: Writing Genealogical Crime Mysteries with Nathan Dylan Goodwin appeared first on Maureen Taylor.