Generations Network Clarifies FamilySearch Indexing versus Ancestry’s World Archives

Two volunteer indexing projects are underway now: FamilySearch Indexing has been in operation for more than a year while last week The Generations Network announced Ancestry’s World Archives. Quite a bit of confusion has been voiced since last week's announcement.

FamilySearch issued a clarification yesterday to clear some of the confusion. Today, a senior manager at The Generations Network has written a loosely similar document to show that company's viewpoint. Taken together, the two documents should clear the confusion.

The following was written by The Generations Network, owners of Ancestry.com:

Readers of this message might get the impression that this is some big competition between Ancestry.com and the LDS Church.  We definitely don’t see it this way!  And I know from my conversations with the leaders at FamilySearch that they don’t see it this way either.  We have nothing but praise for the efforts of FamilySearch to provide tools to help the community index records.  They have done a magnificent job with their indexing program, and thanks to these efforts, genealogists all over the world are going to benefit from more access to free indexes.  We think there is PLENTY of work to go around, and that the best way to preserve the world’s important records is for there to be many, many organizations, both large and small, involved in digitizing records, creating indexes, and investing in the creation of technologies and product experiences that make genealogy more accessible and easier for more and more people around the globe.  We’ve tried hard not to duplicate the efforts of FamilySearch’s indexing program, picking new collections to index through our World Archives Program different than those which they’ve indexed.  I’m pretty confident that neither of us are going to complete the job of digitizing “everything” in my lifetime!

Volunteer indexing has a great and storied history.  Genealogists are more successful today because they have access to records preserved and indexed over the years by the LDS Church, organizations like FreeBMD, local historical and genealogical societies, and even members of our own Rootsweb community (where records posted to the site are STILL free and will remain so, despite false rumors of our fiendish intent to do otherwise!)  But the emergence of successful commercial companies around the world has also advanced and accelerated the twin goals of preservation and access.  Ancestry spends about $10 million every year digitizing new content, paying for the creations of new indexes, and putting new content online.  We spend even more than that to run the technology that makes these records available to millions of people around the globe.  As much as I’d like to say that we do this solely because we’re nice people, I’ll confess that we also think that serving families and family historians is a great business.  And because it’s a good business and we’re successful at it, we’re able to invest even more in all of the above…and family historians benefit because of this.

So that brings us back to our World Archives Project.  This effort is certainly not intended to take anything away from FamilySearch and the incredible efforts of the volunteers, both members of the LDS Church and non-members, that have contributed so many millions of hours to these efforts.  We all owe these individuals our thanks.  We’re launching the Ancestry World Archives Project because we think that it can be a great supplemental way for us to digitize even more content than we have in the past, make more indexes available for free, and to support local genealogical societies.  Our view is that the more folks involved in programs like these, the better.

Also, I just want to clarify a couple of things that I’ve read since our announcement:

-          Indexes created through the World Archives Project will remain free on Ancestry.  Period.

-          All those who are active contributors (those who key at least 900 records per quarter) will have free access to all the images associated the World Archives Project…not just the ones that they’ve worked on.

-          Partnering societies will also be able to access the images for free, and will actually receive a copy of the images and indexes back.

-          We’re also serious about giving partnering societies real exposure and support.  We’ve been searching for years for the right way to support local genealogical and historical societies, and we think this is it.  It’s clearly in our interest to help genealogical societies attract new members.  These societies are a critical foundation to a vibrant genealogy community.

The bottom line is that this is not about one program vs. another; it's about getting more content online to the community.  We encourage everyone to work on either or both of these two great programs or any other similar indexing efforts. 

Comments

[Pam]

I have a question with regard to this statement: "All those who are active contributors (those who key at least 900 records per quarter) will have free access to all the images associated the World Archives Project..." If I have a World Wide membership with Ancestry (but I don't index 900 names per quarter) will I be able to view these records as part of that membership or will it cost extra, above the membership cost? Does anybody know for sure?

[theKiwi]

As I've read this, you will have access as part of your Ancestry World membership. What the 900 names per quarter might get you is a 15% discount off the renewal fee.

Roger

[Melinda Pitts Pennington]

I have an annual subscription at ancestry.com and enjoy the service I have received there but its a whole lot of money to pay each year. But honestly, I LOVE the "free" services of familysearch.org much, much better. They got some great records there and I spend a lot of time on this site. I signed up as a volunteer for familysearch yesterday and didn't have much problems getting set up as volunteer. I transcribed two pages of 1870 PA Census and it was really easy & quick after I learned all the rules that apply to do it correctly. I will continue to be an ancestry subscriber but that 15% off don't cut it. I would rather donate my time to the LDS project. This helps every genealogist not just the rich ones.

[Margaret]

I have transcribed for FamilySearch--it is easy and they have plenty of help to get started.

I tried transcribing for Ancestry. (I have used Ancestry since 'the beginning' and find it worth the money--think travel here.) HOWEVER, I just removed the Ancestry BETA program from my computer. Until they get a stable product, I will not help. It takes TOO much of my time to make the application work and to figure out how to upload. There is NO HELP available. It took about 10 days to get a response to questions and concerns. ALSO, I'm fairly sure they have not credited me for all of the records I transcribed.

'nough said.

[KK]

DO NOT FORGET Regional and Local Indexing PROJECTS

Here in the Puget Sound Region there are many indexing projects. At the varioius state regioinal archives, local societies and individuals are indexing records for the Washington State Digital Collections. In Seattle,the Seattle Genealogical Society has two indexing projects, one on probate and court records and one on cemeteries. Over at the NARA Facility, the McNeil Island Prision Registers are being indexed; off-the-reservation Indian records are being indexed; and correspondence with Oregon Land Offices is also being indexed. All these projects contribute to our expanded knowledge.

[Melinda Pitts Pennington]

I also volunteer on the Descendants Project (indexing) for DAR (Daughter's of the American Revolution) for their Genealogy Preservation Committee. I am a member of DAR. I don't get any credits off my annual membership fee which is only about $50 a year but if I volunteer 100 hours I am eligible to receive my DAR Genealogy Preservations pin (which I have done). If I volunteered 500 hours of my time, I would eligible for the Volunteer Information Specialist pin. In DAR its all about how many pins you can get. The real reason I volunteered for this project is, while you are indexing the membership forms, you have access to what other volunteers have indexed thus far. They are not done but have made significant progress. I will continue to volunteer for them too.

[Linda - Wisconsin]

Okay, I hear that if "All those who are active contributors (those who key at least 900 records per quarter) will have free access to all the images associated the World Archives Project…not just the ones that they’ve worked on," just what does this mean? Before I joined Ancestry.com, I could view the images in the Ancestry.com files. However, when I clicked on them, it said I have to have a subscription. Ha!

Then, I joined and was able to see a lot of images, however would get another message that I had to get the "best" subscription at a cost of almost $200 a year. So, before I do 900 entries for them, I want this explained in more detail. Would we all who participate be able to view "ALL" records?

[Noel Duerden]

I understand that both projects are indexing separate records. The LDS effort is aimed at the nearly 3 million microfims in the Family History Library in Salt Lake. I don't know what the World Records are, but I thought they were among the millions of other records available, much like the Seattle and DAR projects. Would be interesting to know how all these indexes will be made available and if there is any index of indexes to make searching and finding easier.

[pmm]

"All those who are active contributors (those who key at least 900 records per quarter) will have free access to all the images associated the World Archives Project…not just the ones that they’ve worked on."

The math here is impressive- at 3 months per quarter and 30 days per month, that is an avg of 10 records EVERY day, or 70 per week, minimum. I would have to do the 10/day for 365 days/year- daunting. If they give a 15% discount on a $200 membership, that is just $30. (That comes out to pay 3.33 cents per record.) I love to transcribe and see records online (and am not an Ancestry-basher; they need to charge to be able to keep doing what they are doing), but methinks they have set the bar a bit high. Some records are complex and difficult to read, and may take many hours to transcribe- will transcribers rush through, trying to make their 10 records daily? If so, then how accurate will the transcriptions be? And no mention of what happens if you cannot keep up the pace...do you lose access? For how long?

Guess this is what happens when we want our outsourced jobs back.