Another option is to create your own Web page and upload it to the Internet. There are thousands of people creating their own genealogical Web pages. This is evidenced by the growing number of entries in the Personal Home Pages section of Cyndi's List (http://www.CyndisList.com/personal.htm, the expanding number of Web page submissions to the Surname Center at the Genealogy Forum on America Online (only available to AOL subscribers), and the ability to build a private family Web site at Ancestry.com's MyFamily.com (http://www.myfamily.com).

In "Along Those Lines . . ." this week, I want to discuss some do's and don'ts for creating personal genealogical Web pages.

Initial Considerations
Before you go wild and create a Web page for your family's genealogy, you should give some consideration to several issues.

1) Are you far enough in your research that you are ready to publish your findings? Or do you want to place information on the Web that allows you to share information with others now and keep adding to your database as you exchange data with others?

2) Do you want to publish only names and dates, or include your copious notes, which may not have all been corroborated and include source citations?

3) Is there information in your database about living people that you or your family might want to keep private?

4) How large is the resultant Web page going to be? Do you have an Internet Service Provider (ISP), and do you have enough space to host your Web page?

5) How will you turn your data into a Web page? Do you have training in HTML (the language used to create Web pages) or will you use some conversion program?

Creating Your Web Page(s)
Assuming you have an ISP to host your Web pages, your first task should be to determine just how you will create them. Many people create their own Web pages. This requires knowledge of the HTML programming language, and the manual typing of all the names and data can be a very tedious task. Other people use software conversion programs, such as GED2HTML, an inexpensive GEDCOM-to-HTML translator program available at http://www.gendex.com/ged2html/. GED2HTML takes any standard GEDCOM file you extract from your genealogy database program and converts it into a collection of separate Web pages. These pages include a surname index, separate records for each individual with hyperlinks to their antecedents and descendants in the file, and hyperlinks to any notes included in the original GEDCOM. (There were over 400 HTML files generated from my database, representing 8 MB of space—my original database file was 6.85 MB.)

Do's and Don'ts
Regardless of your objectives, it is important to create well-conceived Web pages. When dealing with genealogical data, there are some DO's and DON'Ts regarding production of a personal genealogy Web site.

DO make information about living individuals private! The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) applies the guidelines set forth in Section 1256.4 of Title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations and uses a seventy-two-year time period to protect the privacy of information about individuals as contained in the Federal census records. You, too, should be concerned to exclude information about living individuals. Some genealogy database programs, such as Family Tree Maker, are capable of "privatizing" your database. You should do this before you extract data to share with anyone. There are other programs that will privatize a GEDCOM file after it has been extracted from your database. Two such programs are GEDClean32 (available at http://www.raynorshyn.com/gedclean/) and GedLivng (available at http://www.rootsweb.com/~gumby/ged.html) provide similar functionality.

DON'T include personal commentary about individuals that may be of a libelous nature. I recently saw a Web page in which a note for one woman stated that she had been regularly beaten by her husband. While this individual was deceased and therefore her information was no longer "privatized," her husband was apparently still living, since his data was private.

DO include your name and contact information in at least one page of your Web site. I have frequently seen this information omitted. Then there is no way to contact the owner of the data. At a minimum, include your e-mail address. (GED2HTML, for instance, allows you to add this as an option when you create your files.)

DON'T include your name and a mailing address in your Web page. If you get a serious inquiry and wish to exchange information via snail-mail, you can provide that to people when they contact you via e-mail.

DO go back to your vital dates and locations and make sure the locations include a city, county/parish, and state or country where appropriate. Make certain these locations listed, including county/parish, were the current jurisdictional entities at the date the event (birth, marriage, death) occurred.

DO include references to sources if you have them, and use proper citation styles for books, magazines, documents, etc. Many Web pages that I see, however, are produced manually or from people's databases and may include a wealth of notes. A majority of researchers use the NOTES area of their database as a collection area for data they have acquired in various places and these materials or their sources may not have been verified or corroborated. Others use this area for narrative or other purposes. If you see information in the NOTES section without any source citations, the proper and courteous procedure would be to send an e-mail to the owner of the Web page requesting information about the source of the notes.

DON'T link to other people's genealogical Web pages unless you are certain of the correct content of their site. For instance, I might link to a Web page of my cousin in Atlanta because I am confident of the quality of his research on that family lines. I would not, however, link to someone's Web site that just happens to have information about a specific surname I am researching, and has details I have not verified.

DO include clarifications about the contents of your genealogical Web pages if possible. If you are using a translation program such as GED2HTML, you may want to create a "home page" that acts as an entry point into your Web site and then link to the pages containing all of your data. Your welcome, contact information, clarifications, disclaimers, and any other information could be placed here. Otherwise, always be prepared to provide this additional information to anyone inquiring about your data.

Uploading Your Web Pages
Once you have created your Web page(s)/HTML file(s), you will need to upload them to your ISP or Web content hosting site. The process is relatively simple but varies among providers. America Online, for instance, provides Web space for all members at Keyword: My Place, and employs a simple form of FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to assist in the upload process. Other ISPs provide free FTP software and instructions. For specific information about this process, please contact your ISP.

After your Web page is up and running, you can publicize it by submitting your Web address (URL) to major search engines and directories. You might also look at other genealogical sites to see if they link to personal Web pages, and submit your URL to them as well.

Using Information on Others' Web Pages
As always, when viewing other people's Web pages, maintain a healthy researcher's skepticism. Until you have examined, evaluated, and verified or corroborated their data, take nothing for granted.

Your Web page may provide the missing link needed by another researcher, and a contact with another genealogist may provide you with information you need, too. The use of Web pages to share information with others can extend your research reach.

Happy hunting!

George

The article originally appeared in the Genealogy Forum on America Online. You may send e-mail to alonglines@aol.com. George Morgan would like to hear from you but, because of the volume of e-mail, is unable to personally respond to each letter individually. He also regrets that he cannot assist you with your personal genealogical research. Visit George Morgan's new Web page at: http://members.aol.com/alonglines.

George is also the author of The Genealogy Forum on America Online, which is available in the Ancestry Online Store at: http://shop.myfamily.com/ancestrycatalog/
product.asp?pf%5Fid=1101046&dept%5Fid=10102000.