Jul 05
It has been a few days since I sat down to write anything. In the meantime, summer appears to have arrived and gone here in the UK and at Wimbledon they have managed to get in almost a whole week of uninterrupted play…E’gad’s.
The other day I visited an up and coming Blog called ‘I hate National Express’, nothing to do with Genealogy, but for users of the East Anglia train services into London Liverpool Street. Unfortunately feelings are very raw regarding train services at present and I am one of the many discontented users of this line, so I am glad to see a blog such as this making national headlines and making train bosses feel a little uneasy….
On the Genealogy front, UKfamilyrecords are gradually adding more data to the forthcoming Essex Family Records database, it’s a slow process so you will have to bear with us, but it will be worth it eventually.
I am personally preparing the summer newsletter for customers (Hazel is dealing with the Essex Family Records database), so that should be with everyone shortly.
Jun 15
We decided to blog for several reasons. One was to challenge current genealogical research standards, and the other was to provide a forum for communication and comments with our customers and those with a general interest in our services.
The former may prove somewhat controversial and it may not be possible to comment on the general research methods of family historians, without arousing ire and comments of elitism, snobbery and pomposity. If that occurs, then so be it.
We already live in a culture of misinformation and the likes of some major online genealogy services only help to perpetuate this.
One recent instance of poor research practice and one conversation with a customer has led me personally along the campaigning route of, when should we publish our research? What caveats should we present to the general public when we do publish? Should we be more circumspect where we choose to publish? What responsibility do we have to future generations to be accurate and diligent when we publish our work?
Of course one of the websites that I have issue with has to be Ancestry - almost endorsed by the National Archives who in partnership with it, allows it to produce indexes from our national records, I feel that the NA should be setting an example and only having B2B partnerships with companies who encourage good practice.
The recent example of poor research that I encountered on Ancestry was regarding my great-grandfather. In the personal family trees section a family historian had him listed on their family tree, naming his wife and parents. This was all very well except that he was illegitimate and did not belong to this person’s family at all! And yet here it was on Ancestry for all to see…
Could I contact this person and tell them they had got it wrong? No, there is no way of directly contacting them on Ancestry. Could I make my own corrections to the erroneous information? No, there is no button or link to make corrections on Ancestry. Could I add a comment to the information? No there is no comments area.
No, by far the easiest method to give the true version was to publish my own data on Ancestry, just to make sure there was a correct account of the family out there….
Jun 14
It has been exciting times for Ukfamilyrecords. The new website was launched in October 2007 with our new-found hosts Siteground; the use of shopping cart software with a family history research service was innovative, allowing customers to instantly order all types of research.
However, early on in its infancy, Ukfamilyrecords had some technical issues with the shopping cart software; it was extremely complicated to adapt and would be best used by more traditional retailers such as clothing suppliers or white goods manufacturers.
It was with some dedication that we worked to modify the software for use with genealogy and to iron out the small number of bugs. The commitment to customization has meant that we have fallen behind adding the enormous list of research services that we have to offer, so there are vast gaps of space on the website where we would normally have merchant navy searches, metropolitan police searches, newspaper quarter sessions and manorial record searches etc.
These will come eventually, but if you’re reading this and want an inquest found or your criminal ancestor searched, send us an e-mail…
We are pleased that our relationship with hosts Siteground allows for so many opportunities: the main website, this blog as an add-on service for our customers and our next ambitious project, a content management site that will help create and maintain our passion for family histories - as opposed to just family trees - that will allow for your input, as well as ours. We’re keeping a lid on this for now, but it will be closely linked to our Essex Records Database.
See us on Facebook
As part of our ongoing promotional activities - we want ukfamilyrecords to be the Best research site - we’ve joined Facebook! If you already have a Facebook membership, why not become a fan? Meet as at The Wall and post some comments? Encourage any of your fellow family tree enthusiasts to join us. The more support we have the stronger we’ll be…