Alan E. Mann, A.G.
byu@alanmann.com Accredited
Genealogist
www.alanmann.com/articles
Computer Tools
for Genealogists
There
are lots of useful tools for genealogists. There’s even a group of tools call
“Family Tree Super Tools” available at www.whollygenes.com/supertools.htm.
The list of things this package of tools does includes:
·
Reads
data directly from your existing family tree software.
·
Take
advantage of powerful project management tools.
·
See
data from more than one researcher without merging.
·
See
your family in the context of historical timelines.
·
Reveal
hidden patterns. Display names in different colors to match user-defined
conditions.
·
Showcase
your research with heirloom quality wall charts.
·
Search
popular web sites for multiple names with one click.
·
Use
powerful filtering tools with AND/OR conditions.
·
Create
impressive multimedia slideshows.
·
Be
the hit of the family reunion! Link online to a wall chart printing service.
·
Use
an automatic relationship calculator and other tools.
This
is only one example of many such products. Many are well known, many are
offered at various vendor exhibit halls at conferences, workshops, and
seminars.
I
suspect that many of you are aware of such awesome tools as AniMap,
Address Plus, GeneLines (example birth date),
PAF Insight, and PAF Companion. I’d like to talk about a few items that are
either lesser known, less directly related to genealogy, or are relatively new.
I’ll mention some examples from three categories, namely:
Technical Services
Technology Gadgets
Utility Tools and Programs
Technical Services
PhotoMax is not designed for
genealogists, but you can use this service to store your photos and documents
online. It allows you to store thousands of images at no charge. You can invite
others to come to your site and give them a password that will allow them to
see your photos. The company is willing to offer this FREE in hopes that you
and your relatives will value the service and consider purchasing some of their
photo-related offerings, such as photo prints of the digital images (at 12
cents each), DVDs, photo CDs, T-shirts, mugs, etc. It’s really quite handy for
others to see your photos, then download the ones they
want, or order prints of the ones they want. You get a little extra storage
space when referred by someone else, so visit this address: http://genealogy.myphotomaxusa.com.
Technology gadgets
Lightscribe CD/DVD labeler—a DVD writer that actually labels your CDs
and DVDs—it “prints” right on the CD label side using a process that doesn’t
impact the life of the CD or DVD. Currently, other forms of labeling shorten
the life of your CD or DVD—whether you use a pen to write it on, a special
printer to print using ink, or print a label that adheres to the disk—all cause
degradation and eventual loss of data. Now there’s a reasonably priced drive
that includes the labeling right in the drive itself. The drive costs between
$120-$160 and you have to use the LightScribe blank
CDs or DVDs (50 cents to $2 each).
USB hard drives – a small hard drive
with a capacity up to 250 gb
that plugs in to a USB port. Some require separate power,
some are powered by the USB port. Pick the one that meets your needs. Current
pricing allows you to buy a 40gb hard drive for around
$120. You simply plug it in to any computer and have access to all the
data—photos, documents, your data files, and everything…
Disposable video
camcorder
– an interesting new device from PureDigital sold by
CVS, Ritz, and other drug stores. The camera sells for $29.95. That’s
right—under $30, as the commercial will probably say. It only takes twenty
minutes of video and has no connectors whatsoever. No rechargeable batteries,
no USB or firewire to download the video, and no
changing the tape. You shoot your video (you can review it and erase it if you
don’t like it, then reshoot), then take the whole
camcorder back to the store. For $12.95 additional processing fee, they produce
a DVD for you with the video on it. It takes about 30 minutes to get your DVD.
That’s actually fairly expensive per minute for the video, but it’s great for
those who don’t have a camcorder or who don’t want to have to go home to get
their camcorder—just buy a disposable at the nearby drugstore and take
advantage of the special event you didn’t have the foresight to bring a
camcorder to. It might also be useful
for technophobe.
Utility tools and
programs
GenSmarts is a program I mentioned as something new last year. It is an artificial
intelligence program that analyzes your genealogy database and offers
suggestions for further research. It also looks through your genealogy file for
missing or conflicting information; estimates missing dates, and suggests
things you should do to locate records containing the missing information. GenSmarts can make "to do" lists, help you plan
trips to archives, libraries, record repositories, and courthouses. GenSmarts has some new features. Now, it will let you
create your own rules. Not only does
it suggest things the software creator thinks would be good to do, you can tell
it how to do analysis that you normally do, only do it automagically.
When GenSmarts fins something you created a rule for,
it can open a web page, send an e-mail, or do a variety of other things you
specify. Read more about
it at www.gensmarts.com.
Google Desktop (NOTE: not Google toolbar) is a program which
creates an index to your whole computer! All you have to do is type in any
name, word, or phrase and it will find anything you’ve saved on your computer
with that word, name, or phrase in it--instantly! It even searches web pages
that you’ve visited recently. If you don’t find it on your computer, just click
on “web” and it performs the same search on the web. Take a look at desktop.google.com/about.html.
GEDMark is an
inexpensive program that help protect yourself as the source of information
which you share (and automatically add others as the source of information they
share with you). My wife recently found a web site with extensive information
about her family (even those still living). As she looked at the site, she
noticed that the sources listed were not only the same as her sources, the notes were word for word the same as hers. She
discovered that a relative to whom she had sent her GEDCOM imported all her
information, then published the whole thing on the
web. What’s troublesome is that the site doesn’t even mention her as the source
of the information—it implies that the relative did all the work himself. Now,
to protect you as the source of information you might share with others, we
have GEDMARK. The program asks you to input information about you that you want
to include with files that you share, then
automatically adds that as source information to GEDCOMs
that you send to others. Check it out at www.progenysoftware.com/gedmark.html.
Image Renaming is a simple free
program that renames images. Have you ever downloaded images from your digital
camera? or scanned a whole pile of photographs? Did
you notice that you the resulting images are stored on your computer with names
like 100_0019.JPG? Later, you are looking at a list of files and have no idea
what they are without opening each one. This handy program allows you to
quickly rename one or a whole directory of image files. That’s all it does.
That’s all it’s for. But it really does it well. You can learn more and
download the free file at http://bassita.com/software/.
GenMerge is a software utility
that finds and merges duplicates in GEDCOM files. If you have ever received
files from a relative and tried to merge what they sent you into your database,
you know how difficult it can be! GenMerge is also an powerful tool for family organizations that get GEDCOM
files from members. They can use GenMerge to save the
effort required to merge files by up to 90%. While GenMerge
is not completely new, they have a recent update. Reports are now generated in
HTML so that you can move around the report by clicking on the links. Parentage
problems are now handled, and help files are context-sensitive. Check it out at
www.genmerge.com.
©Copyright 2005 by Alan E. Mann. All rights reserved.
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