Alan
E. Mann, AG
alan.familyhistory@gmail.com
Accredited
Genealogist
Saturday, 18 October 2008
10:30-11:30 am
FamilySearch:
What’s
New and What’s Coming
FamilySearch
is the website as well as the branded name for all products and services of the
Family History Department of the LDS Church, including the Family History Library. Since the introduction of www.familysearch.org a little over nine
years ago, major strides have been taken to offer products and services focused
around delivery worldwide through the Internet.
For
years, we’ve talked about converting the microfilm records in the Family
History Library to digital records which could be delivered over the Internet.
People still ask me when this will happen. The answer is: it already is.
FamilySearch.org now contains hundreds of millions of digitized records, and
millions more are added each month.
Just
look for “Record Search Pilot” in the pull down menu on FamilySearch. The
records for this site come from digital cameras, former LDS CD products,
scanning conversion from microfilm, and from FamilySearch partners such as FindMyPast, Footnote, and Ellis Island Foundation.
The
overall concept for FamilySearch is to provide a place where people can share
their discovered ancestry (together with sources), look at records to add
information to the shared ancestry, and collaborate. The shared pedigree
portion is called Family Tree or Pedigree Viewer. The records portion is called
Record Search. The common pedigree or pedigree viewer is currently in
development on FamilySearch labs, while the Record Search is currently in
production on the main FamilySearch.org site.
A
key component of the FamilySearch Family Tree is the need for individuals to
work together. In the past, many problems have arisen due to attempts to match
and merge records of two or more instances of the same person into one record.
The new FamilySearch approach is keep all data, but arrange the data into folders which represent a single
individual. This prevents data loss, allows for differing opinions, and yet
gets the benefit of collaboration.
FamilySearch
looks at genealogical records moving from the source (archive, repository,
library, or whatever) to the end user. We describe this process as a Digital Pipeline. This graphic represent
the process and all the steps involved. The end result is actual records
delivered to the end user. Through description, waypointing,
indexing, and search tools, the records become more easily found and through
the Internet they are delivered to individuals.
FamilySearch
is currently partnering with commercial companies, archives, governments,
libraries, and other information owners or holders to make their genealogical
information more readily available to individuals. In some cases, this requires
the payment of a fee. If so, FamilySearch strives to provide as many services
as possible to keep as much as possible free and any fees to a minimum. FamilySearching’s indexing and services helps send
individuals to information owners to see the records, while still helping keep
the fees reasonable and still allowing the repository to collect needed
revenue.
Currently,
FamilySearch is a production web site which is being developed and improved
over time. At www.familysearch.org,
one can search our databases, including the digitized records. We are
developing enhancements and improvements to FamilySearch. Once improvements are
ready to be tested, they are placed on FamilySearch labs for people to try out.
User feedback then helps the proposed enhancement to be refined and improved. There
are several product enhancements currently in development at http://labs.familysearch.org, as shown
in the following chart:
Some
of these items, such as Wiki, are close to being brought on to the production
site, while others, such as Life Browser, may be years away from being in production.
Once
an enhancement is ready to move on from FamilySearch Labs, it may be moved to the
main familysearch.org site. But, it may need a broader test, and be moved to a beta status where it is actually run in
a limited production environment. This is the case with the first release of
the FamilySearch Family Tree, which is being beta tested in over 100 locations
around the world. Because it is a limited test, it is currently available at http://new.familysearch.org, but only to
members of the LDS Church outside of the US intermountain area. As the product
further develops and solutions are found to those bugs discovered, the test will be expanded. Eventually, when
version 1.0 is ready to be released, it will be placed on the production site www.familysearch.org. As other products
are brought to the point of being ready for worldwide use, they will be brought
on to the familysearch.org production site as well.
FamilySearch
Indexing is a major part of bringing digital records to the public. This is
done in partnership with institutions and societies around the world. Individuals
are encouraged to participate at www.familysearchindexing.com.
Commercial
companies and institutions which choose to charge for viewing the digitized
records they provide will be allowed to collect a convenience fee, even for those records provided through
FamilySearch. However, the fee will be waved in certain cases, as noted in the
following announcement issued 2 October 2008:
All
indexes created by FamilySearch volunteers will be available free to the
general public through FamilySearch.org. Access to any images with a
“convenience fee” provided under FamilySearch affiliate agreements (e.g., with
Ancestry.com, Findmypast.com, and Footnote.com) will be available for free
through any family history center worldwide, to LDS Church members, and
qualified FamilySearch indexers (a volunteer who indexes 900 names in a 90 day
period will have 90 days of free image access).
FamilySearch
is testing a validation system that will enable it to authenticate qualified
FamilySearch members. It will be implemented in 2009.
There
are also software developer affiliates, who author products to allow you to
integrate your genealogy database with FamilySearch or to perform additional
functions not currently available in FamilySearch. Early releases of
FamilySearch affiliate products include Ancestral Quest, Family Insight (PAF
Insight), and GenerationMaps.
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©Copyright 2008 by Alan E. Mann, AG and
Intellectual Reserve, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Written permission to reproduce all or part of this syllabus material in any
format, including photocopying, data retrieval, or the Internet, must be
secured in advance from the copyright holders.