Hello: Just checked the web site to see what the topic is for the January meeting and there is no listing. Would someone please post the details here. Thanks, Lauren
Dear Listers: Whether you are brand new to genealogy or have been afflicted with the disease for 40 years, it seems that we all get befuddled at times trying to figure out how to describe our relationships. You know, "are you 1st cousins, once removed or is that a second cousin?" Someone on one of my other lists just posed the question of how to understand that she was the 8th cousin, 4 times removed from someone that she is in contact with. That is pretty mind boggling. They are of the 10th and 14th generation of the common ancestor. There was a good response that also pointed us to a website with a great chart to calculate relationships: http://www.grl.com/grl/relationship.shtml I would suggest everyone visit the site and print the chart. It belongs in your research hints binder! Happy Trails, Lauren List Admin
===================================================================== ANCESTRY QUICK TIP ===================================================================== I'd like to add my two cents about filing systems and what to take on a research trip. I read Marilyn Threlkeld's tip from 13 December 2002 on taking descendancy charts and notes on what needs to be on a research trip, and I thought that was great. One of my problems, though, is that as I find more and more ancestors and relatives, the amount of information to be searched widens rapidly, and sometimes I find myself going back over records that I've already searched. In order to avoid making duplicate copies of documents that I already have, I'm developing a master chart of what documents I do have. I use a sheet of graph paper; I like doing some things by hand, even though there's the drawback that in doing this I may run out of space sometimes. That might be reason why a computer spreadsheet would work better. On the left side of the sheet, I list my family names in exactly the same way a descendancy chart would show. I adding the year of birth and death, where known, is necessary, so that a "not applicable" symbol can be put where needed (e.g., you don't need to search census records after the year of death). On the right side, I label one column for each type of document, starting with the three basic (and most important): birth, marriage, and death (these can be subdivided into official records and unofficial records--for example, a death certificate vs. an obituary and/or photo of a tombstone). I also have columns for census records, immigration (ship manifests), naturalization papers, military service (can be broken down into enlistment, discharge, and pension papers), land records, school records (can be broken down into primary, secondary, college), religious life (e.g., ordination, entering a convent), wills/probate, biographical sketches from published histories, work history, newspaper articles, and anything else that pertains (the CCC has records, for instance, among which is discharge papers). The chart can be as simple or as complex as fits your needs. Mine shows me at a glance what I have already found and what I still need to search for. Alternatively, you could list all the documents available and applicable, and give each a code letter, and then just list the letters of "found" documents beside each name. The important thing is to have as complete a list as possible that you are comfortable with and that you can use easily. Miriam Dapra --------------------- Reprinted with permission from "Ancestry Daily News" (Copyright 1998-2002, MyFamily.com Inc. and its subsidiaries.)
HOGMANAY By Dr. Language yourDictionary.com Hogmanay (Noun) Pronunciation: [hag-mê-'ney] Definition 1: (Scottish) The last day of the year, when children traditionally went from house to house asking for presents. It also refers a small cake given to children on New Year's day. More recently it has become a raucous New Year's Eve party in many Scottish cities. Usage 1: The traditional Hogmanay includes "first footing," welcoming a tall, dark stranger at the stroke of midnight. First-footers should bring a gift such as uisge beatha "water of life" (Scotch), a lump of coal, or a bannock, a simple oat cake. This tradition reaches back to the Viking era, when the blond, blue-eyed Vikings brought only bad luck to whomever they visited. Today groups of friends gather and visit other friends. Whichever party you join this year, look out for the accent on the final syllable of today's word. Suggested Usage: If you would like to add a bit of innovation in your end-of-the-year greetings, try "Merry Christmas and a Happy Hogmanay!" for a change. If you go to the Hogmanay street party in Edinburgh or Glasgow, though, it is unlikely that anyone will be able to hear you. Etymology: The sense of "Hogmanay" corresponds to that of Old French aguillanneuf "the last day of the year, new year's gift." In modern French dialects it survives as "aiguilan," "guilané," and "guilanneau" but in Normandy it is "hoguignettes" or "hoguinané," whence it probably invaded Scottish English. The French term is thought by some to originate in the phrase au-guy-l'an-neuf "to the mistletoe the new year" from an ancient custom of country people begging New Year's presents. This fails to explain the reference to mistletoe, however. Others speculate it comes either come from the Anglo-Saxon haleg monath "holy month" or Gaelic oge maidne "new morning." (Let us all wish Walt Hopkins, of the UK the happiest of Hogmanays this year for submitting today's [29 December 2002] ancient word.) Previously published in MISSING LINKS, Vol. 7, No. 52, 31 December 2002 http://www.petuniapress.com
Dear Listers: I received this annoucement in my mail box this evening. I generally would not post this type of thing, but.... this is a very unusual offer for something that has been very helpful to genealogists for over 50 years. So... I have decided to share it with you as a Public Service Announcement. After all, I am of Scots descent and we Scots tend to be thrifty. We may no part w'a a penny easily, but when we do, we spend it well! As List Admin, I ran the idea passed myself and approved the posting this one time only. <g> The way this reads, it may be from Lee Everton, himself. But, as it did not identify who the author was, I suppose it coulda been someone else that decided to do this. Happy New Year! or Happy Hogmany! [whichever fits!] Lauren List Admin ................................................. What was it like 20 years ago? First I thought of the headlines; Floods in Northern Utah, Reagan was in office and Vanessa Williams was crowned Miss USA. Then, I started thinking about this in respect to genealogy, family history, Family History Magazine, the online world and the ability to eventually "find out anything about anybody" in todays world. The world is an amazing place that we live in. Where was genealogy in 1983? The computer revolution was just beginning. Evertons was just a year short of offering their first genealogy software, "My Family Research" in DOS. Computers were not quite yet a household item. And, the Internet was not even in the public eye. There were not any big companies involved in genealogy and Family History Magazine was well "The Genealogical Helper." Our readers were a lot younger than they are now. And, life seemed a little less complicated. Would it be possible to "uncomplicate" life just a little? Could I do this by offering something from the past with a product of today? I started wondering about that. The price of the magazine in 1983 was $15.50 for an entire year. Inflation and cost of goods has made that amount rise to nearly $29 for a year. How could I offer Family History Magazine to you for that little? I looked around at whom to talk with and I was the only one in the room. So, I made an executive decision. Do this for one day (plus a little). Starting on 31 December 2002 and going to 2 January 2003 (about 8:00 a.m. in the morning), you can subscribe to Family History Magazine for the same price as in 1983 only $15.50 for an entire year. This is only good on the Internet (the business is closed on New Years Day). In fact, if you call and someone answers, you will be directed to the Internet to order at this price. So, as I am counting, you have about 40 hours to take advantage of the 1983 subscription price, which I doubt you will ever see again. Is this a bit out of the ordinary? Yes. Will this ever happen again? Not likely. Do I want you to benefit from this? Yes. Will it be over Thursday morning? Yes. This is definitely an opportunity that "time is of the essence." Internet Only Special for $15.50 Have a GREAT NEW YEAR! http://www.everton.com/shopper/productview.php?SKU=0&Category=magazine
Dear Society Members: This was in the Ancestry Daily News today. (Its on sale today for a buck less than usual -- inexpensive.) I thought it might be of use to those beginning to work on their German lines. I have not seen the book/pamphlet? Happy Trails, Lauren "FINDING YOUR GERMAN ANCESTORS: A BEGINNER'S GUIDE," by Kevan M. Hansen http://www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=831&key=P1185 Anyone who has worked with foreign records knows that the language can be intimidating. In order to overcome this research barrier, author Kevan Hansen provides the tools and information that empower researchers to work comfortably with German records. "Finding Your German Ancestors" also offers a solution to one of the largest dilemmas German researchers face--shifting national and regional borders. Due to the continual changes of boundaries and jurisdictions in historic Germany, the types of records available vary from region to region. "Finding Your German Ancestors" explains the current locations of records from regions with names and boundaries that have changed. It even includes information for contacting each location! Chapters cover: 1. Historic Germany 2. Research Tools and Tips 3. German Genealogical Sources 4. Church Records 5. Archival Records 6. Genealogical Societies
o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>0<>0<>0<>0 MERRY CHRISTMAS 0<>0<>0<>0<>0<>0<>0<>0<>0<>0<>0<>0<>0<>0<>0<>0<>0<>0<>0<>0<>0 | \ / (\o/) * / \* *>o<* * O>0<O* * o>>O<<o<* * >0 >*<0<0<* * >*>*>O<0<O<o<* *>o >O>0<<<0*<<O * *>>o>>O<<O<<<O<<< * *>>O>>0*<<O<>0*<<0<*<* *<>>0>>*<<O<>0><<*<O<<>* *<>O<o>*<<Oo<>0o><*O<>0<>* | | **~~~~~~~~~~~^^~~~~~~~~~~~~~** A Christmas Wish PEACE ON EARTH and GOOD WILL TOWARD MAN ***~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~***
Merry Christmas to all and to your families. May the day find you healthy, happy and warm/cool [Australia is having a heat wave I hear!]. Lauren List Admin various lists.... ................................. >From New Hampshire Society of Genealogist newsletter: Twelve Days of a Genealogy Christmas On the twelfth day of Christmas My true love gave to me, Twelve census searches, Eleven printer ribbons, Ten e-mail contacts, Nine headstone rubbings, Eight birth and death dates, Seven town clerks sighing, Six second cousins, Five coats of arms, Four GEDCOM files, Three old wills, Two CD-ROMS, And a branch in my family tree.
GIVING TREE FOR GENEALOGISTS by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG You know what we tell our children and grandchildren: "It is better to give than to receive." Here are some ways that we genealogists can give back to this wonderful hobby of ours. 1. Donate genealogy books, CDs and periodicals to our libraries. 2. Give our time and talents and provide financial support to local genealogical and historical societies. They depend on us. 3. Index a genealogy book or records compilation -- especially old county histories. 4. Share our knowledge about research in a particular locality by posting the information on Web pages, message boards, or to genealogy newsgroups. 5. Help a newbie online discover the joy of genealogy. 6. Make copies of those family photographs and old home movies to share with our cousins. 7. Create a family cookbook of old favorite recipes to give as a present to family members. 8. Compile a family history and publish it in 2003. 9. If that is too large a project, compile what we have on one of our grandparents or great-grandparents and share that chapter of the family history with our relatives. 10. Start or join a surname mailing list and share our data with others. 11. Update our GEDCOMs to make sharing easier and faster in 2003. 12. Create a personal home page on the Web and post our genealogy data to make it easily accessed by online genealogists. 13. Join the "Friends of ______" (state archives and libraries). 14. Compile some (any) records that a genealogist might use and publish them -- in print or electronically or both. 15. Do random deeds of kindness to librarians, archivists, county clerks and other officials with whom we come in contact this year in pursuit of our roots. ["Giving Tree for Genealogists" first appeared in MISSING LINKS, Volume 2, No. 2, 19 December 1997.] Previously published in MISSING LINKS, Vol. 7, No. 51, 24 December 2002 http://www.petuniapress.com
My apologies to those signed up on both lists, but I think what Sue is trying to do is wonderful, so I am "pasting" her letter into this one. Please do respond to her with your own ideas regarding time restrictions in place of what is now a "blanket" 100% law. Cathy Gowdy Subj: California Legislative Amendment re: Vital Statistics Access Date: Friday, December 20, 2002 9:23:11 AM From: [email protected] To: Hello, I sent an email out to this list about a week or so ago about attempting to get an amendment to last year's SB 1614 (Speirs) that will limit access to vital records in California beginning January 1, 2002. I have gotten some good responses and offers of assistance to try to get some modifications to the upcoming limitations. We have an attorney willing to work Pro Bono with the mechanics of the language for an amendment, and will be conferring on that on January 7th. Those of us working on the foundation of this amendment are not trying to overturn SB 1614 altogether, as we just don't feel that will be successful. We are trying to work with the framework and intent of SB 1614, but not to the severity of it. We are presently planning to exempt birth and death records of a certain age. For example, 80 years on birth records and 50 years on death records. (We haven't concluded the exact age of the exemptions we'll request.) We would like to hear from others as to suggestions relative to exemptions of records that may be more fully and readily accessible AND vitals indices that will be permissible for online access. Please send them to me at [email protected] and I will compile the responses for the group. If anyone else has begun to work on a project of this type, we would like to know that also. Perhaps there is a way to work together toward something better than SB 1614 has left us with. Sincerest thanks, Sue Silver, President El Dorado County Pioneer Cemeteries Commission (a non-profit corporation)
Dear Listers: I just got a notice in this morning's email that Everton's has the Handybook on sale for twenty bucks less than usual! Advertising is not acceptable on the Rootsweb lists -- however, I am aware that many of you are familiar with the Handybook, having a few copies already on hand and possibly thinking of getting the new one. Being of guid Scot's blood, I am also familiar with the desire to not part with a penny and when doing so to do it wisely! So, please consider this in the light it was written -- Public Service Announcement by the List Admin. If anyone would like to know what to get me for my birthday today -- I still don't have a copy of this 10th Edition of the Handybook! <g> You can either contact Everton's directly or our local Everton's representative -- Cal Boyd. If you have questions re price, etc. Please write off list. My email is [email protected] I don't work for Evertons nor do I benefit from any sales. Happy Trails, Lauren List Admin
I am researching Michael Chic Doody, born in Montreal, Dec. 25 1854, son of Denis Doody and Eliza O'Neil of Montreal. Denis died Dec. 23 1925, in San Rafael. His siblings are: Peter Doody, no information on him Eliza Doody, born April 5, 1850 in Montreal, married George E. Powell in Merrick, Nebraska Thomas Neil Doody, born July 21 1852, Montreal, lived for a time in Marin, returned to Montreal and Ottawa, Canada buried in Montreal. Never married Margaret Doody, born in 1858, died in 1918, Montreal Mary Margaret Doody, no further information Denis Doody, born Nov. 1870, died in Montreal Nov. 14 1954, married to Susan Ferns, in Montreal. Ann Marie Doody, born Montreal, married to Thomas Maguire, in Montreal, buried in Montreal Michael Chic Doody was married to Caroline Blaney. Children: born in the 1880's Thomas C. Doody Maurice C. Doody John A. Doody Edward B.Doody
Dear Listers: When was the last time YOU contributed to the content of the lists you are subscribed to? If you want to get mail, you must first write mail! If you are not sure when the last time you posted was, you can check via searching on your email address using the Interactive Archives for any of the lists: http://searches2.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl type the name of the list you want to search in the box marked "Name of List" type your email address in the box marked "query" select which year you want to search by clicking the radio button next to the year 2002, 2001, 2000. etc click the search button. You can only search one year at a time. You may be surprised to discover how long it has been since you posted! I recently began to check against subscribers to one of my newly adopted lists. I am always amazed to find people subscribed to lists, hoping for a genealogical connection, but NEVER having posted a single message. If this sounds like you.... take the plunge. Send a query to the list. Depending on the range of topics allowed -- send a message that would be of interest to the group. The most frequent remark I get in response to my unsubscription questionnaire, is that the person did not connect with someone on the list. The second most frequent response is that the lists -- all of them -- are heavily laden with American topics. If one expects to connect, they must work at putting something on the list(s) to let your cousins know you are here and waiting for them! And you must do so with some regularity. One time a year won't do it. One time a quarter would be an improvement over annually, but still may not be enough contact. Those other-than-American researchers that don't see enough content from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland, etc. need to remain vocal on the list(s). If you don't speak up, and remain an active participant then when someone from the area of your interest subscribes, they will not feel there is anyone to connect with. Invite your fellow researchers from your area or area of interest to subscribe to the Rootsweb lists. A reminder to most of my lists --- keep in mind that there is a world wide audience that can and does view all of Rootsweb's lists. When writing your messages and mentioning geographic locations, PLEASE spell them out. Cite the City/County/Province/State AND the Country. Do not use postal codes as identifiers. They are only about 30 years old and are not recognizable on a global basis. Check your queries to see if they are ridden with them and use the search and replace function of your word processor to quickly expand them to the actual names. Do not make the assumption that others are familiar with the geography of your area of research. Not sure what lists you are subscribed to? Visit: http://passwordcentral.rootsweb.com/ If list traffic is heavier than you prefer, consider switching to the digest mode. This puts several messages into one email rather than sending each one individually. This is especially helpful with very busy lists. Looking forward to seeing an increase in posts on all of the lists. Happy Holidays, Lauren List Admin
Dear Listers: It has been brought to my attention today that Rootsweb has a new Acceptable Use Policy and also a Privacy Statement. You will find them at: http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/aup.html and http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/privacy.html For all intent and purposes, they seem to reflect similar wording to what I had read at Ancestry.com site a while ago. However, it is best that you read them for yourself. ....................................... ATT subscribers' mail is bouncing on many lists, if not on all. Seems ATT has some internal issue that is preventing Rootsweb from being able to deliver mail. RW tries for 3 days and then deletes the undeliverable mail from the que. This is an ATT problem, *not* a RW problem. It is unknown how long it will take for it to clear up. ....................................... Thanks to Dick Stewart, who alerted me to a Rootsweb web site being "hacked" I was able to alert RW. It was investigated immediately and the determination that I received said it was only the one site. They felt the password had likely been compromised. The web site has been restored. Rootsweb was most responsive. ........................................ I suspect we will have a bunch of newbies subscribe to the lists right after Christmas. Please be patient and supportive of them while they figure out what they are doing with their brand new computers! And also -- make sure you have your antivirus software up-to-date, on and activated. The data you protect may be your own! ....................................... Happy Holidays to all the subscribers of all the lists I administer! Yours Aye, Slainte, Happy Trails, Lauren List Admin
Esther K. has notified me that the field trip scheduled for Saturday 12/14 to Napa Genealogical Library has been canceled due to inclement weather and low expected turnout. She expects to reschedule it for January or February.
Dear Listers: As the Society's Computer Interest Group is not meeting in December, I thought I would share this article about scanners. You may want to print it and put it in a binder for ease of reference and in anticipation that the Computer Group may discuss scanning in future. Happy Holidays, Lauren List Admin ...................................................... >From "Ancestry Daily News" ===================================================================== "ROOTSWORKS: SCANNERS," by Beau Sharbrough ===================================================================== Since I wrote about scanners in December 2000, some things have changed. For example, if you do a Web search on "new scanning technology" you'll find numerous entries related to scanning for explosives, not images. Scanners are electronic devices that convert paper documents into electronic images. They are very "numbery" toys --the resolution and image sizes, the number of colors--it's daunting to the newcomer. The images themselves are very big sets of 1s and 0s. Let's see if we can break these numbers down into something we can use. WHAT IS IT? A scanner shines a light on a document and records a lot of dots. If the image format is black and white, each dot is either black or white. Most scanners record 256 shades of each primary color. That takes 8 "bits" for each color. You'll sometimes see options for scanning in "24-bit" color. After those dots are converted to electrical pulses, they're converted into a number, by "digitizing." The point of bringing up the math here is that the files grow quite fast as we gather more information about each dot we scan. The user has a wide choice of resolutions, and the arithmetic to figure out how to get the best image would be a challenge for a math major. If you look at some of the explanations in the links section of this article, you'll see that you have to convert scanned resolution, in "dots per inch" to printed resolution, in "lines per inch," or screen resolution, in total dots per screen. A general guideline is that if you scan at resolutions that can't be output by your screen or printer, you will only obtain a slightly better looking image and you might take up a LOT more disk space. I've seen a number of cases where a genealogist has two census citations, where the ancestor's family lived in one state in one census and another state in the next one. If your scanner is a 600 dpi scanner, and you scan an image at 9600 dpi, the computer does something a lot like what genealogists do--they connect the dots with ones that they make up. From an information honesty perspective, I don't like the idea of creating records with data that I just make up, or that a machine just makes up for me. I'd suggest that you not exceed the rated resolution of your scanner when creating historical records! NAME TWO OF THEM There are several types of scanners, but in my opinion the only ones to think about buying are the flatbed scanners. Hand-helds are a little harder to get good images from. There is a pen-type scanner that will read lines from documents, but I still prefer making copies and scanning whole sheets. There are some big differences in price, but these days you can buy a better scanner for under $50 than you could buy for $1,000 in 1990. The biggest differences in any two scanners these days are the price and the connection method (parallel, SCSI, and USB). WHAT'S THE DOWN SIDE? There aren't many down sides to scanner use. Of course, if you get a scanner you're going to want to have a lot of free disk space to put all of those pictures on. You'll have to learn to choose which images to keep and how to let go of the other ones, which is a big challenge for a genealogist. In times past, there was a problem with complicated setup, but that's much easier now. HOW DO I KNOW IF IT'S NOT WORKING? I only see two kinds of problems: bad connections and wrong settings. As a rule, if you set up your scanner properly it will keep working all the time, but occasionally I have the scanner turned off when the PC comes up and the scanner won't work. When that happens, restart the PC. If you scan a document with the wrong settings, you can usually either re-scan it or change the image in a graphics program. WHAT IF I CHANGE COMPUTERS? Scanners come with three different pieces of software: a device driver that tells the computer how to talk to the scanner; a scan manager program that actually controls the scanner from the computer (and is where you choose the resolution and picture type); and a special edition of a graphics program to catalog, print, and clean up the images you make. If you change computers, you will want to reinstall the drivers and scan manager software. Be sure you can hook it up--some PCs don't have the same connections. This is especially true with SCSI connections. WHAT'S THE GENEALOGY TIE-IN? Converting pictures of family members and images of historic documents to computer files gives you the option of linking those files to your genealogy records about those people, and of e-mailing them to your relatives and colleagues. MORE ABOUT RESOLUTION - PPI, DPI, LPI If you get a headache from doing a lot of math, skip this section and get your kids to do your scanning. There are three important points to cover about resolution: --- file sizes, --- variations in resolution for cameras, monitors, and printers, and --- enlargement. File sizes can get out of control if you're not careful. A 3"x5" image scanned at 200 pixels per inch in black and white contains only 600,000 pixels, and takes up 4.8 million bits. By the time you store it on your hard drive in JPG format, it might not take more than 25K of disk space. But scan that same 3"x5" image at 300 dots per inch in RGB format (24 bits per pixel--8 red, 8 blue, 8 yellow) and you have 32 million bits. Some scanners and printers boast of 2400 DPI resolution--try that and you'll obtain over 4 billion bits. Hard disk space is relatively cheap, but unless you're starting an archive or printing a magazine, you can generally scan at 200 DPI and be happy with the image. One of the first things that I had to learn after I acquired a scanner was the difference in the size of an image when I saw it on the screen and on the printer. Let's say that you scan a 4"x6" photo at 200 dots per inch. If your printer has 600 dot per inch capability, and you don't add dots when you print, the printed image will be one-third the scanned size, or about two inches wide. Put the same image on a monitor, which has a resolution of about 72 dots per inch, and you'll see an image about three times as large. The important point is that knowing where you want to display a scanned image might have an impact on the size that you scan it--printers and monitors are different enough that you might find it reasonable to create two different scans. Enlargement is a great feature of computer images, but one that can trick you. If you have a 35mm slide, and want to print it out at 1200 dots per inch on your photo printers, 7 inches wide, you'll need a whole lot of dots. In a case like this, you might wish for a scanner with 5,000 dot per inch resolution. What you can do, to make the full page photo of your ancestor's head in a group photo, is enlarge the image 500 percent, and choose a resolution that is related to your printer's best quality. WHAT SHOULD YOU DO? Should you scan at a higher resolution than you can print? Some people say no, as if there were a Moral Imperative to preserve dots. Wait, I'm climbing on my soapbox. Maybe you should scan higher anyway. Perhaps you will be buying a new printer someday. Or perhaps you want to save the images for one hundred years and you don't know what technology will be available then. What you should do is make your own informed decision about how to make these tools work for you, the way you want. Period. Okay, off the soapbox. LINK ME UP (More Stars Is Better) --- ZDNet Reviews *** Great product evaluations, tips, and explanations for beginners. --- Scanning overview **** A good explanation of the basics of scanner technology. --- Scantips **** Just like its name, lots of scanning tips, including a method for getting the best pictures. --- PPI, DPI, LPI and Color Depth Unraveled**** A page that offers tips and techniques about resolution. WHAT ELSE? Some scanners support transparency adapters (a backlit replacement for the scanner cover that lets you scan slides and transparencies, about $150) and sheet feeders (a mechanical replacement for the scanner cover that lets you scan a stack of papers, about $150). Digital cameras are great for taking pictures of people. They're not so good for making images of documents or old photos because you can't get closer than a couple of feet and the picture comes out too small. One other function of scanners is to convert paper documents to text, using a process called Optical Character Recognition, or OCR. Next time--graphics file formats. ___________________________________________________________________ The RootsWorks series of articles focuses on genealogical applications for generic technologies. Beau would like to hear from you at mailto:[email protected], but due to the volume of e- mail received, he is unable to answer some e-mail messages. Please note that he cannot assist you with your individual computer problems. Visit the RootsWorks website (http://www.rootsworks.com/ ) for links to previous articles and Beau's lecture schedule. FOR A PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE, e-mail it to a friend, or submit your feedback on it, just go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=831&key=A661101 and click on the appropriate icon in the sidebar. ............................................ REPRINT POLICY: We encourage the circulation of the "Ancestry Daily News" via non- profit newsletters and lists providing that you credit the author, include any copyright information (Copyright 1998-2002, MyFamily.com Inc. and its subsidiaries.), and cite the "Ancestry Daily News" (http://www.ancestry.com/dailynews) as the source, so that others can learn about our free newsletter as well.
Lauren: Great article. Thank you for posting it. I'll add it to my material for graphics and scanning. Happy Holidays! Gene Pennington http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~genepenn/ Researching Pennington - Wann - Stickney - Tankersley - Lancaster - Justis Member of these genealogy associations/groups: Pennington Research Association - http://www.penningtonresearch.org Marin County Genealogical Society - http://www.maringensoc.org/ BARUG (Bay Area Roots User Group) - http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~barug/ National Genealogical Association - http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/ California Genealogical Society - http://www.calgensoc.org
Dear Listers: As the Society's Computer Interest Group is not meeting in December, I thought I would share this article about graphic files. You may want to print it and put it in a binder for ease of reference and in anticipation that the Computer Group may discuss graphics and scanning, in future. Happy Holidays, Lauren List Admin >From today's "Ancestry Daily News" ===================================================================== "ROOTSWORKS: GRAPHICS FILE FORMATS," by Beau Sharbrough ===================================================================== The more I research for these articles, the less I know about computers. For example, I found dozens of graphics file formats. Genealogists faced with a stack of photos and a scanner, don't always know which format to use. Let's develop some simple guidelines. WHAT IS IT? Image files fall into two categories: "raster" and "bitmap" formats. Raster images are built up from lines, circles, and other shapes. Bitmap images are built up one dot at a time. A bitmap image is converted into dots called "picture elements," or "pixels." The pixels are stored in computer files using "binary digits" or "bits" - - long strings of 1s and 0s that don't look anything like your grandmother. There are several flavors of graphics file formats for storing images. For example: --- If your picture is black and white, it takes one bit to store one pixel. --- If your picture is "true color" it takes 24 bits to store the color information for one pixel, and more bits for the brightness or darkness. Some formats are "lossless," meaning that you can save them as much as you like and you won't lose any data. Others are "lossy" and the more times you save the picture using them, the more you will degrade the image. Typically, lossless formats produce larger files, so you will want to save "master" copies of pictures in a lossless format, and you'll want to use a lossy format for e-mail and the Web. Since image files can be so large, some formats include "data compression" features, so that they make smaller files than those that don't compress the data. Please don't confuse loss and compression, they are altogether entirely different things. Due to compression, files of the same image in different formats will have widely different sizes-which means it takes widely different amounts of time to display them on websites and to send and receive them as e-mails. You can learn a great deal about this subject by browsing the links included below. NAME TWO OF THEM Some of you may be surprised, but I won't be discussing the BMP and PCX formats. They are only used on Windows platforms, and in my opinion, others do the job better. Here's a partial list of formats: BMP-Bitmap. "Bee-em-pee". Windows requires it for desktop wallpaper in older versions. Only reason to ever use one. Not used on Mac. PCX-PC file format. "Pee-see-eks". Not used on Mac. JPG-Joint Photographic Experts Group. "Jay-pee-gee or "jay-peg". Smallest files, it's good for copies of your master. Generally best for Web photos. JPEG2000-A new specification based on "wavelet" compression. Not widely used, but holds real promise. GIF-Graphics Interchange Format. "jiff" or less often "giff". Second smallest files made here. Generally best for Web artwork, images with less than 16 colors. TIFF-Tagged Image File Format. "tiff". The most widely supported format, makes the biggest files (unless you ask for compression and that method varies from program to program), and Macs can read them. PNG-Portable Network Graphics. "ping". A growing format for art, but not all browsers recognize it. MNG-Multiple Image PNG. WHEN IT WORKS, WHAT DOES IT DO? The picture looks good! Actually, when it works, you get the best balance of image quality, disk space usage, and waiting time (if it's on a website or in an e-mail). Typically, for e-mails and websites, use JPG for photos and GIF for logos, artwork, or other images containing 16 colors or less. For a "master" copy, choose between TIFF and PNG based on what your software can do, and which ones you like the best. Both are "lossless" formats. WHAT'S THE DOWN SIDE? The down sides are issues of size, and of loss. By loss, I specifically mean that if you take an image, and save it to a JPG or GIF format repeatedly, you will eventually see that the image quality suffers. One of the things that frustrates me the most is to find that the particular program I'm using either can't read or can't write in the format I prefer, so look at your choices under "Save As . . ." to be sure that you know what you can do. Also, things change pretty quickly in the computer world, and these specs, in computer terms, are getting old. Since we last covered this topic two years ago, very little has changed in the format world. During that time, the CPU speeds for sale in the stores have tripled. So has the capacity of hard drives. The speed improvement between USB and USB 2.0 is 20 times. But there are no improvements in the compression rates or qualities of the most used graphics file formats. Isn't this the 21st century? Why, in the name of the Jetsons' dog Astro, is there even a need to compromise between file size and image quality? WHAT'S THE GENEALOGY TIE-IN? Making computer images of photos and documents is a constant occupation for genealogists. Putting together a scrapbook of images of ancestors is a great thrill. I should add that I've received at least a dozen e-mails since my last article from people who love to use their digital camera to photograph documents on research trips. Some readers even included examples as attachments, and I admit that I found them easy to read. Digital cameras have come a long way, and will probably soon outrank scanners as the method that family historians use to create images from the documents and photographs that they find at the homes of their relatives and at record repositories. All of the genealogy programs that I've seen in the past few years allowed the user to link the images to the people in their database, to print scrapbooks, include photos on wall charts, include them on webpages, and make a slide show. LINK ME UP (More Stars Is Better) Scantips **** http://www.scantips.com/ Just like its name, lots of scanning tips, including a method for getting the best pictures. Has some great info about formats, file sizes, strong and weak points. Examples of how the appearance of each format differs, blown up so you can tell it. Graphic File Formats at a Glance **** http://acomp.stanford.edu/acpubs/Docs/graphic_file_formats/ A Stanford University site that compares formats, and suggests when to use GIF vs JPG. UseNet Graphics File Formats FAQ *** http://www.oreillynet.com/search/?keywords=%2Fgff-faq%2Findex.htm This is aimed at experienced computer users, but it has some good information about converting from one format to another. Besides, these questions are frequent! WHAT ELSE? PDF files are technically graphic images, but they are almost never listed as graphic file formats. Some graphics programs will save in this format but typically you have to buy an "Adobe Acrobat Writer" to make them. The new JPEG format, JPEG2000, has both a lossy and a lossless capability. The file sizes are much smaller than the current JPG format. Presently, it's only a published specification. I tried a plug-in for Photoshop, and was impressed that the experience matched the hype. Maybe, when we talk about this subject in two more years, users won't be forced to compromise between file size and image quality. ____________________________________________________________________ The RootsWorks series of articles focuses on genealogical applications for generic technologies. Beau would like to hear from you at mailto:[email protected], but due to the volume of e- mail received, he is unable to answer some e-mail messages. Please note that he cannot assist you with your individual computer problems. Visit the RootsWorks website at: http://www.sharbrough.net for links to previous articles and Beau's lecture schedule. The site will soon feature discussion forums for your computer experiences related to these articles. 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Remember, no general meeting or meeting notice in December Don't forget to come to the MCGS luncheon on Sunday, 12/8/02 from 1:00 to 4:30 pm at La Toscana Restaurant, 3751 Redwood Hwy, San Rafael This get-together is in lieu of the December general meeting and it's lots of fun -- good company and good food. Hope to see you there. (If by some chance you neglected to sign up by 12/1/02 as requested, it still may not be too late. You may call Shirley Genetin at 883-6739 to check whether you can be accommodated.) Stephanie