Friday Fears – Ancestry’s “New Search”

It’s been an interesting few days on the APG mailing list.  Ancestry has announced that it will end access to its “old search”.  This means that all users will have to use “new search”.

Before I go any further, for those who don’t follow Ancestry, “new search” has been in place for years, so it’s not really all that new.

What’s been interesting is watching the outrage from professionals on the APG mailing list.  Many of those folks, it seems, have been using the “old search” as it gives them better results than the “new search.”  For the record, I’ve been using the new search for so long that I had forgotten that there was a different way to search.  This may be why I’m having so much trouble understanding the annoyance these professionals have been showing due to Ancestry’s business decision.

What Ancestry has done really isn’t any different than what any software company does.  They come up with a new product, and end support for the old version.  Microsoft does this with operating systems every few years.  Like Microsoft, Ancestry supported the old system for a number of years, but now, likely for business reasons that users are not privy too, must end support for that system.  As a developer myself, I can tell you first hand that it’s no fun trying to support different systems, especially when you know that one is unprofitable or, as Ancestry has stated in regards to “old search”, little used.

To a point, I understand the user’s frustration.  No one likes changing their habits.  However, my personal opinion is that Ancestry gave folks plenty of time to learn the new system before retiring the old.  The most common complaint that I’m seeing is that the new search returns too many results.  Understandable, but these complaints are coming from folks who routinely browse old records on microfiche, often with no help from any sort of search engine.  They should be used to sifting through large amounts of data.

A few weeks ago, on the Transitional Genealogist’s mailing list, there was a discussion about computer algorithms and how they could be used in the future to sift through large amounts of genealogical data.  The general opinion that I saw with that discussion basically boiled down to “a computer could never do what I do.  It will miss results.”  Ancestry’s new search sort of swings the pendulum in the opposite direction.  It doesn’t miss results, because it’s willing to show unrelated results (and often does).  It leaves it up to the user to filter the obvious misses out.

Okay.  So one group says that computers can’t refine data as well as a human.  Another group says that they want the computer to refine the data they look at.  Which group is right?

Both, I’d say.  This, I believe, is one of those impossible tasks of trying to please everyone.  There’s probably a middle ground, but Ancestry hasn’t found it yet.  Keep in mind that Ancestry is also a business.  Their product is crafted for a wide audience.  Maybe they are missing their target demographic, or maybe they know exactly what they are doing based on their own business analysis of years’ worth of “old search”/”new search” data.  Either way, Ancestry changed their method.  It works for some, but not others.  The others will either adapt, or leave Ancestry.  It’s a natural process.  Users can fear it (it is change after all), or try to embrace it.  My hope is that genealogists will adapt.  That is, hopefully, what we do.  If we didn’t, we’d always be looking for the same information in the same places, never learning anything new.

Tuesday Teachings – NGS-HSC Lesson 2

Sitting Bull (Library of Congress photo)

A couple of weeks ago I covered Lesson 1 of the NationalGenealogical Society’s Home Study Course.  While Lesson 1 was pretty basic, Lesson 2 added in a bit of fun.  At least, I thought the lesson was fun.

The lesson’s focus was family traditions, in particular, those genealogical stories that get passed down from generation to generation.  The first written assignment for the lesson was to recount a family legend, then write a research plan for either proving or disproving the legend.

In my case, the family story has always been that we were descendants of the great Sioux Chief Sitting Bull.  My cousins and I had all heard the story from our grandmother, though I don’t recall there being any details of exactly how we were related.  Growing up, I never had any reason not to believe the story.  At that time, my father’s line had already been traced back to Barnabas Davis of Charlestown, MA, so the link, I had always assumed, was on my grandmother’s side.

It’s sort of fun to think that you might be related to someone famous, but, as I started to become more serious about genealogy, I had my doubts about the story.  After all, every line that I traced in my family tree always led back to early settlers in Massachusetts.  Occasionally I would make a half-hearted attempt to prove or disprove the story, but mostly I stayed away from it.  It was a fun family tradition, and I didn’t want to be the one to end it.  That’s not to say that I stayed away from that line of my family tree, I just never definitely said yes or no to the question of Sitting Bull being an ancestor.

Lesson 2 of the HSC was a good excuse to finally state a conclusion.  Though it might be a disappointment to the living family, Item 1 of the Code of Ethics for the Association of Professional Genealogists, of which I’m a member, states “Promote a coherent, truthful approach to genealogy, family history and local history.”[1]

In other words, don’t state something as fact if you don’t have evidence to back up that fact.

Coming up with an argument for or against Sitting Bull being an ancestor was fairly easy.  A quick Internet search turns up that Sitting Bull has only one known living male descendant, Ernie La Pointe.[2]  This is strike one against the story being true.  The Internet being what it is, more evidence is needed though.

The most definitive way to prove or disprove the story is to trace all ancestral lines back to before Sitting Bull’s birth.  Sitting Bull lived between the years of 1831 and 1890.[3]  Some of my ancestral lines have been traced back that far already.  The first written assignment for Lesson 2 called for a research plan.  For this lesson, I included pedigree charts with the proper citations for my evidence sources, showing what information I had already gathered toward proving or disproving the story.  I then outlined my plan to trace the unknown lines back to before Sitting Bull’s birth.  My conclusion, based on evidence available so far, is that it is highly unlikely that I am descended from Chief Sitting Bull.  The grader for this lesson agreed with my research plan, and also agreed that it is unlikely that Sitting Bull is an ancestor of mine.

For the record, I still haven’t traced all the unknown lines back, so there is always a small chance something interesting might turn up.  I have one ancestor that one document claims was born out west, though other evidence points to him being born in New England like the rest of his family.  No other evidence has turned up to give me any reason to believe that the legend is true.

Assignment two of the lesson is to dig out some of those items in your collection that have been passed down through the family and document them.  In my case, this meant a few books, some hand-written notes, and bundles of pedigree charts.  Documentation of these items included writing a proper source citation for each item, and writing a brief description of how you came by the item.  This assignment is a good time to practice those citations.  Inaccurate citations seem to be the number one reason that lessons are returned for resubmission throughout the course.

To see more about the NGS Home Study Course, see my other posts:

• Tuesday Teachings - NGS Home Study Course

• Tuesday Teachings - NGS-HSC Lesson 1

[1] "Code of Ethics." Association of Professional Genealogists. http://www.apgen.org/ethics/index.html: accessed 2/12/2013

[2] "Sitting Bull Family." Sitting Bull Family Foundation, Inc. http://www.sittingbullfamilyfoundation.org/tatanka_iyotake_tiospaye.html: accessed 2/12/2013

[3] "Sitting Bull." Sitting Bull Family Foundation, Inc. http://www.sittingbullfamilyfoundation.org/tatanka_iyotake.html: accessed 2/12/2013

Thankful Thursday – Genealogy Bloggers

Earlier this week, Heather Wilkinson Rojo over at Nutfield Genelaogy was kind enough to nominate my blog for the “Best of 2012” award that was started by the Thought Palette. Heather decided to nominate some new bloggers, which I appreciate since I’ve only been blogging for about a month now.

Being new to the genealogy blogging community, I’d have a difficult time passing the award along to others, as I’m just starting to become familiar with the many blogs that are out there.  I have been enjoying my time reading them, though, and getting to know their authors through their writing.  It’s interesting to see how different people approach blogging.  Some are instructional, others document their experiences, while others record their findings.

In addition to Heather’s Nutfield Genealogy blog, here are few of the others that I’ve started following:

• No Stone Unturned - Certified Genealogist Cathi Becker Wiest Desmarais, owner of Stone House Historical Research lives and works in Vermont.  Being a Vermonter, I enjoy reading her work online and in the APG Quarterly.

• Planting the Seeds - Certified Genealogist Michael Hait writes about the profession of genealogy.  I've found many useful articles while reading through his past blog posts.
  

• Clue Wagon - Kerry Scott presents a fun blog with a writing style that I really enjoy.

• Today in Salem - A neat blog that presents the Salem Witch Trials through the eyes of the participants, if the participants had access to social media outlets like Twitter and Pinterest.  Especially interesting at the moment since my daughter is going to be playing Mercy Lewis in a local production of The Crucible.

• Boston 1775 - Author J.L. Bell writes about the American Revolution.  I've actually been following this one for awhile due to my interest in the time-period.  I like that it's not entirely military focused like many sites about the period.

There are many others that I’ve been browsing.  I’m thankful that all of these authors take the time to write.  Reading their words help me to become both a better genealogist as I can learn from what they’ve shared, whether it be a tutorial on photo preservation, or the description of their experiences while researching a particular ancestor. I'm also thankful for the folks who have been commenting on my posts.  It's nice to know that someone is reading!

Three Goals Thursday – 2013 Goals

The start of a new year is always a good time to take a look back at what you’ve accomplished, and more importantly, what you’d like to accomplish going forward.

For me, 2012 was the year that I started researching the “professional” side of genealogy more.  I joined a few mailing lists, bought a few books, and became a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG).  While I don’t know if I’ll ever become a full-time genealogist, the idea does have some appeal to me.  If nothing else, what I’ve been learning through the mailing lists, books, and magazine articles I have been able to apply to my own family research.

For 2013, I’ve been thinking about what my upcoming goals are.  To keep it simple, and within reach of able to be completed within the year, I’ve decided on three major goals:

• Goal 1: Continue my genealogical education.  Early last year I signed up for the National Genealogical Society’s Home Study Course (NGS HSC).  I’ve completed assignments one through four, submitted five (which needs to be resubmitted after some minor tweaks), and done about half of the work needed for assignment six.  My goal for 2013 is to complete the second CD of the course, which starts with assignment seven.

• Goal 2: Attend a genealogy event.  Other than trading emails and letters with a few folks in the past, I’ve been a solo genealogist.  This year I’d like to break out of my shell a little and meet some other genealogists in person.  Last year I joined the Genealogical Society of Vermont (GSV), but I’ve yet to attend a meeting, so that may be one possibility.  Another possibility may be The New England Regional Genealogical Consortium (NERGC) conference, which will be held in Manchester, New Hampshire in April.  There are some sessions at that event that look interesting, in particular regarding old photographs and early New England research.

• Goal 3: Write more.  I’ve enjoyed writing since I could put a sentence down on a piece of paper.  I still have “books” that I wrote in first and second grade.  When I graduated from Junior High, my English teacher gave me a thesaurus that occasionally finds use, even in this age of the Internet.  Most of my heroes are writers of some sort, whether they are novelist, poets, or song-writers.  Even with all that, though, it’s safe to say that I don’t write nearly as often as I used to.  I’m hoping to use this blog to remedy that.  My goal is to write a focused post every two or three days.  If I’m lucky, maybe the act of writing about genealogy will creep into the rest of my life, and I’ll start writing fiction again for fun.

Goal 2, I think, will be my toughest.  I tend to be an introvert, so going to large gatherings of strangers takes some effort.  The NERGC sessions on old photographs really pique my interest though, as I enjoy both photography and digital restoration as hobbies.  Thanks to one of my other hobbies, the NERGC conference would also be my second large convention-type event of the year (oddly enough, at the same hotel), so finances may also play a part in that one.  I still have a few months to mull it over though.