--More on FamilySearch Photos--

Hey there seems to be a couple updates to this section of FamilySearch I thought I'd inform you of:

Above you can see in the Familysearch Family Tree view that a photos section has been added. So the photos we tagged before are now appearing right next to the "details" section. You'll notice that the first image I tagged of James is now his profile picture rather than that stock blue or pink silhouette in the upper left section.

Also I noticed their "My Photos" section appears to have been changed to a more collage format. I was uploading 46 new photos and saw that it was "pushing" all the ones I had already completed to the bottom and one by one uploading and then marking them green with "completed" a refresh brought those images to view with a red exclamation mark informing me that no one in them had been tagged yet. 

FamilySearch Photos

I had heard this rumor from multiple sources and finally it appears to be active and available and not only that it is a functional process. When I began accessing this function a couple of days ago it lead me to an
"invite" link in a pretty straightforward way.

familysearch.org/photos

is what I'm talking about here and after signing in you can upload any photo you have on your computer if they are in JPG or PNG format. If they aren't in that format it's fairly easy to change them.

The first thing I did was upload a photo of me and my siblings and you can tag the photo very easily. It keeps track of everyone you have tagged and saves the photo there. However you can not attach the photo to the family tree side of things unless those in the photo are not living. I am excited to begin scanning and uploading significant photos from my family history. I suggest you all do the same that way your co-conspirators meaning your distant cousins or latter descendants can see these photos of these wonderful people.

Sadly I'll not get to the photos I want to right away but as soon as I can I'll do so

The above pictures show the beginning welcoming images inviting the users to
1. Upload your photos
2. Identify people in photos
3. Link people to Tree

Pretty to the point

I had a moment of confusion as to how to upload the photos. Here it is:
Click "All Photos"
Click the + sign
Click where that dotted circle is

The rest is pretty straight forward

Peace!

--Updates--

I was just thinking how important 2 things are:

1. Starting from the ground up 
2. Sourcing your found records to the people 

I cite both of these for the same reason: The information listed on already present trees (physical and online) should be considered NO BETTER THAN FAIRY TALES in displaying reality. Because who knows how already generated trees were put together - and who's to say they aren't totally wrong. 

When people log into Family Search or they connect to a larger tree and see they have some of their line filled out. They poke around their new line and see how far back it goes... In doing so they waste time by looking at something which may or may not be true and don't produce a thing in doing so. In order to actually connect to our heritage you have to see the sources which give evidence for the people listed. 

To the beginner with no information present it is the path they HAVE to tread in order to go back in the past at all. I don't think it wasted effort to find every record even mentioning a particular ancestor and attaching to that person in the ways described in previous posts.

UPDATES:

There are some updates: Family Search is encouraging more and more people to switch to Family Tree from new.familysearch. 

Observe the section in the upper right, and that button there. Clearly they are having the general user interact more with Family Tree. Also the invite link below is no longer required. Simply going to FamilySearch.org/Tree will take you to the Family Tree feature and apparently activate it for future use.

Also notice these new images on the left for the login page and the surrounding text. I especially like the emphasis on FREE Service. And how under records it mentions saving those records in the source box. Anyway just thought I'd point that out!

Family Tree Activation Link

CLICK HERE

That link takes you to the activation of family tree on Family Search 

-- Attaching a source --

Putting stuff in your own FamilySearch source box is good and all but until you have attached your sources to the people on Family Tree your work is not done. See like I explained these sources will work wonders to both make sure that two people aren't being assigned to the same source and that two conflicting records aren't applied to the same people (either would show that clearly those involved are talking about different people).

Anyway it's pretty easy I'll show you how to do it right now!

First you find the person you want to attach the source to using Family Tree. Click on the individuals name and then click "View Person".

Then it's a little further down on the individuals page but there is a section for the source box

If your source you want to attach is in the source box click "Source Box" or if you have a physical or online source to create you can do it from here also!

And here's the source box view so you just "Attach" any of the sources which apply to that person and then forever that source will be linked to that person. And the word attach will be replaced by a paper clip symbol - which is a device used to hold paper together. How fitting right?

For those of you who still haven't registered to try out this new feature of Family Tree Click Here and do so! This will be the feature through which Family Search will be moving too so you might as well (Note: For some areas/types of accounts I believe this feature is restricted while they work out the final kinks and bugs)

-- Source Box! --

This is one of the most important features to be introduced to Familysearch. The reason I site it's importance is for the clarity it will give once the Family Tree feature is released to the public. But ANYONE can begin now to start accumulating sources and proving their family history. All you have to do is set up an account.

One of the deepest ideas behind Family Tree is to create a place where everyone is working on the same family tree. Not a million different ones but the same big one - disconnected maybe but it is one. And then if we use it right in avoiding duplication we grab a hold of the purpose of the internet - to save us time and to share ideas and facts.

Disagreements about those facts concerning our ancestors was one of the most annoying things about the older tree feature provided by Familysearch. The Source Box and sources are the only answer to that problem. For this post I'll assume you have created an account already and that you are logged in.

Here is an example:

So you find the death record to one of your ancestors! Now you simply click "Add to My Source Box" and it has been saved in your account's source box. Like So:

Now the record above appears in the greater Source Box below. (You can access your source box from hovering over your name and clicking on Source Box). You have the ability to open and close them for more details and to see the record again. Notice on the left there is a file folder structure you can create. Each record can go in one folder so you can decide for yourself the best way to organize!

You do have the ability to create a source yourself! If you look and the item second from the bottom on my source box there's a world symbol. I made it because I found an online biography of one of my ancestors which I never wanted to have to look for again!

It's as easy as that. And as a user of Family Tree I can tell you linking your ancestor to the record is just as easy. Happy hunting!

-- The Past State of Things --

I just talked with a man who interned with family search and who described, in a way I could understand, what's going on with Familysearch behind the scenes. Right now it's a bit like a baby in the womb. So that's the analogy I'll use.

The baby being the new feature "Family Tree" and the mother being "New Familysearch". If that means nothing to you I understand, new.familysearch.org has been present only in the backend and has only been available to premier members (kindof in a prolonged beta -- thus the "new" at the beginning). Family Tree on the other hand is a feature which at this moment is active and running and will eventually be available to the public.

 (I think most would agree that new familysearch has kindof had a backend feel to it from the start)

Anyways! To push the analogy further these two features and sites are linked with syncing Java code. This means that at this moment if you change something in New - it will get changed in Tree and vice versa. The reasoning behind this is so that everyone can get a feel for how both work and make the transition seamlessly. But there will come a day when the umbilical cord will be cut and the code for Family Tree will have to stand on it's own. New Familysearch will become a thing of the past and this new feature will replace it. That is to come.

For the moment they are running synchronously. Tutorials on new.familysearch and Family Tree will be coming!

Check the post on Free Resources to find the links to get access to Family Tree. (or click here and follow the activation link for those with accounts)