Ancestry is a private, for-profit venture that capitalizes on the availability of public records. They scan film from public records microfilm from sources like state archives and from National Archives, and they grab selectively from the 4.8 million reels of film made by Mormons as well. As I understand it, their indexing is limited to a single-key transcription with no cross checks, done mostly by transcription sweatshops in India where labour is cheap. That accounts for the relatively high percentage of errors. The difference between Ancestry and FamilySearch is the premise of volunteers. Ancestry charges folks so they can pay transcriptionists. The genius and power of FamilySearch is its double-key and compare functions and the goodness of people like us. Film images are broken into small batches of a few images or pages and sent out randomly to whatever indexer is willing to volunteer their time (indexers choose what records to work on). After they upload the file, the keyed batch files are automatically matched and compared; if no variance is found keyed files (i.e., both typists read exactly the same characters), the batch is queued into the project file. If discrepancies are found, the batch goes to arbitration, a third person with more experience who resolves what has been keyed. It is precisely the same process I used as a textbook production manager years ago. I've been indexing in my spare time for about a year and find it entertaining and relaxing. I highly recommend it to everyone. The link can be found at indexing.familysearch.org. The growing number of completed indexing projects can be seen at www.familysearch.org; look at the way-cool browse function below the search boxes. Seven years ago I was in the office of the guy in charge of microfilming, trying to persuade him to send a representative to a regional professional meeting of archivists. He said that this project was being developed. I was, frankly, skeptical. No longer. Richard. [email protected] + 731-881-7094 -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of CHERYL HORNE Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 9:07 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [TNWEAKLE] Question Re: KY Death Records on Ancestry.com I found a death record in Marshall Co., KY 1874 on the above site....I want to learn who the informant was for this deceased family member? How do I do this? Where did ancestry.com get those records in the first place? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks In Advance, Cheryl ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message