Choy, Kwong - family tree using phpGedView

[kerry]

Re Dynastree. There's a few new sites like this - they bring together some of the useful features of Social Networking sites (think Facebook) with some specific features useful for genealogy. OK for some but there are limitations.

The security model for this site seems to be that only invited people can see the tree. That's a little bit like a "gated community" model of living. Fine if you don't want to make contact with other relatives whom you don't have direct contact with. But I'm quite pleased with the number of new contacts I've made over the web as all of the deceased rels in my tree are searchable from Google.

The social networking culture seems to drive a lot of the functionality - email, chat and presence are (IMHO) nice to have toys but not critical to "serious" genealogy. Hey, most of them are dead and don't have email anyway ;D (What is "good" genealogy? There's a pretty good read here www.ngsgenealogy.org/comstandards.cfm)

You're also very dependent on "their" business. Either it's a free service where they make their "cut" from ads or some other value add service. If it doesn't work out, they'll go out of business. Bad for you if you've spent some time building up a community presence - you're back to square one. For example, the folks in Oz who had their forums on NineMSN (a collaboration between Micro$oft and New$ Corp down here) for years have had to find new homes as the service is going to be discontinued.

There's a lot more I could go on about but I think that deserves a fuller post somewhere else.

[Doug 周]

Kerry,

You are correct in that these genealogy sites act as a 'gated' social network. Within those confines, I am able to share stories with family members across long geographical distances. Theoretically an open site allows new relatives to google search and find you to join your family tree. However, my personal experience is that security concerns prevent many people from participating with web based family trees.

Kerry, I know you use PhyGedView, a freeware based web server with your 'Damper in a Wok'. You have done a wonderful job configuring your site. I use that program also and find it very accurate. However, it is very difficult to use and does not have the newer features that Web 2.0 sites have. I am glad that you have relatives find your site from the open internet. These genealogy web sites do allow public searches of deceased people in your site (if you allow such a search)

Also, I have read that 'serious' genealogy students do not like these web based sites. These trees do not handle the documentation of sources as well as stand along computer based programs like Legacy (PhyGedView allows documentation of sources).

However, the sharing of photos and locations is fun and the visual presentation is easier than distributing reams of papers. It is most satisfying finding a relative far away with the same interest you have. It is great when they fill out their branches with people, stories, and corrections. Weddings and births, deaths and divorces will change branches of trees quickly.

Again, it is important that you choose a site which displays Chinese Characters. Chinese genealogy does not work without Chinese calligraphy and the ability to determine location of villages. PhyGedView displays Chinese calligraphy.

Finally, these sites are businesses and they have to make some money. MyHeritage.com charges $4/month if you have over 500 profiles. Geni.com sells various trinkets. Dynastree sells posters. I have yet to see ads. Has anyone use Ancestry.com?

All I want to do is to share my good experiences with documenting my genealogy on a web site. I think these sites provide a tool to work on your genealogy. I am always looking however, for a better web site. This was why I almost migrated from Dynastree to MyHeritage.com until I discovered some programming issues and back up issues.

BTW: I did not mean to hijack your thread.

Doug

[kerry]

Re Web 2.0: There was discussion about integration with social networking sites. It got scotched because of security concerns: faking an identity in Facebook is unfortunately too easy. Insinuating your way into someone else's trust network is too easy because people (warning: generalisation!) don't take security and privacy seriously out there. That's not a problem in itself, it just means that Facebook and Wok have different objectives and have different expectations of their community.

Sources. Yep. I have heaps on my site - but they aren't shown to anonymous users or googlebot. If you want to see Source records, you need a userid. And who are you called "serious"? ;-)

Yep. While I can't say I'm close to my third cousins mother-in-law, we have swapped a few emails. ;-)

Ancestry.com: love it and hate it. They have a confusing number offerings for hosting your own family tree now. The current ones seem to be cut off from Google. You need to "sign up" for a free account. No problem - but there's a constant hum of links back into ancestry.com's own business. You probably will never see as many functions in their on-line tool as you see in commercial stand alone products. I think they also drive business to their desktop software by offering integration between your personal data source and your internet one but I can't comment on how good that is as I've never used it.

Otherwise, the upside for them is that you will be driving more business passed their banner ads.... (As to the commercial databases - happy to be able to get to stuff that I would never be able to physically access. Don't need it just now, use it occassionally)