Family History Digital Libraries

337 Pages·2018·8.67 MB·English

by  William Sims Bainbridge

Human–Computer Interaction Series
William Sims Bainbridge
Family
History
Digital
Libraries
–
Human Computer Interaction Series
Editors-in-chief
Desney Tan
Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA, USA
Jean Vanderdonckt
Louvain School of Management, Université catholique de Louvain,
Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium
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William Sims Bainbridge
Family History Digital
Libraries
123
William Sims Bainbridge
Independent historian
Chantilly, VA, USA
ISSN 1571-5035 ISSN 2524-4477 (electronic)
Human–Computer Interaction Series
ISBN978-3-030-01062-1 ISBN978-3-030-01063-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01063-8
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2018956268
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Contents
1 Connections Between Family Data and Wider Meanings . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 The Digital Library Initiative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 An Historical Trapper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3 Connections to Nature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.4 A Professional Genealogist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.5 Applying Technology to Human History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
1.6 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2 Documenting and Digitally Presenting Family Photographs . . . . . . 31
2.1 Accuracy and Completeness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.2 Identifying the Subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.3 The HTML Approach to Documentation and Connection . . . . . 42
2.4 Adapting Conventional Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.5 The Death of Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
2.6 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3 Evolution from Home Movies to Videos in Social Media . . . . . . . . 67
3.1 Documenting Old Home Movie Travelogues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.2 Understanding Home Movies that Did Not Involve
Oneself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
3.3 Contemporary Videos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
3.4 Innovative Video Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
3.5 The Game of Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
3.6 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
v
vi Contents
4 Producing Coherent Narratives from Family Diaries
and Memoirs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
4.1 Expansion of Narratives from Diaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
4.2 Controversy About an Explorer’s Diary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
4.3 The Mysterious Plane Crash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
4.4 Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
4.5 Episodic Memories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
4.6 A Family Narrative Example. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
4.7 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
5 Exploratory Oral History Interviews of Family Members. . . . . . . . 135
5.1 The History of Interviewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
5.2 Finding the Appropriate Conceptual Framework. . . . . . . . . . . . 141
5.3 Open-Ended Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
5.4 The Process of Interviewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
5.5 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
6 Information Technologies for Cultivating Domestic Artifacts . . . . . 165
6.1 Documenting Artifacts In Situ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
6.2 A Brief In Situ Example of Preservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
6.3 Toys, Play, and Reality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
6.4 Scanning and Searching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
6.5 Scanning Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
6.6 Free Camera Functional Preservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
6.7 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
7 Virtual World Representation of Family Homes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
7.1 Gramercy Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
7.2 Bailiwick in 3-D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
7.3 Historic Virtual Reality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
7.4 Historical Virtual Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
7.5 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
8 Applications of Online Censuses and Other Official Records . . . . . 233
8.1 Human Factors in Family History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
8.2 Sociology of the Census . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
8.3 Personal Reflections on Legal Records. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
8.4 Medical Records. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
8.5 Church Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
8.6 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Contents vii
9 Recording Contemporary Family History Through Social
Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
9.1 Creating a Family Archive in Facebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
9.2 The Content of a Family History Archive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
9.3 Seeking Green Hollow Farm in Facebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
9.4 A Family of Homes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
9.5 Wikis of Fictional Families . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
9.6 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
10 Integration of Family Records into Community History. . . . . . . . . 301
10.1 The Valley of the Shadow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
10.2 The Greenwich History Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
10.3 Durability of Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
10.4 Teaching a Profession. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
10.5 Conclusion: A Research Agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Chapter 1
Connections Between Family Data
and Wider Meanings
Abstract Popularcomputertechnologiesmaybeusedeffectivelytodaytoassem-
blehistoricaldataaboutfamiliesintoaccurateandmeaningfulnarratives,whether
by family members themselves or by professional historians. A major technology
developmenteffortwastheDigitalLibraryInitiativeofthe1990s,ledbytheNational
Science Foundation, that set the stage for several aspects of current family his-
tory archiving. To provide contrast with this vast collective effort, and prepare for
consideration of family data challenges, the distinctive life of trapper and utopian
Sewell Newhouse (1806–1888) is summarized, highlighting the fact that human
fameiscapriciousandcandistorthistoricalrecords.Thenextexample ofconnec-
tionsbetweenkindsofdataandhumanmeanings,oneactivityofaruralfamilyin
theearly1940s,linkstogeneralprinciplesoftherelationshipbetweenhumansand
nature, and between individuals and world events. Consideration of the career of
genealogistLouisEffinghamdeForest(1891–1952)suggestshowtheprofessionof
familyhistorianmayevolve,whileraisingquestionsabouthowfamiliesmayhandle
uncomfortablefactsthatmaybediscovered.Theconclusioncombinesphotographs
andcensusdatatoshowhowthestructureofanuclearfamilymaybedelineatedfor
theperiod1900–1940.
Thegreatpopularityofonlinegenealogicalservices,despitetheirseverelimitations,
suggeststhatfamilyhistoryworkhasgreatpotentialforthefuture,butonlyifeffi-
cientandeffectivemethodscanbedevelopedtocollectinformationaboutourpast
and assemble the fragments into accurate and meaningful narratives. Professional
genealogistshaveexistedforoveracentury,andrecentlyanewprofessionofdigital
curator has emerged (Botticelli et al. 2011). Defined by Wikipedia, “Digital cura-
tion is the selection, preservation, maintenance, collection and archiving of digital
assets…Successfuldigitalcurationwillmitigatedigitalobsolescence,keepingthe
informationaccessibletousersindefinitely.”1 Yetinmostcasesmuchofthehistor-
icalworkmustbedonebyfamilymembersthemselves,whichmeansthattheywill
needinstructiononhowtofindrelevantantiqueinformation,howtoassembleand
preserve the information describing their own lives, and how to handle the neces-
1en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_curation.
©SpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2018 1
W.S.Bainbridge,FamilyHistoryDigitalLibraries,Human–Computer
InteractionSeries,https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01063-8_1
2 1 ConnectionsBetweenFamilyDataandWiderMeanings
sary information technology tools. At the same time, history teachers will need to
addcoursesaboutfamilyhistorytotheircurricula,recognizingthattheirscholarly
discipline long ago abandoned its obsession with “kings and battles,” and the full
diversityofhumanitydeservestoberemembered.
Thisbookprovidesacomprehensivebackground,forthefullrangeofinformation
typesandinformationtechnologies,inthecontextnotonlyoftraditionalhistorical
scholarship but also of computer science and social science. Family histories are
bothintimateandcosmopolitan,connectingoneselftothewiderworld,linkingfrom
todaytobothyesterdayandtomorrow.Iwouldnothavebeenabletowritethisbook,
hadInotbelongedtoafamilythatcaredverymuchaboutitsownhistory,orhadI
notinheritedtwocenturiesoffamilydocuments,photographscovering17decades,
and home movies and videos covering 9 decades. While trained in sociology, my
dissertationandseverallaterworkswerehistoricalstudies,andforaquartercentury
I have worked at the intersection of social and computer sciences at the National
ScienceFoundation.
1.1 TheDigital LibraryInitiative
In 1994, the National Science Foundation made six major investments in devel-
oping new technologies, which could today contribute to family history systems,
here listed in Table 1.1. Called the Digital Library Initiative (DLI), this ambitious
activitycontinuedaboutadecade,goingthroughtwoadditionalstages,thesecond
focusedonsmallerbutmorediversegrants,thenthethirdstageaimedtopartnerwith
othernations,recognizingthatbydefinitiontheWorldWideWebwasinternational
(Griffiths2004;Lesk2012).Ihadhopedtherewouldbeafourthstage,developing
digitallibrarytechnologiessuitableforusebyfamiliesandsmallorganizations,but
thatneverhappened.AmemberoftheDLIteam,Irepresentedthesocialsciences,
and the six grants in Table 1.1 were managed by my computer science colleague,
StephenGriffin.
These grants were made in September 1994, for a total of $26,842,849, which
wasabout$44,000,000in2017dollars,accordingtotheinflationcalculatorplaced
online by the US government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.2 Today, anyone who
wants to can go to the online NSF grants abstract search system to read the orig-
inal abstracts describing the grants, and take a few simple steps to find additional
information.3 Forexample,theone-paragraphabstractoftheMichigangrantsays:
“Thisprojectconductsresearchthatwillleadtotheimplementationanddeployment
of a digital library testbed and environment of textual, video, still image, and data
sets,frombothprimaryandsecondaryinformationsuppliers.Theprojectwillmake
availablecapabilitiesandservicestoalargenumberofusersatmultiplelocations.
Thebasicapproachisoneofself-assemblingagentbasedfederationofdistributed
2data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl,accessedOctober2017.
3www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/advancedSearch.jsp.