Dick Eastman in his newsletter on 27 June 2010 reminded us of the need to see the appropriate role of the Internet in genealogy:
“Julie Miller writes a genealogy column in the Broomfield Enterprise, a newspaper and web site published in Broomfield, Colorado. I would suggest that Julie’s latest column should be required reading for all new genealogists.
Julie writes, “The Internet has drastically changed how genealogy research is done. The amount of information posted on the Internet is increasing at an amazing pace every day. The ads might say you can find your complete family history by searching a Web site, but even though the Internet has billions and billions of pages filled with information, not everything is on the Internet.”
A few paragraphs later, she writes, “Although these sites have millions of records, they represent only a fraction of the records that have been preserved over the centuries of human record keeping. If only the Internet is used to collect information, the majority of family history will be missed or recorded incorrectly.”
Experienced genealogists have already learned this but thousands of newcomers keep asking, “Isn’t everything on the Internet?” Julie Miller’s column sets the facts straight. You can save yourself a lot of time, effort, and frustration if you read Julie Miller’s article at http://www.broomfieldenterprise.com/ci_15379828 “
The article in the paper concludes:
“The misconception that all genealogy information can be found on the Internet continues to persist. Some Internet sites proclaim that everything needed for genealogy research is on their site. Many of these sites are official looking and appear to be run by experts. Do not be fooled into believing the claims.
The Internet is definitely a powerful tool for genealogical research. Checking online for information is part of a good research strategy. Just don`t expect to find everything there.”
Thank you Dick and Julie – good advice!
The same fallacy exists for NewFamilySearch. All you have to do is pull up NFS, search and off to the temple you go. In an attempt to make Family History *Work* less work, we miss the *Work* part and therefore the research part and the real joy of this work – getting to know something about the lives of our ancestors.
I was in the Family History Library in Salt Lake on Friday and I can honestly say in all my years of using this facility I have never seen it so empty. Is this a result of this *fallacy* that everything we need is on NFS or on the Net?
As consultants we need to get back to teaching the members the need to do some actual research, some actual work. That way they will truly get to know the people they are taking to the temple, feel a connection to them and understand who they really are.
I keep reminding the genealogists I talk to about this. Some say we won’t need the Family History Libraries soon as “everything will be on the Internet”. This is just not so and what is on the Internet is not always accurate. You still need to do some research to confirm information. We need to make use of all the tools available to us.
The Internet has some great information but I agree with Julia Moore, that more is needed. It was my belief that Find My Past would be free to people searching this site from Family History Centers. This would be a great addition for people looking for solid information and I’d love to be able to access it at the Center. Does anyone know anything about this? I stopped helping with Family Search Indexing because when I would go to the records, it would take me to a “Pay” site which made me unhappy. I understood that Find My Past was one site that these records appeared on but it would be available at FHC. Any information would be appreciated.
Thank you for your comment.
My understanding was that FindMyPast is free of charge in FHCs – if this is not so I hope someone will let me know.
They are still working on giving us access to images from Indexing – so don’t stop indexing!
I am a big supporter of FHCs – and hope to have an article on that topic in the future