Sharing Family History

Because I've seen it come up in various threads, I thought it might be useful to start a new thread dedicated to sharing Family History data and perhaps it might be a little easier for folks to find the info.

My problems:
- Many members of my family are nonmembers, but interested in our history.
- nFS isn't available to nonmembers and is still sub-par (in my opinion) where sources, notes and multimedia are concerned.
- Currently, I'm the the keeper of the "official version" of our FH files. If somebody has something to add, they usually email it to me and I input it, source it, and send it back out to whomever might be interested.

Here's what I have now:
1) I use RootsMagic - it syncronizes info with nFS very well and has great source, note and multimedia support. Plus I can use it to reserve ordinances, print FORs and perform other tasks without ever opening nFS.
2) I have a very simple electronic filing system and naming convention for all my linked multimedia files.
3) I syncronize everything to a USB drive using SyncToy every time something changes.

What I'm considering:
3) Syncronize everything to an online backup or FTP instead of (or in addition to) my local backup.
4) Convert my family to RootsMagic and provide them access to the backup location (I see this as the tough part).
5) Set up a notification system and let them know when things change.

This solution isn't as elegant as I would prefer and doesn't solve the collaboration dilemma that I'm sure will arise when somebody else in my family wants to take a more active role in the research process, but it might get the job done until nFS matures into what I hope it will be someday.

I'd like to invite the community to consider the problem and suggest some other solutions that might work (given our current constraints). What I'm not looking for is a lot of complaining about what's wrong with the system. We all know the limitations ... how can we move the work forward?

- Stephen

scjayounger wrote:- nFS isn't available to nonmembers

The operative word is "yet". It's always been in the plan to make it available to non-members. The product is around version 0.96 or so. The word is, that non-members will have access when it hits version 1.0.

So you may not need a solution that lasts longer than a year or so.

RussellHltn wrote:The operative word is "yet".

And that's a pretty important "yet."

Eventually, nFS will roll out to nonmembers - I also believe it will be in the next year or so. That's why I'm not suggesting we discuss writing a new program, but rather how we can use the tools available to address what is currently a common need.

I can't remember about RootsMagic, but I think some of the offerings had a collaboration feature that simplified "syncing" changes.

Which reminds me, I need to get around to installing RM4 ....


Looking around, I didn't see collaboration in RM, but I did find it in Ancestral Quest.

RussellHltn wrote:Looking around, I didn't see collaboration in RM, but I did find it in Ancestral Quest.

AQ does have great collaboration tools, and I usually recommend it for people who love PAF (If you're reading this Bruce, I'm sorry) because they're so similar. In RM, look in "FamilySearch Central" under the heading of "What's New." It should automatically populate with the phrase: "FamilySearch has new information for XX of your people." This is a link which will open a list of the affected individuals and provide the user, but not the contact info (yet) , who submitted the new info. I'd be very interested in hearing your thoughts after you've used it a little ... I think you have my email address.

- Stephen

scjayounger wrote:In RM, look in "FamilySearch Central" under the heading of "What's New." It should automatically populate with the phrase: "FamilySearch has new information for XX of your people." This is a link which will open a list of the affected individuals and provide the user, but not the contact info (yet) , who submitted the new info.

That's good for collaborating via new FamilySearch, but what about non-members who want to collaborate with each other? Or did I misunderstand the topic?

RussellHltn wrote:what about non-members who want to collaborate with each other?

Enabling collaboration has been the big shortcoming in just about every plan I've considered, which is why I started the thread (you didn't misunderstand). I think AQ is really on the right track with their NetFam and wonder if a similar setup could be created for other databases.

- Stephen

I dropped PAF years ago when my teenagers discovered how intuitive Legacy is. The one thing that it does not do that I wish it did is require a login so it can stamp data changes by person & date. (I have recommended this, but the feedback was that they didn't think most people were interested.) When teenagers help with research & input, knowing who input what when can help with subsequent data analysis because we all share one database. It would also be useful just for me because I know that my research skills have changed over time.

Now that my children are growing older, I would like to move our data online to a password protected personal website so we can continue to collaborate as they leave home. The person & date stamp would still be helpful. It would also be good to be able to sync all or selected data.

Sounds like you want something like PHP Gedview. I wonder if there's a version that supports LDS data.

The system that I used to use (I've been living without Internet for awhile, hence it's currently offline) was TNG with a custom set of PHPBB2 forums joined to it.

TNG allows GEDCOM upload and download, and being a Linux/Mac user TNG runs on the onboard web server, so I was able to make changes locally and upload the changes to the web server via TNG's backup mechanism.

TNG allows family member's to make changes (if they have permission) and the changes are logged, or they had the option to suggest a change and I could approve it.

It was the easiest way to make the information available to all people researching my family tree. It has the option to turn LDS on or off per user's account. So if one distant member researching the tree was not LDS, I could turn the info off for them.