Genealogy Canada

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Crowd sourcing transcription - is it useful?

Everyone knows that people have been busy at Library and Archives Canada (LAC) digitizing the service files of the men and women who enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) during the First World War.

Now, it is disclosed that 1,000 files (which is a small sample) of the medical records section of the service files - the form of temperature charts, dental records and medical case sheets has been transcribed and given to the public.

Read about it at http://blog.muninn-project.org/node/79

The press release says that “The transcribed data generated has value for researchers in handwriting recognition, and archival and medical institutions’. What about genealogists – we use these papers in our research too!

So how useful is this form of transcription? Is crowd sourcing transcription a good way to do it? How accurate will it be? They say it will be verified by computer.

Kingston Penitentiary inmate mug shots

The Kingston Penitentiary was located in Kingston, Ontario, and the penitentiary produced a series of Kingston Penitentiary Inmate History Description Ledgers from 1913 to 1916 in which there is detailed informant on each of the prisoners.

The ledger includes frontal and profile mug shots, the inmate’s name, alias, age, place of birth, height, weight, complexion, eye colour, hair colour, distinctive physical marks, occupation, sentence, date of sentence, place of sentence, crime committed, and remarks of authorities.

The ledger books are held by the Library and Archives Canada.

The ledger books are now on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/lac-bac/sets/72157649959725467/#

Information on The Kingston Penitentiary is at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_Penitentiary

Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/02/canadian-week-in-review-23-february-2013.html

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since

April 23, 2012.

Friday, February 27, 2015

Day-long seminar at the BCGS

On Saturday, May 9, 2015, Jill Morelli, an sole proprietor of Cascade Research Services, will present talks at a day-long meeting of the 2015 British Columbia Genealogical Society (BSGS) Genealogy & Family History Seminar.

She will be giving talks on The “Push” and the “Pull”: Emigration Decision-Making in the 19th Century and From Scandinavia to the United States in the mid 1800’s: two case studies – one Norwegian and one Swedish – but interesting for anyone with European roots.

Another talk will be I Found My Family on the Internet! Now what do I do? – explore four major Internet locations and learn what to look for to determine whether it is worth using, and analyzing the records.

Doors open at 10:00 am / Seminar 10:30 am to 4:30 pm, and it will take place at South Arm United Church, 11051 No. 3 Road (corner of No. 3 Road & Steveston Highway) Richmond, BC.

Refreshments and lunch will be included with your tickets.

Early Bird Prices until April 15, 2015 – Tickets $44.00 for BCGS & Affiliate [Society] Members; $55.00 for non-members.

After April 15th, the prices increase to $55.00 for BCGS & Affiliate (Society) Members;
$65.00 for non-members.

To register, please contact Susan Snalam at 604-273-8209, email domers4@shaw.ca OR Eunice Robinson at 604-596-2811, email eunice@dccnet.com, and then send your cheque, made out to the BCGS, at PO Box 88054, Lansdowne Mall, Richmond, BC V6X 3T6 or pay at BCGS meetings.

The BCGS Boutique will be there too! You can vist the Boutique is at http://www.bcgs.ca/?page_id=23

The website of the BCGS is at http://www.bcgs.ca/