ABSTRACT
The development of information and communications technology over the past two decades, in particular the spread of the Internet, has brought with it many changes. While new communication technology recasts the relationship between people and locality by shrinking time and space, rather than undermining the importance of locality as a source for identity, it may instead reinforce it. This chapter examines Internet phenomena in relation to the growing leisure pursuits of family history and genealogy. Although family history is an increasingly popular pastime, it is difficult to gauge the exact number of people in active pursuit of their lost ancestors, and few academics are concerned with people who pursue family history. While the digitisation of archive sources is far from comprehensive, a new form of Internet capitalism as represented by on-line genealogical services, analogous to the print capitalism proposed by Anderson, is beginning to emerge.
