Paulette: You’ve touched upon another aspect of genealogy software that I was going to bring up in a separate thread, but you’ve beaten me to the punch! ☺ As far as I know, there isn’t a single genealogy product on the market that will manage an artifacts database alongside the data contained in records of individuals. Those products which do include some sort of direct connection are extremely lightweight when it comes to the specifics of documentation management. I don’t fault the makers of these products – it really would be quite an undertaking to include such functionality in a genealogy product. However, having to maintain your own separate repository of documentation then link it to your database can be tricky if you haven’t thought it all the way through.
For my part, I use ACDSee Pro as my repository, because anything and everything that I’ve ever used to support the entries in my family tree database (it’s been FTM so far, but I’m considering Legacy now) has been digitally scanned, including ‘3D’ physical objects, such as my father’s army dogtags and war ribbons, my grandmother’s reading glasses, etc. ACDSee is a first-rate product for photo management, so the ability to enter metadata into the header of the digital file and have the interface assist with an organized display is wonderful. Gone is the need to rely upon clumsy operating systems subject to the whims of Cupertino and Redmond: photo metadata has been standardized for a long time and there are countless imaging management applications which adhere to the system. This means that I no longer have to deal with that awful directory/file system that has never been revised since the days of DOS. Instead, all I have to do is create volumes (labeled simply 001, 002, 003, etc.) and can use generic filenames (10001.tif, etc.). All of the information about the file – including extensive captions – in included in the header (meaning it goes wherever the file goes) and is displayed in ACDSee. In short, I have built a complete digital library that currently contains nearly 10K digital files. In my genealogy software, I simply refer to the members of the archive by the labels I’ve used for the files: there is no need to know anything else. Then, where the physical items are stored, I have a simple labeling system that corresponds to that of ACDSee. Thus, I can place a dogtag next to a photo next to a high school diploma next to a marriage license – it doesn’t matter. I retrieve by search engine and filename, not by ‘type.’ Once you really get down to it, if you attempt to organize the images by concept, you’re going to run into a lot of trouble. So many artifacts have multiple uses that it’s basically impossible to come up with a system that you can be consistent in without a lot of interaction and micro-management. For example, you would normally believe that an obituary is simply a death notice, so you might create some sort of ‘Obituaries’ folder. Fine. However, the type of physical artifact that an item is pales in comparison to the way that it is utilized in your database. As you know, obits can contain a great deal of information – beyond the death of the subject. I have used obits as sources for births, marriages, locations, and a host of other data elements. Yet, if I were to file the item away as an obit, I would have to make sure that the item type (at least) were a part of my citation information stream. By being able to cite the item directly, however, the type of citation becomes simply a way of understanding how the information was originally derived: no document has an intrinsic confidence level. I’ve heard it said that the reason that the software developers don’t go full out and create functionality in their products that manages digital files is because there still seems to be a lot of controversy in regard to the ‘authenticity’ of a digital source. Many genealogists still believe that a digital image does not comprise a ‘true’ source, so there is no reason to expand the role of the genealogy software into management of these items. I can respect this viewpoint, but that hasn’t stopped me from creating my own database. In the old days, there was a lot of verbiage associated with records because without it, locating, retrieving, and placing the artifact in question would be very difficult. With the miracle of modern technology, however, a good database product with a solid search engine is all you need. Your repository software becomes a sort of ‘secretary’ who knows where each and every file is and what it contains down to the last jot and tittle. Hope this provides a different perspective for you. Greg From: Syble Glasscock [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2013 3:56 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Photos, book and Legacy I applaud you for trying to preserve the family photos and history, it sounds like you have a good start in the right directions. Syble From: Paulette Martinez <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2013 12:36 PM Subject: [LegacyUG] Photos, book and Legacy I have inherited from my sister a box of old unmarked family pictures going back to 1900. I am the elder of the family and the only one left with the undocumented memories. I know I should scan the pictures, but right now I am looking for a fast and easy way to organize the pictures, labels them with name, years, place, and to write what I knew and remember about my ancestors and their families while using Legacy. I need to do it right the first time. I cannot spend a lot of time learning software because, I can learn...but I can forget very fast also. I am 80, on palliative care for cancer, so time is an issue. Is there a miracle way to do it? Right now I have sorted the pictures by year/grand-parents lines and am writing in the back of each picture (in pencil 02). I will then put them in archival photo albums with intercalary typed pages of my memories/knowledge, researches finds, in addition to the habitual facts (birth, marriage, etc...). I am thinking of typing the insert in the notes of each marriage/individuals of Legacy and then print only the notes. Am I going in the right direction or is there a better way. If there is time left I will scan the pictures and make a CD to share my genealogy with my children, grand-children, nephews and nieces. Right now I want to preserve the pictures and the memories. I am hoping I am not hors-subject. I know you are all so knowledgeable. Thank you for sharing. Paulette One more question :). What do you do with facts such "they divorced and witnesses testified having seen her with other men" (divorce judgment in 1907). Hide the fact in consideration of the descendants feelings? 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 Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
