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Archiver > GENBOX > 2004-02 > 1075665516


From: "Paul J. Harris" <>
Subject: RE: [GENBOX] Citation Wish
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2004 14:58:39 -0500
In-Reply-To: <050b01c3e8bd$9b7e3b30$6401a8c0@BILLXP>


Bill, Debbie, et al,

Thank you for entertaining this discussion.

Long ago, in a former life, I would have argued for an 'additional field'
that was parallel to the CD linking the Citation and the Source. When I came
to Genbox and found that I had THREE additional fields that performed in
this way, I don't know how I could ever be greedy enough to ask for more. So
my thought has always been to simply permit display of existing fields in a
table format for analysis, but since YOU, Bill, suggest the possibility of
another field, I believe that suggestion has merit. <g>

Bill said:
> I was wondering if whether this information should go into an additional
> source citation field? It sounds like you want to store your
> "justification"
> or the "relevant fact" or some sort of personal reminder for what
> information you gleaned from the source to support the current assertion.
> Maybe this should be considered a research note attached to the citation?
>
> The Lead Text, Excerpts, Annotation, and Citation Detail are all
> assumed to
> be "output" text, that should be formatted and presented on
> reports. What it
> sounds like you're describing is a note that should by default remain
> internal, used only for your own purposes in making surety assessments. It
> could be a very short note, abbreviated like in your examples.

I really think this is an excellent assessment of the situation. Assuming
for the moment that you are considering an additional field, what is it
called? I really don't like the term 'Relevant Fact' because of the word
'fact'. I WISH it was all FACT. <g> What I think it really is would be
better described by a term like "Relevant Data", "Analysis Data",
"Comparative Data", "Supporting Evidence", "Cited Evidence", "Relevant
Evidence", "Contribution", or just "Data'. Oh, what's in a name?

> Regarding seeing this information on the Assertion Page: would it be
> acceptable to show the note/lead text/annotation/excerpt for the currently
> selected citation only, similar to how notes are shown on the Identifiers
> Page?

No. In my opinion, this would not give us any more capability than we
already have. I agree with Debbie, we must see the data from multiple
sources at the same time for effective analysis.

> Or should a column be added to the list for the selected text type?

For the briefest of entries, this should be sufficient. Currently, using the
Annotation field for this purpose, because it is output we are rather
compelled to write full sentences. If we had the other field for 'in house'
use, we could be much more brief.

Example:

Annotation: Indicates that she died last Saturday.

Data: last Saturday


> Or should the text for the selected text type appear in the list, on
separate
> lines interleaved between the citation lines?

I personally like this idea, perhaps because I tend to create rather long
source names that limit the available space in the row, and because it would
permit more data to show. At one time (DOS days) I expressed a desire for
something like this (can't believe I still had this):

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sources Supporting Birth Tag of Mary E. Ward (487)

Src #AbbreviationCD
Evidence
======================================================================
384U CenS-NY-SUF-1920-142-11AEntry for Mary E. Ward, line 15,
family 125, dwelling 110

age 26 in 1920 census, born in New York (estimate birth
year to be 1893 since census was taken in January 1920)

421U-NY-KIN CivB-1893-09-17

Born 9/17/1893 at 386 Prospect Ave., Brooklyn, New York

480Ward Family in Americap. 274

Their only daughter was born at home in the fall of 1893.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm assuming that this is along the lines of which you were speaking.

Digging out this old example illustrates a point that I had not considered
previously. Though I tend to create very SPECIFIC sources these days, for
those that use GENERAL sources, in order to effectively evaluate the data,
they may NEED to see the CD or the Lead Text at the same time to know who's
record the data came from. IOW, did that birth state come from the
individual's census entry, or from one for their child?

Here's a wild idea that just flew out of a body orifice: In a perfect world,
you could see 'all' of the fields in question by generating the citation for
each cited source in the assertion, perhaps with a toggle button like we
currently have on the Formatting Tab. Toggling to from Source List to
Analysis might give you something like this:


-------------| (Toggle Button)
Assertion Tab| |

|-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type: Event-Date |Source List/Analysis| |Surety Drop
Down List|
For: August R. Ruhlmann '--------------------'
'---------------------'
Context: Death 22 Mar 1972 Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey
Item: Date: 22 March 1972

============================================================================
===========
SRC| S|Cred |Cited Evidence |Cited Source
============================================================================
===========
642| /|Medium |[calc March 22] |"Died suddenly last night." August R.
Ruhlmann
| | | |obituary, Bayonne Times Features Now
Appearing in the
| | | |Jersey Journal, Bayonne, Hudson County, New
Jersey,
| | | |23 March 1972, page 22 Bay, column 2.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
855| /|Medium |Mar 1972 |August Ruhlmann, no. 138-07-3510, Social
Security
| | | |Death Index, Ancestry.com (Provo, Utah:
MyFamily.com,
| | | |Inc., May 2003). Died in Mar 1972.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
942| /|High |22 Mar 1972 |Entry for August Ruhlmann, Individual
Records of
| | | |Interment, Bay View/New York Bay Cemetery,
Jersey
| | | |City, Hudson County, New Jersey. Date of
death hand
| | | |written on typed file card.
============================================================================
===========

Would be nice if row height could adjust automatically to show text in Cited
Source or Cited Evidence, whichever was longer, or be limited to
user-defined limits like 3 lines of text. Also nice if column width still
adjustable with the text reflowing to the adjustments. If possible, RTF
formatting displayed in the Cited Source (italicized titles, etc.). For the
icing, the Support Level and Credibility Columns would be drop-down lists
that would permit changing the values from this tab. I agree with Debbie on
this one. Sometimes, during analysis, your opinion of the source will
change. <g>

Okay, time to stop dreaming and return to the fruitful discussion.

Bottom Line:

Additional Field - nice, but not ABSOLUTELY necessary.

Display - MUST be multiple at the same time to effect analysis.

Paul







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