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Illuminated Heritage

November 15, 2007

Updated Copyright Term Map

There is an updated “Copyright Term and the Public Domain” map on the Cornell site. It includes audio-visual materials and sound recordings now. Necessary reference for anyone involved in digitization….

posted by Kay at 11:00 am | Comments (0)

November 5, 2007

FamilySearch Indexing Project

Last week the Genealogy & Local History Networking Group had the Family History Center coordinator for the 7-state area out to talk about what was going on with FamilySearch, the FHCs, etc. Part of the presentation was about FamilySearch Indexing which is a project YOU can become involved in. They are looking for volunteers to help index/transcribe all sorts of genealogical data including censuses (censi?), birth, marriage, and death records from all over the world. Everything is done online from their site and through the software provided AND in small (half hour or so) batches. I thought this sounded like fun so I signed up last week.

After the initial read-through/click-through training provided on the site and downloading the software, I grabbed my first batch of records. I was trying to get some records from Germany, but that didn’t work so I hit the button that gave me whatever they thought was most important to get indexed at the time. I ended up with the Minnesota census, which was fine, I grew up in a town founded by the Swedish so I can read Johnson and Jorgeson just as well as the next person. I didn’t even get a full page - just 27 lines! However, as it was my first and I was getting used to the handwriting, it did take me more than half an hour, but not more than an hour. I’m sure as I do more I will get used to the handwriting.

The process is very cool though - it highlights each of the fields on the original so you know where you are and what you are entering in your table. It also tries to save your typing as much as possible giving you the option of choosing what you just typed in the field above. For example, if you’re doing a family and the parents were both born in Germany, it auto-selects Germany for you until you tell it something else. Very easy and really rather fun. There’s also the whole “hey, maybe I’ll run across one of MY relatives” treasure-hunt mentality and the feel-good aspect of knowing you’re helping someone else out.

Anyway, give it a try - if you’re anything like me you’ll find it a challenging, fun and rewarding experience!

posted by Kay at 1:14 pm | Comments (0)