Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Checking Out Source Citations in Ancestry.com Beta

I wrote about my first look at the Ancestry.com Beta (which may be available to everyone in May 2015) in Ancestry Introduces Beta "Improved Website" - And A First Look (4 February 2015).

Today, I want to look at how Sources are handled in the Ancestry.com Beta.

1)  From a Person Profile page (I chose my second great-grandfather, Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)) on the "Facts" tab, the user sees the list of life events in the left-hand column, the sources in the middle column, and the Family in the right-hand column (two screens shown below):




On the screen above, I highlighted the 1851 marriage record for Isaac Seaver and his second wife, Lucretia Smith.  When I highlighted the event, purple lines were drawn to the Sources that support the Event.

2)  I clicked on one of the sources so that I could see the content of the Source:


There is an "Edit" button on the source box with a black background.  I clicked the "Edit" button to see the Source Citation window:


There are three areas on the screen above - "Citation Information," "Source Information," and "Repository Information."  For this Ancestry Member Tree, all of my sources were crafted by me in RootsMagic before the GEDCOM file was uploaded to Ancestry.com.  The "Citation Information" has two sections - "Transcription of text" and "Detail."  The "Source Information" has two sections - "Title" and "Note."

3)  Each area has an "Edit ..." button.  I clicked on the "Edit Citation" button to see the fields involved (2 screens, not completely shown):



On the screens above, I could add, edit or delete the Citation Information.  I could link the source to other Facts or Events if I choose to do that.  

4)  This Source display seems to be very well thought out, and I think that it is more complete and capable than the current Ancestry.com Source fields.  

Now I'm wondering what source citations will look like when they are generated by attaching a record to a person in my Ancestry Member Tree.  Will it be different?  Will I have to connect the source citation to Facts or Events from the list above?  That's a blog post for another time.

What about looking at source citations on other Ancestry Member Trees that I might look at for research clues?  I will look at that in another blog post also.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/03/checking-out-source-citations-in.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver



4 comments:

Claudia said...

I wish they would eliminate using the source citation of Ancestry Family Trees. I was searching a new cousin and I found eight trees with a lot of information but the only citations were Family Trees.

It was absolutely no help at all.

T said...

I wish ancestry would stop making up sources on their own. At least twice, once for Cora Etta Walker and once for Phoebe Clark Ward Weeks, ancestry has taken my "fact" from my tree and made a source out of it. Cora has no date or location of death that I can find yet ancestry puts a source "out there" using the information I put on Cora's tree so that I had an idea of where to look for her. Phoebe's source link goes to vital records for Prince Edward Island. YOU can search for her birth there. Bad news, folks. There is no record for her birth. At that time births were recorded in the church records. Marriages with a line or two in the newspaper.

IF they are going to use family trees as a source citation, tell me what tree was used. The blanket statement "Family Trees" tells me nothing at all. The citation could just as well say, We asked several passersby who they thought the relatives were and they said these. We didn't establish whether they were familiar with this family.

I didn't pay when I expired this time. At the price of a world deluxe, I don't know if I ever will. I don't need to pay for made up citations and records that I will never find because there weren't any.

Diane Gould Hall said...

Thanks for checking out the beta version Randy. I still dislike the look of it a lot. Whether it will be better, I guess we will see. I very much appreciate the time you take to keep us all up to date. I'm sure I will adapt to whatever changes come along.

Hiztorybuff said...

This seems much better than Ancestry's current citations. I do have a concern about the edit feature. While I like having control to correct and create citations that fit my style, I worry about whether others will be able to "correct" the citations I've already fixed. Did you find any indications on who will be able to edit the citations on your tree?