Issue 33.16
Robert Kehrer is the senior product manager for research technologies at FamilySearch. Recently they updated the hinting process. When you make a change to someone in Family Tree or if you add someone, it takes a while for FamilySearch to check for new hints. It was about a day, now it is less than 15 minutes and sometimes less than five.
FamilySearch is working on the latency between changes. Latency is the time it takes between when you add a new person or more information to a person in FamilySearch and how fast the system comes back with a record hint. The record hints are provided by FamilySearch Indexing and the systems calculating on their own looking for matches. They are trying to get the latency between the changes and the new hints down to less than a minute, perhaps seconds. How cool is that? Until then, when you make changes to the tree, check back in about fifteen minutes for new hints. Usually if I am adding a family, by the time I get the whole family added, the parents will have hints.
It works a little differently each time FamilySearch adds a new record collection, one that has been completed by FamilySearch Indexing. The collections are added and then approximately every six to eight weeks, they take all the records and search for new hints. It is a good idea to check your ancestors for hints, even if you think you know everything about them because they may have been listed in another record for a child, or in an obituary, you never know. I find new information all the time by clicking hints and reviewing the information.
FamilySearch is reworking the Source Linker attachment tool to make it better and faster and even easier to use. They are improving the search ability to find names that may have been misspelled during indexing or even by the census taker or record creator. It is very powerful. Be sure to compare the sources suggested. They have a high probability of being your ancestor, but there are common names and many coincidences when it comes to family history, so be cautious as you work.
For more information, contact Shanna Jones shannasjones@msn.com www.searchshanna.com