GENBOX-L Archives

Archiver > GENBOX > 2004-02 > 1075783161


From: "Misty Bogle" <>
Subject: RE: [GENBOX] Citation Wish
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 23:39:21 -0500
In-Reply-To: <050b01c3e8bd$9b7e3b30$6401a8c0@BILLXP>


Hello -- I agree that this would be a great tool. Instead of flipping
through each of my cited sources separately to remind myself of my rationale
for why I determined one source to be "suspect" vs. another, it would be
great to have that information "at a glance" on the Assertion tab (just as
an extra column, which could be shrunk to a width of zero if someone didn't
want to use it).

While I'd like to be able to say that my surety levels never change once
I've set them, the addition of new sources to an event always makes me
reevaluate the quality of my previous sources, and my opinions ARE subject
to change (on occasion). <g>

-- Misty

-----Original Message-----
From: William T. Flight [mailto:]
Sent: Sunday, February 01, 2004 7:19 AM
To:
Subject: Re: [GENBOX] Citation Wish


Hi Debbie, Paul,

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. We could
provide a separate formatting code so that the information could optionally
be included in the output as well, which could be useful in research
reports.

Does this accurately reflect what you are wishing for? If so, what would you
call such a data entry field?

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? Or should a column be added to the list for the selected text type? Or
should the text for the selected text type appear in the list, on separate
lines interleaved between the citation lines?

Best regards,

-- Bill

William T. Flight
http://www.thoughtfulcreations.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Debbie Wesley" <>
To: <>
Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2004 8:25 PM
Subject: Re: [GENBOX] Citation Wish


> Paul,
>
> Just thought it was worth another plea; I thought it might help to be a
> little more specific with a possible implementation. I was motivated
because
> it came up in conversation with another Generations user yesterday.
>
> I agree that others might use another field such as Excerpts or Lead Text,
> or possible even Citation Detail - which is where I had to store it in
> Generations.
>
> Debbie
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Paul J. Harris" <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Friday, January 30, 2004 9:23 PM
> Subject: RE: [GENBOX] Citation Wish
>
>
> > Debbie,
> >
> > Is there an echo in here??
> >
> > Yup, I would love that capability, too. Have wanted it for about twelve
> > years. Some people, like yourself, use the Annotation field to record
that
> > information. Others may use Excerpts or Lead Text. Wouldn't it be great
if
> > each was displayable in the Cited Sources window of the Assertion Tab,
> even
> > if only one at a time, user defined? Allowed to wrap 2, 3, 4 lines?? <g>
> >
> > Paul
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Wesley, Debbie [mailto:]
> > > Sent: Friday, January 30, 2004 5:24 PM
> > > To:
> > > Subject: [GENBOX] Citation Wish
> > >
> > >
> > > This is my top wish for Genbox; I know of at least one refugee from
> > > Generations who would love to see this too.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Most time when I cite an event such as birth or death I like to
indicate
> > > what piece of data I got from which source. For instance, to support a
> > > date of birth I might cite a census record (age 30 in 1850 census), a
> > > tombstone (b 1831), an obituary (b 31 May 1830), and a family
interview
> > > (Grandma was born in the spring of 1831). As I gather these tidbits I
> > > use the Annotation field on the Cited Sources tab. Of course I can see
> > > all the data as I flip from one record to another, but I REALLY wish I
> > > could see them all at the same time. So what I would LOVE is for the
> > > bottom section of the Assertion Tab to look as follows:
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ID Source ID Cited Sources Annotation
> > > S Credibility X
> > >
> > > 193 83 CEN IN Posey 1850 age 30 in 1850
> > > ? Undecided
> > >
> > > 204 92 CEM IN Posey Antioch b 1831
> > > ? Undecided
> > >
> > > 333 102 OBT Marvel Mary b 31 May
1830
> > > ? Undecided
> > >
> > > 342 103 INT Marvel John Grandma b
> > > 1831 spring ? Undecided
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > By seeing this data at one time I can much more easily assemble the
> > > puzzle.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Of course, then I think it would be "real cool" to be able to modify
the
> > > support level and credibility for each citation from the Assertion tab
> > > too. To speed data entry I don't always use support level and
> > > credibility at the time of the original data entry, but find them very
> > > useful as I go back over these puzzles and think through the
> > > implications of each source.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > And then if got REALLY greedy it would be wonderful to sort on the
> > > credibility column, putting the "better stuff" up top if I clicked on
> > > the column header.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Well, that's enough wishing for one day. Back to trying to figure out
> > > when Mary was born.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Debbie
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ==== GENBOX Mailing List ====
> > > To join this list, send an email to
> > > with the word "subscribe" as the subject line. Then email your
> > > messages to and they will appear on this list.
> > >
> > > ==============================
> > > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration
> > > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more.
> > > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > ==== GENBOX Mailing List ====
> > To join this list, send an email to with
the
> word "subscribe" as the subject line. Then email your messages to
> and they will appear on this list.
> >
> > ==============================
> > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration
> > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more.
> > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237
> >
>
>
> ==== GENBOX Mailing List ====
> To join this list, send an email to with the
word "subscribe" as the subject line. Then email your messages to
and they will appear on this list.
>
> ==============================
> Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration
> Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more.
> http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237
>
>
>

______________________________

This thread: