Individuals of Unusual Size -- Part Two

Because I live in the Mesa Temple District, we have had access to New FamilySearch for almost a year and a half. It was recently announced that Temple Districts in Utah and Idaho would start to be added to the New FamilySearch network. Because we were instructed to combine records and dispute incorrect information, many of us spent considerable time working through our online files and disputing and combining. It is evident that this strategy did not do what we expected it to do. First and foremost, it did not correct any of the online information submitted by others. What this activity did do, was to crash the system and make a mess of a lot of files.

As a result, I stopped disputing information and stopped combining individuals. In fact, I began taking off all my disputes. Over the past year or so, the system had definitely settled down. However, with the introduction of hundreds (dare I say thousands) of my relatives in Utah and Idaho, I suspect that we are in for another round of disputes and combining. This is likely to happen unless the Utah and Idaho folks can learn from our mistakes.

Some of the users of New FamilySearch likely never see an Individual of Unusual Size (IOUS). I happen to have a whole pedigree chart full of them. In researching the issue, I believe that the instructions contained on Document ID: 104186 in the New FamilySearch Help Center summarizes what should be the correct approach to the entire problem and particularly to the IOUS.

The Document states:

STEPS FOR CORRECTING IOUS

1. Separate out those records that clearly have been incorrectly combined. (Please do not separate records from an individual’s combined record simply because you think some of the information is incorrect. If the records are about the same individual, leave the records combined. If you separate the records, temple ordinances and research might be duplicated.)
2. Once they are separated out, a note could be added to each asking that they not be combined again, but do not combine them together and dispute.
3. Carefully check your records against those of the "correct" individual to make sure there are no errors. Do not just assume there are no errors.
4. If you find a submitter that you can communicate with, do so. If the person is a legacy contributor, you will not be able to communicate.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help from others when you have a particularly difficult IOUS problem.

REMEMBER: To separate records, click on either Summary or Detail at the bottom left of the Pedigree with Details page. At the very bottom, click on Combined Records to see the individual records that have been combined. On the left, all of the combinations of births, deaths, parents, spouses, and even those who "died before age 8" are shown.

As soon as the incorrect record has been separated, the erroneous information on the left will also be gone. If it is not gone, another record has the erroneous information also. Since patrons cannot access children as they separate records, it is important to be aware that you may be separating out children that belong to this family and have been attached to the wrong spouse or parent.

I would recommend this procedural approach to the entire database, not just to those IOUS files. It is a good idea also to refrain from adding any more information to New FamilySearch until you are absolutely sure your information is not already somewhere in the database. Please consider using one of the semi-automated programs that assist with finding information in the file, such as FamilyInsight, Ancestral Quest or RootsMagic.

More later

PAF is not dead -- yet

Personal Ancestral File (PAF) is one of the most used lineage linked database programs in the world, but its utility is being challenged by the developments within the LDS Church's own online programs. In my last two posts, I discuss transitioning from PAF to a different database program in order to take advantage of the information being provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in its New FamilySearch database. Although New FamilySearch is only presently available to certain geographic areas of the Church, last week's announcement of the introduction of New FamilySearch into Utah and Idaho, presages its introduction throughout the Church. Also, since the very beginning of the New FamilySearch it has been the avowed goal of the Church to allow access to the program, "at some time in the future," to those outside the Church membership.

As it is presently developed, PAF does not support any of the additional features implemented by New FamilySearch without intervention by third-party (read non-Church) programs, such as FamilyInsight, RootsMagic 4 and Ancestral Quest 12.1. Ohana Software, the publishers of FamilyInsight, have developed a whole company around the concept of providing add on features to PAF.

As one reader commented to the post on Transitioning from PAF, "PAF is a wonderful, straightforward, program. What I liked best about it is that there were still many things that I hadn't learned about its capacity. It had layers of interesting challenges for me. I can't bring myself to uninstall it from my computer."

I would have agreed with that assessment ten years ago, but with today's higher standards, especially in the area of source citations, I must say that PAF is very much lacking in desirable features. For example, PAF provides the ability to cite a source only for selected events, none of the events entitled "Other" such as Title, Married Name, Nickname, Cause of Death etc. have source links. Also, there are no source links for common dates, like Death, Burial, Birth and Christening. The link is on the place field which makes the unfounded assumption that both the place and date records were obtained from the same source. I could go on and on with issues with the program, but either you recognize its limitations and are willing to live with them, or you are oblivious to the limitations. It is interesting that many of the newer programs preserve this lack of distinction between dates and places, possibly passing on their relationship to the PAF program.

As long as there is a huge body of PAF users and so long as the Family History Centers around the world continue to teach and implement the program on people's computers, it is highly unlikely that the program will disappear anytime soon.

Certain search requests have negative impact on New FamilySearch

In a recent announcement from John Vilburn of Ohana Software LLC, users of FamilyInsight were notified that certain search requests can have a negative impact on performance of the New FamilySearch system. The effect of this disables all access from third-party products, including FamilyInsight. The FamilySearch team is investigating this problem and expects to have a solution in place in the near future.

As an interim measure, Ohana has added some safeguards to FamilyInsight to help alleviate this problem. They indicate that it is essential that everyone who is using FamilyInsight update to the latest version (2009.1.23.0 or later). To see which version you have, open FamilyInsight and go to the Help menu on the menu bar and click on About FamilyInsight.

To get the latest version, go to www.ohanasoftware.com and click on the Download button on the bar at the top.

If you need assistance with this please contact Ohana Software at support@ohanasoftware.com or go to www.ohanasoftware.com and click on the Live Support box in the left column to chat
with a support representative.

Thanks to Ohana for the alert.

Additions to Family History Archive and New Version of FamilyInsight

The Family History Archive continues to grow rapidly. In last few days they have added another 123 books to the online collection of digitized family history books. To quote their Web site:

The archive includes histories of families, county and local histories, how-to books on genealogy, genealogy magazines and periodicals (including some international), medieval books (including histories and pedigrees), and gazetteers. It also includes some specialized collections such as the Filipino card collection and the “Liahona Elders Journal.” The books come from the collections of the FamilySearch Family History Library, the Allen County Public Library, the Houston Public Library – Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research, the Mid-Continent Public Library – Midwest Genealogy Center, the BYU Harold B. Lee Library, the BYU Hawaii Joseph F. Smith Library, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Church History Library.

See my previous posts for links to all of the libraries.

In addition to the new items in the Family History Archives, Ohana Software has issued another update to their program FamilyInsight. The latest version is 2009.1.20.0. The good thing about the updates is the that they add functionality and correct bugs in the program. If you are a registered user the upgrades are free and load automatically when you open the program if you are connected to the Internet.

New update to FamilyInsight

According to OhanaSoftware, changes were made to the New FamilySearch Web site recently that make it necessary to update to the 2008.12.9 or later version of FamilyInsight for some searches to work without crashing. Users are urged to use the "Check for Updates" tool in the Help menu bar of FamilyInsight to update to the latest version of FamilyInsight. Updates may also be obtained by going directly to the OhanaSoftware Web site. The latest version appears to be 2009.1.5.0 of FamilyInsight.

This issue points up an important fact of life for computer users, especially those using Web based applications, like New FamilySearch and Family Tree, upgrades happen constantly. Computer systems are not like buying a non-electronic appliance. It is not like an electric razor or a drill, the Internet is constantly changing and your software, an ultimately your hardware needs to evolve along with the changes. Unless you keep your programs up-to-date, you may wake up one morning and find that the program no longer works.

By the way, the changes to FamilyInsight are more than cosmetic. The startup menu is more informative and several other changes have been made that make the program easier to use.

FamilySearch Affiliates and Product Certification

Recently, the start-up page for New Family Search included a heading called "More Great Products." The button says, "Click here for free, trial, and other products for new FamilySearch." Clicking on the button, takes you to a page entitled "FamilySearch Affiliates and Product Certification."

Presently, the only products listed are Ancestral Quest, Charting Companion, Family Insight, Generation Maps, Get My Ancestors, Grow Branch and RootsMagic 4. In the case of RootsMagic 4, if you click on the link, you will soon find that RootMagic 4 is not yet available, but if you buy RootsMagic 3, you will get a free upgrade. Ancestral Quest version 12.1 is presently available however, as are the remaining products.

Notably missing from this listing, as yet, are Legacy Family Tree software and Family Tree Maker 2009. Since the roll out of New Family Search is still in progress and Utah and Idaho are still not on the system, and the program is presently limited to member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormons) it is likely that additional programs will not appear until the final version of New Family Search (Family Tree) is introduced to the whole genealogical community including those who are not members of the LDS Church

Stay tuned for more developments.