1940 Census - Arbitration

First, I am an arbitrator.  YES, one of THOSE who don't "like" your indexing.  That's not true.  It's just that I need to make a decision between two different points of view.  I don't make decisions on anything that doesn't already have a conflict. (Two indexers who don't agree.)

I also index.  AND, I was corrected because I didn't put in the county for the township that was listed in the residence.  WELL, there was NO county listed.  Yes, I could have looked it up.  YES I even knew it.  But I believe the indexing instructions say that I'm not supposed to add additional information.

THEN, I was also marked incorrect because what was written as the county was misspelled.  Obviously the other indexer just copied the spelling.  And so did the arbitrator.  I typed in the correct spelling of the county according to an atlas and google wikipedia.  So what is going to be published?  I asked for a review. 

NO there shouldn't be a "war" between indexers and arbitrators, no matter which side of the "war' you are are.  But we need to work together and try to get published the best information online to help us and others with research.

My request?  Indexers and Arbitrators:  READ the instructions:  Read them again in ONE week.  Read them AGAIN in TWO weeks.  I'm definitely not saying, or implying that I don't make mistakes.  But PLEASE don't correct me for a spelling that is correct, just because the enumerator didn't spell the county correctly.

NGS - Familysearch dinner for bloggers

First, I received an invitation to this dinner because I am a blogger (sort of?)  Anyway, I received a tech pad.  I'm not a tech person but it's this neat device to keep all those cords in one place.  You know:  those that go with all of our tech devices.  Thank you, familysearch.

Now, am I there under false pretenses?  I don't blog regularly.  I don't often write about events and I almost never ("never say never") write about products.  But I was at this lovely dinner. 

The most fun was the bloggers I sat with and the stuff I heard.  Another Karen but she's from Ohio: www.karenmillerbennett.com.  Then Ruth Blair www.familyhistorysearchers.com  from Ontario, Canada,  She mentioned that copyright laws are different in Canada.  We often forget about that.  Then Julia Langel at http://geneajulia.blogspot.com. 

I talked "briefly" with Dick Eastman.  Well, I reminded him that he had come to Arizona for the 2011 Family History Society of Arizona annual meeting. 

I also met a woman who is real:  Kimberly Powell.  I've been recommending her web site/blog for years.  It's www.genealogy.about.com.  In my opinion (and of course this entire blog is my opinion), it's one of the best sites for information, particularly for beginners.  But researchers of all levels can benefit from her site.

I learned about becoming a blog ambassador.  I signed up a few minutes ago. 

Now for the really exciting part.

Did you know that familysearch.org has historical record collections from over 60 countries?  And, one of the newer collections will be the 1802-1940 Civil Registrations from Italy will eventually be online with images and then indexes with an agreement between familysearch and Italy.  WOW!! 
Daily, there are about 10,000 volunteers online to answer patron questions in 13 languages and sometimes as many as 17 or 18.  WOW!!!
More than 650 societies have registered to help with indexing the 1940 census.  (Family History Society of Arizona is one of them.  Thank you!!)  What's really amazing is that a little over 30% of all  of the 1940 census records have been indexed in 37 days.  If we continue at this rate, the entire 1940 census may be indexed in July.  We really need to keep working.  Don't slow down just because the initial excitement is over. 
Now, this may not seem quite as exciting as the 1940 census project, but family search has plans to add more and more images to their web site.  And you all know what that means.  Indexing! INDEXing!!  INDEXING!!!  When we finish the 1940 census we will want to continue our efforts.  After all, the more indexed records, the easier we will find records what may include our ancestors.

So, thank you familysearch.org.  Thank you to my dinner companions.  And a special thank you to all of you who help make those records searchable.

NGS - I'm in Cincinnati

Yes, I arrived.  I'm in my room; have internet connection with ethernet cable (that's OK).  I picked up my registration bag.  This is my first NGS conference but I've attended 2 FGS and 2 Jamborees.

Now decisions!!

Fortunately tomorrow only has 3 time periods to make decisions for.

The vendor hall opens at 9:30 and the first session starts at 11.  But first there is the Opening Session (AT 8).  Oh, well.  I wasn't planning on much sleep any way.
I'm going to try to get into "Strategies for Finding 'Unfindable' Ancestors" by Thomas Jones at 11.  But then there is also "The Family Tapestry: Integrating Proof Arguments into the Genealogical Narrative" by James Bloom, and then two more that aren't going to be recorded by Lisa Louise Cooke and Josh Taylor.  Now what?

Unfortunately during the afternoon 2 hours I have 4+ sessions that I'd like to attend during each hour.  I'll order CDs, but which ones?  And how many?  Have I reached 10 already?  I get a discount if I order 10.  Does that mean 10 a day?  :) 

I'll try to write tomorrow night and let you know.  But I'm excited.