Monday, January 30, 2012

Questions for brightsolid at RootsTech 2012

...
I am compiling questions that I want to ask of the developers whom I hope to meet at the RootsTech 2012 conference. 

Here's my list so far for brightsolid  developers (for CensusRecords.com, FindMyPast.co.uk, ScotlandsPeople.com).  I will probably update it before and during the conference as I think of more questions.  I will try to post a summary of the answers, probably after the conference):
 



1)  CensusRecords.com:


*  When do you anticipate having all U.S. Census records available in transcription form and In image form?


*  Have you created new transcriptions for the U.S. census records, or are you using another organization's transcriptions?


*  Will the transcriptions show all of the household members (the tick marks on 1790 to 1840), the others listed in the dwelling/family for 1850 to 1940)?


*  Have you created a unique search engine for the U.S. census records, or are you using another organization's search engine?


*  Are you hosting a unique set of images for the U.S. census pages, or are you using another organization's images?


*  Will the 1940 U.S. census records and images be added to the site?  If so, will there be an increase in the subscription rates?


*  Will users be able to browse the images - meaning selecting a state, county, and ED and then reading one page to the next - with a subscription account?  If not, why not?


*  What other U.S. historical record collections will be added to this site (or to another brightsolid site)?


*  Will brightsolid be adding a Family Tree option to the U.S. operation?


*  Will there be some sort of combined or bundled subscription for users to access all of brightsolid's databases and sites?

I don't know what questions to ask about the British and Scottish record sites that are also owned by brightsolid.  If readers have questions, please list them!

What other questions should be asked of the brightsolid website developers?  Please add them to comments to this post, or on Facebook or on Google Plus so that every reader can see them.  I will add them to the list above as they come in.

If Ancestry.com personnel wish to answer the questions, I hope that they will comment also, and I will highlight their responses.

I hope to do this type of Question post for several other developers of genealogy databases, software and services.  If readers have suggestions for other websites, please forward them to me as comments on this blog, or on Facebook or Google Plus.  I will give credit to those who provide questions.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/questions-for-brightsolid-at-rootstech.html
 
copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012. 

5 comments:

Cassmob (Pauleen) said...

Randy, I'd really like to know what their plans are for bringing Scottish Kirk sessions online. When that might be, will it be py-per-view or subscription (I think the late
Ter might be cheaper for serious genealogists so don't just want to look up their names only.) Thanks!

ScotlandsGenealogy said...

Interesting interview yesterday with Chris van der Kuyl on BBC Radio Scotland.How he got where he is and plans for the future.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b019p2rv/Trip_to_the_Top_Episode_5/

Tamura Jones said...

Randy,

> Have you created a unique search engine for the U.S. census records, or are you using another organization's search engine?

My article answered that question before you asked it :-)

- Tamura

David Newton said...

Why are the BMD indexes on Scotlandspeople behind a paywall?

Kirsty F Wilkinson said...

I'd like to know if they plan to introduce better source information for records on FindMyPast, in particular, as many record sets give only very basic information making it difficult to write a proper source citation.