Comments for LDS Tech http://ldstech.org Insights on technology development affecting the LDS community Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:22:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 Comment on Ancestry.com redesign offers personalized content by Delirious http://ldstech.org/2008/07/09/ancestrycom-redesign/#comment-176 Delirious Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:14:59 +0000 http://ldstech.org/?p=77#comment-176 Okay..I have a technical issue, although not related to this post. lol I want to be added to "Mormon blogs" but when I click on the "email us", I can't seem to do it. Do you have their email address? If so, could you email it to me? Thanks! Okay..I have a technical issue, although not related to this post. lol I want to be added to “Mormon blogs” but when I click on the “email us”, I can’t seem to do it. Do you have their email address? If so, could you email it to me? Thanks!

]]> Comment on Ancestry.com redesign offers personalized content by David http://ldstech.org/2008/07/09/ancestrycom-redesign/#comment-172 David Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:39:01 +0000 http://ldstech.org/?p=77#comment-172 @Roland Ancestry.com is a commercial company which supports genealogy research. There are some similarities between Ancestry and pilot.familysearch.org, which also offers the general public the ability to search census data online. The differences are that Ancestry has significantly more census data available, but to get the full record, you need a paid subscription or to use a computer at one of the approved LDS Family History Libraries. (I can't seem to find the full list, but I know that in Utah you have to go to the Ogden or Salt Lake City FHL for free Ancestry.com access) All information available at familysearch.org is freely available. @Roland
Ancestry.com is a commercial company which supports genealogy research. There are some similarities between Ancestry and pilot.familysearch.org, which also offers the general public the ability to search census data online. The differences are that Ancestry has significantly more census data available, but to get the full record, you need a paid subscription or to use a computer at one of the approved LDS Family History Libraries. (I can’t seem to find the full list, but I know that in Utah you have to go to the Ogden or Salt Lake City FHL for free Ancestry.com access) All information available at familysearch.org is freely available.

]]> Comment on Ancestry.com redesign offers personalized content by Roland http://ldstech.org/2008/07/09/ancestrycom-redesign/#comment-170 Roland Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:04:22 +0000 http://ldstech.org/?p=77#comment-170 Is this different from the new website featured in the LDS Church news at http://pilot.familysearch.org? Is this different from the new website featured in the LDS Church news at

http://pilot.familysearch.org?

]]> Comment on Official statement on the future of Personal Ancestral File (PAF) by David http://ldstech.org/2008/03/31/official-statement-on-the-future-of-personal-ancestral-file-paf/#comment-169 David Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:53:31 +0000 http://ldstech.org/2008/03/31/official-statement-on-the-future-of-personal-ancestral-file-paf/#comment-169 @Daniel It is good to hear of those who are having success with NFS. I would tend to agree that many of the problems that are being blamed on the NFS data have actually existed for years but only until now has the extent of this problem been made readily visible to genealogists. Even with the value provided by NFS, there will always exist a need for PAF and similar programs. However the need to easily synchronize data between NFS and PAF-like programs will become more apparent as NFS finally replaces existing LDS applications in all locations. @Daniel
It is good to hear of those who are having success with NFS. I would tend to agree that many of the problems that are being blamed on the NFS data have actually existed for years but only until now has the extent of this problem been made readily visible to genealogists.

Even with the value provided by NFS, there will always exist a need for PAF and similar programs. However the need to easily synchronize data between NFS and PAF-like programs will become more apparent as NFS finally replaces existing LDS applications in all locations.

]]> Comment on Official statement on the future of Personal Ancestral File (PAF) by Daniel http://ldstech.org/2008/03/31/official-statement-on-the-future-of-personal-ancestral-file-paf/#comment-168 Daniel Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:48:39 +0000 http://ldstech.org/2008/03/31/official-statement-on-the-future-of-personal-ancestral-file-paf/#comment-168 I am really impressed with NFS. I realize it is not fully developed, but we have to remember it is still a very new program. I find it very easy to combine names and yes, I did make a mistake in doing so once... but it was very easy to separate the name back off again. I found no problem doing so. The many duplicate names are not the fault of NFS, but a result of many people doing temple ordinances and NOT having NFS earlier. I love the ease of clearing names for temple ordinances. The prospect of having a handle on all of these names in one huge database and the freedom to work with it. I also understand the need to not delete information. I find the support excellent when I have had some problems. There are issues being worked on by the developers, such as large files where there are many duplicates. My wife has one family member with 102 duplicates.. this is very hard for the system to handle. I hope we will remember that there are many working on the issues and that this is the Lord's work. We ought to be praying that they are inspired to resolve any issues so that the work may go forth even faster. The software has been easy to use and quick to learn. And although there are suggesions I have made and others I know as well, I want to say I love it and it has renewed my interest and intensity in finding and submitting these names to the temple. One last comment for now.. I love the way we can separate ordinances, by using the reserve list and then when done doing what we can do, we can turn the rest back to the temple. This comes in very handy when I want to do 50 baptisms with our youth group, but I can't do 50 endowments when my temple is 4-1/2 hours away. I am really impressed with NFS. I realize it is not fully developed, but we have to remember it is still a very new program.
I find it very easy to combine names and yes, I did make a mistake in doing so once… but it was very easy to separate the name back off again. I found no problem doing so.
The many duplicate names are not the fault of NFS, but a result of many people doing temple ordinances and NOT having NFS earlier.
I love the ease of clearing names for temple ordinances. The prospect of having a handle on all of these names in one huge database and the freedom to work with it. I also understand the need to not delete information. I find the support excellent when I have had some problems.
There are issues being worked on by the developers, such as large files where there are many duplicates. My wife has one family member with 102 duplicates.. this is very hard for the system to handle.
I hope we will remember that there are many working on the issues and that this is the Lord’s work. We ought to be praying that they are inspired to resolve any issues so that the work may go forth even faster.
The software has been easy to use and quick to learn. And although there are suggesions I have made and others I know as well, I want to say I love it and it has renewed my interest and intensity in finding and submitting these names to the temple.
One last comment for now.. I love the way we can separate ordinances, by using the reserve list and then when done doing what we can do, we can turn the rest back to the temple. This comes in very handy when I want to do 50 baptisms with our youth group, but I can’t do 50 endowments when my temple is 4-1/2 hours away.

]]> Comment on Official statement on the future of Personal Ancestral File (PAF) by Frustrated NFS user http://ldstech.org/2008/03/31/official-statement-on-the-future-of-personal-ancestral-file-paf/#comment-167 Frustrated NFS user Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:18:20 +0000 http://ldstech.org/2008/03/31/official-statement-on-the-future-of-personal-ancestral-file-paf/#comment-167 I for one am on the NFS, and am NOT happy with it. It's no better than the betas they had out a while ago. I am 25 years old, and very tech savy. I just can't figure out why they do the things they do. I've read on some blogs that the NFS people are guessing that 30 percent of NFS submissions are duplicates. -The software has bellls and whistles in all the wrong places -The limitations are noticable, and frustrating -The data set is incredibly error-laden -The users don't know what they're doing and combine wrong people (don't even think about trying to separate people, uff!) -Currently there is no good way to source the data -There is no way to rank or grade the authenticity of the data -You can never delete erroneous and misleading information -If you do spend the hour or two to seperate two incorrectly merged people, the suggestions to merge them just come right up again for your cousin or someone to merge them again -The printing functions are impossible -The pioneer stock and royalty are so duplicated that it takes several minutes to load each individual -The temple work suggestions are almost always wrong (would they be in the LDS databases if the temple work wasn't done? No, 99.9% of the time.) Abandon my PAF 5.2 database in favor of NFS? I think not. And by the way, the only people who are "consistently happy" with NFS that I've met are the ones who haven't got a clue about what they're doing. The real genealogists of the church are up in arms about the problems with NFS. People are confusing inspired mandate to reduce duplication with inspired software developers. NFS will probably just turn out to be a mess of bad information, just like the Ancestral File, the Pedigree Resource File, and the International Genealogical Index. For all of our sakes, I hope they get their act together and fix this thing. I for one am on the NFS, and am NOT happy with it. It’s no better than the betas they had out a while ago. I am 25 years old, and very tech savy. I just can’t figure out why they do the things they do. I’ve read on some blogs that the NFS people are guessing that 30 percent of NFS submissions are duplicates.

-The software has bellls and whistles in all the wrong places
-The limitations are noticable, and frustrating
-The data set is incredibly error-laden
-The users don’t know what they’re doing and combine wrong people (don’t even think about trying to separate people, uff!)
-Currently there is no good way to source the data
-There is no way to rank or grade the authenticity of the data
-You can never delete erroneous and misleading information
-If you do spend the hour or two to seperate two incorrectly merged people, the suggestions to merge them just come right up again for your cousin or someone to merge them again
-The printing functions are impossible
-The pioneer stock and royalty are so duplicated that it takes several minutes to load each individual
-The temple work suggestions are almost always wrong (would they be in the LDS databases if the temple work wasn’t done? No, 99.9% of the time.)

Abandon my PAF 5.2 database in favor of NFS? I think not.

And by the way, the only people who are “consistently happy” with NFS that I’ve met are the ones who haven’t got a clue about what they’re doing.

The real genealogists of the church are up in arms about the problems with NFS. People are confusing inspired mandate to reduce duplication with inspired software developers.

NFS will probably just turn out to be a mess of bad information, just like the Ancestral File, the Pedigree Resource File, and the International Genealogical Index. For all of our sakes, I hope they get their act together and fix this thing.

]]> Comment on Going to church made easier with Google Maps by LDS Art Collector http://ldstech.org/2008/06/19/going-to-church-made-easier-with-google-maps/#comment-166 LDS Art Collector Wed, 25 Jun 2008 22:33:56 +0000 http://ldstech.org/?p=75#comment-166 Great Post Great Post

]]> Comment on Going to church made easier with Google Maps by Maps.lds.org | A Soft Answer http://ldstech.org/2008/06/19/going-to-church-made-easier-with-google-maps/#comment-161 Maps.lds.org | A Soft Answer Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:29:54 +0000 http://ldstech.org/?p=75#comment-161 [...] Very slick way to find LDS meeting houses. LDS Tech has more details on this beta site and its [...] […] Very slick way to find LDS meeting houses. LDS Tech has more details on this beta site and its […]

]]> Comment on Using Technology for Humanitarian Projects by David http://ldstech.org/2008/05/20/using-technology-for-humanitarian-projects/#comment-159 David Tue, 20 May 2008 22:28:44 +0000 http://ldstech.org/?p=74#comment-159 Looking for a way to help someone more needy than yourself? Writing a check is certainly one way to ease your conscience, especially when it comes to tough problems like starvation in Africa. CNN reports <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/05/20/ethiopia.children/index.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Famine fears for seven million Ethiopian children</a> <blockquote>UNICEF estimates that 6 million Ethiopian children under the age of 5 are at risk and that more than 120,000 have only about a month to live.</blockquote> Looking for a way to help someone more needy than yourself? Writing a check is certainly one way to ease your conscience, especially when it comes to tough problems like starvation in Africa. CNN reports Famine fears for seven million Ethiopian children

UNICEF estimates that 6 million Ethiopian children under the age of 5 are at risk and that more than 120,000 have only about a month to live.

]]> Comment on Beta versions of New FamilySearch utilities starting to appear by David http://ldstech.org/2008/05/13/beta-new-familysearch-utilities/#comment-158 David Tue, 20 May 2008 22:22:17 +0000 http://ldstech.org/?p=67#comment-158 @Jimmy Thanks for the updated link. I fixed the post to reference this URL for USFamilyTree. @Jimmy
Thanks for the updated link. I fixed the post to reference this URL for USFamilyTree.

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