If you’re new to my blog, you may not be aware that I am the Wilson of genealogy bloggers. Julie Miller took this photograph of the Official Blogger Media Center, accidentally capturing me. I’m the one in blue in the back, behind Kathryn Doyle, behind Randy Seaver.
See more photos from Julie in her article: “Day 2 of the NGS Family History Conference -- just as busy and exciting as Day 1.”
I have volunteered to be an ambassador for the 2013 annual conference of the Federation of Genealogical Societies. The conference is scheduled for 21-24 August 2013 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
I knew I had to go to this conference the moment I saw the cover of the brochure:
Apparently, the mission of “the Federation” is “to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new lives and new generations. To boldly go where no man has gone before!”
Certainly, I’ve never been to Fort Wayne, Indiana or the famous Allen County Public Library. The Genealogy Center there is world class and I am looking forward to exploring it.
We are fast approaching the Early Bird Deadline on July 1st. Register in June to save $50 off a full conference registration. Visit the conference home page to learn more about the conference and the registration page to register.
The prime directive is to maximize your learning at the conference and at the ACPL library. Live long and prosper.
The National Genealogical Society has announced that “recordings of lectures presented at the NGS 2013 Family History Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, from 8–11 May 2013 are now available from JAMB, Inc. The CDs may be purchased from the JAMB online store for $12.00 each. A full list of available lecture CDs can be found on their website at http://www.jamb-inc.com/genealogy/ngs/2013-ngs-conference-las-vegas-nv.”
Ancestry.com member trees have persons and photos. Photos can be linked to persons. Simple.
The Tree section of FamilySearch.org has persons. The Photos section of FamilySearch.org has its own set of persons. Photos can be linked (tagged) to photo persons which can be linked (connected) to tree persons.
FamilySearch Family Tree has one set of deceased tree persons. FamilySearch Photos has photo persons that are unique to each user.
Two tree people can have the same name. Two photo people cannot. Each photo person must have a unique name.
Tree people can be assigned facts like name, birth date, and death date. These can be used to distinguish tree people with the same name. Photo people only have a name. One way to distinguish photo persons is to add the birth and death years to the person’s name.
Can a photo person have a different portrait from a tree person which can be different for each user? I’m totally confused on this point.
Should the same person be mistakenly entered twice, two tree persons can be merged. For two photo persons, delete one and reattach all its photos to the surviving photo person. The Help Center describes this eight step process. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for each photo.
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On Ancestry.com with its one set of persons, if I change a person’s name, I change it once. Likewise with birth and death years. On FamilySearch.org with its two sets of persons, I must change it twice, once for the tree person and once for the photo person. Likewise with birth and death years if they have been used to make the photo person name unique.
In my opinion FamilySearch needs to unify its two systems of persons.
In an email to developers on 4 June 2013, FamilySearch announced “the first stable milestone release of the core GEDCOM X specification set.” The announcement was repeated in a public GEDCOM X blog post on the GEDCOM X website, www.gedcomx.org.
The email was targeted to software engineers, so it is pretty technical. Release of a specification does not mean there are any products or apps that utilize GEDCOM X yet. It doesn’t mean that anyone (besides FamilySearch) is or will use it.
The “GEDCOM X Conception Model” does mention sources, one of the key deficiencies in the current GEDCOM standard.
The GEDCOM X website states that “the free flow of genealogical data will enable every individual to:
A Google site search of familysearch.org for "GEDCOM X" reveals a page in the FamilySearch Developer Center that states that “GEDCOM X is capable of preserving rich media content in a new file format” (emphasis in the original). This is another of the key deficiencies in the current GEDCOM standard.
The page also states that “the FamilySearch Family Tree API is built on this specification.” I interpret this to mean that products that are Family Tree (FT) certified are already using the GEDCOM X specification to some degree.
A Google site search of familysearch.org for '"FHISO" shows two mentions on the FamilySearch.org website. One page encourages participation in technology communities working on family history, including “FHISO: An international organization created to develop standards for the digital representation and sharing of family history and genealogical information.”
The other leads to comments on a blog post about David Rencher, FamilySearch chief genealogical officer. One commenter, Michael McCormick, wrote, “No one at FamilySearch in PR or GEDCOMX responds to my request for a statement about FHISO relations.” Another commenter, Steve Anderson, posted this reply:
FamilySearch applauds and encourages industry standards that enable families to connect with their past, present and future. Where we have the need to share between different products and systems, we are looking at how we can best do so. Due to limited resources we have chosen not to participate in joint standards development at this time. If an industry standard emerges, we would seriously consider implementing it. When it is ready, we are open to submitting our own work, GEDCOMX, as the basis for a standard.
Over the weekend FHISO, the Family History Information Standards Organisation, announced the appointment of Drew Smith as the first Chair of FHISO, effective 1 July 2013. Drew is currently the Organisational Member Representative to FHISO from the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS). In the press release announcing Smith's appointment, he is quoted as saying, "I recognize the critical importance of information standards, and as a long-time genealogist, I understand the needs of the world’s genealogy product and service vendors, repositories, societies, and individuals to collaborate and to share family history information. I look forward to leading an international effort to support the creation of these essential information standards." Smith's appointment drew support from FHISO members, Brightsolid, Ancestry.com, RootsMagic, and others. See the complete press release on the FHISO website.
I’m glad to see the progress of GEDCOM X and FHISO. The community has waited a long time for a successor to the current GEDCOM standard. It is encouraging to see any progress towards an updated standard.
