Despite the current recession, the genealogical marketplace continues to attract research and investment in technological development. New products and services focused on the needs of family researchers are showcased at national conferences and on websites popular with genealogists. Although we may be doing less traveling to conduct research at distant locales, we readily use our browsers to explore ever-expanding Web offerings as developers strive to attract our attention.

Sections devoted to technology topics routinely appear in genealogy periodicals and at national and regional conferences. In addition to new products and services oriented specifically to genealogy, speakers and writers offer suggestions and describe the ins and outs of applying almost every kind of new technology to the quest for, or display of, family history. Many eager genealogists embrace the suggestions and enthusiastically adopt new tools and methods to assist in research or enhance output.

Technology Integration
Of course, technology and innovation weren't always so easily accepted. Today, with the seamless fusion of computers and genealogy, it is hard to believe that, when I began writing this column ten years ago, the use of computers and the Internet was still foreign to most genealogists. Most of the related high-tech tools now in common usage by family researchers were still in their infancy or hadn't even been invented yet. Resources were limited for those interested in learning how to do computer-assisted genealogy.

In 1992, a small group of tech-savvy pioneers formed GENTECH, an independent, non-profit organization committed to promoting the use of technology for genealogy. GENTECH pursued two complementary tasks: educating genealogists in the use of technology for compiling, organizing, analyzing, and sharing their research; and encouraging technology developers to produce high-quality products for family research. Annual conferences featured how-to presentations to familiarize genealogists with high-tech tools and their applications. Technical meetings, working groups, and white papers facilitated the evolution of genealogy software and other technologies.

Last year, GENTECH's independance ended with a merger with the National Genealogical Society. After a decade of annual conferences, the 2003 conference had to be cancelled, although the 2004 conference will go ahead, and there is a commitment to continue annual conferences thereafter. If you have not attended a GENTECH conference, I recommend that you consider St. Louis in 2004. Check out the NGS-GENTECH website for listings of topics presented at previous conferences and information on next year's program.

Future Tech
While GENTECH conferences primarily focus on practical applications of current technology, Brigham Young University has recently sponsored conferences geared toward the researchers and innovators who are testing out ideas and looking for input or feedback or perhaps collaboration on potential new products and services. BYU's “3rd Annual Workshop on Technology for Family History and Genealogical Research” was scheduled for 3 April 2003.

What I like about the BYU Workshop websites is that once the conference is done, the abstracts or actual papers presented are available for viewing.

One intriguing paper from the 2002 Workshop was “Bidirectional Source Linking: Doing Genealogy ‘Once' and ‘For All'” by Randall Wilson. The paper addresses the problem that in the process of doing research, genealogists are constantly duplicating work done by other genealogists, extracting the same data from the same original records over and over again. For example, my great-great-great-grandparents, Henry Conner and Therese Tremblé, had ten children. I know I'm not the only genealogist who has researched Henry and Therese and looked up their marriage record to extract relevant names, places, and dates. The same is true of the baptism records of each of their children, and of course, of innumerable other sources.

The solution proposed by Wilson turns traditional databases inside out. He envisions an evidence-based system derived from the GENTECH Lexicon Working Group's Genealogical Data Model. In this evidence-based system, original source records would be scanned into a database and transcriptions of these records would be linked to the scanned image of the original so anybody could check the accuracy of the transcription. Once the source is in the database, any number of researchers could link the individuals, events, dates, and places of their family records to the evidence from every applicable source record without having to duplicate the work of finding and extracting data from the original records. By following links to and from the source records, one could locate others working on the same families, facilitating comparison and correction of genealogical data, and research hypotheses.

Making source records the primary entry confronts the problem of undocumented genealogies. What a joy it would be to participate in the kind of evidence-based database proposed in the paper by Wilson. I hope someone is working to implement the idea.

Consumer Influence
Individuals new to genealogy sometimes have the false notion that all the information they need can be found on the Internet. Experienced genealogists value the Internet as a resource but understand that their most important research is done offline, whether it is interviewing relatives, visiting cemeteries, or seeking original source records. However, both new and experienced researchers flock to online databases, sharing their family trees in the hopes of locating distant relatives who are researching the same ancestors.

Most online databases ask users to pay a fee and/or contribute their family tree in return for the service they provide. They also commonly ask for feedback from users. As consumers, we have potential leverage in requesting adaptations or improvements to these database services. Make use of the feedback form; send them the URL for the article on “Bidirectional Source Linking” and suggest they explore ways of implementing the process. Who knows? With that kind of innovation, maybe someday there will be such a thing as Internet genealogy.

Candace L. Doriott has served on the board of directors of the Detroit Society for Genealogical Research. The International Society of Family History Writers and Editors has recognized her for her excellence in writing. She can be contacted at cdoriott@earth link.net.

Return to the April/May/June 2003 Genealogical Computing Table of Contents.