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Send Me a Disk, Ok?

Send Me a Disk, Ok?. -Sharing Genealogical Information With Your Relatives. Beau Sharbrough beau@sharbrough.net PO Box 3170 Grapevine TX 76099-3170. Thank you. To the CIG. I’m grateful for the invitation to be here.

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Send Me a Disk, Ok?

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  1. Send Me a Disk, Ok? -Sharing Genealogical Information With Your Relatives Beau Sharbroughbeau@sharbrough.netPO Box 3170Grapevine TX 76099-3170

  2. Thank you. • To the CIG. I’m grateful for the invitation to be here. • To Russ and Birdie Holsclaw. They took care of me the past three days, sharing their home, their cars, their community, and their son Will. • To Roger Ebert. I was starting to worry about my weight.

  3. General Topics • Five steps to understanding what they’re saying • Discussion of software developers’ methods of merging files • Significance of GENTECH Genealogical Data Model

  4. Five Steps to Combining Your Research

  5. Step 1. Determine What Form the Data Is in. • Which program do they use? • What type of disk drives do they have? • What general field usage have they adopted?

  6. Step 2. Exchange Pedigree and Group Sheet Examples. • Look for detail, accuracy, thoroughness. • Are there full or partial dates? • Do the citations for US places include counties? Streets? Cemetery names? • Are nicknames used in place of “real” names? • Are sources cited?

  7. Step 3. Agree on Usage of Fields. • RESIdes or ADDRess? • Will you both use CHRIsten? • How will you document sources? • How will you document the research of others?

  8. Step 4. Convert Your Information. Nobody Can Avoid This Step. • Agree with your relative what information you will convert and how • Normally, this means saying things like, "I’ll put in the counties after I get it from you"

  9. Step 5. Exchange Only the Individuals You Want. • NEVERjust import the whole family on top of the information you already have. • Computer routines for merging data are improving, but not complete or effective yet.

  10. There Are No Effective Routines for Merging Data Sets at Present. • The problems of … • Identity • merging methods and • data formats • … are too new for generalized solutions to be available in the marketplace • Good theoretical solutions don’t even exist

  11. Merging Data Sets

  12. Customers who just assume that someone will know what they want and have it ready when they recognize that need had parents that spoilt them rotten.

  13. WHY? • Family history record-keeping is increasingly becoming a digital process. • Linking one’s information to the information already gathered by other family members and researchers is becoming more and more common.

  14. We Have to Put Our Information Together Somehow

  15. A Few Basics • Computer programs store the data that we enter in FILES • Each genealogical program stores the information in its own way, called a PROPRIETARY FORMAT • Most programs can also read and write in GEDCOM format

  16. A word about exchange … A B Export Routine Import Routine Possible Intermediate Format

  17. A Few Basics • Merging is copying • From a SOURCE • To a TARGET • Sometimes called the SURVIVING INFORMATION

  18. MERGING DATABASES • merging the files into a single one • merging the duplicated individuals • merging the rest • sources • repositories

  19. The database merging process is evolving • More input sources • More freedom to choose the features you like. • GenBridge

  20. Freedom has a price • Enter a name • Program won’t break it up • Enter a place • Program won’t break it up

  21. Legacy Trick • You can open two family files at the same time, and copy and paste a person and their descendents from one set into another, like grafting a tree branch from one tree to another.

  22. Making automatic citations • Legacy – individual level • TMG and FTM – field level

  23. The Current Merging Art • Merging Databases • Merging Individuals • Merging the Rest • Spotting Duplicates

  24. Merging Individuals If you want to merge duplicates, most programs will make you choose which “tags” to keep and throw the rest away.

  25. MERGING INDIVIDUALS:The old way • Copy the info • Delete one of the people • Type the info into the new one

  26. MERGING INDIVIDUALS:The middle way • View both persons • Select what you want • The program does the rest

  27. MERGING INDIVIDUALS:The future way • Computer spots likely dups • Recommends them to you • You control the process

  28. Merge Sources for most popular software • Their own files • GEDCOM • In some cases, files from other programs • In some cases, CD and internet databases Still, it ends up being like pouring two cans of paint together.

  29. Merging the Rest Most programs don’t even import and merge place tables, source tables, etc. I don’t know of any program that recognizes the same source in two separate datasets.

  30. Merging The Rest • source citations, master sources, repositories, and places • Most programs just combine the tables, creating duplicates • LG will combine a source, with exact spelling • UFT and FTM merge master sources • PAF and TMG merge master sources and repositories

  31. Limits to Storage • Some programs have really limited storage, and only store conclusions • If you have two birth dates, they put your favorite one in and throw the other away, or store it in a note. • Some programs have a lot of storage, and let you make your own “tags” such as executrix.

  32. SPOTTING DUPLICATES • Some programs have “merging routines” based on: • Soundex • Spelling of name • Birth date • TMG and Legacy use a large variety of match choices

  33. Spotting duplicates • Soundex for names (AQ) • Exact spelling or soundex (PAF 3.0) • Exact spelling and exact birth date (FTM) • Many name compares (TMG and UFT) • Soundex surname and user choice of # of letters in first name (LG) • Warn if duplicate name entered (most)

  34. Merging tips • Match on parent soundex reduces false positives (Gaylon Findlay) • If your program won’t let you choose initials, but has a number-of-letters, try that with 1. • Beware of people about whom you know very little. • Beware of blank dates.

  35. Signs that you can merge better today than you could before • More formats allowed • Easier individual merging • Identifying routines are becoming more sophisticated • More storage of conflicting data allowed • More variety in the software marketplace

  36. Signs that we aren’t getting there yet • No formal studies on known datasets to quantify false positives and false negatives • No implementation of information sciences in commercial products • No implementation of AI in commercial products • No formal discussion of algorithms

  37. MERGING SUMMARY • Users can merge from a wider variety of data formats than in the past. • Users can merge individuals more easily.

  38. MERGING SUMMARY • Routines to help identify candidates for merging are becoming quite sophisticated. • More programs store conflicting data today.

  39. It’s also encouraging that they are not all doing the same thing. The resultant diversity and innovation offer us more chances to connect Where-We’ve-Been to Where-We’re-Going than we’ve ever had before.

  40. The GENTECH Genealogical Data Model • Purpose: To define and communicate the meanings of family history data.

  41. Request for Comment Project by genealogists and developers to describe genealogy processes. Describes the relationships between the various kinds of family history information. Overview of what genealogists do Not a genealogy program. Not a database design Not a document saying what genealogists SHOULD do. Genealogical Data Model

  42. Every genealogist says that they do research differently. The GDM describes the process that they do differently.

  43. Stop Starting with Conclusions • Don’t start with conclusions, start with evidence.

  44. Some features of Evidence in the GDM • REPOSITORY • SOURCE • REPRESENTATION TYPE • REPRESENTATION • CITATION

  45. CONCLUSIONS • ASSERTIONS about … • PERSONA • EVENTS • CHARACTERISTICS • GROUPS • ASSERTIONS

  46. XML is eXtended Markup Language • <TITLE>The Title of My Book</TITLE> • <NAME>Jonathan Sharbrough</NAME> • <BIRTHDATE>circa 1734</BIRTHDATE> • <BIRTH PLACE=“North Carolina” DATE=“circa 1734”>

  47. Future digital research • programs publish pedigrees and registers in some XML format • repositories publish records in the same format • local links, remote sources • external authorities

  48. A new culture • most quoted sites - “authorities” • many link sites - “hubs” • links define culture, tribe, families

  49. The digital future of family history is a virtual library where it is ... • Easy to find the conclusions • Easy to identify the evidence • Easy to identify the thought process that links them.

  50. Missing ingredients • agreement on LexML standard • wide acceptance of LexML standard • wide implementation of LexML

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