GenealogyWise is a really dynamic and useful social networking site for genealogists. GenealogyWise is part of FamilyLink which if you keep tracing back through links, is basically Paul Allen and his staff who also run WorldVitalRecords and a lot more. Many of the members post all or part of their own blogs on the GenealogyWise blog posts. Lately, the blog posts coming through Google Reader have been hijacked by spam drug sellers. My Google Reader currently has six posts which appear to be from "Everyone's Blog Posts - Genealogy Wise" but are offers to buy drugs online. The poster in one case is identified as "belkennett3985." Clicking on show original item takes you to the GenealogyWise main page. A Google search on the poster shows that the profile on Genealogy Wise dated from one hour before.
What is happening is that spammers are using GenealogyWise to hijack the blog posting network and use the readers to send out spam to users to of the blog posts. When you follow the links back to GenealogyWise the profile cannot be found, because it is being changed by the spammer to use another profile.
If this continues, I may have to disconnect from reading GenealogyWise just to take control of my Reader account again.
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Thursday, April 8, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
What I have learned from genealogy blogs
I guess the first thing I have learned is that there are a lot more blogs than I have time to read. I keep finding new ones all the time and get more and more amazed at the tremendous variety of genealogical experiences. I have learned that blogging is takes the place of the old home town newspaper on an international scale. The posts give you insight into people's lives all over the world. Today's report on Google Analytics shows my posts being read in 39 countries. There are people spending significant time on my blog from places like Norway and Poland. Who would ever have guessed that?
It is still amazing to me how fast blog information can spread across the world. When I teach a class just one or two days after a major genealogical event, it seems as if most of the people already have heard the news. It is very hard to find out things before everyone else does. I read an interesting report in a blog yesterday and the counter on the site showed that hundreds of people had already read the post before I got to it. Now, one day later, 99,553 people had viewed the report. Information moves like a virus across the world.
One surprising thing I have learned, is just how relatively small the real genealogy population really is worldwide and because we are a small population, we can get to know people, even if it is only in a virtual sense. I was surprised at how many people I recognized from their blogs at the Mesa Regional Family History Expo.
One of the major things I have learned is a deep sense of humility at the tremendous knowledge and talent in the genealogy blogging community. There is always something to learn and always someone who knows more about a subject than I do. I also appreciate more how complex the world of records really has become. Maybe it was always complex, but it seems that the online digital world adds an extra dimension of challenge to the idea of research.
It is also hard, I have learned, to balance blogging with the rest of your genealogical life. Sometimes I feel like my head just can't adsorb any more information and then I find something new and even more challenging and off I go on another adventure in learning. I guess I am not ready to quit yet.
It is still amazing to me how fast blog information can spread across the world. When I teach a class just one or two days after a major genealogical event, it seems as if most of the people already have heard the news. It is very hard to find out things before everyone else does. I read an interesting report in a blog yesterday and the counter on the site showed that hundreds of people had already read the post before I got to it. Now, one day later, 99,553 people had viewed the report. Information moves like a virus across the world.
One surprising thing I have learned, is just how relatively small the real genealogy population really is worldwide and because we are a small population, we can get to know people, even if it is only in a virtual sense. I was surprised at how many people I recognized from their blogs at the Mesa Regional Family History Expo.
One of the major things I have learned is a deep sense of humility at the tremendous knowledge and talent in the genealogy blogging community. There is always something to learn and always someone who knows more about a subject than I do. I also appreciate more how complex the world of records really has become. Maybe it was always complex, but it seems that the online digital world adds an extra dimension of challenge to the idea of research.
It is also hard, I have learned, to balance blogging with the rest of your genealogical life. Sometimes I feel like my head just can't adsorb any more information and then I find something new and even more challenging and off I go on another adventure in learning. I guess I am not ready to quit yet.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Genealogy on a Mac?
It has now been a number of months since I junked my PC and went back to working almost exclusively on an Apple Macintosh iMac. I say that my work is almost exclusive because I still own a PC Laptop from HP. I use the laptop to run my scanning station. I mentioned from time to time that I am running a program called Parallels Desktop. I have worked on literally hundreds of computers and owned dozens and I can say without reservation that the 2.66 GHz Intel Core i5 is the absolutely fastest and best computer I have ever owned. Now, that probably puts me right into the camp of the Apple fanatics (MacHeads) and technophiles in some people's view, but I believe that I am more into the computer-as-tool category.
Here was the problem over the years. Beginning about 15 years or so ago, almost all of the genealogy software programs were only available on the PC based systems. So despite the fact that I was highly into Apple products, I switched my primary machine to a PC/Microsoft Windows based machine. It also contributed to the change that my law office was completely PC based and I used Remote Desktop to telecommute. I upgraded my PCs various times but we always kept a second computer, a Macintosh, so we could work on a real computer from time to time. It also helped that we also ran (and run) a graphics design business which was and is entirely Mac based. Some of my Apple friends thought I had become a hieratic.
Meanwhile, Apple made the big change when they went with Intel based processors. Shortly after the change, Macs became more than compatible, they were essentially the same machines as PCs just running different software. Also the Mac OS became Unix based, making it more compatible with network services than the PCs which were still running Windows operating systems. (A lot of my friends and family switched to Linux, but that is another story). Eventually, all of the parts fell into place, the Macintosh computers could seamlessly connect to my office network with Microsoft Remote Desktop on the Mac and the computers themselves finally got fast enough to run an entire PC in emulation in a virtual machine environment (i.e. Parallels Desktop).
With all of those factors coming together, including the decrease in memory costs so that I could have a huge internal storage capacity, it only made sense (to me of course) that I could finally ditch the PCs and go back to a Mac only environment.
Now, how are things going? I won't say that running two different operating systems is an easy task. It is a little like juggling, a skill you need to cultivate. Fortunately, I can keep everything straight and I have only a little bit of trouble now and again with incompatibility. However, I attribute most of that incompatibility to the Windows 7 Operating System.
I would be very hesitant to recommend an iMac to anyone who want to run PC genealogy programs unless they are pretty far along in their understanding of computer operating systems. It is way more difficult that running either an Apple OS or a Windows environment by itself. All of the genealogy programs I have tried so far seem to run pretty well with a very few exceptions. If you want a computer to work on and you like graphics and other related subjects, you can't do better than a Macintosh. The genealogy programs available for a Mac only environment are very good. Even if you know little or nothing about technology and want to keep it that way, you may find yourself happier on a Macintosh. But if you are a single program person and that program is Personal Ancestral File, just keep working on your PC.
Here was the problem over the years. Beginning about 15 years or so ago, almost all of the genealogy software programs were only available on the PC based systems. So despite the fact that I was highly into Apple products, I switched my primary machine to a PC/Microsoft Windows based machine. It also contributed to the change that my law office was completely PC based and I used Remote Desktop to telecommute. I upgraded my PCs various times but we always kept a second computer, a Macintosh, so we could work on a real computer from time to time. It also helped that we also ran (and run) a graphics design business which was and is entirely Mac based. Some of my Apple friends thought I had become a hieratic.
Meanwhile, Apple made the big change when they went with Intel based processors. Shortly after the change, Macs became more than compatible, they were essentially the same machines as PCs just running different software. Also the Mac OS became Unix based, making it more compatible with network services than the PCs which were still running Windows operating systems. (A lot of my friends and family switched to Linux, but that is another story). Eventually, all of the parts fell into place, the Macintosh computers could seamlessly connect to my office network with Microsoft Remote Desktop on the Mac and the computers themselves finally got fast enough to run an entire PC in emulation in a virtual machine environment (i.e. Parallels Desktop).
With all of those factors coming together, including the decrease in memory costs so that I could have a huge internal storage capacity, it only made sense (to me of course) that I could finally ditch the PCs and go back to a Mac only environment.
Now, how are things going? I won't say that running two different operating systems is an easy task. It is a little like juggling, a skill you need to cultivate. Fortunately, I can keep everything straight and I have only a little bit of trouble now and again with incompatibility. However, I attribute most of that incompatibility to the Windows 7 Operating System.
I would be very hesitant to recommend an iMac to anyone who want to run PC genealogy programs unless they are pretty far along in their understanding of computer operating systems. It is way more difficult that running either an Apple OS or a Windows environment by itself. All of the genealogy programs I have tried so far seem to run pretty well with a very few exceptions. If you want a computer to work on and you like graphics and other related subjects, you can't do better than a Macintosh. The genealogy programs available for a Mac only environment are very good. Even if you know little or nothing about technology and want to keep it that way, you may find yourself happier on a Macintosh. But if you are a single program person and that program is Personal Ancestral File, just keep working on your PC.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
What's original about genealogy -- copyright speaking
If I make a list of the gravemarkers in a cemetery, will my list be protected by copyright? If I publish my genealogy file, will the publication have a copyright? If I publish a list of family names from the U.S. Census, will the list be copyrighted? The answer to all three questions is no unless you add your own original work to the product and even then, the public portions of the documents will not be subject to copyright.
U.S. Copyright Law, contained in Title 17 of the U.S. Code, provides that "works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship (for example: standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources)." Public documents and other such common sources are said to be in the "public domain." Works in the public domain include any works which are too old to have copyright protection. Some other reasons a work might be in the public domain include lack of proper notice, failure to renew, failure to comply with manufacturing requirements, being a sound recording fixed prior to U.S. protection, and lack of national eligibility, that is, the source nation and the United States did not then have a treaty relationship. One huge area of copyright exemption is anything produced by the U.S. government. See Section 105 of Title 17. Copyright protection is not available for any work of the United States Government, but the United States Government is not precluded from receiving and holding copyrights transferred to it by assignment, bequest, or otherwise.
Whether or not a work, including genealogical compilations is subject to copyright can be a very complicated question. The law has changed considerably over time in the U.S. as well as in other countries. Generally, you cannot take information or works in the public domain and make them subject to copyright protection.
So, looking at a genealogy file, very little of the information, unless of original authorship by the compiler, would be considered subject to copyright. In copyright law, there is a big difference between writing a history of your family using your own words, and copying information from public sources. As it states in Title 17, Section 103, "The copyright in a compilation or derivative work extends only to the material contributed by the author of such work, as distinguished from the preexisting material employed in the work, and does not imply any exclusive right in the preexisting material. The copyright in such work is independent of, and does not affect or enlarge the scope, duration, ownership, or subsistence of, any copyright protection in the preexisting material."
Whether or not a work is subject to copyright protection could be the subject of a lawsuit. For attorneys, copyright law is only part of a larger law practice that might include trademarks, tradenames and other topics and is known as intellectual property law. To avoid a claim or controversy, it is a good idea to obtain written permission to use any work that might be subject to a copyright claim.
Here are some good sources for information on copyright:
U.S. Copyright Office
Stanford University Libraries Copyright and Fair Use
University of Texas Copyright Crash Course
ninch Issue Resources
U.S. Copyright Law, contained in Title 17 of the U.S. Code, provides that "works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship (for example: standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources)." Public documents and other such common sources are said to be in the "public domain." Works in the public domain include any works which are too old to have copyright protection. Some other reasons a work might be in the public domain include lack of proper notice, failure to renew, failure to comply with manufacturing requirements, being a sound recording fixed prior to U.S. protection, and lack of national eligibility, that is, the source nation and the United States did not then have a treaty relationship. One huge area of copyright exemption is anything produced by the U.S. government. See Section 105 of Title 17. Copyright protection is not available for any work of the United States Government, but the United States Government is not precluded from receiving and holding copyrights transferred to it by assignment, bequest, or otherwise.
Whether or not a work, including genealogical compilations is subject to copyright can be a very complicated question. The law has changed considerably over time in the U.S. as well as in other countries. Generally, you cannot take information or works in the public domain and make them subject to copyright protection.
So, looking at a genealogy file, very little of the information, unless of original authorship by the compiler, would be considered subject to copyright. In copyright law, there is a big difference between writing a history of your family using your own words, and copying information from public sources. As it states in Title 17, Section 103, "The copyright in a compilation or derivative work extends only to the material contributed by the author of such work, as distinguished from the preexisting material employed in the work, and does not imply any exclusive right in the preexisting material. The copyright in such work is independent of, and does not affect or enlarge the scope, duration, ownership, or subsistence of, any copyright protection in the preexisting material."
Whether or not a work is subject to copyright protection could be the subject of a lawsuit. For attorneys, copyright law is only part of a larger law practice that might include trademarks, tradenames and other topics and is known as intellectual property law. To avoid a claim or controversy, it is a good idea to obtain written permission to use any work that might be subject to a copyright claim.
Here are some good sources for information on copyright:
U.S. Copyright Office
Stanford University Libraries Copyright and Fair Use
University of Texas Copyright Crash Course
ninch Issue Resources
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Part of the New FamilySearch software problem solved
With a lot of help from Luc Comeau at Millenia with Legacy Family Tree, I finally got the program up and running with New FamilySearch. I will work on RootsMagic next, but I think it is the same problem. Basic to the problem is the fact that I am working on an iMac running a program called Parallels Desktop. The iMac is a fabulously fast machine and the only reason I can even begin to keep up with all my photos and scans, but that is another story. Parallels Desk Top runs really well except for the fact that it is more than slightly complicated. I would not particularly recommend it to anyone that can't keep two different operating systems separate in their mind at all times. When you are in the Apple OS portion of the software, all the Mac commands function, in a split second you can be into a Windows 7 program and have an entirely different set of commands.
Oh, I didn't mention that I am running Windows 7 on the PC virtual machine portion of the iMac. I already am aware of several software problems with Windows 7, where the programs lose the file structure and then will not find their data files or whatever. Well, the Legacy Family Tree problem turned out to be a combination of all of those problems. I had my data files in a folder on the iMac side of the computer and they weren't properly updated by the program when I loaded in the new version. I assume this will be a reoccurring problem. So a word to the wise. If you really want to do genealogy on an iMac, think about getting a good compatible program instead of trying to do what I am doing. However, if you are of a technical bent, you can probably figure out all the problems and then you have the best of both worlds.
Oh, I didn't mention that I am running Windows 7 on the PC virtual machine portion of the iMac. I already am aware of several software problems with Windows 7, where the programs lose the file structure and then will not find their data files or whatever. Well, the Legacy Family Tree problem turned out to be a combination of all of those problems. I had my data files in a folder on the iMac side of the computer and they weren't properly updated by the program when I loaded in the new version. I assume this will be a reoccurring problem. So a word to the wise. If you really want to do genealogy on an iMac, think about getting a good compatible program instead of trying to do what I am doing. However, if you are of a technical bent, you can probably figure out all the problems and then you have the best of both worlds.
Some updated programs have data crash with New FamilySearch
New FamilySearch (NFS) has just completed a major change in its Application Programming Interface or API. Because of this change all of the programs that connect to NFS were required to upgrade to adapt to the changes. All of the existing lineage linked database programs, Ancestral Quest, RootsMagic and Legacy Family Tree have very recently issued updates to their programs. I downloaded each of the updates and had the following experiences, so far, with each of the programs:
Ancestral Quest -- the update was easy to install and quickly converted my existing data file to the new file format. I tried connecting to NFS and everything worked, first time, without any apparent problems. I did try loading another huge database file but it got hung up in loading. All in all the program works without any apparent problems. Some features have changed and I will comment on them another time.
RootsMagic -- I updated the program and tried to use my existing file. I immediately experienced a problem loading the file and got a SQLite Error 11 error message, meaning my "database image is malformed." I tried a number of fixes including reloading a new database and even starting one from scratch. The program will not work with NFS at all.
Legacy Family Tree -- Exactly the same experience I had with RootsMagic, neither program will work at all with NFS on my computer. I have been in contact with Legacy's support and am waiting for a response to the problem.
I must add that I do not use the most common computer setup. I am running Parallels Desktop on an iMac using Windows 7. It is sometimes very hard to determine which of the three is the problem, but the fact that Ancestral Quest runs fine with the new update leads me to believe that the programs are the present problem, not Windows 7 or the iMac or Parallels Desktop.
I am sure this is an evolving situation and will probably change several times over the next few days and weeks.
Ancestral Quest -- the update was easy to install and quickly converted my existing data file to the new file format. I tried connecting to NFS and everything worked, first time, without any apparent problems. I did try loading another huge database file but it got hung up in loading. All in all the program works without any apparent problems. Some features have changed and I will comment on them another time.
RootsMagic -- I updated the program and tried to use my existing file. I immediately experienced a problem loading the file and got a SQLite Error 11 error message, meaning my "database image is malformed." I tried a number of fixes including reloading a new database and even starting one from scratch. The program will not work with NFS at all.
Legacy Family Tree -- Exactly the same experience I had with RootsMagic, neither program will work at all with NFS on my computer. I have been in contact with Legacy's support and am waiting for a response to the problem.
I must add that I do not use the most common computer setup. I am running Parallels Desktop on an iMac using Windows 7. It is sometimes very hard to determine which of the three is the problem, but the fact that Ancestral Quest runs fine with the new update leads me to believe that the programs are the present problem, not Windows 7 or the iMac or Parallels Desktop.
I am sure this is an evolving situation and will probably change several times over the next few days and weeks.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Find a genealogical gold mine in Google Maps
Once or twice a month I teach a class on Google for Genealogy. At the beginning of each section, I always ask the class members about their previous experience with various Google features including Google Maps, Google Books, Google News, Blogs and many other apps and features. In many cases, my questions draw a complete blank. No one in the class has ever tried or even knew about the feature or function. This is interesting because almost every person in every class uses Google's search function. Google is the modern Swiss Army Knife of the online world. If some of the features aren't pointed out to you, you simply use the most popular ones and ignore the rest.
Google Maps is goldmine for genealogists. It is a given fact that almost all genealogical research is tied to geographic locations. For the most part, records were and are kept in the geographic area where the events occurred. During my recent attempts to find the name my great-grandfather carved into a rock in northern Arizona, I searched Google Maps, Google Earth and lot of other maps to find the location. Yesterday, I was working with a patron at the Mesa Regional Family History Center and her mother's family came from Little Falls, Morrison County, Minnesota. In looking on Google, I find that there is a Wikipedia article on Little Falls and that the population was 7,719 in the 2000 U.S. Census. It was the boyhood home of Charles Lindbergh, the aviator. Since our meeting yesterday was quite short and she is just starting her genealogical research, I am pretty sure she doesn't yet know all of these facts.
On Google Maps, using Street View, almost every street in the town has been photographed. She could do a virtual tour of the entire town. Using the Census Records, she could likely identify the exact residence of all of her relatives and it his possible that most or all of the homes are still standing. Google Maps even has a new "3D" view that splits the images into 3D compatible images and I suppose that with 3D glasses you could view the images in 3D.
Many of the features of Google Maps are obscure. They are "hidden" in the link to "My Maps" that is right next to the link to "Get Directions." Clicking on My Maps opens up the rest of the entire world of apps for Google Maps. By further clicking on the link for "Browse the directory" you open up a whole new world of Google Map functions. There are, as of April 2, 2010, 1309 different apps that can be used with Google Maps to enhance the amount of information available from the maps. These apps include, a Distance Measurement Tool, an Area and Distance Calculator, GPS Location, Find anything around you, Position Finder, Elevation Contours, Custom Marker Icons, Map of Tourist attractions, and on and on and on.
Now, tell me, how many of you were even aware that these hundreds of apps were even there?
Google Maps is goldmine for genealogists. It is a given fact that almost all genealogical research is tied to geographic locations. For the most part, records were and are kept in the geographic area where the events occurred. During my recent attempts to find the name my great-grandfather carved into a rock in northern Arizona, I searched Google Maps, Google Earth and lot of other maps to find the location. Yesterday, I was working with a patron at the Mesa Regional Family History Center and her mother's family came from Little Falls, Morrison County, Minnesota. In looking on Google, I find that there is a Wikipedia article on Little Falls and that the population was 7,719 in the 2000 U.S. Census. It was the boyhood home of Charles Lindbergh, the aviator. Since our meeting yesterday was quite short and she is just starting her genealogical research, I am pretty sure she doesn't yet know all of these facts.
On Google Maps, using Street View, almost every street in the town has been photographed. She could do a virtual tour of the entire town. Using the Census Records, she could likely identify the exact residence of all of her relatives and it his possible that most or all of the homes are still standing. Google Maps even has a new "3D" view that splits the images into 3D compatible images and I suppose that with 3D glasses you could view the images in 3D.
Many of the features of Google Maps are obscure. They are "hidden" in the link to "My Maps" that is right next to the link to "Get Directions." Clicking on My Maps opens up the rest of the entire world of apps for Google Maps. By further clicking on the link for "Browse the directory" you open up a whole new world of Google Map functions. There are, as of April 2, 2010, 1309 different apps that can be used with Google Maps to enhance the amount of information available from the maps. These apps include, a Distance Measurement Tool, an Area and Distance Calculator, GPS Location, Find anything around you, Position Finder, Elevation Contours, Custom Marker Icons, Map of Tourist attractions, and on and on and on.
Now, tell me, how many of you were even aware that these hundreds of apps were even there?
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