Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

A Few Thoughts About Windows Vista

I purchased a new computer this week and specified that it should have Windows Vista Home Premium pre-installed at the factory. I was able to take the computer out of the box, boot up, and start using Vista within a few minutes. I had read quite a bit about Vista's improvements and wanted to try them out for myself. Now that I have about eight hours' use under my belt, I am ready to share my impressions.

Déjà Vu: The Past Four Years of Genealogy Advancements

I had one of those "déjà vu" experiences this week. In this case, there was no impression of place. Instead, it was an impression of time. I felt that I was now living in a time that I had "experienced" some years ago.

Pam spent part of New Year's Eve organizing our collection of old genealogy magazines. She pulled out a copy of Ancestry Magazine that was exactly four years old: the December 2002 edition. She handed it to me and my eyes widened when I looked at the lead article: "What's In the Future for Genealogy?" Here was a four-year-old magazine article predicting what the future of genealogy would be like within the next few years. It is creepy that she stumbled over such an article on New Year's Eve, the one time of the year that many of us pause to reflect on the past and contemplate our future.

Now here's the strangest part: I wrote the article.

How accurate were my predictions? Did I score a hit or a miss? My hands trembled as I opened the magazine.

Are Digital Genealogy Libraries Going to Replace Traditional Books?

Is it time to stop the presses?

It seems that every week I report in this newsletter about more and more genealogy books that are being converted to electronic format. Sure, old books have been digitized for several years now. However, even new books are now appearing as electronic publications.

Raising the Bar for Record Managers

Dan Lawyer has written an article that will be of interest to many genealogists. In fact, I would suggest that it be required reading for programmers who write genealogy software.

Dan states that, when entering data in most genealogy programs, "the user experience and complexity is on par with filing your taxes." He then goes on to list his "Top 10 Innovations Needed in (Genealogy) Record Managers."

U.S. Census Records Used to Limit Immigration

WARNING: This article contains personal opinion.

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

These are the words of poet Emma Lazarus, emblazoned on the base of the Statue of Liberty, erected in New York harbor in 1886. Perhaps one more phrase should have been added to that poem:

As long as they come from predominantly Anglo-Saxon-Germanic stock.

One Reason to Keep the Paper

I am enthusiastic about new technology, but sometimes the old technology is best. One case in point is the 1911 Canadian census. This national census collected information about each inhabitant of the country that is critical to genealogists. The information included place of habitation, marital status, age, place of birth, religion, occupation, education, and more. It covered the nine provinces and two territories that were then part of the Confederation.

Who's Your Daddy? Or Mother?

WARNING: This article contains the personal opinions of the author.

Massachusetts became the first state in the U.S. to legalize same-sex marriages. Now the result is creating lots of problems, one of which is how the state keeps birth certificates. The resolution of this question may involve life-or-death situations in future years. Perhaps a smaller, but equally interesting, question is this: how do genealogists record birth certificate information?

A Genealogy Center at Taxpayers' Expense

I am in favor of building genealogy centers. Honoring one's heritage is a great idea. However, the state of Nevada seems to have a proposed project that is of questionable value to the majority of its citizens.

The State of Nevada is in an enviable position: it has a budget surplus. State legislators are squealing like piglets at the possibilities. The lawmakers are practicing the time-honored tradition of dispensing pork amid their policy priorities.

The Gripe Line WebLog writes about MyFamily.com/Ancestry.com

Ed Foster writes a column called "The Gripe Line WebLog" that is published on the prestigious InfoWorld web site. As you might surmise from the column's title, Foster finds lots to complain about. His latest column takes aim at the business practices of the largest commercial genealogy web site: MyFamily.com, the owner of Ancestry.com, Genealogy.com and FamilyTreeMaker.com.

Foster writes:

The Security of Your Mother's Maiden Name

[Warning: This article contains personal opinions of the author.]

I was driving down the road today, listening to a local news station on the car radio. The newscaster was interviewing a so-called security "expert" about proposed legislation supposedly designed to prevent identity theft and credit card abuse. This "expert" claimed that we needed legislation to prevent access to birth records by "unauthorized" individuals. Sound familiar? Yes, we have heard and seen this song-and-dance act before. This guy wants to lock genealogists out of the records that we have used for the past century or so.

Hunters, Gatherers, Takers, Filchers, "Taking & Using"

The following was written by Dolly Ziegler in a message posted to the "Sullivan Puzzle Team." It is republished here with the author's permission:

Hunters, Gatherers, Takers, Filchers, "Taking & Using"

What's the right word for people who publish other people's research on websites without giving credit?

Students Shun Search for Information Offline

I read an interesting story today. The story was online, of course. An Associated Press article reports that when college students do research online these days, many educators worry that students never look for information in books they way they used to. If they can avoid a trip to the library at all, many students gladly will.

Rebuttal to the Burton Historical Collection List Announcement

The following is a message from John P. DuLong:

Hello Folks,

Well it has happened. The Detroit Library Commission voted on 15 June 2004 to impose fees on non-Detroiters starting 1 August 2004. You have to pay this fee if you want to check out any books AND IF YOU WANT TO USE THE BURTON HISTORICAL COLLECTION and the other special collections. The fee is $100 per year.