DEVON-L Archives
Archiver > DEVON > 2001-02 > 0982360475
From: "Deborah O'Brien" <>
Subject: Re: OPCs
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 16:54:35 -0500
References: <200102161617_MC2-C5E1-9077@compuserve.com>
Dear Jay,
The information that will ultimately be provided by the OPC project is in no
way a substitute for the real thing. Like any on-line genealogy resource, it
is merely a guide. The IGI is a prime example of this. We all know that it
has errors, and that ultimately, all records from a secondary or tertiary
source, MUST be verified with the primary source, i.e. the Parish Registers
or films thereof. How many times have you found an error or
mis-transcription on one of the Census CDs? I have looked at many films of
censuses to verify the data on the CDs, which is what everyone should be
doing. However, I wouldn't have known where to look perhaps, without the
guidance from the CD in the first place.
The discussion regarding referencing sources, is not to post the e-mail
addresses of those sources, but merely to keep a record of the origins of
same by the OPC. Obviously this is not a perfect system, but it is better
than none.
At the moment we are very much in the early stages, and any contributions by
someone such as yourself regarding data entry would be an asset. However,
the reason that the OPC idea was developed, was, as a hopefully short term
solution to the long term project of FREE-REG, which has been delayed for
some considerable time due to a lack of able programmers.
The idea is for the OPCs to do look-ups on an individual basis, not for the
OPC project to be searchable on-line. As you are aware, that requires a very
sophisticated programme, which is why the FREE-REG project is stalled. This
is really just a more organised version of what we all do on the Devon list
anyway.
I freely admit to not having all or even most of the answers. However, I do
feel that we can all help each other with our research, and I for one, would
welcome any suggestions to make this a successful project.
Regards
Deborah
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