I think what is happening with trying to access the 1901 Canadian census - The dash should be the lower dash (capitalized ) NOT the regular dash - Try that - I found out that was what was wrong when I couldn't access it - Joanne Ontario [email protected] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Edbld" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, May 31, 2002 10:00 AM Subject: Re: [SCTCDN] 1901 census > Dennis I get error, "the page can not be found" ???????? > Edd Sinnett > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Dennis Bell" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2002 11:57 PM > Subject: [SCTCDN] 1901 census > > > > > > > > Hi folks: > > > > The following news story moved this afternoon across Canada via The > Canadian Press newswire: > > > > > > OTTAWA (CP) - It's a tale to make a publicist weep. > > Fearing it may have a smash hit on its hands that could bring down its > > Internet server, the National Archives of Canada purposely buried the > online > > launch of the country's 1901 census data. > > The material has been available on the Web for more than a week, but the > > agency made a conscious decision not to publicize that fact. > > "We've launched it softly in terms of not wanting to draw a lot of traffic > > right off so that it brings our server down," said Paul Marsden, Webmaster > > at the National Archives. > > If it sounds like Marsden is blowing smoke, he's not. > > He's trying to avoid the fate of Britain's Public Record Office, which > held a > > much publicized Web launch of its 1901 census data on Jan. 2. > > The site - two years in development - was designed to handle about 1.2 > > million hits day. It received that number every hour. The site crashed > under > > the weight of 30 million hits on its first day and still isn't up and > > running five months later. > > The Canadian site, available for those willing to do a little digging > > (www.archives.ca/02/0201-e.html), received hits from 320 servers on May > 21, > > its first day of operation. > > It's up to about 3,500 a day a little more than week later - and that's > only > > a measure of servers, some of which may be routing hundreds of individual > > subscribers to the site. > > Never underestimate the tenacity and numbers of genealogists. > > "Working in the archives, you see that increasingly people are wanting to > > find their roots," said spokeswoman Michael Crawley. "There's just a huge > > surge in that." > > An official with the British Public Record Office has said the reprise of > > that site won't come with the same fanfare as its debut. > > "We will certainly be keeping a lower profile this time," a spokeswoman > told > > the online journal IT Week. > > The National Archives have a much less ambitious and less costly plan than > > the British. > > The Brits paid a private company to index all the census data so that > > searchers could simply plug in a name and see what records turned up. > People > > then had to pay to get actual copies of those records. > > "We've put the census online basically as it was produced by the Dominion > > statistician at the time," explained Marsden. "We're hoping that by > putting > > it up (on the Web), people who are really willing to do the legwork will > do > > the indexing for us." > > Genealogy groups have been doing the labourious 1901 indexing using > microfilm > > for the past three years > > "This really blows that away in terms of accessibility," said Marsden. > > "They're going to have to work it, but it's free. For local history, you > > just can't get better than this." > > Ken Bird, president of the Ontario Genealogical Society, said the word is > > leaking out about the online census data. > > "It's a bit complex and you probably have to have a pencil and paper with > you > > to go through the different steps of getting to the information," he said. > > Nonetheless, said Bird, "demand will be quite heavy." > > "I see it as very positive for genealogists, especially for those who > aren't > > near Ottawa and can't get in to the National Archives themselves." > > The site is not without its foibles. Some people, Bird included, are > having > > difficulty downloading the software needed to call up and scan the actual > > census documents. > > The program allows Web surfers to zoom in on documents, photos or maps > > without losing resolution. It could be a boon to making a host of archived > > material more accessible. > > "But you go with something new on the Internet and you're into territory > > incognito - unknown ground," said Marsden. > > He hopes all the bugs will be worked out by October, when the site hopes > to > > add more search features. > > In the meantime, genealogists are spreading the word. > > "I can appreciate they're not telling everyone because of what happened > with > > the British," said Lois Martin, president of the Abbotsford, B.C., > > Genealogical Society. > > "It's probably a good way to test it to make sure it works. But I would > hope > > they wouldn't keep it from us too long. Many of us have been patiently > > waiting for this kind of thing." > > > > ---------- > > > > I had a go at it tonight, and discovered that in order to find somebody in > the census, you've already got to know juszt about everything that is in > there about him or her. Typical government planning. > > > > Dennis Bell in Burnaby > > > > > > > > > > ==== SCOTS-IN-CANADA Mailing List ==== > > To unsubscribe: [email protected] inserting the word > unsubscribe in both the subject line and the text area and using a fresh > email to do it. Use -D- if you are in Digest mode. > > > > ============================== > > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, > go to: > > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > > > > > ==== SCOTS-IN-CANADA Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe: [email protected] inserting the word unsubscribe in both the subject line and the text area and using a fresh email to do it. Use -D- if you are in Digest mode. > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >