The DAILY genealogy technology newsletter for genealogy
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the vendors like it or not!
The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.
If you record your genealogy research efforts on paper, you might want to skip this article. However, if you use a computer program as an aid to your genealogy research, read on.
Is the genealogy program you chose a database of results, or is it a tool to help your research while that research is still a work-in-progress? Perhaps a bigger question is, "Will my genealogy program help me evaluate evidence? Or is it simply a place to record the results?"
I suspect that many genealogists do not use their favorite genealogy programs to full potential. In fact, some genealogy programs make it difficult to accomplish what a computer does best: organize, filter, and retrieve information whenever it is needed.
Congratulations to Julie Dresser from Sycamore, Illinois for her winning essay in the 2012 “I Found it in the Archives” contest held by Special Collections in SUNY Plattsburgh's Feinberg Library.
Her essay was also entered into the national I Found it in the Archives contest, sponsored by the Society of American Archivists (SAA). The winner of the national contest will be hosted by the SAA at its annual awards ceremony in San Diego in August 2012.
According to the Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies, statistically speaking, one in every 1,461 people should have a Feb. 29 birthday. The society estimates there are 200,000 leap-year day babies in the United States and 5 million worldwide.
If today is your birthday, we wish you four times the normal birthday greetings. Enjoy the birthday!
This article has nothing to do with genealogy. However, if you use a Mac, I strongly suggest you read the article and then plan corrective actions (which are simple to implement).
Macintosh owners have long felt smug about the very low number of systems problems experienced by these computers. I have heard several Mac owners proudly state, "Macs don't get viruses." Technically, that statement is inaccurate: a very few Macintosh viruses have been found in the past but are so rare that most Mac owners have never seen one. In addition, in the rare instances when a Mac does become infected, virus removal typically is a super simple process. All this may soon change.
Researchers from security firm Intego reported that a new variant of Flashback malware (malevolent software) is targeting passwords. It targets Java vulnerabilities on OS X in order to infect the system. Older versions of Java are immune from the new problem. However, if Java is fully up-to-date, Flashback will run an applet with a self-signed certificate. The certificate claims to be signed by Apple, but is clearly marked as invalid. Sadly, many users are known to ignore such warnings. If the user clicks on the icon to install the applet, the new virus will be installed.
I usually send the Plus Edition newsletter by email to all subscribers on Sunday evening, although I also add a disclaimer. I often state "...except when my travel schedule interferes" or some similar words. Tonight is one of those occasions.
I have to get up early in the morning to catch a plane from London, England to Orlando, Florida. I have decided to not stay up until 2 AM, as I often do, to compile and send the Plus Edition newsletter, especially since I have to get up at 5 AM. I'm going to get some sleep instead.
The Who Do You Think You Are? Live! conference in London, England, drew to a close this afternoon. I was sad to leave, although I must admit that three days at this event left me exhausted. It was fun.
I don't have the final headcount as I left before the count was made. However, I am guessing it was about the same as last year or maybe a bit less, probably in the range of 12,000 to 14,000 people. That's a good crowd for a genealogy convention!
The vendors I spoke with late today reported good sales although several said that sales were down just a bit from last year. Maybe attendance was less or maybe that's a sign of a tough economy. Nobody seemed certain as to the exact cause.
Fold3, formerly known as Footnote.com, continues to add new online records even after being acquired by Ancestry.com. The newest addition is part of the company's Civil War Collection: the alphabetical card index to compiled service records of Union troops. The first four states to go live are Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
The following announcement was written by the New England Historic Genealogical Society:
When: March 4, 2012 3:00PM - 4:30PM
Where: Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St, Watertown, MA
Description: NEHGS is a proud sponsor of An American Journey, produced and performed by the Revels Repertory Company. This original musical theater production brings the story of American immigration to life in partnership with Watertown’s Arsenal Center for the Arts. The 90-minute production finds Italian, Irish, and Eastern European Jewish immigrants on a passenger ship bound for America circa 1907. Sharing their music and songs, their dances and their dreams, the diverse group of travelers become one, as they leave their hardships behind and steam toward America, the land of hope and promise.
The following announcement was written by findmypast.co.uk:
You can now search 359,000 records of Merchant Navy Seamen for the period 1835-1857 on findmypast.co.uk
We have made these 19th century Merchant Navy records available online for the first time, working in association with The National Archives.
From 1835, the central government started to monitor a potential reserve of sailors for the Royal Navy, which resulted in the creation of thousands of records that identify individual seamen.
The following announcement was written by findmypast.ie:
findmypast.ie, the Irish family history website, has launched the Petty Sessions Order Books (1850-1910) online for the first time, one of the greatest untapped resources for those tracing their Irish roots.
The original Petty Sessions records are held at the National Archives of Ireland were scanned by Family Search and have now been transcribed and made fully searchable by findmypast.ie (http://www.findmypast.ie/). They cover all types of cases, from allowing trespass of cattle to being drunk in charge of an ass and cart. These were the lowest courts in the country who dealt with the vast bulk of legal cases, both civil and criminal. This first batch of entries contains details of 1.2 million cases, with most records giving comprehensive details of the case including: name of complainant, name of defendant, names of witnesses, cause of complaint, details of the judgement, details of a fine if any, and details of a sentence passed down if any. Another 15 million cases are to follow throughout 2012.
GitHub is a “version control” web site that is taking the Internet by storm. GitHub was originally designed for software developers. Its web site states that the site lets programmers upload code and share it with other developers. It keeps track of who made what changes where, and it helps merge all those changes together. It “controls” the various versions of an open source software project.
Nowadays, GitHub is also being used to oversee stuff outside the programming world, including DNA data and Senate bills that may turn into laws and all sorts of other information you can put into a text file. I have to wonder if it could be used by a genealogy society or even by two or three genealogists who are working together on a project. It could be used for creating a book about an entire family or for an article to be published in a magazine. In fact, I think that I could use it for articles to be published in this newsletter. Readers could submit changes, corrections, and additional information above and beyond what I write.
The largest genealogy conference in the English-speaking world opened this morning in London. Luckily, I was able to attend. As usual, it was a great event. I thought I would share some of my comments about this year's event as well as some of my pictures.
The following announcement was written by the Guild of One-Name Studies:
The Guild of One-Name Studies has reached another milestone. Today the 6,000th member joined the Guild of One-Name Studies. She is Mrs Sue Fisher-Pascall who lives in Chichester, UK. This milestone follows a very successful year for the Guild of One-Name Studies in 2010-11 when the Guild achieved its highest number of new members ever.
Of the 387 new members joining in 2011, 220 were from the UK, 69 from the US, 33 from New Zealand, 26 from Australia, 17 from Canada and 15 from Ireland. The remainder were from various European countries. 43% of the new members were from non-UK regions, which is a valuable step towards increased worldwide membership to the Guild.
The following announcement was written by FamilySearch.org:
22 February 2012 Mountain of free historic records online keeps growing weekly
FamilySearch added 2.8 million new, free records online this past week for Canada, England, Hungary, Italy, Russia, and the U.S. Got Hungarian roots? Check out the new 900,000 Hungary Reformed Church Christenings records. You might be surprised to know that FamilySearch now has over 2.5 billion free searchable records online now in its historic record collections. Find your ancestors now for free at FamilySearch.org.
The following announcement has a unique genealogy twist to it. It was written by Ancestry.com:
Philadelphia, PA (February 24, 2012) -- Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource, has teamed up with one of its high-profile celebrity customers to support a national non-profit organization that helps youth overcome what are too often generational cycles of adversity.
Actor Blair Underwood will appear in a commercial promoting Ancestry.com’s support of Big Brothers Big Sisters, the nation’s largest mentoring network, proven to help children overcome adversity to achieve in school and succeed in life.
In the commercial, scheduled to air February 24, Underwood says discovering his family history on Ancestry.com gave him a greater understanding of himself. He goes onto say that while it’s incredible to know where you came from, it’s also important to know where you are going.
The following announcement was written by Archives.com:
Exclusive data collection highlights the contributions of black Americans in the Revolutionary War
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Feb. 24, 2012 -- In honor of Black History Month, Archives.com, a website devoted to making family history simple and affordable, today announced the launch of the Patriots of Color Database. Archives.com is bringing this collection online for the first time, compiling years of research facilitated by the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. These records unveil new and invaluable information about some of the men and women of color who fought for American independence in such roles as soldiers, skilled craftsmen, and servants. This new collection, of critical importance to historians, academics, and the general public, is now available for free at http://www.Archives.com/Patriots.
Announcements are beginning to flow from today's opening of the Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE! conference in London. Here is one of the earliest. The following announcement was written by findmypast.co.uk:
Project announced to increase access to up to 4 million baptism, marriage and burial records dating back to 1538
First time that images of the original parish records from Hertfordshire will appear online
Leading UK family history website findmypast.co.uk has today announced at the Who Do You Think You Are Live Show at London's Olympia that it has been awarded a digitisation contract by Hertfordshire Archives & Local Studies. This significant new project will lead to the publication online for the very first time of between 3.5 and 4 million historic records from the Archives. The records are expected to launch later this year and will become fully searchable, only at findmypast.co.uk.
The private, nonprofit Virginia Historical Society has launched a free database that will be of interest to anyone researching African-American genealogy in the state. The Unknown No Longer database presently contains about 4,000 names. The plan is to add many more names over time as more than 8 million unpublished manuscripts in the society's collection are examined, including letters, diaries, ledgers, books and farm documents from Virginians dating to the 1600s.
The free, public website also provides a high-resolution copy of the antique documents that identify the slave.
This is a short note to let you know I will be offline and incommunicado for several hours starting later today. I am flying to London, England to attend the Who Do You Think You Are? Live! event being held this weekend. This is the largest genealogy conference in the English-speaking world, possibly the largest anywhere.
While over the Atlantic for several hours, I won't have online access. Once I land, I should have full online access again, using the 3 Network "air card" that I purchased on one of last year's trips. While in London, I hope to write new articles that describe the events at this year's Who Do You Think You Are? Live! show.
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