Click here to return to Computer Corner On-line

for Genealogists by Mike@Blackledge.com May 2006

Googled lately? Of course you have! Google has quickly become the best-known search engine on the Internet. Three reasons are performance (speed), results (accuracy), and cost (none) to the user.

History: [see http://www.google. com/corporate/history.html for an amazing American success story.] After only seven years as a company, today we find Google stock traded wildly on the NASDAQ exchange (GOOG). The company has made a profit for half of those years –a 700% leap in quarterly earnings from 2004 to 2005 pushed young Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to the top of the billionaires list. But what can it do for the genealogist?

Considerable, as it turns out. The qualifying question is where to begin. An example of Google’s true power was demonstrated to me during a search for my surname in Boston.

Google Maps: Note that Google maps are superior to MapQuest maps for several reasons – Google maps can be ‘grabbed’ with a PDF-like mousehand and moved around in any direction within the large map window. Secondly, the streets and figures are clear in contrast to crude MapQuest fonts. The ultimate reward is Google’s inherent ability to integrate results.

Try this one-minute exercise to demonstrate why Google continues to amaze: In the Google search box, enter “map Boston” and hit Search. In the result, click on Google Maps at top of page to get the map of Boston. Note you are now under Google Local. Then click on Find businesses (off to the right of the search box), and search for What? Blackledge (not pizza) in Where? (leave as Boston, MA). You will be instantly rewarded with some 15 hits. Note the first hit (labeled as A): Google found a list of library addresses out under Blackledge.org genealogy web site and correlated it with this map of Boston to provide the A reference: The New England Historical Genealogical Society, which is located in Boston, “owns” a Blackledges in America book – and thus its location is depicted on the map under the A flag. Google did much more than a search here, or a map – it performed an impressive task of correlation.

As a consistent popular Internet site (top 5 list in 2003) Google.com is used by millions daily. You know how to Google when you're searching the Web. But how much more can be achieved with the world's superlative search engine by simply clicking beyond the Google Search button.

Desktop Google –there have been talks at AGS on organizing your files and your genealogy resources. However Google says not to worry. We’ll find it if it’s on the Internet, or your home computer. You know how to Google on the web, Desktop Google allows you to search on your own harddrive – not only files, but web pages, e-mails you have received, anything it can find (including in your computer cache). Google: faster than any Microsoft File Explorer search engine. Give it a try.

First, you download and install Desktop Google. Start the process by going to any Google page, and clicking on Advanced Search. Go to the “About Google” page (http://www.google.com/about.h tml) and click on Google Desktop (left hand side of screen). The resulting page allows you to read about this application, which now includes Sidebar (Suggestion: click on Sidebar link to see all that it does. You may wish to limit your choices). When you are ready, click on Agree and Download. The process takes about 5 minutes, and perhaps another five minutes for it to index everything on your hard drive. Fast!

Is it safe? No complaints to date …
Here’s a personal experience that may help you. In December, I received a form-letter e-mail telling me someone had changed his/her e-mail address from an AOL address to a Verizon.net address. It didn’t give me the name of the person, only the e-mail addresses, and one could not reply for questions.

Who is this person and did I care? Not recognizing the e-mail, I perused my e-mail address book to no avail. Was it from a previous correspondent? What to do? Aha: plug the AOL address into Google Desktop. Hit return. 1.6 seconds later, I was presented with 7 files and 4 web pages (on my hard drive) referencing the AOL address – and thus I discovered who this was, and yes indeed, I did want to record this e-mail address change for a vital genealogy correspondent – now I knew her name and her references.

Google definitions and conversions: A useful Google feature is to provide instantaneous definitions for any term, genealogical or otherwise. For example, you are looking at an old will and you discover some land measured in perches. What the heck is a perch? Isn’t it a fish? Under Google enter: “define:perch” (note the colon and no spaces before term to be defined – not required, but helpful). You’ll get a page of short definitions of perch, including the one we want: “Land surveying measurement that is 16.5 feet in length, or 5½ yards. A perch is also called a rod or a pole. Today the term perch is seldom used: however, it is found in old deeds, surveys, and contracts.” Note that the source (as a URL or web link) of the definition is always provided in green font – if you want more detail, it should be available at that address.

Google will also provide conversions for you. Try entering “1.2 miles in feet” or even “1.2 rods in feet” to see what you get. (Perches are a little quaint, but if you try perches, you’ll see one of the references tells you the term rod is used for perch, and rod works.)

Google’s calculator can also do some arithmetic for you, if you don’t want to call up your Microsoft calculator. More on this calculator feature is found at http://www. google.com/help/features.html#calculator
In fact, you might enjoy looking over this entire page of descriptions of Google features – everything from obtaining movie reviews to live stock quotes. If you enter a Delivery Confirmation number, you’ll get to the tracking page. Enter a phone number and Google provides a reverse look-up for you. It goes on and on.

Google Picasa: Picasa is a free image management and editing package that indexes the photos and movies on your hard drive, puts them into a searchable database, and lets you make changes including red-eye and color adjustment, crops and orientation adjustment (without destroying the original). To view a nice comparison of Google Picasa with Adobe Photoshop Album (both offer free packages), Google for Google Picasa Adobe.

Google Books: One of the newest features of Google (and somewhat controversial due to questions of copyright, e.g., “fair use” – see “Google’s Book Battle,” Newsweek, October 31, 2005) is the Google Book Search, which is currently available to you in Beta test (books.google.com ). Google started this project on 1 Nov 2005 by scanning all the books in the libraries of University of Michigan, Harvard, and Stanford. The company tells us: “Google is helping to get the world's information online by bringing books themselves online. Whenever books in our Google Book Search index contain content that matches your search terms, you'll see links to those books under Book Results at the top of your search results page. Click on any book title and you'll see the page in that book which contains your search terms, as well as other information about the title.” Suggestion: read the Google Book Search – Help for information on how this feature works, and what you might expect. This new feature could become a wonderful boon for genealogists. Consider this to be the future of the Internet: – all libraries available on-line.

References: This Computer Corner article was designed to provide you with an overview of the wide range of services you can obtain from Google which may help your efforts in genealogy. For a more complete description of the features, use the links given or consider a reference book such as:

Google: The Missing Manual
By Sarah Milstein and Rael Dornfest (2004; Pogue Press)

“Google provides a useful advanced search form, but you can also run more specific [Google] searches from Fagan Finder, a site that has no official relationship with Google. It works best from Internet Explorer:
www.faganfinder.com/google.html
But for Netscape and other browsers, try their alternate site:
www.faganfinder.com/google2.html

Note: the 2006 edition of The Missing Manual still has Rael Dornfest as primary author, Sarah is gone, and the book now sells for more – however has 424 pages, rather than 290. You can buy the 2004 edition (with shipping – used) on-line for under $8, the 2006 edition will cost you twice that much. Our RGVLS owns three copies of the 2004 edition only.

Click here to return to Computer Corner On-line

Introduction to Electronic Publishing by Mike@Blackledge.com August 2006

Computer Corner previously explored the possibilities of self-publishing your genealogy research using the near-universal availability of the World Wide Web. Now we present an overview of other electronic publishing techniques that are available to you. The not-so-hidden agenda is to convince you of the importance of publishing your research; the more immediate goal is to convince you of how easily electronic publishing can accomplish this objective.

Electronic publishing uses a computer to display text and/or graphic images in a presentation program, or on the World Wide Web. "Electronic Publishing" is primarily used today to refer to the current offerings of online and web-based publishers. Historically, the term was used to describe the development of new forms of production, distribution, and user interaction with computer text and other interactive media. We will investigate how these new forms facilitate your goal of publishing your genealogy research.

What Is Electronic Publishing?
Electronic publishing is a generic term for the distribution of information which is stored, transmitted and reproduced electronically. It is sometimes referred to (incorrectly) as 'Desk Top Publishing.’ Desktop publishing represents just one part of the electronic publishing spectrum. This spectrum includes the publication of e-books and electronic articles, and the development of digital libraries. Within the last several years, electronic publishing has become accepted in scientific publishing – peer-reviewed paper scientific journals are in the process of being replaced by electronic publishing.

Do not confuse desktop publishing with electronic publishing, which refers to electronically preparing documents that are to be read by electronic means. In general, desktop publishing products are paper. Furthermore, desktop publishing is not truly publishing at all – it applies only to the creation of printed documents using a computer. The documents may be printed directly from the desktop publishing application software (usually with a desktop laser printer), or prepared for a commercial printing process.

Electronic publishing is the production of documents using computerized means such as word-processing and desktop-publishing software, and the distribution of the documents in a format (perhaps including hypertext) that is accessible by computer. This encompasses publishing documents in electronic form such as on CD or the Internet. CD “burners” have been near-standard equipment on personal computers for several years. If you buy a computer today, it can include a DVD format burner as standard equipment – this format allows you to incorporate videos of your family or perhaps historical sites, animated slide shows of photographs and genealogical documents, and audio files of oral histories. Thus your genealogy research may end up being published as two volumes: A CD and a DVD.

The Importance of Publishing
We need to ensure you are convinced of the importance of publishing your research records. You probably recall (Computer Corner: Quarterly, Vol. 30, Issue 3) the sad story of my wife’s Aunt Margaret – probably the best genealogy researcher in the family. However, when Auntie M died a few years ago she had not published any of her work. Thus she left behind boxes of scribbled notes and a great many photos and no organization. I’ll always wonder what happened to those boxes. You would not want all the effort you’ve put into your research to go for naught – it is an important part of your legacy – especially when it is so easy these days to publish electronically.

What You Already Know About Electronic Publishing
We already learned in a previous series of Computer Corner (May, August 2005; Feb 2006. Previous Computer Corner articles are also available to you on the AGS web site under From The Quarterly) how to publish genealogy material on a personal web site. Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) provide their customers with both a location for user web pages and the means to get your pages out to that location. Visitors will find your page by using their web browser to go to your web address (URL). Follow the instructions in that series and your genealogy content will be copied from your computer hard drive to the established ISP location … and you are “published.”

We also learned in that series that genealogists have access to free location options to include: USGenNet.org and Rootsweb.com both of which provide free web space for genealogy purposes.
Web page publication is one method of electronic publishing. Now let’s look at the more typical approach.

Your Computer Software assists you in Electronic Publishing
Your current genealogy software version has a Report Format. If so, the reports (or “Books”) are generated as a Rich Text Format (.rtf) file. You can work with the file in that format, or you can import into Microsoft Word or Word Perfect, etc., and voila! You have your content for your publishing experience. You may want to add photos or otherwise edit the content to your specifications. This gathering of your content is the first step to publishing – the rest is even easier.

Easy Steps to Electronic Publishing

1. Obtain your genealogy content from your software program and edit as desired to include adding photos.
2. Obtain any desired ISBN, Copyright, and Library of Congress catalog data (not a requirement).
3. “Burn” (copy) your content to a compact disc (CD).
4. Add CD labels and plastic case as desired.
5. Distribute, e.g., by media or first class mail.

The Disadvantages of Electronic Publishing
Access: More than likely there are a number of individuals in your own family or circle of research contributors who do not own a computer or are not comfortable working with a computer. Additionally, many people prefer to work with hard copy as evidenced by the current number of subscribers for paper newspapers versus those who subscribe entirely on-line. However, once you have your research entirely published on a CD, it is a simple matter to convert to paper for those wanting paper. One member of my genealogy research team tells me:

I helped my sister with a family history on our father's line, which was 200 pages. Because cost was a factor for us she made a CD of the information that was written and sent a CD to all the descendants who had contributed information. The descendants could then print one page or whatever they wanted from the CD. I printed a hard copy from the CD for under $20.00 and placed it in a binder, thus I had my book to look at and read.

Furthermore, there are also many publishing companies (i.e., printer/binder companies) that will take your CD and convert it to hardcopy. FedEx Kinko will work with you locally. For another example, see www.AnundsenPubl.com and click on GENEALOGY.

Piracy: Some researchers worry that their hard-earned research will be immediately copied and “stolen” if they publish. To some extent such a reaction is human nature. One needs to get past this hang-up to publish. Bear in mind: (1) public records (the source of much research) are available to all, (2) copyright protection applies to material on CDs as well as books, and (3) the concept of publishing (and legacy) is to get your information into the hands of the genealogy community.

The Advantages of Electronic Publishing
Cost: Genealogists who publish books usually end up spending more than they ever make on book sales. Fortunately for those who want to get the information out at low cost, electronic publishing is available as an inexpensive option. For example, cost (not including your time) is on the order of $2 per CD product, whether you are creating the equivalent of a 90 page product or a 900 page product – and remember, there is no additional cost for electronically publishing photos – or color.

Time: There is usually a delay of several months after an article is written before it is published in a paper journal and this makes journals not an ideal format for disseminating the latest research. Similarly, the time from submitting your genealogy research to a publisher to final distributed product is typically a matter of months. However, hard copy can still provide an important role to enhance quality control, archive papers, and establish genealogy source material. In general, one expects the electronic material uploaded to a CD might eventually become published in the more traditional hard copy format.

Another question to consider: is this your “first” publication, i.e., a first edition? Your publication will result in a plethora of errata and additional information from contributors and recipients. That is OK – it fact, it is a big plus to get your first effort “on the street”! Your first publication will get the word out and ultimately result in a better, more complete and accurate follow-on product – and you may want that follow-on edition in hard copy.

Production: Electronic publishing is increasingly popular in works of fiction as well as with scientific articles. For genealogy research, electronic publishing makes the original “production” of your publishing available to you at your own computer – and it provides an easy way to update the product. Burning a CD is relatively simple and inexpensive.

Distribution: There is statistical evidence that electronic publishing provides wider dissemination than hard copy. A number of journals have, while retaining their peer review process, established electronic versions or even moved entirely to electronic publication. In the case of your genealogy product, you can get a mailer and send your CD as media mail for pennies – and again, the process is completely under your control at home.

Wrap-up
In November the author will present a program to the AGS membership on the subject of Electronic Publishing. You are encouraged to attempt some of the techniques described between now and then to discover for yourself the ease of publishing electronically. Perhaps you will have some questions – you need not wait to ask them at the AGS presentation, send them in as you think of them to the author at Mike@Blackledge.com. This column has provided an overview of electronic publishing. A follow-on article: “Advanced Electronic Publishing” will be presented in a later Quarterly.

Click here to return to Computer Corner On-line

Disaster Planning for Your Genealogical Records Part I: Strategy by Mike@Blackledge.com November 2006

You have spent many, many hours researching and gathering your genealogical information. Doesn’t it make sense to spend just a few minutes to protect that research from an unexpected disaster? In this two-part article, Computer Corner reminds you of how easy it is today to save yourself from grief over loss of data, providing peace of mind today as well as ensuring your legacy for your descendants. In Part I, we’ll introduce some concepts and decide on a strategy for disaster planning.

1a. What Is Disaster Planning?
Disaster Planning is thinking ahead about a recovery plan for the data, hardware and software critical for you to maintain your research efforts and to restart operations in the event of a natural or human-caused disaster –– or a hard-drive crash. What if you are on an AGS trip to Salt Lake City and your laptop is lost or stolen? Are you worried about a virus attacking your PC? One should also consider disaster planning for your life in general: checkbooks, financial records, family scrapbooks, whatever is important to you. However the focus of this article is preserving the information in your genealogical research records.

1b. The Importance of Disaster Planning
Of what does your research consist? You have quite a bit of information in your head. One can’t do much about helping you preserve that other than to encourage you to capture it while it’s still there, e.g., publish. Beyond your neurons, your primary research is captured in hard copy format (paper notes, photographs, printouts, books) and in electronic copy format (e.g., files of text, images, GEDCOM files, zip files). To preserve your hard copy material, capture it in electronic files: scan in those photos and old documents, transcribe as necessary, enter information into your genealogy software program. This article on preserving electronic files relates to everything you have electronically.

With the rise in information technology and the reliance on business-critical data, the landscape in the business world has changed in recent years in favor of protecting irreplaceable data. This is especially evident in information technology; with most large computer systems backing up digital information to limit data loss and to aid data recovery. We genealogists need to protect our data as well.

Computer techs that repair hard drives claim that the expected lifetime of a hard drive is about five years. The actual life depends on many factors (e.g., your car engine life depends on how hard and how often it is driven) however all disk drives will fail sooner or later. How set back would your research efforts be if you were to power up your main desktop computer today, hear a terrible clicking and clacking noise in your C: drive, and find it is inaccessible?

1c. What You Already Know About Disaster Planning
You may have experienced a disk crash sometime in your computer life. If you have, you are well aware of the need for data recovery. If you haven’t, you’ve been fortunate. Data recovery is the process of salvaging data from damaged, failed, wrecked or inaccessible primary storage media when it cannot be accessed. Often the data is being salvaged from storage media formats such as hard disk drive, storage tapes, CDs, DVDs, and other electronics. This can be due to physical damage to the storage device or logical damage to the file system that prevents it from being addressed by the host operating system. Although there is some confusion as to the term, data recovery can also be the process of recovering deleted information from a storage media for forensic purposes. If data has been accidentally deleted there are normally ways to recover it.
Physical damage: A wide variety of failures can cause physical damage to storage media. CD-ROMs can have their metallic substrate or dye layer scratched off; hard disks can suffer any of several mechanical failures such as head crashes and failed motors. Physical damage always causes some data loss, and in many cases the logical structures of the file system are damaged as well.
Logical Damage: Far more common than physical damage is logical damage to a file system. Logical damage is primarily caused by power outages that prevent file system structures from being completely written to the storage medium. However problems with hardware and drivers, as well as system crashes, can have the same effect.

1d. Why We Don’t Do Backups
The primary reason that backups are not accomplished on home computers is that one doesn’t think about or worry about losses. We used to worry more when home computers were less reliable. Today we are lulled into thinking "I won’t run into any problems; no disasters will happen here." A second reason is that it takes a little effort, and we don’t want to be bothered. And when the pros suggest off-site storage, some researchers worry that their hard-earned research will be "stolen" if they provide it to others.

1e. What To Do About It
The primary strategy for mitigating any loss of data is creating a backup. In the field of information technology, backup refers to the copying of data so that these additional copies may be restored after a data loss event. Backups differ from archives and backup systems differ from fault-tolerant systems. Backups are useful primarily for two purposes: to restore a computer to an operational state following a disaster (called disaster recovery) and to restore small numbers of files after they have been accidentally deleted or corrupted. For protection of our genealogical research we are talking about a relatively small number of files.

2a. Backup strategies
Information Technology (IT) professionals remind us that a backup should be planned carefully. Genealogists should keep these principles in mind:

1. What: Decide what you want to back up. GEDCOM files and Zip files are natural targets.
2. When: Perform regular backups to improve data recovery reliability.
3. Where: Know where your back-up material is located.
4. How: If a disaster were to occur, how would you use your back-up material for recovery?

2b. Strategy: What do you want to save?
What: You need to think about what is important to you. In general, you do not need to save your software program for genealogy (e.g., FamilyTreeMaker, Legacy). You should already have the commercial CD containing the software program. In any case, you can always get another copy of the program itself. What is important to you and what is unique to you is your data that you loaded into that program. Here the program itself can help you. One of your choices, usually when you exit the program, is, "Do you want to back up this database?" Click on Yes, and (in most programs) a zip file will be created and stored on your hard drive at a location (folder) of your choice. This zip file constitutes a genealogical backup, an excellent choice since your entire software program database can be regenerated from such a zip file. Your program can also export a GEDCOM file, which is a marked (ordered) ASCII (text) file of all your data. GEDCOM files have no "expiration date" – they will be interpretable by software genealogy programs forever. However, the zip file is the most straightforward to use for recovery. It’s an excellent idea to save one of each – marked with the version (or date) of the information.

2c. Strategy: Approaches to backing up files
Deciding how much and how often to backup at any given time is a harder process than it seems. By backing up too much redundant data, the data repository will fill up too quickly. If you don't backup enough data, critical information can get lost. The key concept is to back up only files that have changed. It helps to mark the date on the storage medium, even though the file will have a date-time stamp as well.

2d. Strategy: Storage, the basis of a back-up system
Data repository models
Any back-up strategy starts with a concept of a data repository. The back-up data needs to be stored somehow and should be organized to a degree. It can be as simple as a sheet of paper with a list of all back-up media and the dates they were written or a more sophisticated setup with a computerized index, catalog, or relational database. This is closely related to choosing a back-up rotation scheme.
CD Back-up

Unstructured
An unstructured repository may simply be a stack of floppy disks or CD-R media with minimal information about what was backed up and when. This is the easiest to implement. Remember that CDs can hold upward of 600 MBs and can be written to more than once. Several backup versions can thus be stored on a single CD. Use a Sharpie to write those version filenames and dates right on the CD and provide some organization.

2e. Strategy: Managing your data repository
Regardless of the data repository model or data storage media used for backups, a balance needs to be struck among accessibility, security, and cost.

On-line
On-line storage (sometimes called secondary storage) is typically the most accessible type of data storage. Historically in large computer operations this would be a large disk array. Individuals must consider "on-line storage" to be Internet-based storage, on someone else’s large disk array.

Off-line
Off-line storage requires human interaction to make storage media available. Off-line storage can be as simple as storing back-up CDs in a file cabinet.

Off-site
To protect against a disaster or other site-specific problem, many people choose to send back-up media to an off-site location. Backups are critical, but you do not want to store your only backups in the same building with your computer. If a natural disaster such as a lightning strike or a 100-year Rio Rancho-type flood were to ruin your computer and its contents, your locally-stored back-up copies might also be destroyed. Consider storing back-up copies "off-site," such as at a relative’s house or a fellow-researcher’s home that will not be threatened by a local disaster.

2f: Strategy: Online Storage
Some web sites offer back-up capabilities for your PC data and some even offer "free" storage. You can store zip files, GEDCOM files, JPEGs. Any file you can store on your computer can be stored online. It is easy to do, gives you some additional peace of mind, and is well worth the miniscule effort to accomplish. Here are example sites that offer such a service:

AT&T Online Vault: For about $6 per month per PC, up to 2 GBs, AT&T would like to be your complete back-up plan. Routine backup occurs daily and automatically, using your existing high-speed Internet connection, and your data is kept safe using encryption. The advantage here is the "automatically." See the demo online (www.attonlinevault.com)
Media Max: Offers 25 GBs of free online storage. MediaMax, powered by Streamload, gives you online file storage so you can upload, store, access, and share videos, photos, music, files, and work-related documents. Nothing automatic and data is not encrypted but you are offered free web storage for all your files. (www.mediamax.com)
Free Online File Storage: This site is a hub for listing, linking, and comparing many online services offering file storage, some free. (http://www.feedbus.com/free storage/)
Your own ISP: All Internet Service Providers have storage available that you can use for backups. Example: Comcast allows you to upload files into folders that you create on their storage. Any service that allows you to create web pages and upload (FTP) them must allow you to store files in general. This is online storage for which you are already paying.
Free Webmail: Another idea is to send an e-mail to yourself on a free webmail system (such as yahoo.com or gmail.com) with copies of your important genealogical files as attachments. Web based e-mail is not stored on your computer, it is stored on the host server to be retrieved by you and you alone at any computer anywhere with Internet access.

3: Summary: Forethought Avoids Disaster
Genealogists work hard for their research. Why put yourself in a difficult situation if it’s so easy to save: save your data, save yourself headaches and save sleep at night. It isn’t that difficult.

Part I provided some thoughts on deciding what you really want to save and determining a strategy to save it. In Part II we’ll examine the recent advances in hardware and storage media that make backups a snap. Since this is the November issue, your homework assignment for Part II is as follows: If your current computer doesn’t have at least two USB ports or the capability to "burn" CDs, request a new computer on your gift-wanted list.
And if you see a 1 GB flash drive advertised for less than $30, buy one. We’ll talk about using it next issue. If you don't know what a flash drive is, ask MaeAllen.

Click here to return to Computer Corner On-line

Disaster Planning for Your Genealogical Records Part II: Storage Media by Mike@Blackledge.com February 2007

Genealogists spend many hours researching and gathering their genealogical information … doesn’t it make sense to spend just a few minutes to protect that research from an unexpected disaster? In the previous issue of the Quarterly we examined strategies for Disaster Planning and realized the importance of backing up our records; this Quarterly we examine some of the tremendous advances in hardware and storage media that make backing up your genealogical information a snap.

1a: Overview of Storage media

Regardless of the backup strategy used, your data has to be stored on some data storage medium somewhere – and the concept of backup implies "somewhere else" or at least "on something else." In the old days, when computers filled rooms and "personal" meant you kept your own boxes of punched cards, magnetic tape was the commonly used medium for bulk data storage, backup, archiving, and interchange. Our personal computers today have a wonderful assortment of choices for data storage – and the cost of these choices seem to drop every time one opens the Sunday paper and looks at an advertisement.

Hard disk

A hard disk is already in your computer, so you are already familiar with this device. The capacity/price ratio of hard disk has been rapidly improving for many years. The main advantages of hard disk storage are the high capacity and speedy access times.

Optical disk

A CD-R can be used as a backup device (the "R" really means "WORM." Many optical disk formats are WORM [Write Once, Read Many], which makes them useful for archival purposes since the data can't be changed.) One advantage of CDs is that they can hold 650 MB of data on a 12 cm (4.75") reflective optical disc. (This is equivalent to 12,000 images or 200,000 pages of text.) They can also be restored on any machine with a CD-ROM drive. CDs may all look the same, but there are different file formats for different applications.
Another common format is DVD-R. DVDs are the latest format – if you buy a new computer, most likely it will come with an optical drive that writes in both CD format and in DVD format.

Floppy disk

During the period 1975–95, most personal/home computer users associated backup mostly with copying floppy disks. The low data capacity of floppy disks makes it an unpopular choice in 2007. (Flash Drives were first marketed as "floppy killers.")

Solid state storage

A wide variety of devices are included here, as solid state storage is also known as flash memory, thumb drives, USB keys, compact flash, smart media, memory stick, Secure Digital cards, etc. These devices were initially relatively costly for their low capacity, but offer excellent portability and ease-of-use and the price dropped dramatically last year.

Remote backup

As broadband internet access becomes more widespread, network and remote backup/online backups are gaining in popularity. Backing up online via the internet to a remote location can eliminate some worse case scenarios, such as a fire. Several companies are now offering service on encrypted and secure synchronized backup solutions – some of these were listed in Part I of this article. A drawback to this type of backup is the perceived risk of losing control over personal or sensitive data.

1b: USB - Universal Serial Bus

Before discussing Flash Drives, let’s consider USB ports – probably each of your computers have several such ports. Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a serial bus standard to interface devices. It was designed for computers such as PCs and the Apple Macintosh, but its popularity has prompted it to also become commonplace on video game consoles, PDAs, cell phones; and even devices such as televisions and home stereo equipment (e.g., mp3 players), and portable memory devices.

Overview

The Universal Serial Bus was devised as a key component in moving towards a legacy-free PC. The idea was to eventually replace all older serial and parallel ports on personal computers since these were not properly standardized and required a multitude of device drivers to be developed and maintained. Modern computers often have several host controllers, allowing a very large number of USB devices to be connected. USB cables do not need to be terminated.

Because of the capability of daisy-chaining USB devices, early USB announcements predicted that each USB device would include a USB port to allow for long chains of devices. In this model, computers would not need many USB ports, and computers shipped at this time typically had only two. However, for economical and technical reasons, daisy chaining never became widespread. To reduce the necessity of USB hubs, computers typically now come with six USB ports. Most modern desktop computers have up to half of their total complement of USB ports on the front panel, to facilitate temporary connection of portable devices.

USB was designed to allow peripherals to be connected without the need to plug expansion cards into the computer, and to improve plug-and-play capabilities by allowing devices to be hot-swapped (connected or disconnected without powering down or rebooting the computer). When a device is first connected, the host enumerates and recognizes it, and loads the device driver it needs.

USB can connect peripherals such as mouse devices, keyboards, gamepads and joysticks, scanners, digital cameras, printers, external storage, networking components, etc. For many devices such as scanners and digital cameras, USB has become the standard connection method. USB is also used extensively to connect non-networked printers, replacing the parallel ports which were widely used. USB simplifies connecting several printers to one computer. As of 2004 there were about 1 billion USB devices in the world. As of 2005, the only large classes of peripherals that cannot use USB, because they need a higher data rate than USB can provide, are displays and monitors, and high-quality digital video components.

1c: USB mass storage device class

The USB mass storage standard provides an interface to a variety of storage devices that run on the Universal Serial Bus, to include:

external magnetic hard drives
external optical drives, including CD and DVD reader and writer drives
portable flash memory devices, known as keydrives or flash drives
adapters bridging between standard flash memory cards and a USB connection
digital cameras
digital audio players (MP3 players, e.g. iAudio, iPod)
high-end hardware media players
Portable gaming systems (Nokia N-GAGE/Sony PSP)
personal data assistants and handheld computers
some newer mobile phones, such as the Sony Ericsson K800i

1d Media: USB Flash Drives

Flash Drives: When AGS member MaeEllen recently signed up for a TVI course, she was told: "Bring a flash drive." What’s a Flash Drive? Answer: it is perhaps the most innovative storage device of the past decade.

USB flash drives are flash memory data storage devices integrated with a USB interface. They are typically small, lightweight, removable and rewritable. Memory capacity typically ranges from 8 megabytes up to 64 gigabytes [1], limited only by current flash memory densities. As capacity increases, so does price, to a point. As of 2006, more recent examples in the 1 to 4 GB range are little more expensive than the 128 MB versions available in 2002.

USB flash drives have several advantages over other portable storage devices, particularly the floppy disk. They are generally faster, hold more data, and are considered more reliable (due to their lack of moving parts) than floppy disks. These types of drives use the USB mass storage standard, supported natively by modern operating systems such as Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows XP.

A flash drive consists of a small printed circuit board encased in a robust plastic or metal casing, making the drive sturdy enough to be carried about in a pocket, as a keyfob, or on a lanyard. Only the USB connector protrudes from this protection, and is usually covered by a removable cap. Most flash drives use a standard type-A USB connection allowing them to be connected directly to a port on a personal computer.

As evidenced by MaeEllen’s TVI class, flash drives have quickly become ubiquitous in our society. The Family History Center in Salt Lake City now allows, nay, encourages you to bring your flash drive and download the genealogical information from their computer network. On her most recent visit to SLC, Betty Lou Albright was able to download considerable amount of index information which she then brought home and re-loaded onto our Special Collections Library (SCL) computers, all using her flash drive. Joe Sabatini, Branch Manager for our SCL, is in the process of investigating funding to replace the old microfiche readers with digital microform reader-printers which will allow the user to download the images onto – that’s right – your own flash drive.

Most flash drives are active only when powered by a USB computer connection, and require no other external power source or battery power source. They are powered using the limited supply afforded by the USB connection. To access the data stored in a flash drive, the flash drive must be connected to a computer, either by direct connection to the computer's USB port or via a USB hub. If you have struggled with finding that USB port on the back of your computer or the side of your laptop and plugging in your flash drive, I suggest you add a simple USB hub.

USB Hub

A USB hub is a device that allows many USB devices to be connected to a single USB port on the host computer. USB hubs are often built into equipment, normally keyboards or, more rarely, monitors. Separate USB hubs come in a wide variety of forms, from boxes that look similar to a network hub to small designs intended to be plugged directly into the USB port on a computer (that is, without a connecting cable).

A bus-powered hub is a hub that draws all its power from the host computer's USB interface. It does not need a separate power connection. However, many devices require more power than this method can provide, and will not work in this type of hub.

In contrast a self powered hub is one that takes its power from an external power supply unit and can therefore provide full power to every port. Many hubs can operate as either bus powered or self powered hubs.

USB hubs, like flash drives, have Plug-and Play installation. You can add four USB peripherals to your PC and save desktop space without adding clutter – and the cost can as little as $10. They can come with Plug-and-Play and Hot-Swap capabilities so you can easily connect/disconnect USB equipped camera, network adapter, modem, and joystick to your computer. Plug and Play (PnP) is a computer feature that allows the addition of a new device, normally a peripheral, without requiring reconfiguration or manual installation of device drivers. PnP is a process the computer runs through when it is first turned on, involving the boot process and power-on self-test. Therefore, the computer must be turned off before installing a PnP device into an expansion slot. Hot swapping is a similar feature that allows adding and removing devices while the computer is on. Flash Drives allow Hot swapping, although there is an icon on your screen to click to allow "safe" removal of a USB device. Connect each port to another USB hub for limited expansion. Compact, light-weighted, and requiring no external power, you can purchase a 4-port USB hub for under $20. To locate, visit a local shop or Froogle for USB hub.

History

The flash drive or thumb drive was invented in Israel in 1998 by Dov Moran. His most significant contribution was that the product be self-reliant and free of the need to install drivers. IBM first marketed a USB flash drive product in the US in 2001 that had been manufactured by the three companies that developed similar products and have similar and disputed patents. Lexar can also lay claim to a USB flash drive product and offered a companion card reader and USB cable that eliminated the need for a USB hub.

Modern flash drives have USB 2.0 connectivity. Thumb drives have become iconic as a sort of "fashion statement" much like the iPod's white ear bud headphones. For more detail on Flash Drives and how they work, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thumb_drive - the Wikipedia site also provides much of the information provided in this article.

2: Cost considerations

Cost: The real question of cost is what is your time worth? What is it worth to you not to have to re-enter all your genealogical research? The cost of the hardware as described in these two Disaster Planning articles is low. One only needs to check the ads in the Sunday paper to get an idea of what bargains are available. In the recent past CDs and the jewel cases to package them were essentially free; the refunds or rebates covered all of the cost except sales tax and your postage to mail in the rebate application. Flash drives can go for about $30 per gigabyte; an external 100 GB hard drive with USB connection is available today for under $80. From Sunday paper insert ads just a month ago, you will find that Office Max, Comp USA, and Office Depot offer many bargains in storage media. One could obtain a 5 pack of CD-R for $2; a 20 pack of colored (which may help organizing back-ups) CD-R for $6; a 50 pack of CD-R for $6; 100 pack of CD-R for $14; a 25 pack of DVD (-R or +R format) for $7; a 100 pack of DVD (-R or +R format) for $20; 1 GB USB Flash Drive for $20; 2 GB USB Flash Drive for $40; a 100 GB internal hard drive for $20; a 160 GB USB Seagate external hard drive for $90. These "specials" change weekly, so check your Sunday paper.

Warning: My knowledgeable colleague George Mayes tells me, "Over time I’ve become nearly paranoid about trusting any SINGLE backup type of device. They’ve all got their own set of problems." George suggests not treating flash drives like hard drives; that is, don’t have them plugged into your computer all the time, only when you want to download or upload some data. Remember that flash drives are basically just small hard drives, so like a hard drive, they can fail. If you think about it, the only obvious mechanical part in your computer is the drives. Similarly, George also reminds us that CDs can be damaged as well. He offers the cautionary tale of a gentleman who "ripped" (copied) his entire collection of classical music from LPs onto CDs, then got rid of the vinyl. He packed his CDs into a box and moved to the Gulf Coast. Some months later he retrieved his CDs from the box and much to his dismay discovered that the salt air had totally destroyed that thin aluminum layer where the music was stored. This tale may be in the category of urban legends (obviously there are lots of folks on the Gulf Coast cheerfully playing their CDs right now), however it is true that currently the Library of Congress credits storage life on a CD to be no more than eleven years.

3: Wrap-Up: Today’s Storage Media Facilitate Backup

As the song says, you work hard for your money … well, genealogists work hard for their research. The point is not to put yourself in a difficult situation if it’s so easy to save yourself headaches – and allow you to sleep at night. How easy is it in today’s world? As we have learned in these two articles:

Cost:
CDs are almost free; flash drives now go for about $30 per gigabyte; an external 100 GB hard drive with USB connection is available today for under $80.

Time:you can copy data to a USB Flash Drive in about the time it takes to read this sentence. With today’s storage devices, the time taken to execute a backup is minimal.

Difficulty

Distribution

So don’t delay – decide on your strategy, purchase some storage media, backup Aunt Martha’s genealogical information today, and sleep soundly tonight.

Click here to return to Computer Corner On-line

Choosing Your Genealogy Software, Part 1 by Mike@Blackledge.com May 2007

One of the near-perfect matches in the last fifty years of technology is between genealogy and computers — the two appear to have been made for each other. Computers are a fantastically efficient machine for information storage and retrieval — genealogists call this "research." Today a marginally web-efficient genealogist can discover more research information on the Internet in a matter of hours than a professional researcher working a few decades ago could accomplish in months.

However, there is another advantage of using a personal computer: one’s research records are "automatically" organized via the marvelous relational database capabilities provided today at very low cost in commercially available software genealogy programs. Part 1 of this two-part series provides background, examines some of the options available, and provides some insights about considerations when selecting a basic genealogy software application.

Features of a Genealogy Software Program

There are several features that any user expects in the underlying structure of any commercial genealogy software program. Let’s start with the three underlying, basic-assumption principles that any software program had better have — or it would not even be on the market.

Expectations

Here are three expectations for genealogy software. If a program is lacking in any one of these, it is not a viable candidate for your research use.

1. Reliability:

Reliability is a basic feature that any user expects in any commercial software program, and certainly any genealogy software. The technical definition of software reliability is the probability that the software will not cause the failure of a system for a specified period of time under specified conditions. For genealogists, that means we want a program that will not "crash" or lose our data. You need a mature system that incorporates integrated database backup-and-restore features to help safeguard your data and thus allow you to sleep at night.

Reliability also includes compatibility. We note that the Windows-based programs are not jumping over themselves to talk about their Microsoft Vista compatibility, but we would expect all to operate smoothly under Vista. Most advertise that they run under Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, and XP. With the Macintosh line of computers, running under multiple operating systems has never been a problem.

2. Underlying relational database structure

Relational databases are at the heart of storing genealogical data. Data and relationships among them are organized into tables — collections of records with each entry containing the same fields (think of genealogical "events" as fields – e.g., a marriage event or a death event that links dates and places to an individual). Some fields are designated as keys, indexed by specific values, so that searches for key fields can retrieve data rapidly (e.g., "all the births between 1840 and 1856"). An underlying query language is used to search for data — in genealogy programs, the user should never have to think about this. Records in different tables may be linked and searches can be "random" — in other words, you don’t have to march through your database sequentially or alphabetically. "Short lines" or "danglers" (separate trees of surnames not linked to other surnames) can be found as easily as someone in your direct line.

The term "relational database" conjures up the concept of family relationships, in contrast to an hierarchical database, which links records together in a tree data structure. A "tree structure" may sound genealogical, but due to their restrictions, hierarchical databases often cannot be used to relate structures that exist in the real world. In an hierarchical database, each record type has only one owner, e.g. a retail order is owned by only one customer. In a family each spouse would have more than one "owner" or tree, and each have his or her own lineage. Thus the relational database (which links tables) works ideally for genealogy purposes.

3. GEDCOM compatibility

GEDCOM is an acronym for GEnealogical Data COMmunications, and is a standard file format for exchanging genealogical information from one computer system or program to another. When the LDS Church developed the Personal Ancestral File (PAF) program, they also developed GEDCOM, and we are fortunate that this standard has survived to be the common format underlying every genealogical program. A GEDCOM file is a text file with the file extension .GED, which preserves the relationships (in every sense of the word) in a genealogy data file. All genealogy programs should have the ability to import and export data as GEDCOM files in the latest version (5.5) of the GEDCOM standard.

Other Expectations

Reliability, a relational database, and GEDCOM compatibility are the big three expectations. Every genealogy software program has all three or it would not be a commercially viable product.

Another compatibility is related to the collection of genealogy records of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Members of the LDS Church are encouraged to accomplish genealogy research as the basis of the Church's efforts to perform temple ordinances for as many deceased persons as possible. Such LDS support features are provided in most genealogy software applications. In this article we are considering genealogy for research purposes and note only that most genealogy software programs have the option to activate or deactivate their LDS features.

Another basic expectation is reasonable cost. Today, the historic availability of the Personal Ancestral File (PAF) program developed by the Church of Latter Day Saints, along with the competitive market for genealogy software, has made cost a non-factor. PAF is now available as a free download and most commercial programs are available for less than $50. It would be difficult to spend much more than $100 regardless of how "deluxe" a package one chooses.

These programs, like many software applications, provide periodic updates, sometimes quite frequently. One never has to go with an update; the old version will continue to work. Furthermore, most of us continue to use the same program. If you haven’t looked at the upgrades to genealogy software that programs other than yours may provide these days, you owe it to yourself to try out a free sample. You may be surprised to find that there are so many exciting features now available for so little cost.

Beyond the Basics

This section lists standard features of current versions of most genealogy applications, grouped into six areas:

General features:

No limits on number of people, facts/events, notes, sources

Many (40 to 60) predefined fact types (birth, marriage, death, occupation, religion, etc.)

Creation of user-defined fact types

Accommodation for multiple relationships, such as adoptions, foster parents, etc.

Three navigation views: Pedigree, Family, Descendants. [The figure below

shows an example Pedigree screen selected from the three tabs available in RootsMagic].

Ease of use:

Switch back and forth between pedigree, family, or descendants view

Automatically link family members as you add them

Automatically check for duplicates as you add people

Double click on a person's name to edit that person’s information

Use built-in search tool to easily find and edit anyone in your database

Obtain technical assistance through the program’s Help menu

Purchase a hard copy manual if you prefer that to the built-in Help system

Publishing capability:

Create complete books with narrative, notes, charts, photos, source bibliography, and index

Send to printer, save as Adobe Acrobat (PDF), or export to your word processor (RTF)

Customize headers, footers, margins, fonts for any printout

Report "writing" capability:

Print pedigree charts (standard and cascading)

Print family group sheets

Create narrative reports (using such formats as modified register, indented descendancy, Henry descendancy, D'Aboville descendancy, and ancestor or Ahnentafel)

Print everything you know about a person in an individual summary

Use a relationship chart or built-in calculator to show exactly how two people are related

Print blank pedigree charts, family group sheets, research logs, correspondence logs, and cemetery records forms

Documentation capabilities:

Add notes and/or stories to any fact or person

Enter each source only once, then reuse it elsewhere

Employ a "wizard" or template to automatically write proper sources for you

Easily create a source list to track all your documentation (certificates, census, books, etc.)

Add a global source to each person when importing a GEDCOM file

Track repositories where the sources are found

List your documentation (notes and sources) in your reports, summaries, and forms

Research tools:

Bookmarks for finding individuals in your database

Spell Checker to review the current notes, or all notes

Global search and replace tool for notes, sources, names, places, etc.

Search by name, record number, dates, places, notes, and other types of data

Count and report tool to find the number of separate trees in your database

"To do" list lets you keep track of research you still need to do for any person or family; several programs integrate with GenSmarts software to suggest research leads

Date calculator

Relationship calculator shows you the relationship between any two people

Soundex (the accepted algorithm for handling surname spelling variations) calculator

Database merge capabilities

Bells and Whistles

In addition to the program features already described, there are some "nice to have" features; some programs offer more of these, some less. This list can go on and on, and it is up to you to determine whether these "extra" features are important to you or are needed in your research. Just consider which of these you would enjoy having:

More ease of use:

The ability to open multiple databases on screen at the same time and to "drag and drop" people between databases. Similarly, the ability to open multiple copies (and views) of the same database.

A tool to track multiple relationships, such as adoptions, foster parents, etc.

A way to customize the tool bar to include the functions you use most

Ability to add private notes ("work notes") that you can suppress from printing or exporting

Ability to "burn" (write to) CDs to give to others, with custom menu and a read-only version of the software genealogy program

Calendars with birthdays and anniversaries

Custom report designer

Correspondence log to keep track of all your incoming and outgoing correspondence

Address labels for mailings
Family reunion planner

Multimedia capability:

Attach photographs, sound clips, video clips and documents to any person, family, place, source, or event

Scan photos directly into the genealogy database program

With a photo editor, adjust sharpness, brightness, contrast, and crop, rotate, and zoom images

Include photos in your books, group sheets, and other printouts

Scrapbook of pictures for people, families, sources, and places

Internet features:

Automatically create a website including photos, notes, sources, index, surname list, GEDCOM file, email, etc.
Generate several types of web pages: pedigree charts, group sheets, combo pedigree chart / group sheet, descendant narrative, ancestor narrative, or alphabetical narrative
Add your own links to your home page
"Privatize" living persons in your website
Automatically check for updates to your software

Most of the latest versions of the top genealogy programs have most of the above features. The above choices in particular are available from RootsMagic, for example. More features are listed on http://rootsmagic.com/features.htm

Summary: In Part 1, we have examined basic features of every genealogy software application and what special features can be obtained today. AGS’ own Victoria Sullivan reminds us that such specialized features vary from product to product. In the next Quarterly, we will examine the six primary software programs used by AGS members and interview some of our members to find out why they prefer their specific program.

Click here to return to Computer Corner On-line

Choosing Your Genealogy Software, Part 2 by Mike@Blackledge.com August 2007

As Forest Gump might have said, "Genealogy and computers go together like peas and carrots." Part 1 of this series examined what one should expect in any genealogical software application and mentioned some "nice to have" features that are available to the researcher today. Part 2 presents comments by our AGS members on what they use – and why.
Genealogy Software Choices by AGS Members

By preference of its members, our Albuquerque Genealogical Society recognizes six genealogy programs through Genealogical Software Support groups. Only one of these groups has regularly scheduled meetings of a Users Group. All six provide a point of contact and e-mail support or help framework for users within the Society. Please refer to your latest AGS Membership Roster for the contact’s information. Here are the six primary programs used by AGS members:

Legacy: [Users meet on the first Thursday of each month at 1 pm in the New Mexicana Room of Albuquerque’s Special Collections Library. AGS contact: Luanne Chowning]. Relatively inexpensive and easy to learn. Updates are free. Much instructional material is available. Along with RootsMagic can be purchased locally at Deseret Books (Paseo and Wyoming).

Deluxe Edition Cost: $29.95. Standard Edition is free to download. Web site: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/

RootsMagic (RM): [AGS contact: Nancy Greenberg] RootsMagic claims to be the easiest to use genealogy software available, as well as one of the most powerful. Switch between the three main views (Pedigree, Family, and Descendants) by simply clicking on a tab (see Part 1 Figure). Double clicking on a person's name brings up the data entry screen for that person. You can even open multiple databases side by side. Directly import from Family Tree Maker, PAF, and Family Origins. Very easy and intuitive to learn—as powerful as Legacy but cleaner in appearance and less confusing to beginners. Hard copy manual available.

Cost: $29.95. Trial version (some limits on features) is free to download and try. Web site: http://www.rootsmagic.com/

The Master Genealogist (TMG): [AGS contact: BettyLou Albright, who is moving to Texas but will still be available via e-mail] TMG has an extensive "guided tour" self-running demo for download from the web site. TMG has a reputation as the most powerful family history project manager on the market, designed by experienced genealogists who understand and prepare you for common research problems, including adoptions, name changes, conflicting evidence, and multiple lines of descent. Data-entry templates make it easy to record your sources and produce professional output. Extremely powerful and versatile but the learning curve is steep. Cost (Silver Edition): $39.95. You can download a 30-day trial version for free. Web site: http://www.whollygenes.com/

Ancestral Quest (AQ): [Users meet on ad hoc basis. AGS contact: Warren Siemens] Ancestral Quest claims to be the easiest to use and most versatile genealogy program for Windows on the market. AQ considers its format as perfect for the beginner and yet powerful enough for the most advanced genealogist. Includes specialized features for Jewish genealogy research (e.g., a special report on Holocaust victims).

Cost: $29.95. Trial version (unregistered) free to download and try. Web site: http://www.ancquest.com/

Family Tree Maker: [AGS contact: Joleen Streit] Family Tree Maker claims it is the #1 selling software product for building, customizing, searching and sharing your family history. A Getting Started Tutorial will walk you through this process step-by-step.

Cost: $29.95. No trial version, but an animated tutorial with screen shots of FTM is available on the Web site: http://www.familytreemaker.com/

Reunion (for the Macintosh): [AGS contact: Pat Heggem] If you have a Macintosh computer, Reunion is recognized as the most popular genealogy program for your platform. Reunion received the highest rating for genealogy software in MacWorld, MacAddict, and Mac Home Journal magazines. We have few Mac users in the Society; check with Pat for the list.

Cost: $99. When you download, you will be running the demo version (limited to 50 people in the database), and when you pay your $99, you unlock the full version. Web site: http://www.leisterpro.com

There are some comparison charts on-line to compare features on most of these programs at: http://rwilson.us/comparison.htm. This comparison is useful but dated. Lynda Katonak notes that the version of AQ compared is 2002 (vers. 10), and that today AQ (vers. 12) has a Research Log and To Do List. Similarly, the version of RootsMagic being compared is 1 and RM is now at version 3.

Genealogy programs other than the six above do not have specific support groups within AGS. However, at least these two should be mentioned:

Personal Ancestral File (PAF): [AGS contact: Don Pierce, Don@dons.com ] PAF was the original software genealogy program developed by the Church of Latter Day Saints back in the early days of personal computers. PAF also developed the GEDCOM standardized format so that in a very real sense, PAF is the ancestor of all genealogy software. The version for years was a somewhat clunky DOS-based product but the program has long since been upgraded to a slick Windows-based version. For example, PAF users can now download their genealogies to a Palm OS handheld computer. The rumor has been circulating among AGS members that the LDS church is dropping PAF – however this is not quite accurate. There is no mention of any such closeout on the web site and Family History Support tells me (April 2007): "The Church has not given any indication that PAF will be discontinued. However, it appears that there may not be any future updates to PAF. Support for PAF will still be available." The latest (and final?) version (5.2) is completely free and can be downloaded from the PAF website at: http://www.familysearch.org

Brother’s Keeper: This Windows program is distributed as shareware and thus is free, although one can order a registered version with manual for $45. BK6 (the latest version) is used by several AGS members. The operation is run via the website by the developer and founder, John Steed. More can be found at Brother’s Keeper website: http://www.bkwin.net/

Comments by AGS Members:

The program descriptions above include comments by AGS’ Victoria Sullivan who owns and operates many of the software programs discussed and also provides an annual class on this subject. Our thanks to Victoria for her insights. Victoria also reminds us that "free" means you usually must supply your contact information — at least your e-mail address.

After interviewing several AGS members, it appears that genealogy software is like word processing software or your hometown: whatever you "grew up with" is where your comfort level and your loyalty lies. You don’t want to change to another package unless you are forced to. Here are comments from a few experienced AGS members:

Melba Williams: Try Legacy. What I like about Legacy is when you bring up an individual’s page, it shows you that individual and their spouse; above each are their parents and below each are their children, all on one page. Easy to move around in. I find I have problems putting in sources with any software package.

Hugh Bivens: I now use The Master Genealogist [TMG]. I stopped using Brother’s Keeper after I lost two databases with it — I figured it was time to get to another package as the owner was the main developer of the software, and I didn’t know how long he would be around.

Rosemarie M. Winkler: I use Brother’s Keeper and I love it — when you write to the owner, he answers you. I have been using BK for about 20 years, and always recommend it to everyone. It is great software, and I published two beautiful family histories with it. I have written to John Steed to see what the succession plan will be for the owner and the company. He responds in part, "I am 52 years old and do not plan to retire for a long time. If I ever do (or if I drop dead) then I suggest you try out a couple other current programs and use GEDCOM to move your data to the program you like best. I will try to stay alive for a long time so you will not have to face that decision."

BettyLou Albright: The Master Genealogist (or "TMG") v6 is the gold standard in family history software. This organization is not going to be sold or merged into another program. It is developed by genealogists for genealogists. The support is fabulous. Also, I will help anyone by e-mail.

Louise Rosett: I like TMG. You can call TMG on the phone — I e-mailed my database file to them when it became corrupted, and they had it repaired and back to me within a day. I’ll admit TMG has a steep learning curve. I took all three TMG classes at the National Genealogical Society conference. My biggest problem was importing — I had to use a GEDCOM file to import the database from Brother’s Keeper, and I had to re-enter the sources. TMG (and Legacy) provide access to GenSmarts — this is a utility that tells you what sources you should check to obtain additional information for the individuals in your database.

Martha Buddecke: I tried to use The Master Genealogist [TMG] but it defeated me. It was overwhelming with all the source stuff. I found when I brought in a GEDCOM, the program included lots of "end’s" and "unknown’s." I had to correct all the sources I imported. It didn’t put the sources, notes, and narratives where I expected. Meanwhile, I found that the publishers have improved Family Tree Maker [FTM] in the past two years. I originally left FTM because it didn’t do enough, but I don’t have that complaint with the latest version. I read a review in a genealogy magazine where the reviewer said TMG was "too time consuming." I agree. I am now thinking of going to RootsMagic. It allows images, adding in pictures, and access to diary, so you don’t get hung up entering data. I’m not a computer person, so I want it very straightforward. I prefer the hardcopy manual, not on-line help. One of the things that bugs me in TMG is the "Research Journal" (like a To-Do List in other packages). None of the software packages has a real "to-do" list — they want you to enter the ISBN of the books you want to research! I suggest it is easier to just do a To-Do list in Microsoft Word.

Joleen Streit: I have only used Family Tree Maker. I like it because 1) it is not expensive and 2) it is easy to use. I also like that once you have typed in a location, source, etc., it remembers it so that the next time you use the same information all you have to do is type the first letter or two and it pops up. This saves a lot of typing.

I do wish that when you are combining families from 2 different database files, it would post the sources for the information you are bringing in. As it stands now, after FTM has brought the new file information in, you have to go back and manually add the sources of that new information.

Nancy Greenberg: RootsMagic replaced the older Family Origins program. The Albuquerquean who developed Origins, Bruce Buzbee, went out on his own, redesigned the program to do more things, and called his new program RootsMagic. It uses the same logic, and most procedures for using the program are the same as the older Origins program, so it is incredibly easy to use. It does many wonderful things that the older programs did not do. Three of the new features that I like the best:

I love that I can open two databases side-by-side, so that they can be compared for differences. If additions or changes need to be done, the information can be "dragged" from one to the other. (This multiple database feature is unique to RootsMagic)
I really like the charts that are built into the program as defaults. There are several varieties of printable charts, but you can also design your own.
The program interfaces with Microsoft Word and other processing programs, so that one can easily transfer information directly from the genealogy program into one of these programs using a Rich Text File, an ASCII Text File or an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. Narrative reports and other types of forms and reports can be automatically transferred to the kind of file and destination of your choice.

I actually cannot think of a thing that I wish it did that RootsMagic doesn't do. I am extremely pleased with my program.

Lynda Katonak: Historically I used PAF when it was just a DOS program and was frustrated at the lack of support and updates when everything else was moving to Windows-based programs. Several of the Utah PAF programmers shared my frustration and wrote a Windows program that was based on their PAF databases...and Ancestral Quest was born. It was easy to switch and use and was very compatible to other software on the market at that time, so I became an AQ user. AQ is a utilitarian program that does almost everything I want it to do, so I've just stuck with it.

There are frequent updates (available free online) and occasional full revisions, and anyone with a PAF database can use either PAF or AQ software interchangeably with no loss of information or sources. One of the features I like is the ability to give a child multiple parents (bio and adopted) and move between the two different families. It does all the normal printouts such as in book form and attaching photos, and now includes a Research Log and Research To Do list.

I wish my software could print out a descendancy tree—an ancestor with all his descendants in a tree form (the opposite of the pedigree chart we all use). AQ will print a descendancy chart or list, but not a tree.

Warren Siemens: My experience is with AQ and earlier its precursor PAF. AQ has most of the features I am looking for, particularly the reports, and is relatively easy to use. The AQ web site provides a list of the main features of AQ 11. Some of these I have not used yet but plan to. I am beginning to use the scrapbook features, particularly the addition of photos.

Ilene Jones: I started with PAF, then went to Ancestral Quest, then tried TMG, and finally have moved to Legacy. I like Legacy and have used it for some time now. One of the nice features is that it will highlight your family line all the way back (and forward) as you are working, so you can always see which of the entries are directly related to you. Legacy has an excellent CD tutorial. Luanne Chowning runs a Legacy users group meeting, and we have been working our way through these CD tutorials. First the tutorial makes some changes or entries, then it backs up and gives you the opportunity to work the same area. Very helpful.

Summary

Hearing genealogists talk about their software program is not unlike hearing a person talk about their politics or their religion — they love it, they grew up with it, and by gummies, they are going to stick with it. However, with the underlying GEDCOM database structure and the inexpensive options available today, switching programs is only slightly traumatic and can be quite worthwhile if you acquire additional features that will make your research easier.

To summarize this two-part series, here is an approach to choosing your Genealogy Software:

Are you working as part of a team of researchers?
If you are working with others in your family on a project and exchanging information, then plan to use whatever software they are using. GEDCOM files have their limitations. What operating system are you using?
If you are under Windows, the world of the above AGS choices is open to you. For Macintosh users, the new line of Macs uses Intel processors and can easily accommodate multiple operating systems. However, if you are on a Macintosh, consider Reunion (web site:

http://www.leisterpro.com

) and also see Cyndi’s List for Macintosh programs:

http://www.cyndislist.com/software.htm#Mac

. Take advantage of the free downloads
. Go ahead and load PAF (for free) or the limited versions of Legacy, RootsMagic, etc. from their websites given above. Make an effort to test drive them by entering some data. Create a mini-database, entering the source information and some notes. Edit some changes. Print out a report and see what you get. Take advantage of the AGS users groups
. If you are a computer novice, check with your local genealogy software users, and pick a program that has a support group or someone who will be willing to help you with problems you will run into. Attend more than one group meeting and see if you are comfortable or overwhelmed. Victoria Sullivan conducts at least one class each year on comparing some of the software packages, and AGS members note Victoria knows all of the genealogy software programs like no one else. Contact Victoria at

VLSullivan@comcast.net

. Consider a hard-copy users manual
. Most of the programs offer a hard-copy manual, but you will have to pay additional for it. Many individuals consider it easier to use a hard-copy manual than the on-line or CD-based help that most programs offer these days. Remember, you can probably purchase a used manual (or software program) at significant savings on the Internet (albeit for an earlier software version) — or take a look at one at a Users Group meeting. Just do it.
Finally, jump in and "go" with one package. Remember that you can always switch to another package without losing any data, but until you trust a software package and start using it, you aren’t taking advantage of the computer/genealogy marriage made in Heaven… or at least in Salt Lake City.

Click here to return to Computer Corner On-line

Netting Your Ancestors - A Beginning by Nancy Anderson November 2007

Computer Corner welcomes guest columnist Nancy Anderson, President of the New Mexico Genealogical Society. In this issue, Nancy presents suggestions on using the Internet for genealogical research. Nancy has taught the Beginner's Course on Internet Research for several years and this article is adopted from her outline for that course. Nancy has been involved in genealogy and both the AGS and the NMGS organizations for many years. Nancy can be reached at www.nmgs.org or info@nmgs.org.

Let's talk about what the Internet can do for you and your research. There are several web sites that are particularly helpful to the genealogist. I will briefly examine each. The reader needs to go out to each site and spend a little time getting acquainted with the features of each. Even if you have used some of these as recently as last year, you will find much has changed, and new databases have been added almost every day.

Cyndi's List (http://www.cyndislist.com)

Cyndi's List is easily the best known categorized and cross-referenced index to genealogical resources on the Internet. For over a decade, it has provided a list of links that point to genealogical research sites online. The main index page of Cyndi's List has more than 15,000 visitors each day and the entire Cyndi's List web site has more than 70,000 page hits each day. This vast, extraordinary website is run by the amazing Cyndi Howells, genealogy obsessive and family-loving, all-American mom. Cyndi maintains her site from her home in Edgewood, Washington. As Cyndi says, "It is not run by a large company, or by a large staff of people. In the beginning there was only one person keeping track of all these links and keeping the site current - just me. From 1996 through 1999 I was the only person who worked on the list, although I did receive a lot of helpful feedback and support from others." Why does she do it? Cyndi explains, "because I have fun," and also neatly explains what Cyndi's List is: "…the internet is like a library with its books strewn all over the floor. I guess I'd like my list to be the card catalog for the genealogy section of that library."

I have Cyndi’s List on my bookmarks as I find many useful links there. You can find blank pedigree forms, family charts, correspondence records, research forms as well as How to Research, Beginner’s tips, and much, much more. Also, you can look up the county where you have ancestors. Then find genealogical societies in that county. An area genealogical society may have information that is not available any other place.

Linkpendium (http://www.linkpendium.com)

Another site similar to Cyndi's List is Linkpendium. It is newer and sometimes easier to navigate. Linkpendium calls itself "The Definitive Directory" and is being developed by Karen Isaacson and Brian Leverich, founders of the popular RootsWeb (www.rootsweb.com) genealogical community site. At the time of its merger with Ancestry (www.ancestry.com) in June 2000, RootsWeb had about 600,000 registered users, was serving about 100,000,000 Web page views monthly, and was delivering about 160,000,000 pieces of email monthly to the subscribers of its 18,000 mailing lists. The company had more than 40 employees and operated its own 7,000 square foot network operations center in Bakersfield, CA.

U.S. Gen Web Project (http://www.usgenweb.org)

The USGenWeb Project consists of a group of volunteers working together to provide Internet websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States. The Project is non-commercial and committed to free access for everyone. Organization is by county and state, and the website provides links to all the state volunteer websites which, in turn, provide gateways to the counties. The USGenWeb Project also sponsors important Special Projects at the national level and this website provides an entry point to all of those pages, as well. Although the basic unit of organization for the USGenWebProject is at the county level, state websites include very important information as well, including such resources for postings of unknown county queries, family reunion bulletin boards, state histories, and maps showing the changing county boundaries, among others. Many states also have ongoing projects as diverse as the transcription of Civil War regiments or the reuniting of families with lost photos, bibles, etc.

Using the US Gen Web Project will take you to counties and new ideas of where to research. It also will help you set up an upcoming research trip. By contacting a volunteer in the area, you may learn all the "do’s" and "don’ts" of the court house, libraries, and other research facilities in the area. Please do remember that volunteers man the sites and give them all the information you have for the area, what you need, and be sure to thank them for any help.

GenForum (http://www.genforum.genealogy.com)

GenForum is a service of Genalogy.com, which is a part of The Generations Network. The company provides tools, resources and community to assist their paying customers to uncover and share their family stories. The company designs, develops and markets genealogy software applications and online resources that enable family history enthusiasts to research, organize and document their heritage at home or away.

Genforum is free, but you do have to subscribe to send a query or post a reply. This site can be very helpful with surnames and counties and state research.

Family History Library (http://www.familysearch.org)

The Family History Library, located in Salt Lake City, is the main repository for most of the genealogical information the Church has collected. Family history centers (more than 3,500 around the world with four in Albuquerque) are branches of the Family History Library. These centers eliminate much of the need to travel to Salt Lake City to use the record collection. Most of the microfilm and electronic data collections are accessible at centers around the world. There is no charge for use of the Family History Library or family history centers. Volunteer staffs are on hand to lend assistance.

The Family History Library web site contains a variety of records that can help with family history and genealogical research. First there are vital records; these include birth, marriage, and death records from both government and church sources. The library collection also includes census returns; court, property, and probate records; cemetery records; emigration and immigration lists; printed genealogies; and family and county histories. The Family History Library’s computer system also contains several large databases, some with millions of names. They include the Ancestral File, the Pedigree Resource File, the Vital Records Index, and the International Genealogical Index. You can access these databases on the Internet at www.familysearch.org. The Family History Library’s collection concentrates on records of deceased persons who lived before 1930. All records are obtained legally with the approval and cooperation of the government and local authorities who have jurisdiction over the records.

Family History Library website (http://www.familysearch.org/) is free, also. You will find the IGI, Social Security Death Index, the 1880 "soundex" census as well as Ancestral Files here. Again, the IGI and Ancestral Files are clues only so you will have to do the research based on those clues. They also have some "family" websites that might help you.

Genealogy Resources (http://www.genealogyresources.info/)

Genealogy Resources is an Information Blog developed and created by the Virtual Private Library™. It is designed to bring together the latest resources and sources on an ongoing basis from the Internet for genealogy resources which are listed on the site. This site has been developed and maintained by Marcus P. Zillman - his linked, annotated white paper titled "Searching the Internet" is a primer for those new to searching the Internet or those using only one search source. This site has many good free portals that could keep a genealogist happy for many hours.

Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com)

Ancestry.com is the flagship site of Generations Network in Provo, Utah, which also owns Genealogy.com, a rival site, and Myfamily.com, which is essentially a family networking site. According to its chief executive, Tim Sullivan, Ancestry.com has 800,000 paying subscribers and 14 million registered users.

The site has free content, including a family tree maker, but also lets users search immigration, census and military records for fees that depend on the level of records sought. Family Tree Maker, a software program for use in personal computers, is part of the company as well.

Ancestry.com is a great site, but it is costly and if you are doing just your own research, it may not pay for itself. However, you can use Albuquerque's Special Collections Library two Internet computers and access all of Ancestry with only the cost of any printing out of your pocket. On Tuesday mornings at the Special Collections Library, a gentleman is available to help you use those computers and both Ancestry and Heritage Quest.

Nancy's No-Nos

Evaluate any on-line information before incorporating it into your own database. Just because it is on the Internet does not make it true. Here are a few of "Nancy's No-Nos" on using the Internet:

NEVER put anything on the Internet about a living person; respect their privacy.
NEVER put yourself or your parents on the Internet, even if deceased.
NEVER share the information of yourself or your parents with anyone who is not a close relative that you know well and can trust.
NEVER "pay" for an Internet subscription without knowing exactly what it costs, what you get and how to unsubscribe.
NEVER assume the information you found on the Internet is true. Use it only for clues and check all of the sources. If there are no sources, maybe dates and places will help you find a source.

Summary

Using the Internet is using common sense. There are some bad people, but many more great people willing to help out in cyberspace. If they want money before they do anything, "delete" them. Do not give out your "regular" e-mail address, but sign up for hotmail or yahoo or gmail e-mail address to use for the world wide Internet. It will save you spam and grief.

This article has presented just a few tips to enjoy the new age and to help "net your ancestors."

Click here to return to Computer Corner On-line

Grandpa In Pixels - Scanning and Photo Editing Tips for Genealogists by Mike@Blackledge.com February 2008

This Computer Corner article includes the information presented to the AGS Meeting of 14 November 2007. The article includes the text for that talk and adds additional details and references. Any specific mention of products, web sites, or vendors in Computer Corner does not necessary constitute endorsement by the AGS Board or the author.

Technology for Genealogists

As recently as twenty years ago, information access for genealogists was fairly restricted. One needed to physically travel to a library, a courthouse, or a cemetery. Today, the Internet has brought many of those resources into our homes and to our desktop computers. It is certainly possible to accomplish genealogy research without using a computer, however as was said in a previous Computer Corner article: "Computers and Genealogists are a match made in Salt Lake City."

All but one or two members of our Albuquerque Genealogical Society have a home computer (and are using a user-friendly software genealogy program as discussed in the August 2007 CC article) and a printer. Most also have scanners but may not have used them in the pursuit of their research.

Today the reason many people have scanners (and may not have exercised them) is that the technology has allowed printers with multiple functions (e.g., printing, copying, scanning, and faxing) to be developed and sold for not much more than the cost of a stand-alone printer - and less than the cost of a printer only 5 years ago. Ten years ago, the primary scanner was a flatbed scanner, i.e., a stand-alone scanner. That technology is now included in any of the "All-in-One" (multi-function) printers available today.

Believe it or not, the first fax machine was developed in the mid-1800s. (Note: "fax" is short for facsimile, from Latin fac simile, "make similar", i.e. "make a copy") Obviously, considerable innovation was required to advance to the ubiquitous fax machine one sees in every office today. It was in 1924 when a photograph of President Calvin Coolidge was sent from New York to London and became the first photo picture reproduced by transoceanic radio facsimile. Prior to today's fax machine, facsimile machines worked by optical scanning of a document (or drawing, photograph, etc.) spinning on a drum.

If you think about the technology already captured in the typical office fax machine, you can see why this multiple function technology has come about so quickly. To deliver a fax the machine must be able to copy and print (read-in at one end, print out at the other end). And the technique of "reading" an original is nothing more than scanning. The facsimile function thus requires all three "basics," plus a phone transmission system.

If you shop for a new printer, you will happily discover that the cost of printers has dropped, and to make up a little of that, manufacturers are now including multiple functions in their printers. As an example at the low-cost end, recently at Circuit City, one could purchase a Canon Pixma MP160 Photo All-In-One Printer for only $50. (Similar offers can be found at Office Max, Office Depot, or on the Internet; check your Sunday paper ads for what is available this week.) This "printer" is built around a color inkjet printer of 4800 x 1200 dpi resolution and which includes a flatbed scanner of 600 x 1200 dpi resolution with USB 2.0 connection. We discussed the USB 2.0 connection in the May 2007 Computer Corner; we'll talk a little about resolution later in this article, but the point is that now anyone can obtain, and indeed may have already obtained, a decent scanner built-in with their computer printer.

If all four functions are included (i.e., with the fax function), the typical low-end cost is a little over $100. For example, the Hewlett-Packard (HP) OfficeJet 6310 XI sells for $145, and the HP OfficeJet J5750 for $130. If you need only the three functions (scanner, printer, copier) as do most genealogists, then the cost is less. In addition to the Canon product mentioned above, the HP PhotoSmart C4250 sells for $85. (Of course, the manufacturers are counting on your continual purchasing of ink cartridges to provide to them an after-sale revenue flow.)

If you prefer to obtain just a scanner, one can still obtain stand-alone flatbed scanners (which can copy as well, and can use your compute printer to print); however, they are not so easy to find. For that same $85 mentioned above, you can obtain the Visioneer One Touch 1200 dpi flatbed scanner. Read reviews on the Internet (such as at site CNET.com) for these and other printer/scanner/copiers to see what you get (and don't get) for the price. You might also find bargains at used computer stores such as PC Place on Menaul Blvd.

Publication Scanners: Libraries are interested in commercial scanners to solve their archive problem. These scanners can provide a fast, cost-effective way to scan, digitize, and share the content of color publications. Books, magazines, scientific manuals, and historical materials can all be preserved and shared in full color, without damage to pages or fragile bindings. Face-up color scanning of books keeps handling to a minimum, saves time, and reduces wear on originals. The best of these scanners automatically compensate for center curvature of bound volumes and erase centerline shadows, outside borders, and any finger images from operators. (A volunteer would be needed to flip the pages on the book.) These scanners cost on the order of $12,000.

AGS's Hugh Bivens has been working on a long-term effort to obtain such a scanner for the Special Collections Library as a joint effort between the two local Genealogical Societies and the Albuquerque Library System. Hugh has suggested the Minolta PS5000C, a face up publication scanner with which publications can be scanned into an attached PC to be processed for Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and subsequent output to a searchable PDF file. These PDF files would be loaded on the computer LAN (local area network) at the Special Collections Library. Hugh considers this process as a practical way to enhance the LAN data with shelf holdings from Special Collections. Wouldn't you love to be able to do a near-instantaneous full-text search for the surnames you are researching throughout all the holdings of the Library? The error rate of the output file is a function of the quality of the scanned text. Hugh tells us, "The price and capability of this second-generation scanner coupled with the price and size of digital storage now make its acquisition desirable as a step toward a 'digital' library." You can request a copy of Hugh's paper: "A Digital Library Vision for the Special Collections Branch Library" by e-mail at: hughb@spinn.net

You may have heard of Google's attempts (announced and begun in Dec 2004 and still challenged in court) to scan the contents of the libraries of Stanford, University of Michigan, Oxford, and Harvard, as well as the New York Public Library. For this gargantuan effort, Google uses hermetically sealed scanners that automatically turn the pages after each image is captured. Those scanners cost in the neighborhood of $200,000. For the purposes of this article, we only examine the low-end scanners obtained with today's multi-function printers.

Why Would a Genealogist Want a Scanner?

Scanners are useful for two quite different purposes. One purpose is to capture an image of a document, a photograph, or even a three-dimensional object such as an antique watch or jewelry. The other purpose is OCR: Optical Character Recognition. Let's look at each of these attributes.

Capturing an image: A genealogist that is planning to publish some research would want to augment their research records with photographs of individuals or historic buildings or other items, or images of documents. Suppose you have come into temporary possession of an antique document or perhaps an old Bible with birth and death records. Such documents may be fragile or valuable or both. You could copy the information by hand, or even on a copier, or take a photograph of it. However, think of a scanner as a digital camera with a built-in light table - it can uniformly light the document or open book and provide a high-quality image of it for you. Scanners are designed for this purpose, whereas other technology may not do the job as well. A (library or commercial) copier can only provide you with hard-copy paper as your product. The scan may be better than the copier can produce. From a scanner you obtain an electronic image such as a JPEG file that you can later work with, crop, photo edit, and publish. For these reasons, scanning a document is always better for the genealogist than copying a document. In the talk to AGS, it was demonstrated that one could scan a document such as a photograph without even removing the photo from its frame. If this is a photograph that is loaned to you, the owner may much prefer this process to dismantling the frame to get to the photo.

Optical Character Recognition: The idea of OCR (optical character recognition) is to have the scanner capture an image of words from a document or a book and send it to a software program for processing. The program interprets the image and transforms it into machine-editable text that you can work with as with any text document. The software program to do this transforming of images into text is provided with the scanner itself, usually on a CD to load into your computer. Early systems required training (providing known samples of each character) to read a specific font. "Intelligent" systems with a high degree of recognition accuracy for most fonts are now common. Some systems are capable of even reproducing formatted output that closely approximates the original scanned page including images, columns and other non-textual components.

Although this technology can today produce better than 99% accurate translations, my experience is not to expect much better than 85% accuracy with such OCR software on a personal computer. However this can still save you considerable typing effort if you are trying to capture the text from a book, magazine, or copied article. Hugh Bivens' experience with OmniPage OCR software is more current and positive: "...the accuracy is correlated directly with the quality of the scanned text. My experience is that the scanned text quality would have to be very poor to achieve only 85% accuracy. The scanning parameters that Omnipage recommend for best OCR is a resolution of 300 dpi and an output of uncompressed TIF. These parameters give very good results with average to good quality text."

Resolution: By "resolution" we refer to image resolution that describes the detail an image holds. Higher resolution means more image detail. The resolution of a scanner is similar to the resolution of a digital camera. One can talk about the size of the image in pixels (picture elements) or in dpi (dots per inch).

The term resolution is often used as a pixel count in digital imaging. When the pixel counts are referred to as resolution, the convention is to describe the pixel resolution with the set of two positive integer numbers where the first number is the number of pixel columns (width) and the second is the number of pixel rows (height), for example 640 by 480. Another popular convention is to cite resolution as the total number of pixels in the image, typically given as number of megapixels, which can be calculated by multiplying pixel columns by pixel rows and dividing by one million. Other conventions include describing pixels per length unit or pixels per area unit, such as pixels per inch or per square inch. None of these pixel resolutions is a true resolution, but they are widely referred to as such; they serve as upper bounds on image resolution.

Dots per inch (DPI) is a measure of printing resolution, in particular the number of individual dots of ink a printer or toner can produce within a linear one-inch (2.54 cm) space. When we described a scanner earlier in this article, we said it had of 600 x 1200 dpi resolution. For genealogists simply attempting to obtain a decent image of a photograph to use in a research report, my experience again shows that any scanner on the market is sufficient. What may be more important is the ease of use; thus features like the One-touch (one touch for scanning; another button for copying) may be more important to you than increased resolution.

Photo Editing Software

Most of us have heard talk of "PhotoShopping" a picture to make it better, or to add someone or something into the image, or to delete something from the image. Probably your home computer came with a modest photo editing software program that performs such operations as rotating or cropping the image; you can discover this by clicking on a JPEG file on your computer and seeing what software, if any, is launched when the image is thus invoked. Also, scanners and digital cameras typically come with some photo editing software.

If not, it is not difficult to acquire some software for this purpose, and you definitely want this capability. The purpose is to have the ability to alter images, whether they are digital photographs, traditional analog photographs, or illustrations. Before digital scanners and cameras became common, traditional analog image editing was known as photo retouching, using tools such as an airbrush to modify photographs. However, since the advent of digital images, analog image editing has become largely obsolete. Graphic software programs are the primary tools with which a user may manipulate, enhance, and transform images.

The more powerful programs perform a large variety of advanced image manipulations. Popular raster-based digital image editors include Adobe Photoshop, Corel Photo-Paint, and Paint Shop Pro. The full Adobe PhotoShop program sells for about $400; I would recommend this only for a professional graphic artist, it is way too much for the typical user. Adobe also sells PhotoShop Elements for about $90. This smaller program is an excellent photo editing software. A competitor (in both price and features) for Elements is Corel (formerly JASC) Paint Shop Pro. It is interesting to note that Paint Shop originally developed as shareware; you can obtain other free software that will serve well as a photo editor, to include Picasa from Google. Picasa's primary purpose is to organize and locate your photos on your computer; however, it contains some basic editing tools as well, to include color enhancement, red-eye removal, and cropping. My Macintosh friends tell me there is a Mac shareware program called Graphic Converter that will handle most tasks as well as Photoshop. Visit site softpedia.com and search locally for "photo editor" to see the multitude of shareware programs available to you.

With today's scanners the user can specify what type of file is desired for the digital output, e.g., the scan can go directly into a PDF file, a JPEG file, or a Bit Map file. For simple genealogy purposes I recommend staying with the JPEG file for images.

Summary

You may already have a scanner built into your personal computer printer. If not, the next time you shop for a printer, you will find you can obtain one "for nothing." These scanners can be of considerable help to the genealogist, both for obtaining images of photographs and documents that could be published with your text, and for obtaining some of the text from books and other documents through OCR software. Joe Sabatini, our Special Collections Branch Manager, notes that researchers are already using their own personal technology such as notebook computers and flash drives in the library, and sees no barriers to their bringing in a scanner to copy or "OCR" some of the Collections' resources.

Click here to return to Computer Corner On-line

DIGITIZING AT SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARY by Hugh Bivens, Volunteer May 2008

At its March 2008 meeting the AGS Board approved $3,000 for the purchase of a book scanner with a capability of manually scanning book pages at approximately 400-500 pages per hour. These scanned images then can be recognized by software to perform Optical Character Recognition (OCR), after which the file can be exported as a searchable PDF file on the Local Area Computer Network (LAN) available to Special Collections Library (SpeCol) patrons. This book scanning capability, now operational, will allow a portion of the SpeCol books and publications to be converted into a digital format for electronic storage, search, and review.

This scanning capability is valuable for several reasons. Heavily used and fragile books can be preserved without further deterioration because they will be accessible electronically and not physically handled. Some older books either don't have an index or have indexes that are not easy to use. Depending on the quality of the type, these can be made searchable in PDF format. Digital books are available to multiple patrons concurrently on the LAN. Digital books don't get misfiled by patrons nor do digital books require physical refiling by Library staff.

But the creation of a digital SpeCol library may have a less obvious benefit. Newspaper and magazine articles report the growing interest in genealogy, but invariably imply that the Internet is the single source available for genealogy research. These new genealogy researchers, many that are computer literate, find using the Internet for genealogy research a natural extension to their normal Internet use. The Internet provides rapid access to an extensive and increasingly bountiful source of genealogical data. Thus some genealogy researchers, and especially new genealogy researchers, may conclude that the Internet is the sole source of genealogy information and fail to use the resources of their local libraries and genealogical societies. But getting these new genealogy enthusiasts to use the SpeCol library collection of books and publications will difficult even though the SpeCol collection contains considerable genealogy sources not available on the Internet.

The solution, if there is one, could be the publicizing of the SpeCol genealogy collection. But publicizing print media will probably not attract these new genealogy researchers. A considerable digitized portion of the SpeCol collection of books and publications may be needed before the SpeCol collection can be effectively marketed. The book scanner will provide the capability to digitize a selected portion of the SpeCol book collection. This digitizing project will be a slow process with a goal (mine) of digitizing 5% of the SpeCol book collection within 5 years. Indeed, a limited amount of material is currently available on the LAN, probably unknown to most Society members and SpeCol patrons. A partial list of this digital book collection on the LAN, generally organized by state, is shown with this article. Making this list available is just a small step in publicizing the SpeCol digital resources. Others are planned for the next year.

Publicizing or marketing SpeCol resources by communicating to the public will require creative approaches. The same task exists for publicizing the LAN to patrons. Volunteers will be needed for book scanning and possibly image editing. Opportunities for volunteers will be defined more explicitly in the future after Larry James and I thoroughly understand the scanning equipment and the image editing process.

Although other organizations elected not to participate in the purchase of a book scanner as an organization, I am hopeful that individual members will volunteer in the either the digitizing or marketing efforts. Also I believe that SpeCol will help with marketing. My belief that everyone's goal is to help SpeCol maintain its viability for the next few decades and exactly how this is done is less important than the fact it is done.

Some library patrons love perusing print media and may feel concern and apprehension about the increasing emphasis on electronic media in lieu of print media. This concern is understandable, but it seems inevitable that library operations in the 21st Century will require that old style library charm and tradition be exchanged for convenience and abundance through advances in technology. Print media will continue to be a genealogical research tool, but I believe that in the future our computer LAN and the Internet will play an increasingly important role in genealogical research.

Click here to return to Computer Corner On-line

Kith and Kindle: Can E-books Assist the Genealogist? by Mike@Blackledge.com August 2008

Culture Change: A few years ago, the National Endowment of the Arts released a report showing Americans in almost every demographic group are reading books in significantly lower rates than 10 or 20 years ago. As an example, those Americans 18 years of age and older who read a book not required in their work or school dropped from 61% in 1992 to 57% in 2004. Perhaps we are reading more from computer screens? We know technology is combining computers and books. This Computer Corner explores the Amazon Kindle, a convenient portable electronic device designed to store and display electronic books, and considers if such a device can assist the genealogist.

Introduction

Last holiday season, I bought a present for myself (who else is going to spend $400 on me?): An Amazon Kindle. I have been intrigued with the idea of an electronic book for years now, and this new product from Amazon (it was reviewed as a cover story in the Nov 7 2007 issue of Newsweek) seemed to be the breakthrough for which I was waiting. Some patience was required even after ordering: there was a six-week backlog on orders.

I had to tell my twin sisters about this device, and I received quite different responses. One sister responded excitedly: "Mike! Dick just ordered two Kindles two days ago (got the info from stock market reading and NY Times): one for his daughter and one for us. I read the Newsweek article yesterday. Can't wait to see if we can make it all work; it's almost too unbelievable and wonderful to really expect it to work as advertised."

My other sister was more reserved: "KINDLE? I have no idea what an Amazon Kindle is, but apparently you two do. I keep thinking that it has something to do with fireplaces. No, that has to be wrong. I'll just have to wait and hear about it at Christmas. You people are apparently on the cutting edge."

Both sisters were correct: The clever Amazon (consider that name) marketing strategy worked on both. Kindle is indeed supposed to make you think of kindling in a fireplace - start the fires burning with the idea of getting more people reading. A Kindle is an electronic book that weighs 10.3 ounces and is about the size of a paperback. With a Kindle you can change the font size to what is comfortable for you to read, hold up to 200 books at a time, subscribe to newspapers and magazines and have them show up instantly (my sister and her husband read the NY Times each morning), check the definition of almost any word, connect to Internet sources like Wikipedia to look up any subject, and send Word documents to your own Kindle. The screen is not backlit, but is very readable. The device charges in 20 minutes to last for two days. Take it anywhere!

Technical Details

Display: 6" diagonal E-Ink® electronic paper display, 600 x 800 pixel resolution at 167 ppi, 4-level gray scale

Size (in inches): 7.5" x 5.3" x 0.7"

Weight: 10.3 ounces

System requirements: None, because it doesn't require a computer

Storage: 256MB internal (approximately 180MB available for user content); you can add an SD memory card

Battery Life: Leave wireless on and recharge every other day. Turn wireless off and read for a week or more before recharging.

Charge Time: Approximately 2 hours

Connectivity: the built-in modem uses Amazon Whispernet to provide U.S wireless coverage via Sprint's high-speed data network

USB Port: USB 2.0 (mini-B connector) to optionally connect to a PC or Macintosh computer

Audio: 3.5mm stereo audio jack, rear-mounted mono speaker

Content Formats Supported: includes Kindle (AZW), TXT, MP3; also limited HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion of those files.

Included Accessories: Power adapter, USB 2.0 cable, book cover, rechargeable battery

Documentation: About Your Kindle Manual; Kindle User's Guide pre-installed on the device

Overview

The device was designed by Amazon to provide an exceptional reading experience. The development of E-Ink, a revolutionary new display technology, makes reading Kindle’s screen as sharp and natural as reading ink on paper—nothing like the strain and glare of a computer screen. . The screen displays the "ink" electronically. It provides a crisp black-and-white screen that resembles the appearance and readability of printed paper and reflects light like ordinary paper. The Kindle uses no backlighting, eliminating the glare associated with other electronic displays. As a result, Kindle can be read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room.

Testimonials about the Kindle screen:

James Patterson, author: "The screen is fabulous. You would expect that, with a screen, there would be a glare, it would be hard to read but it's not. There’s no glare. It's not backlit, which is kind of magical. I think people are going to be very, very surprised and delighted. This is a lot easier to read than a lot of books are these days."

Michael Lewis, author: "I'm telling you, after five minutes I've ceased to think I'm looking at a screen. It's not like reading a computer screen. It's more like reading a piece of paper. I think it's actually clearer, easier on the eye than the printed word."

Kindle has edges to press to page forward or back in your reading. The device never becomes hot and is designed so both "lefties" and "righties" can read comfortably at any angle for long periods of time. This is especially nice for reading in bed, or reading where it would be awkward to hold the pages (for example, I find the Kindle very easy to use while eating my lunch!) You can also listen to books on your Kindle with its built-in speakers or one could purchase earphones.

The content for the Kindle is delivered similarly to cell phone technology: Amazon downloads it directly to your Kindle using their own wireless delivery system. Unlike WiFi, you’ll never need to locate a hotspot. There are no service plans, yearly contracts, or monthly wireless bills— you are not required to make any additional purchase or pay any fees.

With Kindle, you can be anywhere, think of a book, and get it in one minute. Amazon allows you to download and read a sample of any book for free. If you decide you want the entire book, you can click on a button, and within a minute, you have it. I downloaded a book during halftime of a Lobo basketball game last season (no, it wasn't that boring of a game, I just like to read during timeouts). All newspaper, magazine, and blog subscriptions also start with a risk-free two-week trial.

Kindle’s paperback size and expandable memory let you travel light with your library - this is especially nice if you're going on a long auto or airplane ride, a cruise, or traveling in an RV. A Kindle e-mail address is provided with each Kindle purchase. You then control the list of those e-mail users authorized to send documents directly to your Kindle - wherever you are.

What Is Available For Kindle

More than 90,000 books including New York Times Best Sellers for $9.99; "classic" books are even less, and thousands of free titles are available to you. No standard genealogy texts yet.

(Currently) 21 U.S. and International newspapers including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Denver Post, and The Irish Times.

(Currently) 16 magazines including TIME, Forbes, and Atlantic Monthly - all wirelessly delivered to your Kindle before they hit the newsstands.

More than 300 top blogs from the worlds of business, technology, sports, entertainment, and politics (no Genealogy forums yet, but perhaps some day ...)

What Can Kindle Do For the Genealogist?

Here is a testimonial from well-known genealogist Dick Eastman: " I love e-books: books and other publications that are available in electronic format instead of on paper. I have several hundred such books stored on my desktop and laptop computers and many on an Amazon Kindle, including newspapers, books downloaded from Google Books, many blogs, and more. I read the Wall Street Journal every day on an Amazon Kindle. I almost never print anything these days; I prefer to read text on a computer screen or on the Kindle.

"Making the switch from printed documents to an on-screen display of the same information is a significant psychological adjustment. For a while, it felt "funny" to read books, newspapers and newsletters on a computer screen. The adjustment was easier on the Amazon Kindle as its "e-paper" display is much closer to printed paper. Once I became accustomed to reading things on-screen, I found the process to be easier than ever. Searches are usually easier since many online documents allow one to quickly search for any word or phrase. Of course, e-books are also cheaper and eco-friendly; I no longer consume as much paper and laser printer toner as I used to.

"I suspect that the economics of publishing books on paper will soon mean the end of paper-based genealogy books, as well as all sorts of other books and newspapers. A printed book costs a lot more to publish than an e-book. Consumers and publishers alike will appreciate the savings available when publishing electronically."

"Reading documents on a computer screen is good, but the use of a portable reader with "e-paper" is much better. For instance, use of an Amazon Kindle simplifies the process. Computerworld has a new article that takes a look at the development and the future of e-paper. E-paper is rapidly becoming its own industry."

What I Did With My Kindle and My Research

As you know, all current genealogy software programs have the capability to create a book report format of your research records. That report is essentially an MS Word document; thus you can create such a report and send it to your Kindle. (Note: it costs ten cents per document to have Amazon send a document directly to your Kindle, or you can do it yourself for free by having them just e-mail it to your computer.) The document could include any photos that you may have or add to your report, although they will be displayed in grey scale. You thus can keep your research with you wherever you are, and you can use the search function to look up specific surnames or whatever. I also send my travel itineraries and contact information to my Kindle so it will always be with me. Certainly not the same as a laptop but quite easy to tote wherever you go.

Competition

There are several e-books available. The primary competitor for Amazon's Kindle is Sony's Reader Digital Book. The two have much in common and Sony's Book sells for about $300 (but you must pay extra for items such as the cover). The purpose of this article is not to compare e-books however be aware that there are a number available to you. Kindle is unique but others are out there. When you go to ManyBooks.net and want to download a book, you will see that there are more than 20 unique formats for electronic books, to include the valued old standby PDF files (a format Kindle cannot handle well at this time).

What I Like About the Kindle:

Free books
There are literally thousands of books that you can download for your Kindle and not cost you a penny. This includes so many of the classics, from Mark Twain to Dickens to Gibbon to Shakespeare. Over 20,000 titles are listed at the site www.ManyBooks.net - to find other sites, just Google for Free Kindle Books. Bookmark
Kindle maintains the location you last were reading in all the books on the device. Thus if you go back to another title and click on it, the Kindle will open that book to the page where you last left off. When you 'awaken' the Kindle it always opens to the book and the page where you were last reading. Very nice feature, especially for we unorganized readers who find ourselves reading more than one book at a time. Search
You can hit the search key on Kindle and type in any word or phrase. When you click the cursor, the Kindle will search first through the book you are reading, then all the books on your Kindle, as well as the built-in dictionary, then ask if you want a search in Wikipedia or on the web in general. "Now, where did I see that surname before?" - Kindle will show you. Definitions
You can select any line you are reading, hit the cursor button and have the Kindle look-up definitions of the words on that line. You can also highlight (actually draw a box around, as no color on a Kindle) the line or two, and you can add notes associated with that line. Media Library:
Amazon stores every book you buy for your Kindle in a library just for you - thus if you delete a book from your Kindle, you don't lose it - you can always download it again (this time for free) from your Media Library. Content:
the amount of content available for the Kindle is growing all the time. For example, in December 2007, eleven newspapers were available for subscription on the Kindle. In July 2008 there were 21 available.

How To Improve the Kindle:

Inconsistency
Example: You can adjust the size of the text you are reading, but the size doesn't carry over to enlarge the font of the definitions if you ask for definitions of a term. Cost
$400 is too much to pay for a device that is essentially a shopping cart for Amazon books (plus free books). In May 2008, the price was reduced to $360. Better, but not there yet. Dictionary
I love having a built-in dictionary - this is one those ideas I have dreamed of for years. But the current Oxford American Dictionary is lacking for the task. If you are reading e.g., a Christopher Hitchens book that contains some really esoteric words, the current dictionary can define perhaps half. And no Latin phrases! Identification
I did two things to indicate the Kindle belonged to me: I sent a Word document to the Kindle itself entitled "Please Return My Kindle!" with instructions on how to contact me and that a reward would be offered. However, after actually leaving my Kindle in a motel room, I realized that anyone who found it would have no idea what it was or how to operate it. So I taped an external label on the back of my Kindle with contact information to include a cell phone number. One would hope that Amazon would come up with a way to register/provide for the return of lost Kindles. Time
Magazine: many users have complained about this: Time makes its magazine available for subscription to the Kindle, but text only - it leaves out all of its charts and photographs. Kindle can handle graphics (albeit in a grey scale version), and I would subscribe to Time on the Kindle if it would use a version more equivalent to its newsstand edition. (Now available Newsweek on Kindle suffers from the same text-only syndrome.)

Summary: Electronic data have rendered all sorts of paper documents obsolete -- plane tickets, billing statements, card-catalogue entries and even, for many, the morning newspaper. The book, however, lives on and in some respect will always live on. Meanwhile, the Amazon Kindle provides a most intriguing alternative. The Kindle is not a laptop and no computer is required to use it. It is a standalone reading device and the imagination of the user can expand it for many uses, including assisting genealogists. The device appears to be a burgeoning success for two reasons: the usability of the design as a reading device, and the equally well-designed service to download books and documents quickly and easily - and relatively inexpensively.

More Information: First go to Amazon.com and view the video showing the Kindle in use. Google can locate many, many reviews on the Kindle. Please note that before Kindle was actually released, many negative reviews came out on it (from people who of course did not own the device), knocking its limitations such as it cannot handle PDF files (although an experimental program is available). I would not give much credence to reviews by people who did not even have a Kindle.

Click here to return to Computer Corner On-line

Preserve Your Family History - Photo Books and Family History Books by Esther Yu Sumner November 2008

Introduction: The holidays are all but upon us! Tired of the standard commercial approach to greeting cards and gifts? Want to do something a little different for your family as a lasting remembrance this year? As a genealogist, you have some special resources available to you, including some old documents or photographs that you have gathered throughout the years. It could be fun to create a "historic" Seasons Greetings card using an old family photograph. Just scan it in and use the on-line assistance such as that offered by Walgreen's or Sam's Club to create your unique old-school/sepia greeting cards. My favorite one-minute on-line video tutorial on making your own picture greeting card is at http://video.about.com/scrapbooking/Make-Photo-Greeting-Cards.htm, or see www.hp.com/go/activitycenter. A more significant product can be achieved with the application of some professional assistance in creating photo books and family history books. Your creative efforts can assist your genealogy goals. In the following article, freelance writer Esther Yu Sumner gathers together several such ideas for your consideration.
______________________________________________________________________

When Grandma Doris died, her children had a dilemma. What should they do with all the historical family photographs that she had inherited or taken herself, then saved over the years? Several members of the family wanted the photographs, but nobody had any real plans for them except to tuck them away in another box “for posterity.” While they had good intentions, the problem with tucking the photos in another box is that after Grandma Doris died, some of her children did not know the significance of some of the photographs left behind. Doris’s grandchildren knew even less. At some point, the family members featured in these valuable photographs would become meaningless strangers.

What Grandma Doris’s family didn’t know, is that there are a lot of options out there to help make it easy and fun to preserve photographs, and the stories behind them, for posterity. The options available run a wide spectrum, from simple, template-based family books to detailed custom-designed books that can be several hundred pages long. What you choose depends on how much control you want over your book, how comfortable you feel using online book-design programs, how much money you are willing to spend, and how quickly you need the published book to be sent to you.

Basic photo books

If you want to create a simple photo book, several sites use book templates that let you pick what size book you want, then upload your photos into the template to create a professionally bound book complete with captions. You can typically also select fonts, drag and drop photos into template layouts, and more. For books like this, consider a company like MyPublisher.com (www.mypublisher.com), which offers a 20-page, 11.25” x 8.75” hardcover for $29.80 – more for a leather cover or additional pages.

PhotoWorks, from American Greetings (http://www.photoworks.com/photo-books/category.jsp?occasion=genealogy ), has a special option with its “everyday standard sized book” that includes a five-generation ascendant tree for $39.95 for up to 20 pages. You can add up to 80 additional pages for $0.99 per page. There are no fees to use these programs, so feel free to try them out. You’ll find that the sites stay simple and instruct you on what to do next so you don’t get overwhelmed.

Custom-designed books
If you have collected a lot of information for a photo book but don’t have the time or the desire to actually put everything together, consider a company like Good Stock (http://good-stock.com/custom.php). They are a custom-design service, and, as such, claim they will “concept, design, manage, print, and bind your book.” You’ll be able to proof the completed book in PDF format before approving your order. You are responsible to have the photos you want to use scanned, edited, and sent on a CD along with other material you want used in your book. Prices for the completed book average around $1750 for a 50-page book. Books typically take 10-12 weeks from start to finish, including reviewing the final design, then waiting for the book to be bound and shipped to you.

Do-it-yourself books
If you simply want a way to make it easier to record your own memories, you can purchase a template CD from Mended Memories (http://www.mendedmemories.net/) for $79. This program allows you to arrange pictures, stories, and events into an attractive page using templates designed to work on Microsoft Word. You’ll be responsible for printing the pages and figuring out a way to display them nicely. Blurb (http://www.blurb.com/) offers a free software program you load on your computer that guides you through the layout and design of your book. Once the layout is done, you order the printed version through the Blurb website.

If you have custom-designed a book using your own program, U Build A Book (http://www.ubuildabook.com/genealogy-book.html) will print it for you. They claim that the size of the book and the program you use doesn’t matter – they’ll print it. Listed prices start at $13.95 for a 6 x 9, soft cover, 20-page book.

If the book you want to publish is so genealogy-intensive that you plan to fill it with detailed family charts and timelines, you might want to consider AncestryPress (http://ancestrypress.ancestry.com/index.aspx). This program is ideal for Ancestry.com members who have created an Ancestry.com family tree because it pulls in the research you have been saving on the website. The service also allows you to share your project with family members and have them add stories and photos. AncestryPress starts at $34.95 for an 11 x 8 ½, 24-page book with a leatherette cover. You’ll pay $0.79 for each additional page for up to 250 pages. Expect a book within one to two weeks of submitting your completed work.

Self-publishing companies

If you have a longer, more in-depth family history book that you want to publish, there are options that give you a freer-form template and allow more pages per book.

Memory Press (http://memorypress.familylearn.com/family_history?source=search) helps you to complete each page, including room for photographs, stories, and a family tree. As part of the Memory Press service, you can customize the cover with 3D items like charms, your book will be permanently backed up on the company’s servers, and you can use a special collaboration tool to invite families to contribute stories and photos. The book is $50 for up to 35 color pages OR up to 175 black and white pages, and varies from 8.5 x 6.5 to 10 x 8. Once you complete and order your books, you can expect it in 10 days.

Creative Continuum (http://www.creativecontinuum.com/fhpub.asp) will help you put together your genealogy book, whether it means looking at original documents and finished manuscripts, scanning and digitally cleaning your photographs and documents, or assisting with interviewing and transcription. You will receive a bound proof before the book is finalized for publication. Since these books are so individual, by length, size, and how much work Creative Continuum needs to provide, prices vary quite a bit. Contact them to get a price quote.

Genealogy plays an important role in our families but it’s our jobs as family historians to preserve our histories in an interesting manner that will capture our descendants’ interests and help create future family historians. Family history books give family memories an easy reference point that they can each individually own.

Esther Yu Sumner is a freelance writer and usability specialist. You can reach her at esumnertime@gmail.com.
__________________________________________
Acknowledgement:
Published with permission of the author. First published in the Genealogy Bulletin, a weekly genealogy newsletter from WorldVitalRecords.com (http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/newslettersignup.aspx)

Click here to return to Computer Corner On-line

Genealogy Scams and Hoaxes by Gail Rasmussen February 2009

It has long fascinated Computer Corner that one of the organizational categories under Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet is Myths, Hoaxes, and Scams. Say it ain't so! Can there be shady practices going on within our beloved world of self-help and kind souls? Apparently yes - in this Computer Corner we explore some of the more famous (and often Internet embedded) genealogy hoaxes, as well as those nearer and dearer to our own time.
First, the Special Collection Library's own Gail Rasmussen provides a historical perspective - some of this has been around a long time, making us all the more needful to be cautious and double-check that our sources don't stem from a tainted genealogy:

Beware of Fraudulent Genealogies
by Gail Rasmussen

One of the greatest thrills for all genealogy researchers is to tap into someone else’s research that takes your line back many more generations than you ever dreamed possible. This “thrill” is much more frequent now with Internet researching than it ever has been before. As wonderful as Internet researching is, one caveat has arisen that has reached epidemic proportions. Because we can now locate genealogical information at lightning speed, the propagation of erroneous genealogies has escalated at an alarming rate.

We now have thousands of new researchers who have very limited genealogical or historical skills and are unable to determine if a genealogical source is true or false. They conclude that the old-fashioned way of researching cemetery and courthouse records is unnecessary. Many of these people will take published lines and republish them on the Internet or in book format, as their own, without giving any thought whatsoever as to their validity (and also without giving proper credit to the originator).

Gustave Anjou was not the only perpetrator of fraudulent genealogies, but he may have been the most prolific. He lived from 1863-1942 and produced a phenomenal number of genealogies in the United States. He was born in Sweden, and after serving a prison term there for forgery, he came to this country in 1890. Anjou did genealogical "research" for wealthy clients who could pay his exorbitant fee of up to $9,000. His reports took approximately three weeks and included elaborate genealogical charts, a coat of arms, and a surname history. His clients were very pleased with his work, especially since he typically tied them into European royalty. One pleased client generated several more and he soon became quite wealthy. He could whip out a genealogy at such a rapid rate because he was making up the details. He invented births, deaths, and wills to tie into well-documented lines. He gave sources such as wills, marriages, and parishes that never existed. In those days not much thought was given to verifying his work. It wasn't until years later when records were more readily available that it was determined that ALL of Anjou's works were fraudulent. It has been estimated that there may be as many as 2,000 different lines that have been tainted by Mr. Anjou’s work alone. The sad fact is that those records have been passed on for years to unwary clients and then to researchers who believed they had a true lineage. They in turn republished the material in their own works and the cycle continues even today.

It has been estimated that somewhere close to 55% of all posted lines on the Internet are incorrect, though not all can be contributed to Anjou. Every genealogical library owns books with genealogies built upon Anjou's fraudulent work, though not necessarily under his name. That is why we must warn researchers not to accept a genealogy that is just handed to them -- whether in book form or from the Internet. Each and every detail must be searched and proven through original sources. It is important to realize that the Internet is not a source. A published family history is not a source. The New England family histories published in the late 1800s are extremely bad. You cannot determine a false entry just by looking at it, so every piece of information must be researched through original sources and proven beyond doubt.

This information and much more, including specific surname histories can be found at http://familychronicle.com/Fraudulent.html

Next, we consider some of the shady activities that continue within our current time frame. Well-known genealogy author, lecturer, and consultant Dick Eastman has done some detective work in this area, and his report is of interest to some of us who remember those "too good to be true" entries into genealogy. The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at http://www.eogn.com.

Genealogy Scams
by Dick Eastman

A few years ago I wrote a number of articles about the infamous Halberts of Bath, Ohio. This company would send an advertisement for a book that claimed to be a "history of your family name." After paying about $40, the hapless purchaser received a cheaply made paperback containing a bit of generic "how to get start tracing your family tree information" accompanied by listings from telephone books. Sadly, similar information was available online at no cost.

In August 1998 I even visited the address in Bath, Ohio that Halberts used, and I wrote about my trip in that week’s edition of this newsletter. I found no company named Halberts at that address. In fact, the address was simply a mail drop. All orders sent to that address in Bath, Ohio were actually forwarded to the parent company in nearby Akron. About a year after my on-site visit, Halberts folded. It gave layoff notices to all of its employees, sold the office furniture, and ceased operations. The company blamed "competition from the Internet" for its business failure. In my opinion, the competition was twofold: (1) the same information was available online at no charge, and (2) the Internet provides a great place for tracking such scams. Those who received the advertisements could easily go online to check Halberts’ reputation. All you had to do was to go to any search engine and enter the word "Halberts" to learn of the experiences of others. In fact, you can still do that today.

[CC Note: A summary of the legal Cease and Desist Order against Halbert's can be found at http://www.family.crevier.org/links/halberts/ - this summary includes the list of seven conduct activities prohibited under the 1988 order, e.g.,

Representing that a book contains information about the heraldry and family crest of a particular family]

Under the supplemental order (Nov 1995), Halbert's was ordered to begin displaying prominently the following disclaimer on any advertising for surname related publications:

"No direct genealogical connection to your family or ancestry is implied or intended." ]

Of course, Halberts was not the only company with questionable business practices in this arena. Some of us still remember Beatrice Bailey. This lady sold products that were somewhat similar to those of Halberts. In her advertisement sent by mail to me, she would sign her name as "Beatrice Eastman Bailey." In a letter sent to someone named Smith, she would sign her name as "Beatrice Smith Bailey," and in an advertisement sent to someone named Williams she would sign as "Beatrice Williams Bailey." Beatrice Bailey apparently was a one-person operation. She was under investigation by postal authorities when she died.

Other companies have continued to sell "products" that claim to contain genealogy value, but that, in fact, have little genealogy information in them. The brave new world of the Internet has been a haven for honest entrepreneurs and dishonest scam artists alike. New scams have arisen, and established scam artists have expanded into online operations. As always, spending money is a case of caveat emptor—"Let the buyer beware!"

There are several Web sites that track companies that sell questionable genealogy products and services. If you have any questions about an advertisement you receive, either in regular mail or by e-mail, I would suggest that you check the following.

Genealogy Scams in General

The National Genealogical Society's Consumer Protection Committee (https://www.ngsgenealogy.org/comconsumer.cfm). This committee is quite active at keeping an eye on the various scams, including both online and offline fraudsters. However, those pages do not mention specific companies. If you have a question about a particular company’s services, you can contact the NGS Consumer Protection Committee via traditional mail at National Genealogical Society's Consumer Protection Committee, 4527 17th Street North, Arlington, VA 22207-2399.
Cyndi’s List. This site has a section for genealogy myths, hoaxes and, scams.

Specific Companies

I have received e-mail about the following companies; all have been mentioned as having questionable services. I have listed URLs where you can obtain further information:

The xxx Family Yearbook. In this case, substitute your last name for the "xxx." For instance, an advertisement sent to a person named Smith would be advertising "The Smith Family Yearbook," while someone named Clark would receive an advertisement for "The Clark Family Yearbook." These "yearbooks" claim to have genealogy information. However, those who purchase the "products" are usually disappointed. The producing company has several business names; for example, you can find them listed as Mountain West News Service or as the Mountain Pacific News Service. They also may appear as an organizational name, such as "The Smith Family Yearbook." However, all these "companies" have the same address: 1181 S. Parker Road, #105, Denver, CO 80231. The Better Business Bureau lists the parent company as MORPHCORP. The News Herald of Panama City, Florida has an article about these "products."
Family Tree House. [http://www.usaafter.com/] I wrote about this company in the 31 October 1998 edition of this newsletter. The company gives an appearance of a Web site that offers genealogy services. In fact, it does not appear to sell anything. However, the same company advertises on another Web site with an offer to sell personal information obtained from genealogists who visit the Family Tree House site. You innocently enter personal information about yourself on Family Tree House, and then operators of the site sell your personal information to bulk mail companies. Information for sale includes name, address, e-mail address, and more.
The Historical Research Center (HRC) International, Inc. This company sells "family histories" and coats of arms. Information about the true value of these products can be found on the Genealogical Web Site Watchdog site. Keep in mind that this company sells franchises. A few years ago it was listed as one of the top 30 fastest growing franchises in America. You may find its products being sold by other companies who purchase franchises. One such company is Names.com, but apparently there are many others as well. [see CC Note below]
The International Hall of Names in Canada. This company also sells "family histories" and coats of arms. It is also mentioned on the Genealogical Web Site Watchdog site. [see http://www.swyrich.com/]

I would caution anyone to be careful about "family coats of arms." In fact, in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and most of western Europe, there really is no such thing as a family coat of arms. In those countries, arms have always been awarded to individuals, not to families. Displaying a coat of arms that you are not authorized to use is a form of identity theft, even if you do happen to have the same last name as the original grantee. Any company offering to sell you a copy of "your family’s coat of arms" is selling a bogus product.
[CC Note: One current on-line seller of "coats of arm" is www.houseofnames.com - try this experiment for yourself: in your browser, open several taps {Crlt-T}; in each tab, do a Google search for a different surname Family Crest, e.g., Greenberg Family Crest, Blackledge Family Crest, Easterling Family Crest. A page purporting to show that crest {and many related products!} will be obtained for each. Then click back and forth between the resulting pages, and you'll see how little the artwork changes (color will change) between these "Family Crests." And you can purchase a framed surname history and Coat of Arms for only $115.95. Perhaps some of the surname history may be authentic, but the Coat of Arms? Oh, I love these computer graphics!]

If you believe you have been the victim of a genealogy scam, you can do something about it! If you purchased products or services from the above companies or any others that you feel did not live up to advertised claims, demand a refund! If your money is not returned within 30 days or so from a U.S. company, submit a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Bureau of Consumer Protection. A few letters of inquiry from the federal government will send a strong message to the people who produce products or services of questionable value.

You also might want to warn other genealogists and tell them of your experiences. You can post a message to others in the "Scams and Fraud" section of CompuServe’s Genealogy Techniques Forum message board.

The National Genealogy Society (N.G.S.) said the following in one of their articles, "Millions of people buy these products, hoping they will learn something about their own family histories. However, people with the same last name do not necessarily belong to the same family or share ancestors."

You can read more on Dick Eastman's investigation of these "Family Yearbooks" and similar scams at http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=5362

Click here to return to Computer Corner On-line

Genealogy Scams and Hoaxes, Part 2 May 2009

Last Quarterly's Computer Corner looked at Myths, Hoaxes, and Scams and featured the Special Collection Library's own Gail Rasmussen providing some historical perspective with hoaxes such as those false histories that Gustave Anjou perpetrated over decades. The second look featured well known genealogy author and consultant Dick Eastman with some detective work of his own, uncovering current-day hoaxes such as the infamous Halbert's of Bath, OH. We conclude the series with this article by Judith Rosen that shows forensic genealogists at work. The article was originally published in Publishers Weekly, January 12, 2009. Our thanks to Independent Book Publisher Don Tubesing for providing this article:

Does Publishing Need Genealogists?
by Judith Rosen

Genealogist is not a typical publishing title, yet forensic genealogy, best known for tracking down heirs, played a key role in unmasking two of 2008’s biggest publishing hoaxes: Misha Defonseca’s Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust and Herman Rosenblat’s Angel at the Fence. Colleen Fitzpatrick and Sharon Sargeant worked on both cases pro bono, largely because when they learned about them—the Defonseca story came from former U.S. publisher Jane Daniels’s blog, Rosenblat from Holocaust expert Deborah Lipstadt’s blog—they knew they could bring resolution to the controversy that surrounded each story.

    Their research uncovered baptismal and school records proving that Defonseca didn’t escape the Holocaust by running with wolves. She didn’t need to; her father was a Nazi collaborator. And if Defonseca had denied the evidence, Fitzpatrick and Sargeant were prepared to use DNA, which, along with photographs and archival records, are a forensic genealogist’s stock in trade. “I almost feel disappointed that Misha confessed,” wrote Fitzpatrick on her IdentiFinders.com Web site. “I was looking forward to identifying her through DNA.”

    Although there is no question that Herman Rosenblat was a concentration camp survivor, his memoir also turned out to be a work of fiction. According to Michigan State University professor Ken Waltzer, figuring out the real Rosenblat story was "truly a team effort. Sharon and Colleen found crucial information about the two families, discovered additional people we could interview and additional evidence that pointed to serious contextual issues in the case. We wedded the methods of forensic genealogy and social history to discover a publishing fraud.”

    Why did Fitzpatrick, a former rocket scientist with a Ph.D. in physics, and Sargeant, whose background is also in science and technology, succeed where editors and fact checkers did not? For Fitzpatrick, it’s a matter of looking at a book in context. “We were successful because we weren’t simply fact checking; we were investigating apparent inconsistencies in each narrative within the larger story of the Holocaust. We take the facts and draw meaningful information. Are the facts consistent? What’s the big picture? Michael Crichton writes terrific fiction. Yet what’s exciting is the way he incorporates nonfiction into it. Herman’s story itself, if all this had come out ahead of time, would have been billed as historical fiction and would have been strengthened.”

    Another issue, especially after a book comes out, is getting media attention. “Defonseca’s two childhood friends tried to say for 10 years that she was a fraud,” said Sargeant. “It’s not just a question of can you prove it. Can you get people to pay attention?” Although there had been murmurings online for years about the veracity of Rosenblat’s love story, it took Waltzer’s team and Gabriel Sherman’s reporting in the New Republic to persuade Berkley to cancel Angel at the Fence and Lerner to recall its fall children’s edition, Angel Girl. As another example, Sargeant cites Dawn Bailiff’s 2007 memoir, Notes from a Minor Key, which publisher Hampton Roads continues to market as nonfiction, despite a debunking by the Wilmington News Journal early last year.

    But can publishers afford a genealogist? Fitzpatrick said that a “sanity check” early on in a project might cost only a few thousand dollars and could provide important information before the book comes out. Although the book projects they’ve taken on fall under the category of “misery lit,” Fitzpatrick and Sargeant said that other works of nonfiction could benefit from a genealogical review, particularly histories, biographies and autobiographies.

    Sargeant and Fitzpatrick are continuing to research the Rosenblat case and anticipate that more information will become public. They are also looking into another international bestseller, not a Holocaust memoir, but declined to discuss it. However, that’s not their only brush with publishing. In 2005, Fitzpatrick cofounded Rice Book Press, which has published three of her books: Forensic Genealogy (2005), DNA & Genealogy (2005) and The Dead Horse Investigation: Forensic Photo Analysis for Everyone (2008).

—Judith Rosen

CC: To read more about Sargeant and Fitzpatrick and their genealogical success in researching this hoax, Google for Sharon Sargeant genealogist hero.

Sidebar: Family Tree Maker 2008

Recall that Computer Corner provided a column or two in 2007 on comparison of different genealogy software programs. Twenty-year genealogy researcher Bob Lackey from Athens, GA found the AGS web site and provided these comments:

   "It's evident that your AGS members are very active and I can see why.   I used Google to search for "how to" set up a genealogy web site and your Computer Corner popped up. I was so impressed with your simplicity that I spent several hours exploring The Albuquerque Genealogical Society site.
   "Congratulations on your Computer Corner articles. I'm amazed at how you can turn complex projects into such simple tasks!!! ... I've bookmarked your site and I'm sure I'll return often.
   "By the way,... you may want to warn your readers not to waste their money on the 2008 version of Family Tree Maker -- it's a dud. So bad that The Generations Network provided all registered users with a free copy of the much improved 2009 version. I was surprised that so few of your members use FTM.
   "FTM 2008 was so bad (a complete rewrite by TGN) that I continued to use the 2006 program upgraded to version 16. Even though FTM 2009 is much improved, I still plan to use the updated 2006 version 16 until all the bugs have been fixed and the 2010 version is issued. "

Click here to return to Computer Corner On-line

Books & Snippets August 2009

In May 2006 Quarterly's Computer Corner looked at the search engine Google and some of its many free features that should prove helpful to genealogists, to include Google Maps, Desktop Google, Google Picasa, Google definitions and conversion. We also presented an introductory look at a new feature at the time, Google Books. That "Beta" feature is long since mainstream and deserves another look by all researchers.

Books
Books continue to give the impression of a solid source in the quest for genealogists obtaining citations to validate facts. Certainly books appear more reliable than an on-line database or an e-mail message from a cousin. Even in articles in Wikipedia.org, the free on-line encyclopedia, books are considered a much more reliable source than another Wikipedia article, since the latter can be edited and modified frequently and relatively easily. [This has been famously demonstrated by the comedian Stephen Colbert who urged his audience to find the Wikipedia entry on elephants and create an entry that stated their population had tripled in the last six months, a fact he freely stated to not know if it was "actually true."   And of course scores of internet users took Colbert's bait, editing some 20 articles on elephants before being locked out. Meanwhile, Colbert took credit for single-handedly "saving the elephant"!]

But books by definition are hard-copy, right? Well, they used to be ... now they are in digital form, found in our Special Collections Library as scanned by Hugh Bivens and associates, and in libraries everywhere as scanned images that can be searched.

Back in 2006, Google’s Book Search was rather controversial due to questions of copyright, e.g., “fair use.” However last fall a settlement was reached between the publishing industry and Google after two years of negotiation. Google agreed to compensate authors and publishers in exchange for the right to make millions of books available to the public. Google Book Search today offers over seven million books on-line and searchable to help genealogists and others in their family history research.

Meanwhile, even during the lawsuit, major university libraries were “volunteering” their collections to be scanned into the Google meta-library. In 2006 alone, The University of California System, The University of Wisconsin-Madison, The Wisconsin Historical Society, and the University of Virginia all joined the Book Search digitization project. University of Virginia library by itself holds more than five million volumes and more than 17 million manuscripts, rare books and archives. Closer to home, the University of Texas at Austin signed on in 2007.

Critics abound in our society and some project critics attacked Book Search as too prejudiced in favor of English language texts. Perhaps in answer, in 2006, the Complutense University of Madrid, among the oldest universities in the world and the top public university in Spain, became the first Spanish-language library to join the Google Books Library Project. The next year, The Bavarian State Library announced a partnership with Google to scan more than a million public domain and out-of-print works in German as well as English, French, Italian, Latin, and Spanish. And the books go on.

Meanwhile, Microsoft, which at one time seemed poised to become a major competitor to Google in this area, last year began to taper off and now plans to end its scanning project which reached 750,000 books and 80 million journal articles. Whereas last December, Google announced the inclusion of magazines in Google Book Search. Initial titles include New York Magazine, Ebony, and Popular Mechanics. Where indeed will it end … perhaps someday we’ll be looking up our old High School yearbooks on Google (to a slight degree many of us already can – try it!)

How Does It Work?
So how do we genealogists take advantage of this vast and every growing resource? The same way you would do a search on Google – but from the book search engine at http://books.google.com (if you forget this URL, just go to your regular Google search page and under more the drop-down menu presents Books as your second choice).    Enter a surname or whatever you wish and see what comes up.   Book Search works just like web search. When Google finds a book with content that contains a match for your search terms, it will be linked in your search results. If the book is out of copyright, or the publisher has given Google permission, you'll be able to see a preview of the book, and in some cases the entire text. If it's in the public domain, you're free to download a PDF copy.

It’s fun to just search on your own. However, being a genealogist, you’d prefer an index, right? An index (of sorts) exists already, put together by “Jennifer,” a well-organized blogger and perhaps Cyndi-wannabee. Jennifer says:
“I don't know if you are like me, but there are times when I find the interface to Google Book Search to be somewhat awkward.
“In order to alleviate this somewhat, I have started developing an index to books and journals of genealogical interest from Google Books. These are only the full view items (those you can read and browse in their entirety), since those are the ones I find the most useful. This is still a work in progress.
“Right now I have almost completed the county histories for the United States (love those biographical sketches!), and there are some sundry other items I have found along the way thrown in.

“Check back for more updates and more fine-tuning of the page. I hope to eventually have a sort of genealogy catalog of Google Books!”
You can check out Jennifer’s index, which is sorted by state and by surname, at http://www.rainydayresearch.com/googlebooks.html
Google obtains its books through two different sources: its Partner Program and its Library Project. One interesting point for genealogists who have already published something and want to get it known to other genealogists who may be interested in your research: Partner Program can help. If you are the author or the copyright holder, you can find out more how to do this at https://books.google.com/partner/

Snippets
What you will see when you get a “hit” on Google Book Search is one of four views of the book: Full View, Limited Preview, Snippet View, or the dreaded No Preview Available.

Full View: This is the Google Books jackpot. Along with complete search visibility, you can see books in Full View if the book is out of copyright, or if the publisher or author has asked to make the book fully viewable. The Full View allows you to view any page from the book, and if the book is in the public domain, you can download, save and if desired, print a PDF version to read at your own pace. See the “Geronimo” image in this article (or on the AGS website) for an example of a Full View display.

Limited Preview: Here the publisher or author has given Google permission to display a limited number of pages from the book as a preview. Similar to Amazon.com’s “Look Inside The Book” display but better because you can still do your complete search.

Snippet View: The Snippet View, like a card catalog, shows information about the book plus a few snippets – a few sentences to display your search term in context. Here are some example snippets while searching for Blackledge; the book is The Horn papers which is only available in Snippet view:

No Preview Available: Sorry, but you don’t get much more. At least you know this reference exists, and like a card catalog, you're able to see basic information about the book such as author, publisher, date, and number of pages.

For the first three book views described above, Google also gives you the bonus features which it does so easily: any reviews of the book that have been posted, key words and phrases in the book, web references to the book, links to places to purchase the book, a map showing all the locations that are mentioned in the book (mouse-over to see the name of each place and a page number reference), and links to related books under Google Book Search.

Summary
As you have read elsewhere in this Quarterly, some of our colleagues just returned from Allen County Library. Don’t be like some of my friends who say things like, “Oh, I tried PERSI once and didn’t find anything” – please realize: Google Book Search, like PERSI, is changing, increasing, more available to you every day. Seven million books is quite a range already. Now you are ready to research – hit that Google Book Search and let us know what you find!

References:
http://rainydayresearch.com/googlebooks.html Jennifer’s Index of Genealogy references found in Full View under Google Book Search
http://books.google.com/support/   General help page for Google Book Search
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Books    Wikipedia article on Google Book Search which includes history, partners, copyright infringement and related issues
____________________________________

Click here to return to Computer Corner On-line

7: A Gift for Genealogists November 2009

This Computer Corner [CC] focuses on Windows 7, the new operating system just released by Microsoft. CC does not claim to be an expert on Windows operating systems, however he has impersonated one at AGS meetings.
Faithful readers of this column know that the author has no love for Windows Vista operating system. Well, Ding-Dong, The Wicked Witch is Dead! Deceased date: 22 October 2009, when Microsoft placed Windows 7 on sale. (Actually, Vista, like other leftover Halloween zombies, is still out there walking around, not really dead — however, there is no longer a reason to be forced to take Vista as your operating system on a new PC.)
_____________
Windows 7 is the latest version of Microsoft Windows, a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers such as your home desktop and laptop. Windows 7 general retail availability began October 22, 2009, less than three years after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista. This column was never a big fan of Vista — and fortunately Windows 7 does not carry the same stigma. You may or may not want to upgrade from Windows XP, nevertheless this column is to assist in your recognition of 7 as an improvement, certainly over Vista and in several areas over XP as well.

Here are some things to know about Windows 7:

Unlike its predecessor Vista, which introduced a large number of new features, Windows 7 is intended to be a more focused, incremental upgrade to the Windows line, with the goal of being fully compatible with applications and hardware with which Windows Vista is already compatible.

Bill Gates, in an interview with Newsweek during the early Vista days, suggested that the next version of Windows would "be more user-centric." Gates later said that Windows 7 would also focus on performance improvements. Microsoft still claims that improvement focus.

Windows 7 includes a number of new features, several of which genealogists should find useful:

A redesigned and fresh look Calculator with multiline capabilities including Programmer and Statistics modes along with unit conversion. Genealogists can use the new calculator to calculate the difference between two dates or to add or subtract days from a specified date.
The taskbar has seen the biggest visual changes: the Quick Launch toolbar has been replaced with "pinning" applications to the taskbar. With Windows 7, when you drag a file onto the Taskbar, you are given the option to pin the file to its associated application. Thus if you drag a Word document onto the Taskbar, you get the option to “Pin to Word”. If the application is already pinned to your Taskbar, the file is pinned to it and will appear in the app’s right-click menu. And no worries if the application isn’t already pinned to the Taskbar, that step is done automatically and the file pinned to the app. Buttons for pinned applications are integrated with the task buttons.
The revamped taskbar also allows the reordering of taskbar buttons. To the far right of the system clock is a small rectangular button that serves as the Show Desktop icon. This button is part of the new feature in Windows 7 called Aero Peek. Hovering over this button makes all visible windows transparent for a quick look at the desktop. Clicking this button minimizes all windows, and clicking it a second time restores them. Aero Peek also highlights the window you're hovering over by fading out all other active windows on the desktop—so not only do you get a window preview in the "peek" window, but you also get a full-on preview of the window as it looks on your monitor. And keyboard shortcuts exist: Hit the Windows key plus Spacebar for an instant Desktop peek.
Jump Lists—new in Windows 7—take you right to the documents, pictures, songs, or websites you turn to each day. To open a Jump List, just right-click a program icon on the Windows 7 taskbar. (You'll also find them on the Start menu.) Think of this feature as "My Recent Documents" but associated directly with the application icon. What you see in a Jump List depends entirely on the program. The Jump List for Internet Explorer 8 shows frequently-viewed websites. Windows Media Player 12 lists commonly-played tunes. Your Jump List missing a favorite? You can "pin" whatever files you like there. Jump Lists don't just show shortcuts to files. Sometimes they also provide quick access to commands for things like composing new e mail messages or playing music.
Additionally, there is a feature named Aero Snap, that automatically maximizes a window when it is dragged to either the top or left/right edges of the screen. This also allows users to snap documents or files on either side of the screen to compare them, such as a genealogist might do to contrast two census records. When a user moves windows that are maximized, the system restores their previous state automatically.

I know a few who will like this: Internet Spades, Internet Backgammon and Internet Checkers, which were removed from Windows Vista, were restored in Windows 7.
One of the best improvements in Windows 7 is the search capability. Do you have an e-mail system that has this feature: when you start typing someone's name in the To: area, several name possibilities are suggested to you? That is the way the Windows 7 search function works. Ed Bott describes it thusly: "If Windows 7 has a killer feature, it’s search. ... you can find search boxes throughout Windows 7 — on the Start menu, in Control Panel, and in Windows Explorer. The indexed search is fast and accurate, in my experience, and the indexing process itself is barely noticeable in terms of performance. The best change, though, is the addition of the Search Builder, which replaces the clunky search forms from earlier versions and allows you to filter a results set by date, type, size, or an attribute that’s appropriate to a particular type of data such as music or photos." [see Ed's video on the search function in 7 as referenced below].

Like most new operating system releases these days, there are several editions of Windows 7. Windows 7 offers a fairly broad set of features common to all editions, with a progression of editions that is far more consistent than in Windows Vista or Windows XP. For most users, I recommend Windows 7 Home Premium edition. Lesser editions are Starter, and Home Basic editions. Starter will allow you to perform most Windows tasks, but not (for example) view a DVD or change your desktop background. Home Basic is for overseas markets and will not be sold in the US; it lacks "premium features" like Windows Media Center.

The Home Premium edition is the entry-level version for most consumers. Above Home Premium are the more expensive Professional (known as Business Edition under Vista) and the Ultimate and Enterprise editions. One interesting feature available with these three more expensive editions is the ability to run XP Mode as a 'virtual machine' on your Windows 7 desktop. This would allow you to operate any applications that have trouble upgrading to Windows 7. However, for home users, I consider this not to be worth the additional cost. [Note that Microsoft did not bother to create a Vista Mode!] Home Premium software DVD lists for $200, with Home Premium Upgrade for $120. As a comparison, the Windows 7 Professional package lists for $300 with upgrade package at $200. Windows Vista Home Premium listed for $130.

Here are some questions that may be in your mind as they were in mine:

Q: Why won't Windows 7 be an early-on nightmare like Vista? An answer from Ed Bott, analyst with ZDNet.com: "Here's one big reason: drivers. [Note: drivers are programs that determine how a computer will communicate with a peripheral device such as a scanner or a printer.] Back in early 2007, when Windows Vista shipped, hardware makers were struggling to keep up. Early releases of some drivers were unbearably bad, and it took about six to eight months after Vista’s launch for a full selection of decent drivers to appear for many common devices. Today, two weeks before the launch of Windows 7, the video drivers are ready and waiting."

Another big reason why there should be no "surprises" in Windows 7: Ed reminds us, "At one point this summer, a well-informed source told me that Microsoft expected 8 million people to be actively participating in the Windows 7 beta program at its peak. [Note: A beta version is a pre-release version of new software often made available over the Internet as freeware or shareware. Beta version downloads of 7 are now no longer available.] I imagine that several times that many computers are running it now. If there were significant driver issues, we would have heard the screams by now. But I’m hearing surprisingly few complaints."

Q: Should I upgrade my XP system to Windows 7? Answer: in a word, No. It is not a trivial task to upgrade a computer's operating system. A longer answer: if you recently bought a computer, and had the system downgraded from Vista to run XP, yes, an upgrade to 7 makes sense. However, if your computer is four to six years old, rather than upgrade, consider buying a new Windows 7 based computer. It will be ready to go, and have features your current system lacks.

Q: Where can I learn more about Windows 7? For an overview of Windows 7, see the Wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7 For the Microsoft overview tour, plus in-depth videos with screen shots, see: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/features/tour.aspx You also might Google for a particular feature, such as Windows 7 Aero Peek. And amazon.com has some informative screens and videos for new features. For more screen shots and excellent analysis, see Ed Bott's blog at: Blogs.ZDNet.com/Bott

Summary: Perhaps the Mac vs. PC ads will not have such an easy target now! (and I still like the Mac ... and the ads. And yes, Windows 7 can run on a Macbook Pro.) If you have been holding off buying that new PC because of concern about Windows Vista, wait no longer. Windows 7 should delight you as a genealogist and as a computer user.

In celebration of the demise of Vista, follow-on columns will present seven (7 — get it?) software gifts for genealogists. Gifts may include (free) applications already developed for Windows 7, such as 7stacks. 7stacks is an easy to use, free app that lets Windows 7 (and Vista and XP) users have "stacks" of icons in their Taskbar (in 7) or QuickLaunch Toolbar (in Vista and XP). By using stacks, users can reduce icon clutter, and combine a group of related icons into a single icon. For instance, if you use application suites such as Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, or Adobe CS4, you can have all the suite's icons combined into one icon! If you know of other free/shareware programs that have proved useful to you as a genealogist, please send the description to Mike@Blackledge.com to allow the possible sharing in future CC columns.

Click here to return to Computer Corner On-line

Easy Squeazy Genealogy Movie February 2010

In the Fall of 2009, the AGS was treated to a presentation by Lisa Witt of Avista Video on “Getting Grandpa to Talk” – suggestions and examples of creating a video/oral history of your family. In this Computer Corner, we will walk you through how to create and publish a very simple "movie" (actually more of a slide show) for free from the photos and information you have collected in your research - perhaps this will inspire you to sign up for a professional video service, or perhaps this will give you enough to share with your family for now. In any event, this article discusses Windows Movie Maker, a software program which you almost certainly already have on your PC (or if you have a Macintosh, you have the equivalent). The author had to go on a cruise to learn that we already have Movie Maker on our PCs, thus this article will save you at least $3000.

In this article, you will learn how to turn your research and photos into a snazzy slide show that has movie-like qualities - think Ken Burns documentary. I recommend you take this article and these instructions to your PC and work up a 'sample' movie with Microsoft Windows Movie Maker. You will find that Movie Maker can create genealogy (or any subject) “movies” fairly easily — you will know what you have as you can preview your results right away. You can easily import ancestor photos, add and edit related video footage; make titles, credits, and captions; create scene transitions; add soundtracks and voiceovers; and premiere your movie on CD, DVD, or the Web. You can upload the final product at YouTube.com - for a quick view at what such a movie might look like, do a search at YouTube.com for Blackledge Family and click on the first video in the resulting list.

The main features in Windows Movie Maker are effects, transitions, titles/credits, audio track, time line narration and auto movie. A video transition decides how the movie plays from one clip to the next one, video effect determines how a video clip, picture or title is displayed in the movie, titles/credits are for adding text based information to the the movie and the auto movie feature helps to create a movie quickly with pre defined effects and transitions.

Using the Movie Maker software

Movie Maker is included with the bundled updates to Windows XP and with all versions of Windows Vista. Additionally you can always download this program at http//www.microsoft.com/downloads/ For Windows 7, Microsoft has available a new version of this software called Windows Live Movie Maker. Check the programs under Accessories - with Windows 7 you should have Windows Live Movie Maker already available on your computer. If not, you can download as above. For this article, we will use the commands from Movie Maker 5.1 - if you have a newer version, the programs are similar enough that this article should get you going to produce your video.

Photo preparation
This article assumes you already have your genealogy photos scanned in and available to you as JPEG files. To remind you how to do that, see the article on Scanners in a previous Computer Corner. If you have complex pages of text such as a Family Tree Chart, you may need to scan them in and use them as an image. You can use any photo editor to crop or otherwise prepare your photos after scanning them in.

Getting Started: Choosing photos for your movie
From the Windows start button, click on All Programs, then Accessories, then Windows Movie Maker.. A storyboard will be generated. From the Movie Tasks menu down the left side, click on 1. Capture Video to drop down more menu choices, then:

Click Import pictures
Chose images - browse your PC and locate the genealogy photos you wish to use. You can also use some short videos as "photos" as well.
Click Import and the photos will appear in your Collection area, ready to drag into your storyboard at the bottom of the page. Go ahead and drag and drop them into this storyboard in the approximate order desired for viewing.

Note: at any time, you can click on the Play button (right arrow) to "play" your movie as it exists so far.

Adding effects to your movie
Effects are special ways to view your photos, such as changing the photo from color to Black and White or sepia. These effects are already included in Movie Maker and you can select the ones you want. You can preview all available effects by clicking View video effects from the left side-bar menu under 2. Edit Movie. Click on the effect thumbnail you want to see and then push the play arrow on small screen in the upper right corner. To add the effect to one of your photos, you can drag it and drop it on the photo, or alternatively:

Right-click on image in the story board
Click Video Effects...
Select the effect
Click Add
Click OK

Note: don't forget to 'save' your movie from time to time.

Adding transitions to your movie
Transitions are ways to proceed from one photo to the next. This is what gives your slide show/movie a professional look and feel, not unlike what Ken Burns does with his Civil War photos. You can preview all available transitions by clicking on the transition thumbnail and then pushing play arrow on small screen in the upper right corner. To select the transition you want (you can use different transitions between different photos):

Select Transitions from left side-bar menu
Click and drag the transition to small boxes on storyboard

Adding a title to your movie

Click Make titles or credits from left side-bar
Click titles at the beginning
Type in title; you can also type in a subtitle below the line
Consider changing title animation, text font and color
Click Add Title

Note: you can also add 'titles' (i.e., text) anywhere in the movie, even on top of any photo.

Adding credits to your movie (usually at the end)

Click Make titles or credits from left side-bar
Click credits at the end
Type in general credit line (e.g., "Thanks to”) in long text line
Type in name and corresponding title in two-column list

Fade into an effect in your slide show
A favorite technique for your slide shows!

1. Drag two of the same picture in the storyboard, side by side
2. Drag basic fade transition between the two pictures
3. Drag favorite effect(s) onto the second of the two pictures

Add music to your slide show
It is easier than you might think. Your PC already comes with some sample music, or you can import your own choices.

1. From top menu, click Import audio or music
2. Click Music
3. Select one or more songs to import into your Movie Maker project
4. Above the storyboard, click Show Storyboard
5. Click Timeline
6. Drag the music file into the second row of the timeline (Audio/Music)

Publishing your slide show to the Web
There are many places on the Web where you can post your video for free. Two choices are your Windows Live Spaces page or to YouTube.com. Windows Live Spaces (previously MSN Spaces) is Microsoft's blogging and Social Networking platform. Posting a slide show on a web page takes two easy steps, as described below: "publishing" the slide show to your computer, and then posting to the web.

1. When you’re finished making your slide show, click 3. Finish Movie (called Publish Movie in newer versions), then Save to my computer (now "Publish to this computer").
2. Using your Internet browser, go to video.msn.com (or better yet, YouTube.com):

Sign in to your account (or start an account - it's free!)
Go to your profile (type in nickname if first time)
Click Upload Video
Click Browse and find the video file on your computer
Give your video a title, description, tag, category, permission.
Click Yes to agree to the terms and click Upload

Summary
This article has been an introduction to the use of Microsoft Movie Maker, a free software program available on the PC. The software has additional features that were not covered here such as:

Adjusting the Music and Splitting Music - This is useful if your music goes past your last picture/video, if you want to add more than one song, or if you want to edit video clips.
Import video from a HD Digital Video Camera using a Fire Wire cable
Change the time duration of images or transitions in your movie
Take a picture from preview - i.e., capture a shot from a video as a .jpg “picture” or to print or share separately a photo with special effects added.
Organizing photo collections for your slide shows
Creating "Auto Movie" (a great way to make a slide show quickly)
Emailing a slide show ((the program will automatically compress your slide show so that it won’t be “too big” to send. The recipient cannot edit your show, only play it).

To learn about any of the additional features:
Visit http://www.microsoft.com/windows/guides/ for step-by-step guides that walk you through many of the Movie Maker features covered in Computer Corner. If you search YouTube.com for Movie Maker, you will locate some videos showing how to use this software. Once you try out this free software, email Mike@Blackledge.com with the URL of your Genealogy Movie - it may be referenced in a later Computer Corner column.

Click here to return to Computer Corner On-line

Computer Corner Article May 2010