tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777656500523021227.post1048454683680715179..comments2023-12-27T03:28:14.449-05:00Comments on The Digital Media Machine: Why Ancestry.com is not enoughI Lamonthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14681877739319223934noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777656500523021227.post-86909215624579431802012-01-24T15:49:54.810-05:002012-01-24T15:49:54.810-05:00Thanks Kate. You're absolutely right; it is a ...Thanks Kate. You're absolutely right; it is a tool best suited to certain purposes. But I have two additional insights to share.<br /><br />One, I think there are many people out there who mistakenly assume that Ancestry.com and other online sources are good places to start the genealogy journey, or assume that there's lots of data in there that pertains to their families. It's convenient, so it becomes the go-to resource, even when much better resources exist in the offline world. Rather than spending 10 hours searching through the databases, a better use of their time would be to pick up the phone and spend an hour with an elderly relative who can flesh out details that will never be seen online. Ancestry.com's role is best suited to (as you said) verification, rather than discovery.<br /><br />The second insight relates to Ancestry.com's marketing. Here's what appears on the front page:<br /><br />"We've spent more than a decade building the world's largest online family history resource - including historical records, photos, stories, family trees and a collaborative community of millions."<br /><br />When I look at Ancestry, what I see is an imperfect list of historical records that's hard to sort through. I've never been pointed to photos or stories -- why promote this if it's not a central part of what they offer?I Lamonthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14681877739319223934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777656500523021227.post-82708430519182737792012-01-23T23:30:47.718-05:002012-01-23T23:30:47.718-05:00I agree that "A database is only as good as t...I agree that "A database is only as good as the data that's put into it." And I, too, experience great frustration when my search refuses to turn up a name that I already obtained from Ancestry.com going another route. And yes, the folks out there who simply copy anything that is written in a record and assume it pertains to there family....<br /><br />However, Ancestry.com is a tool, and like any tool, if used properly can be useful. For fleshing out basic info that can be found in a census or SSN database to verify kinship or dates, it works well. There is no need to use finer tools for that type of blunt work. If you keep your level of expectation geared to what the tool is supposed to provide then you don't waste time trying to make a hammer be a screw driver, and you don't ruin your screw driver hammering nails!Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03087276821806770733noreply@blogger.com