I see it as the issue being "saving". I was elected the Family Historian for a VERY large family last year when the person who last held the position passed away. She was dying of cancer yet never worked on transferring her info and knowledge to someone else. I always thought I would step on her toes if I tried to learn too much.
I knew that she had a house fire years ago that destroyed many things and some things I have are charred. I inherited 17 boxes of unorganized, unsorted, uncomputerized data and documents. It was enough to try to tackle 4 boxes in one year (a lot were books). Last week I spoke with a relative who said that 6 months before my predecessor passed away, she asked him to help her drop off BOXES of things to FOUR different genealogical societies. Now I not only have to digitize and enter 13 more boxes of info, but I have to go to four more places to regain 50 or more years of her research. Then I have to figure out what other places she took things too besides these four. This is no way to preserve family documentation. With Legacy you can be a much better ancestor to your descendants. God bless, Ellen ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cheryl Rothwell" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, October 24, 2010 1:35:34 PM Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Digital Sources Added to Legacy It's also dangerous to rely on paper. Digital is easy to store and small enough that you can store multiple copies. I can and do still view files I saved in 1988. What changes most is the medium. 5 1/4 floppies, 3 1/2 floppies, Zip drives, CDs, DVDs, external hard drives, flash drives, ??? You do have to keep up with that. I note the LDS is digitalizing the files in Granite Mountain. They know more about files and preserving files than we do and they think it is a good idea. Paper really isn't smart for me, living in hurricane heaven now or before when I lived in tornado alley - not to mention fire, flood, etc. But I think sharing your files is really the bottom line. If you only have one copy [as is common with paper] you are more likely to have a problem. On Sun, Oct 24, 2010 at 11:11 AM, Connie Sheets <[email protected]> wrote: > > It seems to me that anyone contemplating going digital should have a > specific, easy to implement plan for who will preserve your life's work and > how they will do it should something unexpected happen to you the day after > you throw away your last piece of paper. (Never mind keeping up with the > constant changes in formats). > > IMO, it is a dangerous step to take unless you have such a plan in place and > complete faith in your surviving family and/or friends' desire and ability to > use and maintain your computer files. > > I can't speak for others, but the people I will leave behind are more likely > to look at and keep my physical photographs and papers than my hard drive, > back-ups, CDs, etc. > > Connie Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
