ONE HUNDRED YEARS HENCE

wini · Post by **wini** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 1:27 pm

What will happen to your Genealogy records in 100 years?
Those of us who keep paper records and store them properly will still have them available for future generations.
Memory sticks, DVD's,CD's etc could still be around, but considering the rate of advance in technology will there still be equipment left to use them on? Will the younger generations take the trouble to transfer information on to the new technology?
Not that it will matter to any of us, unless there is a huge advance in human life span none of us will be around to know.

Just a thought.

wini

Post by **AndrewP** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 2:41 pm

Hi Wini,

You can carefully preserve all of your precious work on CD, DVD, USB stick etc. Not only might there be no suitable machine to read these on, the software of now is not likely to be around in 100 years time either.

All the best,

AndrewP

Rach · Post by **Rach** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:19 pm

Hi Wini,
I suppose that anyone finding our family histories in 100 years time will be over the moon, unless they wanted the fun of finding out for themselves! Certainly I was delighted to be shown a family bible which was begun about 1850. It seems paper is best! Of course, it was all hand written which made it even more personal. I'm afraid mine will be typed but perhaps I will include some family stories in my own fair hand.
Rae

sheep · Post by **sheep** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 9:59 pm

I was thinking about this the other day.

I was given some letter from a great uncle that was written during the war, and I though how good it was to hold these letters that had been written and how personal it felt.
It was like you could feel the connection through the paper.

But today, everything is done through e-mail and can't be kept for future generations.

Its a shame, but I suppose thats the price of progress.

Post by **Anne H** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 10:31 pm

It is wonderful when you have a handwritten letter and the few that I now have in my possession are scanned and the image in the appropriate section for that person. Although an email doesn't seem quite as personal, I have also copied those to the appropriate individual folders...it's still their thoughts and words that they typed

Regards,
Anne H

wini · Post by **wini** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:11 am

Further on to this topic, we were discussing at home, what are the 3 biggest inprovements in your life time.
We had a variety of answers, one of mine was online searching, so therefore computer technology.
What do othere see as the 3 biggest improvements in their life time?

wini

Rach · Post by **Rach** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 11:43 am

Biggest improvements in my life? That doesn't take much thought to answer -
retirement!
Other than that the dishwasher when the children were at home.
Rae

Jamboesque · Post by **Jamboesque** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:15 pm

The choice of 3 improvements over my lifetime is a bit of a challenge however I'll stick to

1. Improved healthcare/diet awareness

2. More Leisure time.

3. More affordable foreign travel, though this does come at an environmental cost that was not foreseen even ten years ago.

Jack

This question is a bit like Groucho Marx's answer to what he thought about principles. "I have principles but if you don't like them, well I have others"

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 4:02 am

Hello All,

If they’re going to increase the human life span I hope they work on the bit in the middle rather than the bits right at either end. I’m still waiting for the first big improvement in my lifetime.

Letter writing has been killed by the telephone and all those wonderful letters written when families moved apart no longer happen. Unless you write an email much as you would write a letter they tend to be second rate. The standard of communication of today’s younger generation is the best indication of what it will be in the future. Perhaps by 2108 the text message will be replaced by a grunt.

I’ve been unusually fortunate when it comes to ancestors writing down information about their families in family bibles. In 1883 my Great Grandfather wrote down every scrap of information he knew or had been told about every member of his family going back to the early 1700s. There was no research involved. But in the typed copy I received there was nothing written about himself or his wife and children. And now he’s ancient history. The biggest contribution a genealogist can make to genealogy is to do exactly what my Great Grandfather did but include something about yourself and immediate family as well. Your descendants won’t find anything like that by doing research.

Paper is best so long as it isn’t a truckload. If it’s a truckload or even a filing cabinet, and the important bits are indistinguishable from those not so important and your kids are living in a small flat in the city or any sort of circumstance where they don’t have the space what happens then? The thing about all the paper is that each sheet usually contains very little information. All the information for a family on a census or certificate page for example can be made to fit onto about a half dozen typewritten lines, especially if you stretch the margins.

What’s important about these forms is the relevant information on them, not the form themselves. The forms themselves can be easily obtained by future generations because they’ll know exactly where to look. If you compress and transcribe everything and label the result as important then it has more chance of surviving than a filing cabinet full of pages full of irrelevant spaces. I’m not saying to throw out the forms just that it would be best not to have the whole lot put under the house or in a leaky shed.

A couple of years ago a distant cousin sent me a copy of his family tree, only for interest because we had already shared all our common information. He had been using Ultimate Family Tree since the early 1990s but had switched to something a bit more modern. On the CD there was a copy of his old program file and a SQZ data file. The program file wouldn’t install. I tried to find a copy of the program on the internet only to find that the program developers had abandoned it, were no longer interested, and there was not a copy to be found.

I eventually found a trial version of a modern program that was supposed to be capable of opening a UFT SQZ file. When I tried it out it wouldn’t open the file because a media file was not present. I couldn’t figure out what the media file would have contained but it wanted it even if there was nothing in it. In the process I came across what seemed like thousands of desperate people trying to open the family history files they had spent years of work on. In my case it didn’t really matter and I didn’t pursue it any further but that’s an indication of what can easily happen and within 15 years not 100. This years “Ultimate” family history program can so easily become tomorrow’s feather duster. It’s still happening.

http://genforum.genealogy.com/uft/messages/11302.html

A hundred years ago would have been close to when the wax cylinder was used for recording. The spinning record and needle lasted for a long time. Who still has a record player? Who has a reel to reel tape recorder? The cassette is in its death throws as is the VHS system. Floppy discs are probably a complete irrelevance for most people. If you have anything important stored on any of these systems now’s the time to think about backing it up onto more modern media if only because the machine used to access them will eventually fail or become a museum piece and possibly a lot sooner than you think.

Hope that’s interesting,
Alan

Post by **Anne H** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 6:52 am

I think I would have to say that both the telephone and email are two of the greatest inventions ever. Granted, neither has quite the same thrill as holding a handwritten letter or document, but nevertheless, wonderful ways of communication in this busy world where we now live. Those before us had no other way to communicate and therefore, we are very fortunate to have this technology as a means of communication. Let’s be honest, people don’t want to make time to write letters these days!

As far as cd’s, sticks, genealogy software, etc., are concerned, I think we will all have to keep up-to-date with new technology, if we want it to be of use, but I believe that the written word in book form is the best way to go.

Some of my family like to hear about my finds, and others can’t be bothered, but none of them have any great interest in contributing, so…I made a resolution at the New Year to get a family newsletter sent out to everyone by email hoping to encourage some interest, and get a little personal info from them, and hopefully leave more than just dates.

The first quarterly newsletter went out last week and consisted of six pages. Pages 1 and 2 were news I had received either by telephone or emails from different family members. Page 3 had my own childhood memories written in poetic style from a memory book I had put together a few years ago. Page 4 started off with memories about my paternal grandparents, again received by email from a cousin. Page 5, memories from my mother on her engagement and marriage, and Page 6 outlined the lives of a few generations of one of my main lines. Some photographs are there also.

So, a little bit here and there that should interest everyone, and hopefully encourage family members to leave something of themselves for our descendants…first few responses were great and I've started on the second issue…let’s see how long it lasts.

Regards,
Anne H