Issue 37.15
Part 2
I am sharing Paul Nauta’s information about FamilySearch because it was so informative.
FamilySearch’s new indexing program—a community-based initiative to engage online volunteers to make the deluge of digital record images easily searchable by name and other variables online—is currently being rolled out in waves.
Since it will be web-based, the biggest selling point is that it will run on mobile devices, such as tablets and iPads. It’s also collaborative, meaning volunteers and organizations can create their own groups to tackle projects of interest, track their progress, and message each other.
And the new interface will enable users to reorient the way they view images and enter data according to personal preferences.
He also demonstrated automated indexing, a technology FamilySearch is developing that scours ASCI (typeset) type historic records and intuitively “indexes” them by pulling researchable data out of the document.
This will vastly increase the production of indexed collections and free up volunteers to index older, handwritten record sets.
As its product manager, Brother Kehrer is responsible for FamilySearch.org’s search systems. He demonstrated FamilySearch’s evolving hinting feature—a service that automatically scours the rapidly growing body of historical records for a user’s ancestors in the FamilySearch Family Tree and presents their records to the user.
The location-specific research pages, accessed through the map, bring together location-relevant content from across the FamilySearch site. Image views now show the indexed data at the bottom of the screen. Seeing the image and the index together on the same screen significantly enhances user efficiency.
Coming soon are some impressive tools and more functionality for the FamilySearch mobile apps, Memories feature, online catalog, and more partner initiatives. Advancements in search will be applied to all these applications. Microfilm images and indices will be accessible directly from the FamilySearch catalog and will enable users to quickly browse through digital images or search the film’s indexed records.
For more information, contact Shanna Jones shannajones@msn.com