ThinkGenealogy

The Dutch translation of the Genealogy Research Process map has been updated with some minor changes to make it a better translation.  I was contacted months ago by Bob Coret (who helped with the first translation) with some corrections.  Because of limited time and many commitments, I was not able to update the map until now.

download PDF (Dutch – version 2) – 1.10 MB

The Genealogisch Onderzoeksproces (Genealogy Research Process) is important to researchers in the Dutch genealogy community and the Standaard voor Genealogisch Bewijs (Genealogical Proof Standard) is being promoted outside the United States.  Maybe the Board for Certification of Genealogists should consider working with genealogists in other countries to translate The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual into other languages.

(more…)

In preparation for my presentation this Friday at the BYU Genealogy Conference, I updated my slides and posted them on SlideShare:

This slide presentation goes with the syllabus material that I posted earlier.

Hope to see some of you on Friday at 1:30pm.

In gotcha #1 we looked at the issue of having the Source quality associated with the Source Details instead of the Master Source.  In gotcha #2 we look at issues dealing with evidence.

Source, Information, & Evidence

According to Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills, ”sources are artifacts, books, digital files, documents, film, people, photographs, recordings, websites, etc.” (see page 24)  Information is the content of the source.  Evidence “represents our interpretation of information we consider relevant to the research question or problem.” (see page 25)  So in order to classify evidence we need both information and a research objective.  Even though the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) does not include a step to define research goals, I’ve included it as part of the Genealogy Research Process Map because it is implied.  Step one of the GPS states:

“We conduct a reasonable exhaustive search in reliable sources for all information that is or may be pertinent to the identity, relationship, event, or situation in question.”
The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual, page 1.

How do we know which sources to search if we don’t have a research objective?  The definitions of direct and indirect evidence also points to the need to have a defined research objective:

Direct evidence – relevant information that seems to answer the research question or solve the problem all by itself.
Indirect evidence – relevant information that cannot, alone, answer the question;
Negative evidence – an inference we can draw from the absence of information that should exist under particular circumstances.
Evidence Explained, page 25

Even the definition for negative evidence hints at a research objective.

So how can we set the citation quality value for evidence in RootsMagic or any other genealogy software unless we have a research objective?

(more…)

At the Mesa Family History Expo 2008 held in November, I presented “Navigating Research with the Genealogical Proof Standard.”  On February 27, I will be presenting it again at the 5th Annual St. George Family History Expo 2009. I am seeking feedback from those who attended my class in November as well as those who have viewed the presentation slides online:

  (more…)

Last November I presented a class titled: Navigating Research with the Genealogical Proof Standard.  The slides for this presentation are now available on SlideShare.  You can catch this presentation if you will be attending the 5th Annual St. George Family History Expo 2009 held February 27-28.

In the last two and a half months alone, the original Genealogy Research Process Map post received 500 pageviews.  Version 2 of the map has only a few changes.  Besides fixing two typos, the arrows separating the 6 process steps where moved up next to the step headers.  I did this to help it look more like a timeline.  Looking at the map, there are three main “rows”: the circle diagram, the process timeline, and the process details.  The idea is to start in the middle of the diagram to understand the steps in the process: Define, Search, Cite, Analyze, Resolve, and Conclude. 

(more…)