tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post8095726545597292819..comments2024-03-07T23:20:49.790-07:00Comments on Genealogy's Star: Why I am not a fan of fan chartsJames Tannerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989059644120454647noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-47552212784503068872014-06-18T18:28:16.742-07:002014-06-18T18:28:16.742-07:00We're looking for a company that prints nice l...We're looking for a company that prints nice looking half fan charts that we can give to clients (with the caveat that the information is not set in stone) ;). Does anyone have a recommendation? Thanks, Jessica Taylor <a href="http://www.legacytree.com" rel="nofollow">http://legacytree.com</a>Jessicahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11065561854027623538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-35179264497161201122014-04-22T18:09:49.467-07:002014-04-22T18:09:49.467-07:00Your argument as framed would seem equally to appl...Your argument as framed would seem equally to apply to *anything* printed, including traditional ancestry charts, which, after all, is really all a fan chart is. But while I applaud and fully subscribe to the thrust of your concern -- quality over quantity -- I think its direction is misplaced. A bit like blaming bad penmanship on the pencil.<br /><br />The problem as I see it is not so much that fan sheets holes tempt immature genealogists, but that immature genealogists are tempted by fan sheet holes (among other questionable genealogical practices). And that is a problem better solved by training than by removing a useful tool.<br /><br />I tend to concur with Julie. While I don't use fan charts a lot myself -- I can spend years dwelling in one branch whose contours are so well known to me I don't need a fan chart to visual it -- I have found fan charts to be a wonderful visual overview of my research, and an irreplaceable index for quickly locating branches when memory fails ("Heatons? Heatons? Now where we're they again?"). I could get by without them. Just wouldn't want to.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07003124353591315236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-59399269187450004932013-09-16T22:32:10.864-07:002013-09-16T22:32:10.864-07:00I have to say a little something about fan charts....I have to say a little something about fan charts. When I started doing research about 3 years ago, I was overwhelmed! I didn't know where to begin, it was very confusing to me. I kept saying to the awesome researchers who were helping me that I needed a "map"! Something to tell me where I was, where I was going and where I had been! After months of saying this to them, and a difficult year of discouragement...I finally laid eyes on a fan chart!!! I couldn't believe how much it made sense to me! I have dyslexia. I get lost when I turn the page. A fan chart is one page!! It saved me! I had a map! I finally could tell where people belonged....it's the only way I can tell if research is right, because I know who they are talking about. Before the fan chart I couldn't tell where in my tree I was. Chronology is miserable for my disorder! I prayed for a way to be capable of research...voila!..fan chart!:) Ironically I read your article because I googled fan charts so I could buy another "map" to do my husband's side of the family:) A fan chart isn't the destination, it's how you know where you're going:)Juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00515966868056535698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-83192708479361594242013-07-30T08:55:40.857-07:002013-07-30T08:55:40.857-07:00Everything you say is true, but dismisses the cent...Everything you say is true, but dismisses the central point for why I do fan charts. Most of my family have an interest in their history. But, they are only interested as long as they don't have to work very hard at it. Fan charts are simple enough that they can be engaged without a lot of effort. It's not for the genealogists who crave detailed accuracy, it's for the family member who only wants the big picture.<br /><br />With computerization we can have both!<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-68069979439000058032013-07-17T18:22:35.516-07:002013-07-17T18:22:35.516-07:00This sounds pretty curmudgeonly. Yes, many people ...This sounds pretty curmudgeonly. Yes, many people are sloppy with unsourced connections, and on-line searching has worsened the problem while offering wonderful benefits for researchers. But people have always been sloppy. Creating a fan chart doesn't make them more so. In fact, one can make a fan chart and put red, blue or green lines or some such notation to designate the surety of the links. Some of us are just more visual and such a chart help our brains see the big picture. We're not frozen by fan charts any more than we are by digital databases.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-13832624522669262612013-04-17T12:51:43.550-07:002013-04-17T12:51:43.550-07:00Does your argument apply to _anything_ printed out...Does your argument apply to _anything_ printed out? Each year around holiday time, I print out a 700+ page PDF "Ancestor Book" (produced by Legacy). It's a way for my relatives to see where I'm at with the research. But it's always out of date within a month or two. But they all know that.<br /><br />I'm not sure what the difference is between my "book" and the fan charts -- or, for that matter, printing _anything_ out.<br /><br />One great way to get new people in one's own family interested in genealogy, is to show them interesting charts of various kinds about their own family.A DC Wonkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09732615221598098540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-84038765251539607322013-04-17T11:25:51.317-07:002013-04-17T11:25:51.317-07:00Right on!
Below is a portion of a comment I poste...Right on!<br /><br />Below is a portion of a comment I posted on "Get Satisfaction," without expecting anyone in Family Search to pay any attention to it:<br /><br />"I am concerned that we are more interested in engaging youth and other newcomers with fan charts (which may well contain erroneous data, as has too often been my experience with FT), and with the opportunity to include photos and stories than we are in teaching them how to find ancestors and relatives not yet included in FT who need temple ordinances performed. I believe we need a better balance between trying to appeal to newcomers, providing them with adequate training on how to do research, and making it clear as to how to find the research resources available on www.familysearch.org. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-70824126197403003332013-04-17T04:47:52.082-07:002013-04-17T04:47:52.082-07:00OK, James, what do you really think? I rarely prin...OK, James, what do you really think? I rarely print out charts, mostly because I want to gather more information to fill in all those adorable little boxes. I do have a yearly family gathering & sometimes display charts to show my family what I have discovered. Your insights have me thinking now. I should be sure & let them know, as you have pointed out, that these results are not written in stone.Colleen G. Brown Pasqualehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16402783115333431440noreply@blogger.com