Preservation

Why we should all be concerned about preservation?

Yesterday (Tuesday 10th March) there was a fatal road traffic collision on the road that I use everyday to get to and from my place of work. Although, I was not an eyewitness, I saw the immediate aftermath from the other carriageway, whilst on my way to work and was shaken and saddened to think that someone was going to be hearing bad news later that day. 

Experiences such as these can bring home the uncertainties of life.

We all like to believe we will live in to old age but even the youngest of us should be aware that we only have a limited time in which to do things.

Geoff Rasmussen who hosts the Legacy Family Tree Webinars usually finishes with the saying "Life is short, do genealogy first". Would that we could all do this. 

If there is one resolution we should all have made this year it is this, I will endeavour to get my genealogy organized so that anyone can pick up where I left off.

Those who have taken up the challenge of Thomas MacEntee and embarked on the Genealogy Do Over are to be commended as are those who have not been in a position to need to take up the challenge. Many (including me) will have started with good intentions and other commitments have somehow got in the way.

Have we set ourselves unrealistic goals? Maybe

We all need to work at our own pace and the most important thing we can do is to leave something that our families will value rather than a jumbled mass of documents and unlabeled old photographs.

How do I know that what I have will be of use to others?

We have records and photographs that we have inherited (unless we are very unlucky) and those that we have found or created in our lifetime. 

We need to make it clear how these are important to our family and each of us will have our own way of doing this.

Computers and the associated technology can help us in storing and collecting our sources of information but we need to consider how easy it will be for others to access these in the future. 

So keeping up to date or finding ways to future-proof our sources is important however we store the information.

Family history programs can help us pull together the information we have found and display it in a format which shows our connections to our ancestors but they may not be supported indefinitely.

Whilst we may want to become paperless we must all consider how we back up what we have. 

Disasters can occur and we may lose what we have collected if we only have one copy or everything is in one place.

• Label things clearly
• Back things up
• Think about who will need access to your information

What legacy do you want to leave?
How are you going to pass your work on to the future generations?
Who gets your records? 

Can't I just leave my records to the relevant archive?

When Did You Last Visit an Archive ?

Much is made of the reduction of hours or closure of an archive and with a worldwide recession there has been great pressure on public services to reduce the cost of their services. On the back of this the paymasters will be looking at the footfall for these places.

National Archives will usually be safe as they have such large collections of interest to various researchers. However smaller regional or city/town repositories may not appeal to such a wide audience and the staffing costs will be an area where they will see reducing costs as a possibility.

So if you thought you could leave your work to the local archive you may have to think again.
Unless you have something unique which can stand the test of time such as a printed book you may find that much of the results of your hard work will become unusable or inaccessible.

Move with the technology and present your findings to the younger generations in your family. 
Consider how you store those unique items.
Make sure that somebody knows what you want to happen to your research.

There's more than one way to skin a cat....

... and there is more than one way to "do genealogy".

Many family historians are hung up on "doing the right thing" but, just as there is more one way to skin a cat, there is no one right way to do genealogy. This applies to all stages of whichever research process we use and the tools we use to facilitate and record our research. It depends on why we are doing the research in the first place, is it just for fun, is it as part of a collaborative exercise with family or society members or is it to prepare a detailed report to fulfil a client contract? Constantly in my thoughts is the statistic shared by Curt Witcher at Rootstech 2015 that between 82%-90% of people who do family history do not belong to a Society but go it alone. While some of these folk will devour online genealogical educational opportunities and purchase many geneabooks and guides many of them will probably work happily in isolation. They will be doing family history research their way.

As for the Research Process I stick with the Australian one I have used for years, it can be applied to all things from making a peanut butter sandwich, to learning to ride a bicycle to genealogy research. I notice that Michael John Neill also advocates another oldie: Polya's Four Step Process which also appeals to me. I would suspect that most family historians don't follow a particular published process while others may follow one specifically developed for genealogical research.

I see at least one query each week in the online forums I inhabit that asks for suggestions on which is the best genealogy program to use. Most of the answers are suggestions on which particular program to use or avoid but do not address the issue of what unique features the programs suggested offer to fit the requester's individual needs. Of course beginners often don't know what they want out of a program, in this case I think they should avoid the software evengelists' suggestions and turn to a few trusted friends or members of their family history society for advice. Another excellent resource is Gensoftreviews, one could probably choose with confidence any of the programs that appear in this site's Annual Gold Award List. The pruned down free packages or 30 day trials from various vendors  also give one an opportunity to try before you buy.

Keeping track of one's research is another question that pops up regularly. The evangelists come out in force to answer these questions by suggesting their way as the only way but there are many ways. I would suggest that if you are confident with a means of recording (be it pencil and paper or on a computer) then use that or if you are up to a challenge then select and learn a piece of software that will do the job for you.

My genealogy software program is rather sophisticated so I am able to keep my research notes, research log and to-do items within the program. Before I switched to this program I used Excel or Google Sheets (if sharing with others) for these tasks, as I love spreadsheets I still use them for all sorts of geneatasks.

I am an Evernote junkie and use this tool for many personal tasks and a few geneajobs like managing my blogs and details of my genimates. It is an excellent tool for keeping track of your research and making it available on any device you may use but it takes a  while to become a comfortable and confident user. There are groups on Facebook and Google+ that can assist you with this.

If you find that you can organise efficiently and effectively with pencil and paper and are happy with that method then keep doing it your way. My advice is to find a method that works for you and use it consistently.Whatever works for you should be the bottom line.

Taming the paper and digital mountains of files we have created while researching is another hot issue. Do you have a huge Piling System that is crying out to be organised? If you can find whatever it is you need within a couple of minutes then that system works for you but what about those that take over once you turn up your toes? Will they be able to negotiate and make sense of your folders and files?

If you keep digital copies of your photos and documents in your genealogy software program and have them linked to appropriate individuals then others should be able to find and retrieve them. I haven't done this yet but my program copes admirably with this. I use a very simple system of Surname (and other) Folders for both my digital and physical files. This works for me but may not be sophisticated enough for other users (note to self - update four year old post - my filing system is dynamic). I ascribe to the KISS Principle (Keep it Simple Sweetheart - I prefer Sweetheart to Stupid ). I would suggest that whatever system you use is easy to adapt as your needs and experience grow.

Storing those valuable original documents safely should be a priority. Make sure they are digitised and that your digital files are backed up in several places.

And then there is sharing. I am an advocate of Geneablogging for sharing ancestor stories and putting out Cousin Bait. To this end I also have a personal website where I share the details of my ancestors, both of these have brought me valuable cousin connections. I have concerns with printed family histories because they are not dynamic like online publications. Recently Mr GeniAus used my research to compile a written history for his brother's significant birthday. The delight and interest of my brother-in-law and family as they perused the publication demonstrated the value of providing  family members with a printed version of their family history. However you do it please record your family stories in a format that will survive and be accessible for future generations.

So what I have been banging on about for the past few paragraphs is that there is no one correct way to "do family history". I hope that, as members of a collaborative and supportive community, we respect the efforts of our fellow researchers no matter which way they approach their research.

As individuals we should approach our study of family history in a way that suits our personalities and purposes.

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.