Comments on: Genealogy 2.0 http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/08/25/genealogy-20/ Genealogy anywhere. Fri, 04 Jul 2008 05:19:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0 by: Ray Gurganus http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/08/25/genealogy-20/#comment-13244 Fri, 01 Jun 2007 01:12:49 +0000 http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/08/25/genealogy-20/#comment-13244 PS... In what I have setup thus far, I have found that the biggest obstacle is not in the program design or functionality, but in the paradigm shift from each person having their own private set of data, to each person working directly in a larger shared set of data. I know that this collaborative setup can be more efficient, more comprehensive, more fruitful, and even less error-prone. But none of this helps much until more researchers are nudged out of their old habits and comforts, and into working with new ideas. Does anyone have any thoughts on this, and what can be done to help? PS… In what I have setup thus far, I have found that the biggest obstacle is not in the program design or functionality, but in the paradigm shift from each person having their own private set of data, to each person working directly in a larger shared set of data. I know that this collaborative setup can be more efficient, more comprehensive, more fruitful, and even less error-prone. But none of this helps much until more researchers are nudged out of their old habits and comforts, and into working with new ideas.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this, and what can be done to help?

]]> by: Ray Gurganus http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/08/25/genealogy-20/#comment-12588 Wed, 23 May 2007 03:00:30 +0000 http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/08/25/genealogy-20/#comment-12588 I'll post here to give a plug for the genealogy database/website (http://www.gurganus.org/ourfamily) that I setup and administer myself, as this touches on a lot on the issues mentioned above. Besides family history, the main goal of the site is collaboration -- providing multiple researchers the ability to post and maintain their own branches in the one common family tree to which we all belong. Each researcher maintains complete control over what they add, but they can grant other researchers access to edit, and anyone can submit suggested changes which then await approval before showing for the public. Anyone can link to relatives that might be found in other researchers' data. It is not a wiki format, as I believe a genealogy system needs a high degree of structure and validation, so that the computer can do its share in preventing human mistakes. Included are features to check feasibility (comparing dates of parents, children, and spouses), checking for duplicates across the entire tree, color-coded pedigrees, Google map integration, and more. I put this up and am promoting it because I see a lot of untapped potential in online genealogy. Rather than each person maintaining their own separate, duplicative, and inevitably out-dated trees, this enables multiple researchers to merge together into a common tree. I'm hoping this will also help break through some of the brick walls that I and others have, by bringing together into one page per ancestor everything known about them. Though much of the data that is currently there is centered in the southeast US and specifically NC, it is open to anyone from anywhere to use, free of charge. It has online a much more exhaustive description under View > Help. Especially since readers here might more on the cutting edge in genealogy tools, and perhaps more critical of traditional programs, I welcome comments and feedback. I’ll post here to give a plug for the genealogy database/website (http://www.gurganus.org/ourfamily) that I setup and administer myself, as this touches on a lot on the issues mentioned above. Besides family history, the main goal of the site is collaboration — providing multiple researchers the ability to post and maintain their own branches in the one common family tree to which we all belong.

Each researcher maintains complete control over what they add, but they can grant other researchers access to edit, and anyone can submit suggested changes which then await approval before showing for the public. Anyone can link to relatives that might be found in other researchers’ data.

It is not a wiki format, as I believe a genealogy system needs a high degree of structure and validation, so that the computer can do its share in preventing human mistakes. Included are features to check feasibility (comparing dates of parents, children, and spouses), checking for duplicates across the entire tree, color-coded pedigrees, Google map integration, and more.

I put this up and am promoting it because I see a lot of untapped potential in online genealogy. Rather than each person maintaining their own separate, duplicative, and inevitably out-dated trees, this enables multiple researchers to merge together into a common tree. I’m hoping this will also help break through some of the brick walls that I and others have, by bringing together into one page per ancestor everything known about them.

Though much of the data that is currently there is centered in the southeast US and specifically NC, it is open to anyone from anywhere to use, free of charge. It has online a much more exhaustive description under View > Help.

Especially since readers here might more on the cutting edge in genealogy tools, and perhaps more critical of traditional programs, I welcome comments and feedback.

]]> by: Moultrie Creek http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/08/25/genealogy-20/#comment-12486 Mon, 21 May 2007 17:01:07 +0000 http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/08/25/genealogy-20/#comment-12486 Great article and some very interesting ideas. While I do believe there is a significant need for the big genealogy databases, I'm not sure I'd want them providing the platforms for collaboration. The beauty of tools like Flickr, del.icio.us and Diigo (my favorites) is that they remove the gatekeepers. I don't have to wait for someone at Cyndi's to determine if my link is important enough to include in the directory. My del.icio.us and Diigo links many times point to specific articles and artifacts - something almost impossible in a controlled directory. I look forward to more discussions on the potential of Genealogy 2.0. Great article and some very interesting ideas.

While I do believe there is a significant need for the big genealogy databases, I’m not sure I’d want them providing the platforms for collaboration. The beauty of tools like Flickr, del.icio.us and Diigo (my favorites) is that they remove the gatekeepers. I don’t have to wait for someone at Cyndi’s to determine if my link is important enough to include in the directory. My del.icio.us and Diigo links many times point to specific articles and artifacts - something almost impossible in a controlled directory.

I look forward to more discussions on the potential of Genealogy 2.0.

]]> by: Kevin http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/08/25/genealogy-20/#comment-11189 Thu, 19 Apr 2007 20:36:49 +0000 http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/08/25/genealogy-20/#comment-11189 Also check out http://www.LivingGenealogy.com - a brand new, totally free Genealogy 2.0 site that lets you create ancestor pages, place pages, user groups (public or private) and blogs. Easy to use, too. Also check out http://www.LivingGenealogy.com - a brand new, totally free Genealogy 2.0 site that lets you create ancestor pages, place pages, user groups (public or private) and blogs. Easy to use, too.

]]> by: Ben http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/08/25/genealogy-20/#comment-2485 Thu, 28 Sep 2006 14:05:43 +0000 http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/08/25/genealogy-20/#comment-2485 Jasia: Thanks for both the link and the writeup in your carnival! Lou: None of the web apps out there do what I need (the necessities of genealogy research but without all the extra bloat and feature creep, and -- importantly -- with a user-friendly interface that doesn't make me want to pull my hair out). So for now I'll stick with using PAF on lab computers with my flash drive. Not ideal, but I'm just not interested in using software that makes me frustrated. PAF is, for me, the only really acceptable solution at the moment (and I say that fully aware of its shortcomings). I don't want to be one of those people who just talks and talks but never does anything about it, and I realize that the best way to get this dream app is to make it myself, but I don't have time at the moment. I wish I did... And as to why it should be a new app rather than modifications on an existing one, it basically comes down to the core philosophy of the app. None of those that I've seen have the right kind of vision, and it would be almost impossible to "reform" them without uprooting everything and starting from scratch. Better to start with a clean slate, I think. Having said that, I don't mean that improvements can't be made on all the other apps out there. I hope all the apps keep improving, and maybe some of them will get good enough to really be usable. But I don't see my dream app coming out of any of the existing projects, I'm afraid. Jasia: Thanks for both the link and the writeup in your carnival!

Lou: None of the web apps out there do what I need (the necessities of genealogy research but without all the extra bloat and feature creep, and — importantly — with a user-friendly interface that doesn’t make me want to pull my hair out). So for now I’ll stick with using PAF on lab computers with my flash drive. Not ideal, but I’m just not interested in using software that makes me frustrated. PAF is, for me, the only really acceptable solution at the moment (and I say that fully aware of its shortcomings).

I don’t want to be one of those people who just talks and talks but never does anything about it, and I realize that the best way to get this dream app is to make it myself, but I don’t have time at the moment. I wish I did…

And as to why it should be a new app rather than modifications on an existing one, it basically comes down to the core philosophy of the app. None of those that I’ve seen have the right kind of vision, and it would be almost impossible to “reform” them without uprooting everything and starting from scratch. Better to start with a clean slate, I think.

Having said that, I don’t mean that improvements can’t be made on all the other apps out there. I hope all the apps keep improving, and maybe some of them will get good enough to really be usable. But I don’t see my dream app coming out of any of the existing projects, I’m afraid.

]]> by: Beyond » Blog Archive » Smart pedigrees http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/08/25/genealogy-20/#comment-2484 Thu, 28 Sep 2006 13:47:39 +0000 http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/08/25/genealogy-20/#comment-2484 [...]   « Genealogy 2.0 [...] […]   « Genealogy 2.0 […]

]]> by: Lou http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/08/25/genealogy-20/#comment-2148 Tue, 19 Sep 2006 03:37:14 +0000 http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/08/25/genealogy-20/#comment-2148 Now that this project sort of crashed and burned, what web app (if any) do you plan on using? Now that this project sort of crashed and burned, what web app (if any) do you plan on using?

]]> by: Jasia http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/08/25/genealogy-20/#comment-1493 Thu, 31 Aug 2006 20:23:05 +0000 http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/08/25/genealogy-20/#comment-1493 I sure wish I'd found your blog a couple a weeks ago. I wrote a 13 part series on the declining membership in genealogical societies and what can be done about it. I would love to have pointed to what you're envisioning as the future of genealogy. So many genealogical societies are mired in the past and the traditional way of doing things. They just don't want to face the reality of how current technology has morphed the way people research their family histories. I've essentially suggested (in a more kludgy but user friendly way) that gen societies need to pull together online venues (like blogs, wikis, and the like) to expand their groups and make them more accessible. Same concept you have about sharing information and connecting but on a group level as opposed to the individual level. If you'd like to read the series it starts at: http://creativegene.blogspot.com/2006/08/decline-in-genealogical-society.html . I'll be featuring your blog in my next Carnival of Genealogy post on September 4th. I sure wish I’d found your blog a couple a weeks ago. I wrote a 13 part series on the declining membership in genealogical societies and what can be done about it. I would love to have pointed to what you’re envisioning as the future of genealogy. So many genealogical societies are mired in the past and the traditional way of doing things. They just don’t want to face the reality of how current technology has morphed the way people research their family histories. I’ve essentially suggested (in a more kludgy but user friendly way) that gen societies need to pull together online venues (like blogs, wikis, and the like) to expand their groups and make them more accessible. Same concept you have about sharing information and connecting but on a group level as opposed to the individual level. If you’d like to read the series it starts at: http://creativegene.blogspot.com/2006/08/decline-in-genealogical-society.html .

I’ll be featuring your blog in my next Carnival of Genealogy post on September 4th.

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