The DAILY genealogy technology newsletter for genealogy
consumers, packed with straight talk - hold the sugar coating - whether
the vendors like it or not!
The following announcement was written by the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations:
Progress on the early release of the Irish 1926 census has slowed down in recent months. However, there is no substance to recent rumours that the delay has been caused by the issue of redaction of sensitive data relating to people (alive or not) who have as yet not reached their 100th birthday.
During the visit of Uachtarán na hÉireann (President of Ireland) Michael D. Higgins to the National Archives of Ireland on Thursday, 1st November, representatives of the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations (CIGO) spoke with Minister for Arts, Culture and Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan TD. Minister Deenihan confirmed that redaction is not an obstacle to the release of the 1926 census and that he would still like to see the project on course for release in 2016.
The following announcement was written by the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society:
The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society Elects Two New Fellows: Laura Murphy DeGrazia and Karen Mauer Green, Co-Editors of The Record.
New York, NY, November 12, 2012. -- The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society announces the election of two leading New York genealogists as Fellows of the Genealogical and Biographical Society (FGBS). The designation of Fellow of the Genealogical and Biographical Society, the oldest such designation in the genealogical field in the nation, is reserved for individuals who have contributed to New York genealogical research, writing, speaking, and advocacy at the highest level of proficiency. There are currently sixteen Fellows.
Archivist Daniel Lorello was a $73,800-per year archivist with the New York State Archives, a well-regarded expert on the Civil War, and co-author of a book with noted historian Harold Holzer. He also stole hundreds of historic documents from his employer and sold them for his own profit. He was caught, tried, and sent to jail for grand larceny. In 2008, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced for two to six years in prison plus ordered to pay $73,000 in restitution to those who unknowingly bought stolen property from him. He was also ordered to pay a $56,000 confession of judgment to the Department of Education. You can see my previous articles from 2008 about this man if you start at http://goo.gl/2sZqC.
Lorello is now out of jail and has a new job: he runs the bookstore at the New York State Military Museum (pictured above), a state-owned facility located in Saratoga Springs that holds a vast collection of memorabilia dating from the Revolutionary War through modern times.
Want to scan books? Perhaps a lot of books? You could always purchase a scanner that automatically turns the pages for you except those scanners typically cost $100,000 and up. Way up. One model costs more than $400,000. Now an engineer at Google has built his own automated book scanner for about $1,500 plus spare parts from a vacuum cleaner.
Best of all, Google Books engineer Dany Qumsiyeh has donated the plans to the public domain, meaning you or anyone else is free to experiment, improve upon, and even sell scanners built on Qumsiyeh’s design, all without worrying about Google’s army of lawyers swooping down on you.
I am constantly amazed by the dropping prices of computers. You can now purchase a full-featured, full-sized Acer C7 laptop computer for $200. Well, it's full-featured if you are always within range of a wi-fi wireless network connection.
This is no mini machine. It is full sized, although lightweight, at only 3 pounds. It includes 11.7-inch display, a full sized keyboard, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and a battery that lasts about 3.5 hours. It also contains a surprisingly high-capacity 320-gigabyte disk drive. That's surprising as Chromebook laptops usually have smaller hard drives.
The Chicago Genealogical Society and the Newberry Library have created a new digital collection, the Chicago Genealogist. The online database contains images of the Chicago Genealogist, a quarterly journal published continuously since 1969 by the Chicago Genealogical Society. The easily searchable online collection is free to the public and contains volumes 1-39 (1969-2007).
Family Tree DNA has announced a year-end sale with significant price reductions. The following is from the company's Facebook page:
As we ended our 8th Annual Genetic Genealogy Conference, several conference participants asked us to start our year-end sale as soon as possible. In answer to those requests we decided to start it immediately.
I received the following email message today. It's sad that anyone would be treated in such a manner. I felt so bad about this person's experience that I decided to republish the email message here although I have edited it slightly and also removed the sender's name and email address in order to protect privacy.
Are you guilty of treating newcomers to this sort of shoddy treatment? I am guessing the original message questioning the accuracy of data was probably well intentioned but certainly needed more diplomacy:
I am very new to genealogy. Not long ago I was contacted about a date error on my Mayflower ancestor's page at ancestry.com. I found it and changed it. It quickly escalated into other criticisms and I quit making the suggested corrections which came several emails a day. This person wanted me to delete everyone from my "list of people" if she didn't know who they were. Well, I wouldn't do that and this person got a bit huffy about it.
The 10th century is meeting the 21st with the University of Exeter announcing the development of an app that will make medieval manuscripts available to the public. The app, which is being developed in collaboration with interactive museum technology company Antenna International, will allow students and the general public to study manuscripts that until now have been too fragile to be even exhibited.
I used to maintain a list of upcoming events in this newsletter. I found that my work was simply a duplicate of the efforts of several other people who maintain similar lists. I stopped maintaining my list some time ago.
If you want to find lists of upcoming genealogy events, I suggest you check these other web sites that also list upcoming genealogy events:
The following announcement was written by Familyrelatives.com:
Familyrelatives.com releases three new military datasets for the first time containing lists of more than 35,000 British and Dominion Officers who were killed or captured during the Great War. We are proud to have added the following to our website:
British Officers Prisoners of War 1914-1918
Officers Died in the Great War 1914-1919
The Bond of Sacrifice - A Biographical Record of British Officers Who Fell in the Great War
The following announcement was written by Ancestry.com:
Ancestry.com partners with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and National Archives and Records Administration to create a new collection of online military burial ledgers and headstone applications
I purchased a new Microsoft Surface tablet computer on October 26, the first day the new devices became available. The Microsoft Surface runs the new Windows RT operating system. I also ordered the (extra-cost) Touch Cover that includes a built-in keyboard. I then wrote a Plus edition article on October 31 at http://eogn.com/wp/?p=22758 describing my experiences.
I haven't had any problems with my Surface or its keyboard. Then again, I haven't used it much. Now reports are popping up in the trade press about many users having problems with the Touch Cover keyboard. It reportedly has a molded seam that splits within a few days of use, exposing components inside the keyboard. Microsoft reportedly is offering free replacements for defective keyboard covers.
I often hear people moaning and groaning about the quality of genealogy information to be found online. Some claim that much of the online genealogy data is worthless. These comments seem to insinuate that people shouldn't place information online until they have verified it. I have heard a few exclaim, “We have got to stop those people!”
That is a lofty goal, although unattainable. People are people. New genealogists join in and post data much faster than we can educate them. The idea of requiring source citations for all data sounds wildly Utopian to me.
You know what? I don't care. I want to see the claimed information anyway.
The following announcement was written by the Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland:
In recent months two new members have joined the Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland (APGI). APGI, which celebrated the 25th anniversary of its foundation in 2011, is Ireland’s only accreditation body for professional genealogists and operates island-wide. Neither new member is resident in Dublin, thus helping the geographical spread of the Association’s members across Ireland.
Ancestral Quest is a rather popular genealogy program for Windows. It has a great reputation for being easy to use and yet has most all the features that advanced genealogists demand. Even so, Incline Software keeps adding more and more features. Here's the latest additions, as detailed in this announcement from Incline Software:
Salt Lake City, Utah (November 9, 2012) – Incline Software, LC, producer of Ancestral Quest™, a Windows®-based Family Tree software, announced today the recent release of version 14. This new release provides exciting new features which will help family historians further research their families, and organize their ancestral records.
The following announcement was written by the Association of Professional Genealogists:
WESTMINSTER, Colo., 8 November 2012—The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG®) (http://www.apgen.org) announced today that Phyllis McLaughlin has joined the organization as editor of APG's new monthly newsletter. McLaughlin brings 25 years of experience in writing and newspaper journalism to APG eNews, APG's recently-launched electronic monthly newsletter.
"We launched APG eNews in response to members’ desire for more communication within the organization," said Kenyatta D. Berry, president of the Association of Professional Genealogists. "We welcome Phyllis and are excited to leverage her years of expertise in producing this valuable communication tool."
The Joplin Genealogy Society has closed its research center at 306 S. Wall Ave. and will give most of the materials there to the Jasper County Records Center in Carthage. Shirley Kennedy, society president, said the group can no longer afford to pay rent and utilities on the building it has occupied for the past six years. She also stated, “We’re not dissolving, and at some point we hope to find another space.”
A newsletter reader today wrote to draw my attention to an online article in Wired at http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/11/megaupload-data-what-to-do/ that describes a problem with lost data. An online file storage service, called Megaupload, was closed down by authorities because of questionable copyrights practices. I wrote about Megaupload before, see http://goo.gl/nf3DG for my past articles.
In short, anyone who entrusted their information to Megaupload lost all that data when the authorities shut the servers down. In my opinion, those people got what they deserved. The article in Wired ignores one of the basic rules of data processing that has been true for 50 years or more: "Don't put all your eggs in one basket."
One of Britain's leading genealogists is heading for the Phoenix pub
in Abbey Street, Faversham next Wednesday, November 14, with an
explosive theory that could rock the aristocracy. Anthony Adolph's
extensive researches have led him to believe Charles I was not father to
Charles II or his brother James II.
Anthony believes Henry Jermyn, the man who built St James Square in the heart of London, was the royal princes' true father.
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