The future of genealogy

[Mowsehowse]

I too watched the DNA programme yesterday - or most of it, I got fed up with the woman who seemed well-adjusted with 6 children (plenty enough  ) but wanted to be told whether they could have inherited her killer father's nature.  Couldn't help wondering what would have happened if she had been told Yes ...   

Quite so Andrew.
[killer, (putative,) father.]
If I am honest, the entire programme made me very angry on various levels!

LYDIAANN Quote:"But will it tell their descendants what their life was like, the clothes they wore, the jobs they had to do to survive, where they met their future spouses?  Will it show their struggles with loss of jobs because of injury, sickness, or even sheer bad luck? "
All true of course, but only those family tree makers with an interest in social history actually look at this kind of dimension.
Not the ones who are simply interested in "getting back" to Charlemagne, (or identifying biological parents.)

[Top-of-the-hill]

  I write very few letters now, it probably started when most people got telephones. I did write sometimes to my very old uncle when he moved to Somerset, (typed on the computer and printed, so I still have copies.) I also wrote long, rambling letters to my son when he lived in South Africa in the early 2000s, which he tells me he has kept. They were written over several days - family news, village news (BMDs!), garden and weather reports - I hope they will be of interest.

[edmac]

In the olden days when I was a regular visitor to family history centres to go through fiche and films of parish records, I used to bore others with my view that I was a family historian and not a genealogist (ignoring the geneologists!).  I maintained then and still do that they are two different things, genealogy is essential to the family history but many so-called genealogists are not interested in family or social history which is the background to our ancestor's families lives.  So many family trees are being created and posted on the various sites which are just the results of sometimes dubious dna results and not of the patient research required for a proper ancestral family tree.  I could go on and on.....

[lydiaann]

I so agree, edmac.  It's all very well knowing/finding out who your antecedents were but I fully believe that how their lives and experiences are just as important to us and who we are today as is their DNA.  And despite the fact that relatives don't want/haven't the time to do the investigative research, they are all fascinated to know the things I have turned up in regard to status, occupations, places they lived, etc!!   

[stormi]

I think the future is bright ...

For instance: On Ancestry I take the time to fill out biographies of people I have information about on my tree. I also find, scan and archive photographs of people and places and upload to Ancestry.

The key vision here is: Accessability & sharing of knowledge

* Nephews, Nieces & Grandchildren will have the ability to easily view, investigate & learn about their family from their own devices, their computers, ipads etc.
* Old photos which were locked away in cupboards and unsorted bags of various branches of the family are now stored-sorted and saved for future generations.
* Other families and researcher will have access to all my work which can broaden other peoples knowledge.

This is all positive. I could of course download all the information and store it away on my hard disk, but in many ways that is worse than a 'Cloud lock & key' as nobody is ever going to be able to bother looking on one of my back-up hard drives if I'm ever not here.

[edmac]

Stormi, I take your point but wish I was as sanguine as you.  Like yourself I fill in details on my public tree and make notes on sources which are in error or mistranscribed. My tree is as accurate as I have been able to make it and I know that what I am passing on is correct. But how does one mark that kind of tree to show that it has been researched as against those which contain large chunks copied from trees on geni and my heritage which erroneously purport to show that my GGG grandfather from Dumfries was a descendant of Robert the Bruce?
I wish I knew the answer to that, but then again, at my age why should I care?

[stormi]

But how does one mark that kind of tree to show that it has been researched as against those which contain large chunks copied from trees on geni and my heritage which erroneously purport to show that my GGG grandfather from Dumfries was a descendant of Robert the Bruce?
I wish I knew the answer to that, but then again, at my age why should I care?

This is true - there will always be those who do not put the correct effort into their trees. As long as yours is available and public though, true genealogists and family historians will be able to sort the wheat from the chaff. Your family will also know that your work is the one to look at.

[Stanwix England]

It's interesting isn't. Two dilemma's here. What will happen to the work we ourselves have done, and what will happen to those in hundreds of years who want to trace us.

I suspect that depends on how much of our digital data survives. In theory, it could be copied indefinitely and survive on ever more devices until no-one bothers to copy them anymore. But will anyone bother? I suspect some of our social media accounts will survive, but how much useful information you leave behind will depend on how heavy of a user you are.

As to our individual work, I think that's up to us. I'm currently writing out about one branch of my family tree, for a relative who wants to see it on paper, and I will eventually print it out and have it bound. It's a bit daunting as it takes ages when you eventually get down to it. It's really been worth it for me as a learning experience. But then again, all of that is subject to the whims of time. Will anyone save it and will anyone care?

[Andrew Tarr]

As to our individual work, I think that's up to us ... Will anyone save it and will anyone care?

This question is posed here from time to time.  I think the short answer is Very Few.  We mostly search for our own interest and satisfaction, enjoying the advantages of all the recently available info. Some of us are lucky to have an interested younger family member to inherit.  Those who don't may have filled their time worthily but with little 'future'.  Sad, but perhaps true - much research appears a waste of time, 50 years later