Standards Matter!

In December, Ancestry caused shock and consternation to Family Tree Maker users by announcing that the software was to be discontinued.  On 2 February, Ancestry announced that they had sold Family Tree Maker to Software Mackiev, who have been developing the Mac version for the last 6 years.  However, if you think you can relax and concerns can be dismissed, I suggest you think again.

The big issue, that of getting of your hard won data, complete and intact, out of Family Tree Maker, remains unresolved.  The release of unspecified updates have been announced, due on 1 March, but I do not hold out hope that a compliant GEDCOM export will be included.

Much has been written about the shortcomings of GEDCOM (Genealogical Data Communication), which is a dead standard because it has not been developed or supported since the late 1990s.  Despite years of agitation by independent developers, the formation of interest groups like BetterGedcom and FHISO, and many proposals for improvements, the major players in the genealogy industry have failed to co-operate in the development of a new genealogical data standard. 

A feeding frenzy of offers from other genealogy software vendors to FTM users followed the December announcement.  Sadly the widely touted idea that a GEDCOM file from FTM will perfectly transfer your data to another program is just not true.  Apart from the inadequacies of the GEDCOM standard, practically universal non-compliance with the standard further complicate data transfer.  In a series of 13 posts entitled Replacing Family Tree Maker, Keith Riggle is examining how to correct the faulty export and import processes for a range of genealogy software.  The comparison is presented as a crosswalk table. 

The take home message for the non-technical reader is that there should be no red or yellow blocks in this table. 

A program that does not comply is a shoddy product.  Customers, please demand better quality. 

Developers and vendors, please take a hard look at your product and ensure compliance, and work co-operatively to develop a new genealogical data standard.

A new functional genealogy data standard also needs to interact with other data standards.  Genealogists use archives, digital files and images, and geographic data all the time. Well established standards exist for archival (e.g. ISAD(G)), digital curation (e.g. OAIS),
digital image metadata (e.g. Metadata Working Group) and geographic information (e.g. Open Geospatial Consortium). 

Standards underpin many things we take for granted in daily life, including kitchen appliances that fit under the worktop.  Standards matter for genealogy.

The Genealogy Do-over and Genealogy Software

The Genealogy Do-Over has certainly been creating a storm of commentary.  Observing the comments has proved a shiny distraction that has lead me away from the research I had planned. 

The good stuff

Whether you are participating as a do-over, a go-over/review-over/do-better, have pressed the pause button, or are a spectator,  I think you cannot deny that the lively discussions, sharing of tips and resources, and learning something new are all good things.  I can't even begin to keep up with the volume of traffic of the Genealogy Do-Over Facebook Group. I am pleased to see Thomas MacEntee has created a Genealogy Do-Over Bag-the-web page  to bring together the now over 200 participant's blog posts, and Pintrest board but am not sure he has everything.

There has been some very interesting assessment and documentation of research processes going on:

• Jenny Lanctot shared her process map in Genealogy Do-Over: Prep Time, which involves using Dropbox, Evidentia, RootsMagic, and Wikitree.
  
• Claire Butler advocated using a research report template rather than traditional genealogy software in Genealogy Do-Over Week 1 or Why I’m Abandoning my Genealogy Software.
• Yvette Hoitink explained how she uses research reports as mini Do-Overs and argued against the full blown Do-Over in Why the Genealogy Do-Over is not for me.
  
• Sue McCormick converted Thomas MacEntee's research log spreadsheet into a database in Spreadsheets and Databases.
  
• Carrie Norwood compared the checklist capabilities Legacy Family Tree, Gensmarts and Google spreadsheet in Genealogy Do-Over - Week Something - Research Checklist.  She decided she preferred her own spreadsheet.
  
• Louis Kessler proposed the Source-Based Incremental Genealogy Fix in To Do- or Not To Genealogy Do-Over.  He lays blame at the door of traditional genealogy software, which makes source citation and documentation of reasoning onerous.

An indictment on the genealogy software industry?

Have you noticed the variety of tools used by authors of the above blog posts?  There has been an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with traditional genealogy software for some years now.  Back in 2009 I posted Data entombed in Family Tree Maker in which I described difficulties in transferring data from one program to another.  The outdated and unsupported GEDCOM data exchange format has still not been replaced.

As genealogical education becomes ever more widely available, it is not surprising that many researchers strive to do quality research.  Paradigms have shifted toward the Genealogical Proof Standard and source-centric methods.  Genealogical software lags behind the thinking of genealogists.

Tony Proctor's Hierarchical Sources explores how software might support research processes, which is much more than just a source citation.

Is your head spinning?  Yes - excellent, you have been thinking.  Welcome to the thinking person's pursuit - genealogy.

FHISO is back in action. User input needed.

In the few weeks since the beginning of August, the Family History Information Standards Organisation (FHISO) has burst back into life after an apparent slumber.  This is good news for all genealogists.

The Prize

We live in a world where many things we take for granted have been made possible by technical standards.  For example, the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) standards underpin the technology behind this blog.

Imagine:

• online records that come with the citation and provenance data embedded in a format that is understood by any genealogy database you choose
• sharing your family history with other researchers, confident that no information has been lost or corrupted
• new tools that are compatible with existing software

FHISO’s goals are:

FHISO shall work transparently and collaboratively to identify, develop, disseminate, and maintain voluntary, open, consensus-based technical standards, including necessary supporting documentation and services. The standards shall be publicly available at no or nominal cost on a non-discriminatory basis. Anyone may implement the standards for any purpose, without royalty or license fees. These rights, granted to users or implementers, may not be revoked by FHISO.

The open nature of FHISO is important because no company or organization holds a monopoly or undue influence on technical developments.

Have a listen to the interview on FGS radio with Roger Moffat and GeneJ in December 2012 for a flavour of the possibilities.

A Short History of FHISO

FHISO was established in February 2012. Many genealogists had been frustrated with the shortcomings of GEDCOM for many years. Things came to a head in 2010, when DearMyrtle and Russ Worthington demonstrated that family history data did not transfer between programs properly, which resulted in the formation of BetterGEDCOM. Different programs interpret the current de-facto GEDCOM standard inconsistently, and implementations vary in the degree of compliance. GEDCOM was developed in the 1980s and the last widely implemented update (version 5.5.1) was in 1999, so a replacement that can handle modern research methods and cope with newly available tools is long overdue.  BetterGEDCOM lead to the establishment of FHISO.

Between May 2012 and May 2013 the following vendors announced support for FHISO: Ancestry.com
RootsMagic, Inc.
WikiTree.com
ourFamily•ology, Inc
Calico Pie Limited (produces Family Historian)
Coret Genealogie
brightsolid (now D C Thompson family history)
Mocavo (since purchased by D C Thompson)
Eneclann

In addition genealogy and family history society bodies on both sides of the Atlantic also announced their support:
The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) of the United States
Federation of Family History Societies (FFHS) of the United Kingdom

An open call for papers issued in March 2013 remains in force.  To date over 50 papers have been submitted.  An initial flurry in the first 3 months was followed by a steady trickle.

In June 2013 Drew Smith’s appointment as chair was announced.  And then things went quiet. It has taken a long while to fill other positions. On 5 August 2014, the Technical Standing Committee (TSC) was announced and the board was announced on 15 September 2014. The TSC has proposed four initial exploratory groups that will start the process.

Two email forums for the Technical Standing Committee were launched on 12 August 2014.  The low volume read only list, tsc-announce is for announcements.  Much more interesting is the tsc-public for discussion.  This list has been active with lively discussion exceeding 500 messages in just over a month.

How users can contribute

Whether or not you are of a technical inclination, please do take a look at the papers and discussions. If you find the papers too technical or the forum discussions too lengthy, don’t despair. The discussions have already spawned 3 blog posts on sources and citations:

• Cite Seeing from Tony Proctor at Parallax View
• Genealogy Source Citations and FHISO - A Simpler Proposal from Randy Seaver at GeneaMusings
• Standardizing Sources and Citation Templates from Louis Kessler at Behold

A balance of contributions from genealogist users (that’s YOU) and technologists is needed for success. Please let them know about the many ways you do research in reality and how you use many kinds of programs and services that are not designed for genealogy. Tell them what is useful and what is not. Give them frequent reality checks and ask for explanations of anything in the proposals that is not clear to you.

Vendors and service providers also stand to gain from FHISO standards through meeting their customers’ needs.

Are YOU ready to join the collaboration?