The challenges with sharing genealogy data online
David March 15th, 2008
I have gone back and forth a lot with trying to share genealogy data online. Perhaps I can share a few things that I have learned.
There are numerous methods of sharing genealogy, each with its strengths and weaknesses.
- Documenting information in free form and sending by mail, email, or other physical documentation (e.g., published genealogy). There are more and more options for amateur genealogists to have their information printed.
- Entering data into a genealogy program and sending the data file by mail (on diskette/CD) or email (attachment); this may be in the original data format or exported to GEDCOM format.
- Exporting data as GEDCOM file and uploading to public web site (e.g., rootsweb.com). These sites vary widely from merely allowing your GEDCOM file to be downloaded by others to incorporating your data into a common pedigree. (Note: read the fine print on these sites because some assume ownership of your data when you share it with them!)
- Exporting or converting data to static HTML pages which can be published to a personal web site. There are a number of programs which support this functionality, including PAF, but most have little support for customizing how the pages look. Some commercial packages offer web hosting for these pages that you generate.
- Installing a genealogy application on a personal web site and loading a GEDCOM file into database for dynamic display and searching. PhpGedview is a popular example. I have been using PhpGedview for about two years at the Hale Family Organization.
I’ll be covering more on these and related topics in coming days, including addressing privacy concerns.