Sharon is an ex director of the FamilySearch Centre in London, She gave us lots of suggestions about using the new FamilySearch website.
Digitising of records is well in progress, all 2,400,000 microfilms have been digitised, however our access to the records is controlled by the Record owner and that is why some can only be viewed at a FamilySearch Centre (the old Family History Centres) and not at home. 80% of these records are not indexed at the moment although there are 70billion which are. Filming took 73 years but digitising “only” 23.
The Microfiche collection has not been digitised at present. The book collection has more than 550,000 books which have been digitised.
Artificial Intelligence is coming! The US 1950 census was an example of this. A.I did the transcribing and it was planned that volunteers did the checking. Once checking started, there were so few errors that after 9 days the decision was made to release it early. When we compare this with, say, the 1921 census and it all its transcription errors this hopefully will be the way forward. All the big companies are now starting to use it.
Why you can’t access all records at home: This is decided by the record holder, when they contract with FamilySearch they say what the access limitations are. FamilySearch has no say in the matter.
RootsTech is hybrid this year and this will probably be the norm from now on. Signing in (which is free) gives you access to all the earlier meetings talks.
Searching: Sharon suggested Searching by Place rather than Collection unless you know exactly what collection you want. Scroll down on the page and you will see these two options. Don’t be too specific on the place try Kent, England rather than Dover or wherever. In time there will be a little symbol to the right of all the collections available, this will indicate whether there are images (a camera), if those images are on a partner site, whether it is indexed or whatever. Even those that are indexed may not include the total of the document/data. There are also sometimes problems with place names not being complete or even inaccurate. Births, Marriages and Deaths are sometimes muddled. Sharon stressed the need to be patient in searches but also do use the feedback button to notify of problems.
Don’t just search historical record but use images, catalogue, Genealogies, books and Family Tree.
One drawback of the new site is that it is now not possible to pick multiple collections. If that is the case use Family Tree as is suggested at the top of the page.
If looking at Images, once you have seen what you wish to on a previous visit, there is a tab you can use to ask for only new images. You will need to refine this to narrow it down to where you want.
Catalogue gives the best source of images. All new digital images appear here. Not every item shows as digitised even when it is. Once you search for the place you wish you will be told what, if any items are available with the symbol as above.
Genealogies are read only trees from a variety of sources. You can contribute your own tree should you wish to. Look for the link at the bottom of the Genealogies home page and it will appear in the Pedigree Resource file. If you later wish to update it you will need to reload it.
Community Trees were developed from various sources. Computer Generated Trees can be treated with a pinch of salt!
Must have tools include
1) The 1851 Englsh Jurisdiction Map.
2) Research Wiki includes 100,000 articles. You can add to it or correct any inaccuracies.
3) Family Tree. Pedigrees are not private and static but collaborative. It is free but you need to be registered. There is an emphasis on documentation. Living people are protected. All contributions are traceable and identifiable through their log in details. You can be notified of any changes. It is a good place to add photos and images. It also works as storage for your stories and more personal records that would not be known to anyone outside of the family.
Report by Sheila Harris