Saturday, July 27, 2013
Friday, July 12, 2013
FHISO featured on the Mocavo Fireside Chat
Michael Leclerc of Mocavo interviewed me for the most recent Mocavo Fireside Chat. I talk a lot about FHISO. Enjoy! http://new.livestream.com/accounts/4419615/fireside710/videos/24026268
Saturday, June 08, 2013
Drew Smith Appointed Chair of FHISO
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 8 June 2013
Family History Information Standards Organisation, Inc. (FHISO) is pleased to announce the appointment of Drew Smith as the first Chair of FHISO, effective 1 July 2013. Drew is currently the Organisational Member Representative to FHISO from the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS).
“I am deeply honored to have been given this opportunity by the FHISO Board,” Drew said. “As someone who has made a career in information technology and librarianship, I recognize the critical importance of information standards, and as a long-time genealogist, I understand the needs of the world’s genealogy product and service vendors, repositories, societies, and individuals to collaborate and to share family history information. I look forward to leading an international effort to support the creation of these essential information standards.”
“We are excited to have Drew join us in this leadership role, as it marks a significant milestone in transitioning the organisation from its formative state into an operating standards development body,” said Robert Burkhead, FHISO Acting Chair and Technical Standing Committee Coordinator. “Drew's knowledge and experience in the industry will serve FHISO's membership and the entire community well.”
Individuals from FHISO member organisations expressed their own praise and support for Drew’s appointment. “Drew brings an excellent synthesis of a genealogical librarian and an active player in the larger family history community, and I look forward to working with him in his new role,” said D. Joshua Taylor, Lead Genealogist and Business Development Manager – North America for brightsolid online publishing, the creators of findmypast.com.
“Having worked with Drew in various organizations and committees, I believe he is the perfect choice to chair FHISO at this formative time,” said Bruce Buzbee, President of RootsMagic, Inc. “I have seen firsthand his organizational skills and leadership qualities in groups where members may have very different opinions or somewhat different goals.”
Loretto (Lou) Szucs, Vice President of Community Relations for Ancestry.com, had this to say: “Having known and worked with Drew for more than fifteen years, I can’t think of anyone who is better qualified to serve as the first Chair of this important new organization. Drew has consistently shown his outstanding leadership skills in working with family history organizations, libraries, and other historical and technology organizations. As the world’s largest online family history resource, with more than 2.5 million subscribers and more than 11 billion records online, Ancestry.com is proud to be a founding member of FHISO.”
“The appointment of Drew Smith as Chair of FHISO sends a strong signal to all wait-and-see organisations,” said Bob Coret, founder of Coret Genealogie. “FHISO is becoming a strong organisation which, with the recent Call for Papers, is leading the way in developing genealogy and family history information standards. As a Founding Member of FHISO from the Netherlands I'm pleased to hear that Drew Smith also embraces the non-English part of the genealogical community, which reflects the international character of FHISO.”
Drew Smith is an Assistant Librarian with the Academic Services unit of the University of South Florida (USF) Tampa Library, and serves as the liaison librarian to the USF School of Information. He has taught graduate-level courses in genealogical librarianship and indexing/abstracting, and undergraduate-level courses in web design. Drew earlier worked for academic computing departments at USF and at Clemson University (South Carolina).
Drew is a Director of FGS (2008-2013), chair of its Technology Committee, and “Rootsmithing with Technology” columnist for its FORUM magazine. He is past Secretary of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG). Drew is President of the Florida Genealogical Society of Tampa and has served on the board of the Florida State Genealogical Society. He administers the GENEALIB electronic mailing list with over 1200 genealogy librarians as subscribers, a list he founded in 1996.
Drew has been the co-host of The Genealogy Guys Podcast since September 2005, and together with George G. Morgan has produced over 250 one-hour episodes. Drew is author of the book Social Networking for Genealogists, published in 2009 by Genealogical Publishing Company, and with George is co-author of the upcoming book Advanced Genealogy Research Skills, to be published in September 2013 by McGraw-Hill. Drew has written extensively for NGS NewsMagazine (now NGS Magazine), Genealogical Computing, and Digital Genealogist.
Drew holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Master of Science in Industrial Management from Clemson University, and a Master of Arts in Library and Information Science from USF.
About FHISO
FHISO is a standards-developing organisation bringing the international family history and genealogical community together in a transparent, self-governing forum for the purpose of developing information standards to solve today’s interoperability issues. To learn more about FHISO, visit http://fhiso.org/. To become a member, visit http://fhiso.org/membership-
Contacts:
FHISO General Enquiries, enquiries@fhiso.org
FHISO Membership enquiries, membership@fhiso.org
FHISO Media Relations, Anthony C. Proctor, acproctor@fhiso.org.
Date: 8 June 2013
Family History Information Standards Organisation, Inc. (FHISO) is pleased to announce the appointment of Drew Smith as the first Chair of FHISO, effective 1 July 2013. Drew is currently the Organisational Member Representative to FHISO from the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS).
“I am deeply honored to have been given this opportunity by the FHISO Board,” Drew said. “As someone who has made a career in information technology and librarianship, I recognize the critical importance of information standards, and as a long-time genealogist, I understand the needs of the world’s genealogy product and service vendors, repositories, societies, and individuals to collaborate and to share family history information. I look forward to leading an international effort to support the creation of these essential information standards.”
“We are excited to have Drew join us in this leadership role, as it marks a significant milestone in transitioning the organisation from its formative state into an operating standards development body,” said Robert Burkhead, FHISO Acting Chair and Technical Standing Committee Coordinator. “Drew's knowledge and experience in the industry will serve FHISO's membership and the entire community well.”
Individuals from FHISO member organisations expressed their own praise and support for Drew’s appointment. “Drew brings an excellent synthesis of a genealogical librarian and an active player in the larger family history community, and I look forward to working with him in his new role,” said D. Joshua Taylor, Lead Genealogist and Business Development Manager – North America for brightsolid online publishing, the creators of findmypast.com.
“Having worked with Drew in various organizations and committees, I believe he is the perfect choice to chair FHISO at this formative time,” said Bruce Buzbee, President of RootsMagic, Inc. “I have seen firsthand his organizational skills and leadership qualities in groups where members may have very different opinions or somewhat different goals.”
Loretto (Lou) Szucs, Vice President of Community Relations for Ancestry.com, had this to say: “Having known and worked with Drew for more than fifteen years, I can’t think of anyone who is better qualified to serve as the first Chair of this important new organization. Drew has consistently shown his outstanding leadership skills in working with family history organizations, libraries, and other historical and technology organizations. As the world’s largest online family history resource, with more than 2.5 million subscribers and more than 11 billion records online, Ancestry.com is proud to be a founding member of FHISO.”
“The appointment of Drew Smith as Chair of FHISO sends a strong signal to all wait-and-see organisations,” said Bob Coret, founder of Coret Genealogie. “FHISO is becoming a strong organisation which, with the recent Call for Papers, is leading the way in developing genealogy and family history information standards. As a Founding Member of FHISO from the Netherlands I'm pleased to hear that Drew Smith also embraces the non-English part of the genealogical community, which reflects the international character of FHISO.”
Drew Smith is an Assistant Librarian with the Academic Services unit of the University of South Florida (USF) Tampa Library, and serves as the liaison librarian to the USF School of Information. He has taught graduate-level courses in genealogical librarianship and indexing/abstracting, and undergraduate-level courses in web design. Drew earlier worked for academic computing departments at USF and at Clemson University (South Carolina).
Drew is a Director of FGS (2008-2013), chair of its Technology Committee, and “Rootsmithing with Technology” columnist for its FORUM magazine. He is past Secretary of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG). Drew is President of the Florida Genealogical Society of Tampa and has served on the board of the Florida State Genealogical Society. He administers the GENEALIB electronic mailing list with over 1200 genealogy librarians as subscribers, a list he founded in 1996.
Drew has been the co-host of The Genealogy Guys Podcast since September 2005, and together with George G. Morgan has produced over 250 one-hour episodes. Drew is author of the book Social Networking for Genealogists, published in 2009 by Genealogical Publishing Company, and with George is co-author of the upcoming book Advanced Genealogy Research Skills, to be published in September 2013 by McGraw-Hill. Drew has written extensively for NGS NewsMagazine (now NGS Magazine), Genealogical Computing, and Digital Genealogist.
Drew holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Master of Science in Industrial Management from Clemson University, and a Master of Arts in Library and Information Science from USF.
About FHISO
FHISO is a standards-developing organisation bringing the international family history and genealogical community together in a transparent, self-governing forum for the purpose of developing information standards to solve today’s interoperability issues. To learn more about FHISO, visit http://fhiso.org/. To become a member, visit http://fhiso.org/membership-
Contacts:
FHISO General Enquiries, enquiries@fhiso.org
FHISO Membership enquiries, membership@fhiso.org
FHISO Media Relations, Anthony C. Proctor, acproctor@fhiso.org.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Sometimes you get what you ask for (re: history of American genealogy)
In April of 2012, I posted a review of a recent book about the history of genealogy in the United Kingdom. At one point I wrote: "Perhaps a book on the topic of the history of American genealogy remains to be written."
And apparently it now has. A few weeks ago, the book Family Trees: A History of Genealogy in America by François Weil appeared, and I just discovered that it had. I've bought the Kindle version and I'll bring you a review soon.
And apparently it now has. A few weeks ago, the book Family Trees: A History of Genealogy in America by François Weil appeared, and I just discovered that it had. I've bought the Kindle version and I'll bring you a review soon.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Technology That Isn't Digital
George reminded me over the weekend that I hadn't updated this blog in a year, and this morning, I saw something that looked like a perfect topic to talk about, namely, the use of non-digital technology for genealogical research. What prompted this was a blog posting this morning on a blog that I read, namely, Unclutterer. That posting highlighted some new products, and I was especially taken with two of them: the Staples® Better® Binder with Removable FileRings™, and the Rubbermaid® All Access™ Organizers storage containers. I can imagine using both of them for my genealogical filing.
The Better Binder idea seems to solve my endless internal debate on whether to use binders or file folders for my organization. At the moment, I have been compromising by using 3-tier stand-up racks made by Eldon® and plastic folder for my current projects, and then transferring the contents from the plastic folders to regular folders and placed in a 4-drawer file cabinet when the project is archived.
Now I'm thinking about using Better Binders (different colors for different research projects) and transferring the ones I'm not active with to my file cabinet.
As for the All Access Organizers, this would be a good solution for the garage and closets, especially for things that aren't file-able papers. I have a lot of loose office supplies in my home office closet that would benefit from this.
Anyone out there using either of these products?
The Better Binder idea seems to solve my endless internal debate on whether to use binders or file folders for my organization. At the moment, I have been compromising by using 3-tier stand-up racks made by Eldon® and plastic folder for my current projects, and then transferring the contents from the plastic folders to regular folders and placed in a 4-drawer file cabinet when the project is archived.
Now I'm thinking about using Better Binders (different colors for different research projects) and transferring the ones I'm not active with to my file cabinet.
As for the All Access Organizers, this would be a good solution for the garage and closets, especially for things that aren't file-able papers. I have a lot of loose office supplies in my home office closet that would benefit from this.
Anyone out there using either of these products?
Saturday, April 21, 2012
A partial review of Michael Sharpe's Family Matters: A History of Genealogy
While I was attending the annual conference of the Ohio Genealogical Society in Cleveland last weekend, I had the pleasure of browsing the book offerings of Maia's Books & Misc in the vendor hall. I rarely buy physical books these days (the last one had been in 2011 and was the latest edition of Stephen Fishman's The Copyright Handbook: What Every Writer Needs to Know).
But I was immediately taken with a new book on a unique topic, the history of genealogy itself. This book, Family Matters: A History of Genealogy, by Michael Sharpe, published by Pen & Sword in 2011, represents an impressive bit of research into the origins of genealogical resources and organizations. So if you've ever wondered where pedigrees originated, how the Society of Genealogists developed, or what process led to the modern National Archives (TNA) in Kew, England, you'll certainly know by the end of the book. I finished it with a great deal of enjoyment and a feeling that I better understood this history.
However, I do feel the need to take issue with a few points made in the book. First, the title itself is somewhat misleading. It is essentially a book about the history of British genealogy, although it does briefly discuss such American aspects as the NEHGS, as well as some items related to worldwide computing networks. Perhaps a book on the topic of the history of American genealogy remains to be written.
Because I am no expert in British genealogy (or its history), I take at face value the presentation of that history, but because I've been involved in technology since the late 1970s, I feel comfortable in making some observations about the book's presentation of computing as part of genealogical history.
To be frank, I was somewhat distracted (if not annoyed) by the author's use of "internet" and "web", instead of "Internet" and "Web". While I realize that the capitalization of those terms is not universal in writing, I come down strongly on the side that points out that the two words are proper nouns (there is only one "Internet" and only one "Web"), and as such, should be capitalized. Before anyone out there tries to point out that you can have other "internets" or "webs", I will suggest that there are many "white houses", but we still capitalize "White House" when referring to the one in DC.
Another spelling glitch was in referring to AOL as "America-on-Line". I was a charter member of AOL in November 1989, and the service used the spelling "America Online".
At this point, you may be wondering if my primary criticisms of the book are purely about spelling and capitalization. I also was bothered that the index was lacking (many of the names and computer-related terms don't even appear in the index).
But books about history should be criticized primarily about misrepresenting the facts of history (or at the very least, misinterpreting the available information). In the chapter about the impact of computer technology on genealogy, the author refers to the creation of the Usenet newsgroup net.roots in 1983, and goes on to say "It was named after Alex Haley's Roots...". His source is an online article written by Margaret J. Olson in which she states "About 1983 in the early days on the net, a newsgroup named net.roots came upon the scene, named presumably because of the popularity of Alex Haley's book, Roots." So we have already gone from one author claiming that the name "presumably" originated due to Haley's book, to Sharpe making that claim even more strongly.
Because I had written an article several years ago about the history of genealogy on Usenet, I was familiar with the earliest origins of the Usenet genealogy newsgroups, and I refreshed my memory about it by reviewing the source material. In September 1983, Bob Stekl proposed a group named "net.geneology" (yes, with the misspelling). Others immediately agreed with the need for the group, but pointed out Bob's misspelling, and suggested alternatives "net.family" or "net.genes". It was Richard L. "Rich" Rosen (on October 3, 1983) who pointed out that "net.genes" might suggest genetics rather than genealogy, and that "net.roots" would make for an easy-to-spell alternative. Rosen makes no mention of the Haley book.
The use of the word "roots" in reference to one's ethnic origins has been around since at least the 1800s, and you'll find any number of newspaper articles published prior to Haley's book that use "roots" as another way of referring to genealogy. For example, a January 1976 article in the New York Times (Haley's book was published in August 1976) has the headline "D.A.R. Aids Families In Tracing Genealogy; Preoccupation With Roots Tracing Not Easy".
Regardless, I highly recommend the book, and I look forward to future books that take a look back at how genealogical research got to where it is today.
But I was immediately taken with a new book on a unique topic, the history of genealogy itself. This book, Family Matters: A History of Genealogy, by Michael Sharpe, published by Pen & Sword in 2011, represents an impressive bit of research into the origins of genealogical resources and organizations. So if you've ever wondered where pedigrees originated, how the Society of Genealogists developed, or what process led to the modern National Archives (TNA) in Kew, England, you'll certainly know by the end of the book. I finished it with a great deal of enjoyment and a feeling that I better understood this history.
However, I do feel the need to take issue with a few points made in the book. First, the title itself is somewhat misleading. It is essentially a book about the history of British genealogy, although it does briefly discuss such American aspects as the NEHGS, as well as some items related to worldwide computing networks. Perhaps a book on the topic of the history of American genealogy remains to be written.
Because I am no expert in British genealogy (or its history), I take at face value the presentation of that history, but because I've been involved in technology since the late 1970s, I feel comfortable in making some observations about the book's presentation of computing as part of genealogical history.
To be frank, I was somewhat distracted (if not annoyed) by the author's use of "internet" and "web", instead of "Internet" and "Web". While I realize that the capitalization of those terms is not universal in writing, I come down strongly on the side that points out that the two words are proper nouns (there is only one "Internet" and only one "Web"), and as such, should be capitalized. Before anyone out there tries to point out that you can have other "internets" or "webs", I will suggest that there are many "white houses", but we still capitalize "White House" when referring to the one in DC.
Another spelling glitch was in referring to AOL as "America-on-Line". I was a charter member of AOL in November 1989, and the service used the spelling "America Online".
At this point, you may be wondering if my primary criticisms of the book are purely about spelling and capitalization. I also was bothered that the index was lacking (many of the names and computer-related terms don't even appear in the index).
But books about history should be criticized primarily about misrepresenting the facts of history (or at the very least, misinterpreting the available information). In the chapter about the impact of computer technology on genealogy, the author refers to the creation of the Usenet newsgroup net.roots in 1983, and goes on to say "It was named after Alex Haley's Roots...". His source is an online article written by Margaret J. Olson in which she states "About 1983 in the early days on the net, a newsgroup named net.roots came upon the scene, named presumably because of the popularity of Alex Haley's book, Roots." So we have already gone from one author claiming that the name "presumably" originated due to Haley's book, to Sharpe making that claim even more strongly.
Because I had written an article several years ago about the history of genealogy on Usenet, I was familiar with the earliest origins of the Usenet genealogy newsgroups, and I refreshed my memory about it by reviewing the source material. In September 1983, Bob Stekl proposed a group named "net.geneology" (yes, with the misspelling). Others immediately agreed with the need for the group, but pointed out Bob's misspelling, and suggested alternatives "net.family" or "net.genes". It was Richard L. "Rich" Rosen (on October 3, 1983) who pointed out that "net.genes" might suggest genetics rather than genealogy, and that "net.roots" would make for an easy-to-spell alternative. Rosen makes no mention of the Haley book.
The use of the word "roots" in reference to one's ethnic origins has been around since at least the 1800s, and you'll find any number of newspaper articles published prior to Haley's book that use "roots" as another way of referring to genealogy. For example, a January 1976 article in the New York Times (Haley's book was published in August 1976) has the headline "D.A.R. Aids Families In Tracing Genealogy; Preoccupation With Roots Tracing Not Easy".
Regardless, I highly recommend the book, and I look forward to future books that take a look back at how genealogical research got to where it is today.
Sunday, April 01, 2012
The 1940 census - Who will be in it?
Given that tomorrow is the "big day" (at least insofar as American genealogy is concerned), I thought I would consider who I will look for in the 1940 U.S. Federal census.
Both my parents should be in it (single, as they married in 1943). So I'll be looking for Dad in Newark, New Jersey (this may be tough given the size of the city), and Mom in Newberry, South Carolina (much easier, as it was a small town and I know where she was living 10 years earlier).
All 4 of my grandparents should be in it (Dad's parents in Newark, Mom's parents in Newberry), as well as both of my paternal great-grandmothers (probably both in Newark).
After those essential 8 individuals, I can look for a large number of aunts and uncles and cousins.
UPDATE: It looks like I'll want to be looking at ED 25-73 and ED 25-76 for Newark, as their border runs along Chambers Street, where a lot of my Smith ancestors lived.
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