Saturday, 29 Sep 2007 | by Mark Tucker
All users of genealogy software should be aware that desktop software and web applications are converging in exciting ways that will soon affect the applications they use. One way that they are converging is through something called Rich Internet Applications (RIAs).
Are there any genealogy Rich Internet Applications today? The answer is yes. At least a few. Currently, they all are created using Adobe Flash.
It might surprise you that FamilySearch Labs is on th leading edge of genealogy Rich Internet Applications with these prototype applications:
Pedigree Viewer
panning, zooming
direct-line highlighting
ancestor/descendant view
search
GEDCOM import
Life Browser
add artifact (photo, record)
edit details
associate artifact as evidence
image representing potential timeline feature
Other genealogy sites using RIAs include:
Geni
panning, zooming
enter details, support for single birth, marriage, death date
intuitive interface for adding parents, spouse, siblings, and children
appealing design
MyHeritage
2D/3D perspective, animation to help flow through tree
enter details, support for multiple facts (birth, marriage, death, many more)
intuitive interface for adding parents, spouse, siblings, and children
appealing design
(more…)
Tuesday, 11 Sep 2007 | by Mark Tucker
Is Genealogy 2.0 simply the application of Web 2.0 to genealogy or is it a separate wave of innovation in genealogy software? The version number “2.0″ has been applied to the web and genealogy to indicate a “new release” or “major upgrade” to the way things were done before. This article discusses Web 2.0, Genealogy 2.0, and something I call Web 2.0+Gen.
Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 has been around since 2004 and is defined by wikipedia as the:
“perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services — such as social-networking sites, wikis and folksonomies — which aim to facilitate collaboration and sharing between users”
There is much debate over the definition of Web 2.0 and what makes a website “Web 2.0″. According to SEOmoz.org, some of the defining characteristics of Web 2.0 are:
- User generated and/or user influenced content
- Applications that use the Web (versus the desktop) as a platform, in innovative ways
- Similar visual design and shared functional languages
- Leveraging of popular trends, including blogging, social tagging, wikis, and peer-to-peer sharing
- Inclusion of emerging web technologies like RSS, AJAX, APIs (and accompanying mashups), Ruby on Rails and others
- Open source or sharable/editable frameworks in the form of user-oriented “create your own” APIs
Web 2.0 links:
Sample Sites:
Genealogy 2.0
When I search the internet for “genealogy 2.0″, I get a number of sites that talk about the application of Web 2.0 to genealogy. These sites mention social networking and collaboration as key components of Genealogy 2.0. One blog, The Plog: Pytlewski Log, states:
“traditionally genealogy 2.0 has only referred to the new internet based applications that are changing the way we collaborate as a genealogical community”
My view of Genealogy 2.0 is broader than Web 2.0 genealogy application or what I term, Web 2.0+Gen. Maybe it is because I have developed both web applications and Windows client applications. Maybe it is because I see so many areas for improvement and innovation in genealogy software and I don’t want to wait around for Genealogy 2.5 or 3.0. Or maybe it is just the developer in me that wants to avoid tight coupling. But pairing Genealogy 2.0 with Web 2.0 excludes genealogy software that is not web-based. It also seems to focus too much on what Web 2.0 is and not what Genealogy 2.0 could be.
Genealogy 2.0 links:
Sample Sites:
Expanded View of Genealogy 2.0
Many of these ideas are not new, but have been in the genealogy community for years. The time is ripe for them to materialize as software that will aid genealogists and family historians to do things that they have never been able to easily do before.
An expanded view of Genealogy 2.0 includes the following characteristics:
- Social networking
- Collaboration during research, analysis, and conclusions
- More than just sharing data and results
- Supports sources, information, evidence, and conclusions
- Document-centered data collection
- Standardized source citation (see Evidence Explained)
- Source citation as data not text
- Source provenance
- Information extraction
- Evidence evaluation and weight
- Conclusion recording
- Online data backup
- Community of researchers
- Online data storage or peer-to-peer offline storage
- Data linking and layering, not merging
- Expanded to include not only web-based applications but also desktop and mobile
- Modernizing of GEDCOM or replacement with XML-based format
- The ability to not do anything with genealogy for a year and then start right where I left off without any loss of information or momentum
Now the last point may just be my own personal wish list item, but if a Genealogy 2.0 application included a place to put everthing and kept track of what I have done and what else needs to be done then it would be much easier to continue where I left off.
Genealogy 2.0 Expanded links:
I look forward to your comments and ideas about Genealogy 2.0.
Saturday, 11 Aug 2007 | by Mark Tucker
This last week Family Pursuit Beta 1.0 was launched and I am excited to be among the testers. This web-based genealogy application promises tools to organize your research and collaborate with others.
The user interface is clean and consistent. A tutorial explains the application and there are help links available on every page. I was interested in how the company would fulfill their promise to “enable genealogy enthusiasts to involve family members who have never engaged in family history work. ” After spending a few hours using the beta, I think Family Pursuit, LC is on a path of innovation for genealogy software. Those more experienced with family history now have tools available to mentor beginners in the research process and work collaboratively toward a common goal.
It is early in the beta process and not all features are available. Overall, I like what I have seen so far and will share more details as the beta testing continues.
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