I wrote only 1 of two. You may, but let's wait awhile for Mr Sexton to cool down. I did not post to one of your lists for fear of setting him off. On Sat, 5 Feb 2000 11:49:26 -0700 "Jean Dalrymple" <motherd@theriver.com> writes: > Hermon, can I pass this on to my many lists? Jeannie <>< > > -----Original Message----- > From: HERMON B FAGLEY [mailto:hermfagley@juno.com] > Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2000 9:14 AM > To: OHADAMS-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [OHADAMS] Accurate genealogy on the web > > > NTERNET GENEALOGY - WHAT'S GOOD! WHAT'S NOT! > . . . AND WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? > > by Bettie Cummings Cook, CG > > [Published in The Packet, Tri-State Genealogical Society, > Evansville, IN, vol.XXII, no. 2 (Dec. 1998)] > > > > Before computers there were two kinds of genealogists. The > experienced > and > the beginners. The experienced passed their knowledge to the > beginners. > The > "experienced" covered degrees of knowledge from more than a beginner > to > years > of work in the field. The work was too new to the beginner to do > much > adventuring except acquire blank family charts, work at finding > dates and > > places, and take advantage of seminars, classes, and advice from > friendly > > experienced genealogists. They learned as they went along about > where, > and > how, to look for dates and places. If they did rush to judgment > those who > had > worked at the problem longer quickly called them to task. They were > usually > chastised sufficiently to be more careful with future endeavors. > Still--they > learned and eventually passed into being experienced. Enter the > undeserving > villain . . . Internet Genealogy! > > > > What's Good! > > With the addition of the computer to the home the experienced > genealogist > > became a computer-user and continued to apply his work habits and > expertise > with the aid of the computer. The world of the Internet opened > boundless > possibilities of accessing records to the genealogist. Email is an > amazing > convenience to make contact with others and receive an answer within > minutes. > The knowledge to be gained on subjects without leaving your chair is > > staggering. The genealogical sites of interest range from very > interesting to > ho-hum. There are records of federal, state, and local levels of > government, > library card catalogs, resource files that are easily downloaded, > and > sites > dedicated to specific records such as land, marriages, etc. If you > have > great > grandpa's gun he carried in the Civil War, you can learn about its > make, > model, and manufacturer by consulting a website on Civil War guns. > An > antique > piece of furniture handed down in the family may be identified as to > its > age > and maker from sites that discuss descriptive markings, styles, and > time > periods. You are not confined to US searches. Research on a family > said > to > have owned and operated a winery in Germany led to a list on a > German web > > site of existing wineries. Think of a subject and, except in rare > instances, > Internet has some data. > > > > What's Not! > > The Internet has developed a new group of family searchers. > Unfortunately, > the experienced genealogist is in the minority. There is new group > of > persons > who know first how to use a computer and second want to locate > others who > can > give them information about their families. Notice I do not call the > second > group genealogists because they are lacking in the skills to prepare > them > for > productive research. Before Internet this person would have been the > beginner > genealogist sitting across the table from you in a library. The > computer-user/researcher cruises the Internet hoping to find his > family > tree, > unaware there is a more accurate way to find it using primary > records. > The > cruiser, who in the past would have had no recourse except to go a > genealogical library and learn the skills, now sets up a webpage or > a > newsgroup in quest of the answers. He contributes uncited > "merry-go-round" > bits to others. His heart is in the right place but his ability to > do > research is not. He is totally oblivious to the fact he is doing > more > harm > than good both to himself and others. > > > > Is it ever safe to use undocumented material found on the Internet? > Not > unless you verify it first with proper sources. Some of it may be > right > but > how much faith can you put in rehashed, regurgitated, uncited data? > A > typical > appeal looks like . . . > > > > "my grandfather died July 4, 1920. Does anyone know who his parents > were?" > > or > > "my Great Grandfather was John Right born 1848. He married Jane ?. > They > lived > in New County and had seven children. I don't know their names . . . > ." > > > > Most of us quickly assess these queries as being from beginners. And > ask > ourselves why haven't you looked in a census? Why don't you write > for a > marriage bond? Why don't you get a death certificate? Why are you > taking > up > byte space and my time to read this unskilled query? It is easier to > ignore > this query than deal with it. But where will this searcher turn > next? To > undocumented websites, forums, and various tree programs on the > 'Net. He > finds and records incorrect data and passes it to another person. > Thus, > the > data is repeated in the name of "helping"for the next twenty-five > years. > No > one knows the data's origins but will not discard it because "it > might be > > something." > > > > Recently a friend was horrified to learn an ancestor, to whom she > devoted > > years of work in order to identify his parents, had been added to a > different > set of parents with the same surname on an Internet site. The data > was > added > by a computer-user/searcher because his ancestor had a son by the > same > name. > Now if you have any experience at all, you know how many times > several > men > can have the same name! After a number of determined phone calls to > everyone > responsible for the error, she succeeded in having it removed. But > not > until > she proved to the website her ancestor was a different man and sent > an > obituary for the correct man to prove he had died in another state. > And > worse, her well-documented work on the son and his descendants was > included > on the website. It had been contributed by still another person > without > giving credit to her for the work. It gave every appearance of being > a > good > genealogy with citations . . . except for the one link between > parents > and > the right son. This example of assuming and combining data to make a > family > "fit" ought to make you shudder. > > > > What Are We Going to Do About It? > > One of the most agreeable attributes of genealogists is their > willingness > and > unselfishness in sharing data. Some of the nicest people one could > ever > hope > to meet share my enthusiasm for research. We regale each other > endlessly > with > our "finds." The faceless aspect of the Internet keeps us from the > personal > evaluation of others that takes place in a face to face encounter. > The > truth > is, there are a very few unpleasant folks in genealogy. So it is > hard to > think ill of those pursuing their families on the Internet without > research > experience. If we could talk to them, we would treat them as we > would the > > beginner sitting next to us in the library. So how do we treat a > faceless > > beginner on the Internet? WE HELP THEM. Not by sending all the > answers > but by > pointing out where they should look to find the answers. This person > needs > the experience of looking at a microfilmed census. Don't deny him > the > thrill > of finding grandfather's death certificate for himself. There's no > better > way > to convert the beginner to learning research skills than for him to > make > an > exciting discovery. > > > > TELL them data must have citations. Let your data be good examples > by > always > clearly citing your source. Give county, book, and page from which > the > record > was taken. Cite published book sources with title, compiler, > publisher, > year > published, and page. INSIST on receiving the same citations from > others. > Contact the websites, newsgroups, and databases and encourage them > to ask > for > citations. Kindly and tactfully point out to web searchers > information is > > useless without documentation. Direct them to local libraries and > genealogical collections. Tell them what genealogical societies have > to > offer. Beginners are often under the mistaken notion that because > they > live > far away from their ancestor's residence there is nothing in their > locale > of > any use. Net-cruisers who are interested in genealogy must be made > aware > of > how much they accomplish by using source records and learning skills > > necessary to locate family data. Finding a cousin is fine but no > matter > how > much the cousin can tell you it still has to be verified. My posting > to a > > surname website encourages everyone to cite his or her data. 1 am > careful > to > post cited items and explain there is more to be found by examining > that > record. It is beginning to show results. The web master was > reluctant to > post > my first message regarding citations for fear it might offend > someone. > Surprisingly (to him) some readers of the site wrote and agreed. The > surname > site is developing into a source of information. It is a website of > various > documented records on the same surname from many states and, if you > share > > that surname, is one worth visiting because most postings bear > citations. > One > of the main features of Internet is the broad coverage of the > county. For > the > experienced genealogist, it is this aspect of reachable records in > many > states that is most useful and one that needs to be developed. Let > us > think > past the materials found on the bookshelf of any genealogical > collection > and > begin to build sites that represent our county's records. > > > > The flood of incorrect data making the rounds on the 'Net is > growing. It > is > comparable to undocumented family genealogies, early DAR records, > and > early > LDS family files. Both DAR and LDS are making efforts to correct > their > early > files. The 'Net has no one to guide it except experienced > genealogists > who > care. We can no longer afford to ignore the unskilled query. Few of > us > have > the inclination, or want to take the time, to deal with the > unskilled and > the > inexperienced 'Net searchers. Someone is going to have to step up to > the > flood and help with the sandbags. If each of us concentrates on > improving > the > site concerning our surname, or a site under the sponsorship of our > local > > group, together we can make a difference. We must make an effort to > deal > with > this growing problem. Get on your soapbox for the sake of good > genealogy > on > the Internet! > > ________________________________________________________________ > YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! > Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! > Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: > http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. > > ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.