Classic FamilySearch is No More

Many of you are familiar with the ongoing changes at FamilySearch and the following will be no surprise.  The following is extracted from a recent posting from The Ancestry Insider blog, dated June 24,  outlining the demise of the classic familysearch site.   For Family History Consultants and Family History Center staff, you may want to remind your patrons of the changes.

Once again, our sincere thanks to Peter and Linda as we move through this transition.  We’ve decided to not publish any articles on the blog for the summer with resumption of postings in September.  We wish you a marvellous summer !

Don & Glenda

Classic FamilySearch is No More

Posted: 24 Jun 2012 11:05 PM PDT

Without fanfare last Monday FamilySearch turned off the home page of its Classic.FamilySearch.org website, redirecting traffic to the current www.familysearch.org home page. (The old catalog remains available, however.)

Some users are not pleased with the retirement. Elaine Lee said, “Please can you tell me WHY you have RUINED a perfectly good website. I have used this website for 12 years and now find it so confusing.”

First released to the public in May 1999, the site was an instant success. The traffic load in the first few days was overwhelming and crashed the website.

FamilySearch.org, May 1999

For many years, site navigation was enabled via four color-coded menu pages; the home page was green.

FamilySearch.org, June 2001

In later years, a search form was added to the home page and color coding was eliminating. This home page design continued until it was shut down Monday.

The original FamilySearch.org as it appeared in its final years

In December 2010, this original FamilySearch.org website became classic.familysearch.org. (See “Beta.familysearch.org Replaces www.familysearch.org.”) It was replaced with the current FamilySearch.org (not to be confused with new.familysearch.org, which will be replaced by FamilySearch Family Tree).

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White Papers on Family Tree

FamilySearch has added 2 White Papers about Family Tree to the Help Centre at FamilySearch.org.  Even if you are not currently using Family Tree – waiting for the product to be a full version before you move to it – you should still make yourself aware of these White Papers.

Go to FamilySearch.org then to the Help Centre then to the section headed Family Tree Help.  Then click on See the Whole List.  As one of the White Papers deals with Temple ordinances you will not see it unless you are signed in.

The two papers are in pdf format.  The titles are:  1.  Dealing with Duplicate Records of People in Family Tree, and 2. Managing Ordinances in Family Tree.

Why are they called White Papers?  “A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem.” (Wikipedia)

Please note that previous recommendations posted here remain.  Family Tree, while a great product, is not yet complete, so you still need to use new FamilySearch (nFS).  If you don’t want to be using 2 products then stay with nFS until Family Tree is completed.

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What’s New at FamilySearch.org as of June 23, 2012

There is always something new to learn at FamilySearch.org – either something you didn’t realize was there or something that has been recently added to help us with our Family History.

How do you keep up?

Try to regularly – at least once a month – go to familysearch.org then click on the blog and look to the right to the link under the heading Categories to What’s New at FamilySearch?

Since the beginning of May 2012 there are 5 items:

1.  Site Scoop – May 9 – details some changes to FamilySearch -

“Search Form Refinements – Small tweaks in formatting and presentation.. .  For example, the search fields now have a descriptive word or two to help you know exactly what information should go into a field.

The All Record Collections Page – FamilySearch adds new records collections almost daily.  . . .  Some have noticed that the system seems to be responding slowly when uploading a record collection. We have fixed that problem so that all record collections upload nearly 400% faster. Several other behind the scene changes were made that users will probably not notice but will make the search experience in FamilySearch a better experience for everyone.. . .

Looking Ahead – We’re currently engaged in focus group testing of a new main page interface that allows for easier search, location of records, and an improved new user experience. Look for that in second quarter.”

2. Ron Tanner Live from Salt Lake City – May 17 – product manager for FamilySearch (and stand up comedian!) – this is a link to his presentation at Rootstech in Feb 2012.  Besides being entertained, you will learn why and how Family Tree is going to work.

3.  New FamilySearch Feature – IGI – May 25 – this doesn’t mean new.familysearch.org but a new feature being added to FamilySearch.org!  Reminds us that the IGI consisted of inputs from 2 sources – “Community Indexed IGI: This collection consists of sources that were indexed by the genealogical community from collections of vital and Church records” – generally very dependable and a good research tool, and “Community Contributed IGI: This collection consists of personal family information submitted by individuals to the LDS Church.” – varied in quality but still can be helpful.  The article then goes on to tell you how to access the IGI at FamilySearch.  At the time of writing this article the community contributed IGI was not yet available.

4.  My Source Box – May 25 – ““FamilySearch now provides a new feature called My Source Box. This Source Box serves as a place to capture a record source and preserve it. Your source box contains the sources that you want to attach to your ancestors. It lets you reuse sources instead of retyping a source each time you need to use it.

If you have access to the Family Tree, you can find a record, add it to the source box, and then attach it to an ancestor on the Tree immediately or at a later date.

If you don’t have access to the tree, it can be a very useful way to bookmark or store records you find for later use. You won’t have to re-do searches to find and bring in sources you want to use to document an event.

To use the Source Box you must be signed into the FamilySearch system.

The Source Box option is located in the upper-right of the a record page.

5.   Robert Kehrer presents a FamilySearch webinar – June 15 – “On Tuesday, June 19, 2012, at 2pm Mountain Time, we will present a 60 minute webinar with Robert Kehrer. The purpose of this webinar is to help instruct and educate users on the FamilySearch search experience. We will focus the discussion on the Library Catalog, the Historical Records Collection and especially on the IGI (International Genealogical Collection.”  A recorded version of the presentation will be made available after this date.

6.  New Books at the FH Library – 21 June – not really of interest unless you are close to the FH Library in Salt Lake or planning a visit . . . . .

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Where did it go?

Been to FamilySearch.org recently?  Did you notice what is missing?  There is no longer the link to “Previous Site” aka Classic view aka the old version of FamilySearch.org. Did this mean they took away the previous site?  Not yet  . . .  so far only the link has been removed.  You can still get to the old site by going to http://www.familysearch.org/eng

However the “writing is on the wall” and the old site is going to go away . . . .  We have been assured that the IGI will be moved to the new site and the extracted components are already in the Historical Records collections.  The US Social Security Death Index is on the new site.

Please use Feedback to send suggestions for features you want to see at FamilySearch.org.

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Keeping up with FamilySearch Family Tree and Other FamilySearch Products

Interested in the FamilySearch Family Tree or other FamilySearch products?  Want to learn more about it?  Want to keep up with the changes?  Do you want to give Feedback or Input into changes?

To learn about FamilySearch Family Tree go to the Help Centre at FamilySearch.org and scroll down to the section on Family Tree.  Several resources are there including instructions on how to get access, and a video.

The user guide is entitled “Using the FamilySearch Family Tree.”  This is a work in progress.  It is not complete – so we strongly recommend that you not print the document (available as a pdf) – try to study it online – use keyword searches – or the chapter headings and page numbers to help you navigate.

How do we tell when there has been an update to Family Tree?  Look at the date on the cover of the user guide – it changes when changes are made!  Most recent changes have been in Chapter 8 on Sources – an important chapter.

You may also be very interested in Appendix C in the user guide that offers a feature comparison between Family Tree and new FamilySearch.

There is a link in the Help Centre to Release Notes.  These do not seem to be as up to date at the date on the user guide!

Your input and feedback is very important – so please send comments and questions to FamilySearch Support.

Get Satisfaction is the name of the Feedback tool used by FamilySearch.  It is very helpful to explore this tool and learn how to use it as it covers all FamilySearch products and not just Family Tree.  Here is how to access it:  1.  Click on Feedback in the Help Centre (upper right side) – don’t be signed in when you do this – or you will have to navigate through 2 additional screens  2.  Click on the link to Share an Idea – and you go to a section entitled Ideas from the Community to Improve FamilySearch – has interesting material!  3. On the right scroll down the list of Products and Services, click on the link See All Products and Services, and then select Family Tree from the next screen to see discussions on Family Tree – often with replies from the product developers.  This is an interesting tool to learn about any of the FamilySearch products!

Don’t feel that you have to use Family Tree at this time. You can still continue to use nFS and wait until FT is more complete.

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New Blog + Billion Graves + Spring Handout

This week’s article has 3 parts!

1. We want to announce a new blog!  pfhn.wordpress.com or http://pfhn.wordpress.com/ Why?  To provide a place to post the latest versions of handouts for Family History – I just don’t like the idea of people going home from a presentation and typing in urls from a paper handout , and focus on FH articles for the public.  So peterfh.wordpress.com remains for FH Consultants and lds topics, and pfhn.wordpress.com is for public articles and particularly handouts. You are welcome to sign up for the new blog!  Your comments and articles are welcome!
2. Did you get the FH Consultant Newsletter from FamilySearch on 27 April?  Hope so – or it means that either you haven’t registered at familysearch.org/serve aka https://www.familysearch.org/consultant/  yet or that your email program moved the message into the spam or trash file!  Did you notice the interesting news that Billion Graves data will be part of FamilySearch as of 1 May 2012?  Not familiar with Billion Graves?  Their website is http://billiongraves.com/ .  They are trying to add 1 million records in the month of May.  There is also an article in the blog at FamilySearch.org https://www.familysearch.org/blog/billiongraves/   Billion Graves is a FamilySearch affiliate product (go to the link to Products at the bottom of the page at Familysearch.org and select Web)
3. Here is the latest version of the handout we have been using at our training sessions this Spring.

Stake Family HIstory Meetings April/May 2012

1. Our purpose: To follow the Spirit and empower members to identify their ancestors, link them into families, and ensure that temple ordinances are performed for them.

Process:  Ask, Find, Teach

Clarifying questions are very important. There are 5 main places to Find answers – (1). Learn at familysearch.org, (2). Help Centre at nFS and Help at familysearch, (3).  FHCentre Director, your fellow consultants, (4).  Telephone 1-866-406-1830 or email support@familysearch.org,  (5). Weekly articles at peterfh.wordpress.com .

1. Teach Temple policy – who we do work for – 110 year rule  – help everyone understand and follow Temple Policies – refer to page 30 in Member’s Guide – First Presidency letter 29 Feb – use the Tutorials and Guides from the Help panel or Learn How to use FamilySearch from the new FamilySearch home page – quote policy don’t interpret
2. Indexing on mobile devices – IOS and Android – in beta – app seems very stable – but work done is not being rolled up into Stake statistics yet – uses “snippets” – look for icon at top of screen to see page view (so can compare lettering)
3. Helping with LDS Account problems
   1. When registering – User name – keep short – minimum 4 characters
   2. Passwords – think of a word plus a number – minimum 8 characters including at least one number
   3. Contact name – use something meaningful e.g. first initial last name
   4. Forgot username and/or password – follow Forgot? on sign in page
   5. Forgot username but no or wrong email or not available to use email – click in box and use membership number and birthdate.
   6. How to sign in to help someone else – helper access numbers – where to find them – limitations on being a helper (e.g. no discussions available) – see kd 100546 – when do you use Sign in to Help Someone Else?
   7. Update email, change username, password and access # in Update My Profile and Preferences on welcome page of nFS
4. Update on FamilySearch.org – end of Previous site coming soon?
   1. Blog link – check periodically – includes news on changes
   2. Records – search wide – then narrow with filters
   3. Trees – new options – search PRF or AF or both
   4. Books – now moved to Familysearch servers so collection can grow – and it is already larger – full text access to family histories
   5. Learn – for Research Wiki, Research Courses, and Discussion Forums
   6. Catalog – still not final version
   7. Help – be aware of options
   8. Signing in makes a difference – e.g. more images available
   9. Future of the IGI – told it will be made available again in 2013 (??)
5. Building your tree on nFS
   1. Sign in – build your tree – combine duplicates – update Summary View – find relatives needing Temple work – move to temple list – print Family Ordinance Request (FOR)
   2. Are we making any progress with “mytreeitus”?
   3. FORs – how to email – beware of old FORs
6. Family Tree (FT) -  Demo of some of the features
   1. Dilemma – not complete product yet – so must still use nFS – will this be confusing?   will names be delayed going to the temple?  Should we be learning to use it or just be aware of it?
   2. For Help Learning FT – go to FamilySearch.org click on Help and scroll down to Family Tree Help – currently there are 5 resources there: Navigating the FamilySearch Family Tree (video), Navigating the FamilySearch Family Tree (pdf), Using the FamilySearch Family Tree (pdf), Gaining Access to the FamilySearch Family Tree (pdf), Release Notes (pdf)
   3. If you want to use FT you can have it – FamilySearch need people to give feedback during development – but be cautious about who tries it.  Providing feedback with good easy-to-follow examples can help the engineers to fix problems.  Go to FamilySearch.org, click on Help and scroll down to the section on Family Tree, click on Gaining Access to the FamilySearch Family Tree (pdf) to submit a request.   …If you have questions or comments, please go to http://getsatisfaction.com/familysearch/products/familysearch_family_tree_beta .   Note: This site is described as a “beta site” but uses live data, so please be careful. It is partly “read-only”, so changes sometimes need to be made in nFS to appear in FT.
7. Keeping your own file – feel stronger than ever that this is important to do if we can – what software to use? make sure you can move data to and from nFS without re-typing it.  See list through Products link at FamilySearch.org or link on right to software on sign in page for nFS
8.   Please read our weekly article – and submit suggestions for articles and even articles themselves.  We welcome your contributions. You can subscribe to automatically receive articles.  http://peterfh.wordpress.com/  Also public notes at http://pfhn.wordpress.com

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Putting our FAMILY in Family History – The First Annual Raymond Stake “Family” Family History Fair

Last weekend we had the pleasure of attending and helping with the Raymond Stake Family History Fair.  We thought this was a very very successful event which other stakes might want to try.  The Raymond Stake has been kind enough to share their plan with us.  About 150 people attended the Fireside and over 160 people attended the classes on Saturday.  The lunch of soup, whole wheat bread, cookies, and apple crumble (made from dried apples) was delicious.  Obviously a lot of planning and preparation went into the event and we have included some of the outlines. Another element that made the event so successful was the large number of presenters and helpers from organizations throughout the stake.   Congratulations Raymond Stake!

The following is an extract of their outline for the fair.  Please contact us if you need a complete copy of the outline and contact information for the FH leaders in the Raymond Stake.

On Friday evening, April 20^th and during the day, Saturday April 21^st, The Raymond Stake will host a Family History Fair, centered in Family History activities that we can do as families.

Our Goals

• Help our stake families to understand their ancestors and how they contribute to who and what we are today
• Provide family centered activities to help us learn about and enjoy our family backgrounds and history
• Show what is available and build interest within our Stake in family history and genealogy work

The Format

Our fair will be in two parts. It will begin with a family fireside on Friday evening at 7:00 pm at the Stake Center Chapel. Peter & Linda Darby, our Area Family History Advisors, will be the speakers. During the day Saturday we will host a “drop in” smorgasbord of family centered Family History activities at the Stake Centre and Cultural Hall. This will begin at 9 am and continue till around 4:30 pm. Attendees will be able to choose from a range of concurrent activities, classes, displays and programs, each one repeating 6 times, at 9:30, 10:30, 11:30, 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30. Some of the activities may require a previous signup with designated times for attending. Others will be “free form” and “drop in”. All will be designed for entire families to participate in. Each will take about 45 minutes, and allow 5 to 10 minutes for questions after, and 5 minutes to move the group out and a new one in. Lunch will be provided in the Cultural Hall between 12:30 and 1:30 (the Stake Emergency Preparedness group will be handling this so it could be interesting as well as filling).

The planned activities and their coordinating/sponsoring High Priests groups are: 

#1 – Build Your Family Tree and put it on your mantle, save it for a rainy day. (1^st Ward)

#2 – How can I write a journal when I can’t even write a note? (4^th Ward)

#3 – Can I really learn anything useful from my grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles? (7^th Ward)

#4 – What is indexing and do I need a dictionary to do it? (5^th Ward)

#5 – What does our family stand for, how are we unique, and where did we get our family traditions, traits, habits, recipes and all these things that make us who we are? (3^rd Ward)

#6 – How were the lives of our ancestors different from ours, and how were they similar (9^th Ward)

#7 – What is this whole NewFamilySearch thing, why is it “new” and is my family really lost enough that I need to be searching for it? (8^th Ward)

#8 – I’ve got all these old photos and artifacts and stuff – are they good for anything and if so, how can I save and use them? (6^th Ward)

#9 – What’s at the Family History Centre and what can it do for my family? (2^nd Ward)

There will be two additional activities that are not repeating “classes” but will be more of a service booth approach:

#10 – “The Doctors are IN” – what FH problems can we help you solve? (Area FH Advisors)

#11 – Haven’t registered for new FamilySearch yet? – Here is your chance – (Stake Clerk and FHC Staff)

What’s next

We are working with the High Priest Group Leaders to define and refine the activities and help find ways to make them whole family experiences. Someone has been assigned to coordinate a publicity campaign and we will all keep reinforcing in a positive way that this is a “Family” Family History event. We also plan to have family history related displays in the Cultural Hall and North Stake Centre foyers, – posters, materials, some artifacts and such.

Please contact (member of HC or FHC Directors) with suggestions, feedback and ideas.

 

Putting our FAMILY in Family History – April 21, 2012

Activity #1 – Build Your Family Tree (and put it on your mantle) – First Ward

Message – Families are made of real people who are connected in ways we can understand

Activity Description – As a family, talk about what a family tree is. Families can make a physical family tree that can be taken home and displayed, and can also register and receive a fanchart printout showing 9 generations of their family ancestors.

Target Group – Families with younger children for the physical tree and any family for the fanchart

Coordinator – 1^st Ward High Priests

Possible assisting organization – Stake Primary people and ward people as needed

What we need

• A simple way that people can select pieces, put names on them and construct a tree form showing their family relationships
• Some posters and discussion points or illustrations about relationships, what they are called and how they fit together
• A computer and printer setup to load and print fancharts from the NewFamilySearch website

The Take-home – an individual family tree, a visual reminder of how and who makes up our family

 

Activity #3 – Can I really learn anything new or useful from my grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles? – Seventh Ward

Message – Our ancestors and their experiences can be a blessing to us, but only if we know who they are and what they did. We can find these things out by talking to them about their lives and keeping notes or a recording in some way

Activity Description – Examples of Q and A family firesides, possibly a church video on interviewing, ask some of the questions and get the answers, talk about recording with ink and ipods

Target Group – Families with living relatives (that’s most of us)

Coordinator – 7^th Ward High Priests

Possible assisting organization – Stake YW, YM

What we need

• Illustrations of things learned from our progenitors and family members
• An opportunity to interview someone about a specific event as a learning process
• Discussion and examples about ways to preserve an interview
• A real interview with a family member about some significant event – marriage, first child, mission

The Take-home – a better knowledge of a family event or member and an understanding of how to find out about other events that have meaning from our past

 

Activity #4 – What is indexing and do I need a dictionary to do it? – Fifth Ward

Message – Indexing can be fun and it blesses us all – it is a powerful way to help Family History efforts

Activity Description – A presentation/demonstration about indexing along with actual involvement in indexing records

Target Group – All, with some emphasis on the “gadgetized” youth

Coordinator – 5^th Ward High Priests

Possible assisting organization – Stake Indexing director

What we need

• A location with a computer or two, a large monitor or projector and internet access
• Some demonstrations and illustrations about  the Church indexing program and why it helps us
• Discussion about the youth site at LDS.Org/youth/family-history
• Demonstrations on a smartphone/iphone and/or a tablet
• Some fairly easy record sets to work with
• Those taking this class will need their membership number and birth date if they are not registered already

The Take-home – an understanding of indexing and its importance in family history work

 

Activity #9 – What is at the Family History Centre and what can it do for my family? – Second Ward

Message – Tools, resources and training for our research needs can be found at the FHC

Activity Description – Show what is available at the FHC and what help we can receive there

Target Group – all

Coordinator – 2^nd Ward High Priests

Possible assisting organization – Family History Directors

What we need

• Sample setups from the FHC, one computer workstation, one microfilm reader, one microfiche reader, internet
• A presentation/discussion about what you can do at home and what you can do at the Center
• Illustrations of ways the FHC can complement family research at home

The Take-home – an understanding of where a Family History centre can help a family in their Family History program.

 

 

 

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New Look for labs.familysearch.org and Conference Update

Time to check out labs.familysearch.org if you haven’t been there recently.  The web site has been re-designed.  Some old favourites are still there and some new things are being added.

What is still there?

1.  Research Wiki – also available under Learn at Familysearch.org – “The FamilySearch Research Wiki provides free family history research advice for the community, from the community. The wiki is a free and growing resource fueled by the largest network of volunteer genealogical researchers and enthusiasts in the world.

Now is the time to join in and contribute to this free and rapidly growing resource that is available to everyone. FamilySearch invites those with expertise in genealogical research all over the world to contribute to these resources. Choose your preferred language, sign in (registration is free), and join many volunteers in making a huge difference helping others with their own family history.

The wiki is available in the following languages: Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish”

2.   Forums  – also available under Learn at Familysearch.org – “The Forums project is aimed at providing the most up to date information to anyone who uses FamilySearch products to work on their family history. Through the Forums anyone can ask questions about product features, research techniques, hints and tips, or even about specific families in specific locations. And anyone who knows the answer can reply. Come participate and give us your feedback. The more who use it the better the information.

The forums are available in the following languages: Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish.”

3.  England Jurisdictions 1851 – a great tool – do I have lots of English research?  – “The England Jurisdictions 1851 project simplifies research by consolidating data from many finding aids into a single searchable repository that can be accessed by clicking in a parish boundary. Features include contiguous parish and radius search lists and relevant jurisdictions as they existed in England in 1851. Data includes changes to parishes prior to 1851 and lists of non-conformist denominations in a parish. (requires Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 3, Safari 3 or newer)”

4.  Standard Finder – do you get frustrated “occasionally” by standardized place names?  This is a huge undertaking . . .  . – and actually a great project that is very helpful and getting better. Place and Preview were very interesting – didn’t realize there were so many places named Norfolk in the world.  Using this project will give you greater understanding of the project and a link to send Feedback on names that need correction! – “Standard Finder is a FamilySearch Labs application which provides access to standardized information for names, locations, and dates. These databases are used by several FamilySearch applications to assist researchers in searching for exact spellings as well as for indexers who enter information used for RecordSearch.”

5.   Community Trees – a good resource – need to know how to look at the collections – click on See Community Trees so you can browse the collections – “Community Trees are lineage-linked genealogies from specific time periods and geographic localities around the world. The information also includes the supporting sources. Most of the genealogies are joint projects between FamilySearch and others who live locally or have expertise in the area or records used to create the genealogies.”

New (or relatively new!) – as of 30 March 2012 only Submit Your Tree was available – the others are yet to arrive! :

1.  Submit your tree – I was asked to try this last summer, but just haven’t got there yet . . .  “This beta test of Submit Your Tree is an easy way to upload a GEDCOM file and compare it to millions of records that are already in new.familysearch.org. The process distinguishes between ancestors who are already in new.familysearch.org and those that are not. Once you have gone through this process, please use the orange feedback link to provide your input.”

2.   Fresh – can’t wait to see what this is going to be! – “This project represents the new face of FamilySearch for people who have never participated in their family history before.”

3.   FamilySearch Maps – “Get the help you need in person. It may be closer than you think. Search for family history around the world.”

4.  Ohio Research Assistance – OK I admit I was at first underwhelmed as I have no ancestry in Ohio, but they are developing this tool to provide research help for other areas of the world too – “We are experimenting with how to best provide research help to our users throughout the world. Our first phase is to provide research assistance to those needing help finding their ancestors in records involving the State of Ohio.”

Genealogy Conference update!

Registrations already over 200!  Don’t miss your chance to hear Gena Philibert Ortega (author, blogger Vice-President for the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists & a Regional Director for the California State Genealogical Alliance) the keynote speaker on Friday night, Dick Eastman (Owner and writer of Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter and Blog) on Saturday, and attend a live webinar with Thomas MacEntee (Founder of High-Definition Genealogy and a professional genealogist specializing in the use of technology and social media to improve genealogical research)

Go to http://rdgensoc.ab.ca/conferenceindex.html for details.

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5 Minute Genealogy Series

How many videos are there in the complete 5 Minute Genealogy Series?  Answer:  25!  The final episode is now available.  These are a great introduction to Family History.

Here is a complete list of the titles in the series:

1.      Find a Record

2.      The Circle of Success

3.      Record What You Know

4.      Learn From Family

5.      Choose an Ancestor and Question

6.      Locating Your Ancestor

7.      Records – Have I Got Something for You

8.      Find a Record

9.      Using Indexes

10.   Using Name Variations to Find a Record

11.   Find Help from Others Online

12.   Learn From a Record

13.   Write It  Down

14.   Organize Your Records

15.   Evaluate the Information

16.   Share With Others

17.   What’s Next

18.   Get Help with Locations

19.   Get Help In-Person

20.   Get Help from Others Researching the Same Name

21.   Getting Help with Using Family History Products

22.   Get Help Sharing My Knowledge

23.   I Want to Interview a Living Relative

24.   I Want to Learn More About Sourcing

25.   I Want to Improve My Handwriting Skills

Where do you find the 5 Minute Genealogy videos?

1. At FamilySearch.org under Learn and then click on Getting Started.  Under the window showing Episode 1 there are thumbnails for the first 8 episodes.  There is an arrow to the right of the thumbnails that takes you to the rest of the episodes – 8 at a time!  This link also works:   http://broadcast.lds.org/elearning/fhd/Community/fr/FamilySearch/5Minute/index.html
2. At FamilySearch.org under Learn and then select Research Courses.  You will see some of the episodes immediately and you can search for the rest.
3. At YouTube.com – go to the FamilySearch channel.  At YouTube you can download an episode (and not be left dependent on the Internet bandwidth when you are teaching a class!).  There are various 3rd party tools to download from YouTube.  We use http://keepvid.com/

The first eight episodes are now available in 9 other languages. Please go here to see the latest episodes:

Spanish:

http://broadcast.lds.org/elearning/fhd/Community/es/FamilySearch/5Minute/index.html

Portuguese:

http://broadcast.lds.org/elearning/fhd/Community/po/FamilySearch/5Minute/index.html

French:

http://broadcast.lds.org/elearning/fhd/Community/fr/FamilySearch/5Minute/index.html

Italian:

http://broadcast.lds.org/elearning/fhd/Community/it/FamilySearch/5Minute/index.html

German:

http://broadcast.lds.org/elearning/fhd/Community/de/FamilySearch/5Minute/index.html

Russian:

http://broadcast.lds.org/elearning/fhd/Community/ru/FamilySearch/5Minute/index.html

Chinese:

http://broadcast.lds.org/elearning/fhd/Community/zh/FamilySearch/5Minute/index.html

Japanese:

http://broadcast.lds.org/elearning/fhd/Community/ja/FamilySearch/5Minute/index.html

Korean:

http://broadcast.lds.org/elearning/fhd/Community/ko/FamilySearch/5Minute/index.html

What’s Next?

·        FamilySearch are reviewing all 25 episodes, color correcting, and tightening some edits based on testing.

·        The remaining 16 episodes will be made available in all ten languages

·        Add episodes to new language sites

·        The handouts and descriptions are being translated for all languages.

Hint:  Use the Subject Language filters at FamilySearch.org to help with navigation

As always please send Feedback to FamilySearch – comments, suggestions, words of praise . . .

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FamilySearch.org Update January 2012 and Rootstech 2012

FamilySearch.org continues to get better and better!  On or about January 26 there was an update to the website – how do they do that while we are all still using the site?  Please note an update to the website is different from the frequent almost weekly additions of data and images.

What changed?

1. Main Search Screen.  There were changes in the wording of the search screens on the main page at FamilySearch.org, which allows you to search in the collection of Historical records.
2. Browse by Collection (lower part of main screen). Canada now has its own link!  This should save time when you are trying to get to Canadian Historical Record collections.  Similarly there is a new direct link to the United Kingdom.  The All Record Collections link has been moved to the top of the list.
3. Books.  Clicking on the Books tab on the main page takes you to the new FamilySearch Books search rather than the old link which took you to the BYU Books Collection.  There was problems with capacity on the BYU servers so the collection has been moved and additional books have already been added – there are now over 40,000 digitized FH books.  There are also improvements to the search tools. Please try searching for your main family names.
4. Trees.  Take the link to Trees from the main page and you see that the search screen for Trees has undergone major changes.  Most important is the ability to select if you want to search in the Ancestral File, or the Pedigree Resource File (PRF) or both!
5. Uploads to Trees. There is a new link to upload GEDCOMs on the Trees page.  This will shortly replace the old upload to PRF link on the previous FamilySearch.org site (i.e. the old version of FamilySearch.org).   FamilySearch.org has more names in the PRF collection than the old FamilySearch website, and provides more information on the names in PRF including sources – it is no longer just an index.  FamilySearch is discontinuing the distribution of PRF on disk.

What is the Ancestral File (AF)?

A collection of 40 million names submitted to FamilySearch between 1979 and 2003.  See the article in the FamilySearch Research wiki  https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Ancestral_File for more information

What is the Pedigree Resource File (PRF)?

Collection of genealogies submitted to FamilySearch since 1999 in GEDCOM format.  PRF includes some sources which makes it different from AF.  The collection on FamilySearch.org contains over 200 million records (compared to 120 million on the old version of FamilySearch). Initially the information was shared on CD and then later submissions were shared on DVD.  There are about 150 disks. FamilySearch is discontinuing the distribution on disk.  For more information go to the FamilySearch Research Wiki https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Pedigree_Resource_File

What is a GEDCOM?

An  ”acronym for GEnealogical Data COMmunications. GEDCOM is a data structure created by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for storing and exchanging genealogical information so that many different computer programs can use it. It is identified by the file type “.ged”.” See the wiki article for the rest of the information on GEDCOMs.   https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/GEDCOM

Rootstech Sessions available live online!

We hope that you got the notice that 14 sessions of the Rootstech conference being held in Salt Lake City on Feb 2 to 4 will be broadcast live!!!  Go to http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=b0de542dc933cfcb848d187ea&id=e0eae27d25&e=1944fc8d1d for details.

If you didn’t get the notice please go to familyseach.org/serve and make sure that you are registered as a consultant, FH Centre Director or priesthood leader so that you are on the email list to receive updates from FamilySearch.

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