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Thursday, November 22, 2012

Expert Q&A :: Getting the most from findmypast Aust & NZ

For our Expert Q&A on Thursday, November 22 we had Vicki Dawson, Rosemary Kopittke and Melissa Davison from findmypast.com.au Aust & NZ answering questions on how to get the most from findmypast. Thanks again to Vicki, Rosemary and Melissa for their time and responses.

Please find the transcript of the Q&A and links below.

Don't forget our Expert Q&As happen every Thursday night on the Inside History Magazine facebook page.

When: NSW - ACT - VIC - TAS: 8:30-9:30pm AEDT | QLD: 7:30-8:30pm | WA: 5:30-6:30pm | NT: 7:00-8:00pm | SA: 8:00-9:00pm

Top tips from Rosemary Kopittke:
  1. My first tip would be - Don’t put in too much information to start with – “less” is often better; if you get too many results then refine using filters, a time span or keywords.
  2. Another helpful tip is to remember that much of the data is available as searchable documents which have been digitised – so for that data first/last names don’t mean much to the search engine. Use the keywords – for example, james ainsworth (83 hits) and ainsworth james (289 hits) in the keywords will produce more meaningful results than putting those words into the name fields (3,104 hits).
  3. And another - Search using both name and keyword fields – use the Record Type filter: search fully indexed data (Records) with the name fields and search the digitised data (Documents) with keywords and you will get much more useful results.
  4. And one more ... Don’t use the Chrome browser for searches – you lose a lot of what the pdf documents can offer with the Chrome browser as it doesn’t highlight matches on the page or give you all the acrobat tools.
Summary of links from the Q&A:

A pet cat listed in the 1911 England and Wales census 
Image courtesy of findmypast 

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Transcript of Expert Q&A - Getting the most from findmypast Australia & NZ: 

Our Expert Q&A with the findmypast.com.au Australia & NZ team starts in 15 minutes at 8:30pm AEDT. Tonight we’ll be discussing how to get the most from findmypast. Please ask your questions in a comment below & Vicki, Rosemary or Melissa will answer in a comment.

Q. From Rochell:  In case I forget about the q and a. I have a question. I am trying to find an ancestor coming to Australia around 1893. I know he was at his brother's wedding in April of that year. But I can't find him coming in. Is there anywhere I can find a list of major ships coming from London around that time?
A. IHM: We'll ask your question for you Rochell.
A. Rochell: I found him on the findmypast.com.au site. I hope it is him and not a crew member. I tried to become a member of the site but it didn't like my email address. So now I can't find out anymore details :( this is what I got. I would love a month. If poss. His name was WM STRUTHERS (Refer to Appendix A)
A. IHM: Blog from Rosemary Kopittke :: Part 1: Tips for using findmypast.com.au Aust & NZ :: http://ow.ly/fuw7S - lots more tips in tonight's Q&A!
A. Rosemary: @Rochell Your Wm Suthers on the Ormuz in 1892 was definitely a passenger and not crew - http://www.flickr.com/photos/insidehistory/8207265605/ shows the page from the passenger list.
A. IHM: Thanks Rosemary. For everyone else, here's Rochell's question from yesterday: "I am trying to find an ancestor coming to Australia around 1893. I know he was at his brother's wedding in April of that year. But I can't find him coming in. Is there anywhere I can find a list of major ships coming from London around that time? I found him on the findmypast.com.au site. I hope it is him and not a crew member. I tried to become a member of the site but it didn't like my email address. So now I can't find out anymore details :( this is what I got. I would love a month. If poss. His name was WM STRUTHERS".
A. Rosemary: @Rochell Interesting that the passenger list shows Wm Struthers entry as struck out suggesting he did not board. A comment from the specialist in the area says: I’d say that the married 27-yr old Scotsman Wm Struthers didn’t board the Ormuz bound for Sydney NSW in October 1892. Normally, however, in my experience when one sees a struck-out passenger, one would expect to find him on a voyage departing within the next few weeks.
A. Rosemary: One of my family was struck off a passenger list - he actually boarded in London instead of Liverpool a few weeks later - he and his wife came on separate ships and met in Brisbane at the end of the voyage - Robert had a new son born on the voyage when he met his wife again.

Comment: IHM: Welcome everyone, thanks for joining us tonight. Please welcome Vicki, Melissa and Rosemary from findmypast.com.au Aust & NZ to tonight's Q&A.
Comment: IHM: Reminder: Keep refreshing your browser to see the answers as they appear. 
A. Rosemary: Hi 
A. Vicki: Good evening!
A. Melissa: Hello
A. Carmel: Hi all

Q. From Trish: Hi Rosemary, Vicki & Melissa. Does Findmypast have access to different records than other genealogy sites?
A. Vicki: @Trish, yes we have many records that are exclusive to findmypast so you won’t find them elsewhere.
A. Rosemary: @Trish It does have many unique records not available elsewhere - Police and Government Gazettes for all Australian sites and and hundres of directories just to name a few - lots of exciting information in those records not easily accessible even in hard copy in libraries.

Q. From Kerryn: G'day. I'm not yet a subscriber to findmypast. How does it differ to ancestry?
A. Vicki: @Kerryn, many records you’ll find on findmypast are exclusive to us so you won’t find them elsewhere. Of course, you may need to use both sites as Ancestry will also have records that are exclusive to them. We do offer additional options other than an annual subscription including PayAsYouGo credits which start from $12.95 for 100 credits which gives you flexibility without locking into a subscription.
A. Rosemary: An example of records unique to FMP is the Queensland Police Gazettes - great details on criminals, victims and others - a good description at https://www.findmypast.com.au/articles/world-records/full-list-of-australasian-records/institutions-and-organisations/queensland-police-gazette-1864-1900 (more years available than yet described there)
A. Kerryn: Thanks Vicki that sounds great. How many credits does it take to access a record or are they all different?
A. Vicki: @Kerryn, it varies depending on the record. You can view the costs here - https://www.findmypast.com.au/payments. Scroll down and click on ‘How much does it cost to view the records?’

Q. From Carmel: So Rosemary how would I find crew members? I have a feeling I may have a couple. Henry Barwise arrived sometime between 1851 (English Census) and 1857 when an advertisment appears in Maryborough for an unclaimed letter. He came from a family of mariners although he and his father were both printers. Also I have one from Sweden who I believe has changed his name. His Naturalisation papers say he arrived in 1863 on the Triton but I have not found a record for this ship at this time.
A. Rosemary: @Carmel The passenger records on FMP start only in 1890 when the Board of Trade records commence - anything before that will have to come from other sources. I know some crew are listed, for example, on lists lodged with the Customs House in Brisbane and held by the National Archives. Perhaps they have similar lists for other states.
A. Carmel: Mine are Victorian and still asking questions. They will be there somewhere I am sure. I do seem to come from a family of swimmers.
A. Rosemary: @Carmel I understand your problem! I had a fellow who was a pilot - couldn't find him for a long time but he definitely didn't fly.
A. Kerry: Hi - anyone looking for crew, from about 1845 up until immigration became a function of Commonwealth government (end of 1922) should have a look at http://mariners.records.nsw.gov.au/ - based around NSW records, but not only theirs.
A. Carmel: @Rosemary I have a couple married in London 10 days after arriving in Victoria in 1858, they would have flown home for the wedding!
A. Rosemary: @Carmel Sounds interesting - I haven't heard of anything like that before; looks like it requires further investigation.
A. Carmel: Actually Rosemary I do not think they did marry. He met her at the ship in Melbourne, the marriage comes from the children's birth certificates, always the same date but one in London one in Melbourne, but no record to be found.
A. Rosemary: @Carmel Sounds a bit like some of my family where the children didn't really know the facts - said their mother was born in Ipswich, Queensland when she had been born in England. We can't believe everything on certificates - unfortunately. We need to check multiple sources for each piece of information where that is possible.

Q. From Carol: Can anyone answer this general question... Apart from the prison husks does anyone know some other uses for abandoned ships that sat in Hobsons Bay in 1852? (This is for a setting in a novel l'm attempting)
A. Carmel: Carol I may be wrong but I have a feeling there was one used for abandoned children?
A. IHM: Hi Carol, Carmel is right - there was a hulk called the Vernon which housed orphan boys off Cockatoo Island: http://www.cockatooisland.gov.au/about/history-reform-school.html
A. Carol: One of the prison hulks was a reform school. Yes. And kids complain today! Thanks.
A. Wendy: G'day ,I was looking thru a book of mine that has been in storage for 8yrs and came across 2 pages of photos and a small amount of info on the 'Nautical Training Ships' ... 'one solution to ridding Sydney of it's young pariahs or 'Street Arabs' was to put them aboard nautical training ships moored in the harbour' . Photo's show the 'Vernon' and 'Sobraon' . Book is called The Young Australians .Australian children since 1788 .John Larkins & Bruce Howard 1981. Some one was asking about these ships in a Q&A recently . The photos are credited to the New South Wales Government Printer .
A. IHM: Click here for link to "The Young Australians" on Trove
Q. From IHM: Does findmypast.com.au Aust & NZ have Birth Death & Marriage records?
A. Melissa: In our Australian records the Birth, Marriage & Death records mostly cover cemetery records. Although these are not formal records of birth, death and marriages, the cemetery records often provide dates of birth and death, along with extensive information on the person and their family. However we have UK birth, death and marriage records available.
A. Melissa: We also have pre-civil records for SA which have very recently been added to findmypast.com.au and we expect to have Australian BDMs available next year, it is a top priority.

Q. From IHM: We're always being asked what's new on findmypast & what's coming next - what do you have in the pipeline that we should be excited about?
A. Vicki: We’ve recently added over 56 million new records for Australia & New Zealand and currently have so much in the pipeline that there’s a lot to be excited about! I can’t list them all but here is a teaser of what you can expect in coming months. The remaining existing records from the UK site and British Newspapers. From The National Archives in UK - British Army Pensioners - Kilmainham, Ireland, 1783-1822 which has been digitised for the first time as well as one of my favourites - our “bad boy collection” which will contain approx. 1.8m images and 3.1m criminal justice records. Irish BDMs & from the US - World War II records, 10m more World War I Draft Registration Cards and BDMs from the 1600s to the present day. And of course millions of new records for Australia & New Zealand – keep an eye out for an announcement shortly regarding new Australian records which will be digitised for the first time and exclusive to findmypast!
A. Vicki: We recently launched a 14 day free trial so if you haven’t already go give it a go for free!
A. Carmel: The Irish BDMs sound interesting, I have not been able to find anything on my Irish Ancestors
A. Rosemary: @Carmel If you have a subscription to the World Collection you will be able to access the Irish records through findmypast.com.au
A. Carmel: It was thanks to findmypast that I finally found the birth of my gg grandfather and found he did not even know his own name after I found he did not know his mother's name either. He always said his name was Alfred Benjamin Woodhead when he was registered and baptised Alfred Townley Woodhead. I am now trying to find out who Alfred Townley was, sounds like someone well known to Alfred's parents.
A. Kerry: I've found ancestors in the Irish Petty Sessions records, and some wonderful information about an entailment to a direct ancestor (that named their age, marriage date, residence & more) in the Irish Landed Estates records.
A. Vicki: @Kerry - Great to hear!
A. Vicki: @Carmel - wonderful to hear of your success!
A. Carmel: Yes he had his mother as Sarah Taylor, His mother was Isabella Jenkinson who died when Alfred was only 10 mths old. His father married Sarah Clarke so I am guessing this is where the Sarah came from and wonder if the Taylor was not linked somehow to the Townley. Amazing how one answer leads to a dozen questions! I have been doing this for 35 years and still looking for more. It amazes me when people say I have done my family tree.
A. Rosemary: @Kerry Kerry mentioned about some interesting Irish records she has recently examined. The following link will give a glimpse at what you might expect to see in the Landed Estate Court Rentals - when bankrupt property were put up for auction and the tenants and everybody associated with the property were named (not just the owners). Great records not available anywhere else. http://www.flickr.com/photos/insidehistory/8207346969

Q. From Michelle: Are there plans for FMP UK AUS & IRL to amalgamate? It would be easier to search the one database and have the one logon?
A. Vicki: @Michelle – Yes!! We hope to have them amalgamated in the first quarter of next year.
A Vicki: @Michelle - I should add to my previous comment that your login for AU, IE or US will work on each of those sites. All of the records from each of those sites are now available on findmypast.com.au and approx. 80% of the UK records with the remaining coming over the next few months. You can see the full list of what’s available here - http://www.findmypast.com.au/articles/world-records

Q. From IHM: Can you combine single subscriptions to get a World Collection subscription?
A. Melissa: Separate subscriptions for AU/NZ, UK & IE cannot be combined or transferred to one subscription, members will need to wait until their subscriptions expire before upgrading to one of the packages.

Q. From Kerryn: I've just signed up for free and made a boo boo already. Can I change the name of my tree I used my married name instead of maiden surname.
A. Melissa: @Kerryn, You can update your details from the "My Account" section located in your menu bar then in the drop down menu select "Personal Details".
A. IHM: Here's the link to the 14 day free trial :: http://ow.ly/fuI9I
Q (b): From Kerryn: Is it possible to change to pay as you go once free trial period is over?
A. Melissa: @Kerryn you need to cancel your FREE trial before the trial period ends otherwise the subscription will automatically be debited from your credit card. You can do this easily by selecting "My Account" from the menu bar and then selecting "My subscription" from the drop down tab, you will see the option to cancel. Once this is done you can purchase your pay per view credits.

Q. From Merilyn: Hi all I am enjoying all your comments and learning lots. I have found both ancestry and fmp both good sources of info. Keep up the good work. My brick wall is my gg grandfather who was a Mariner in Kent UK. Any ideas?
A. Rosemary: Merilyn Mariners can certainly be difficult. Not listed in all the censuses so tricky. Findmypast UK does have some Crew Lists though so it could be worth checking there.
Q (b): Merilyn: Thanks Rosemary. I know from past experience he won't come up if I just enter his name. Can you specify crew lists? What is the best way for Mariners?
A. Rosemary: @Merilyn Crew lists 1861-1913 appear under Education and Work on findmypast UK

Q. From Jonathan: Are there any plans on FMP to implement a citation button for a record? We all know how important it is to include citations when referencing data, making this information available to all would only enhance the product.
A. Vicki: @Jonathan. Not that I’m aware of but will certainly take up with the development team.

Q. From IHM: Time flies! 2 last questions then. 1) What would be your top tips for researching your ancestors with findmypast?
A. Rosemary's top tips: 
  1. My first tip would be - Don’t put in too much information to start with – “less” is often better; if you get too many results then refine using filters, a time span or keywords.
  2. Another helpful tip is to remember that much of the data is available as searchable documents which have been digitised – so for that data first/last names don’t mean much to the search engine. Use the keywords – for example, james ainsworth (83 hits) and ainsworth james (289 hits) in the keywords will produce more meaningful results than putting those words into the name fields (3,104 hits).
  3. And another - Search using both name and keyword fields – use the Record Type filter: search fully indexed data (Records) with the name fields and search the digitised data (Documents) with keywords and you will get much more useful results.
  4. And one more ... Don’t use the Chrome browser for searches – you lose a lot of what the pdf documents can offer with the Chrome browser as it doesn’t highlight matches on the page or give you all the acrobat tools.
A. Merilyn: Wow, thanks will certainly give all those ideas a try :)
A. Kerryn: I'm a bit disappointed about the chrome browser as it is my default browser.
A. Vicki: @Kerryn, the Chrome issue is only when viewing documents. Unfortunately it's an issue with Adobe and you lose some functionality that is really useful in Internet Explorer.

Q. From Michelle: Has FMP thought about a providing a knowledge page? Where researchers can check their knowledge? Would help people learn more about the resources.
A. Vicki: @Michelle. We’re shortly going to be revising our help & advice sections to include tutorials, knowledge base and other useful information.

Q. From IHM: So, we'll finish with some fun! 2) What is your favourite story you’ve found on findmypast?
A. Vicki: With so many records available it’s hard to choose a favourite but I would have to say I love the sense of humour of a John Charles Belton who included his cat on the 1911 Census as: Peter Tabby, relationship to family – servant, 6 months old, occupation mouser, nationality Persian! He obviously wasn’t intimidated by the enumerator…. http://www.flickr.com/photos/insidehistory/8207069167
A. Rosemary: One of my favourite stories is about a fellow who filled in his census form and was found dead when the collector came around the next morning - tragic really.
A. IHM: Leave them laughing & with a tear in their eye Rosemary, that's a great story!
A. Carmel: eek I did the census here a few years back and had a similar story, went to collect the forms and walked into a funeral.

Comment: IHM: Thanks again to the findmypast.com.au Aust & NZ team for joining us tonight! We’ll publish the questions, answers & links from tonight’s session in a blog post soon.
A. Carmel: Thanks to @Rosemary I have found that the Triton was in Newcastle NSW about 3 weeks after My John Johnson claims he landed in Aus on this ship. It had left from Warnambool with only a few crew members, now how do I trace it back to Warnambool to see if John was on it? I feel I am a bit closer to finding him.

Next Week: Who's joining us for next Thursday's Expert Q&A? Find out how to use the National Archives of Australia defence records. Join us here with your questions next Thursday.

When: NSW-ACT-VIC-TAS: 8:30-9:30pm AEDT | QLD: 7:30-8:30pm | WA: 5:30-6:30pm | NT: 7:00-8:00pm | SA: 8:00-9:00pm.

See you next Thursday, November 15 for more on the National Archives of Australia defence records.

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Read the previous Expert Q&A transcripts:
[1]  Thursday, July 26 :: How to get the best from Trove Australia
[2]  Thursday, August 16 :: How to get the best from BDM Certificates
[3]  Thursday, August 23 :: Getting the most from NAA
[4]  Thursday, August 30 :: Interpreting photographs for family history
[5]  Thursday, September 6 :: How to get the best from Ancestry.com.au
[6]  Thursday, September 13 :: Using Trove for research
[7]  Thursday, September 20 :: Today's toolkit for the digital historian
[8]  Thursday, September 27 :: Preserving your artefacts with NAA
[9]  Thursday, October 4 :: Studying and doing research at UNE
[10]  Thursday, October 11 :: How to research war graves and Anzac ancestors
[11]  Thursday, October 25 :: What's new at Ancestry.com.au
[12]  Thursday, November 1 :: How to research cemeteries in Sydney & NSW
[13] Thursday, Nov 8 :: Australian War Memorial - Lost Diggers
[14] Thursday, Nov 15 :: Getting even more from Trove
[15] Thursday, Nov 22 :: Getting the most from findmypast AU & NZ
[16] Thursday, Nov 29 :: Using NAA defence records
[19] Thursday, Dec 20 :: What's new at Ancestry.com.au


Appendix A: 
Rochell's ancestor's details: 
WM STRUTHERS
Passenger Lists leaving UK 1890-1960
Collections from: United Kingdom
Country: AUSTRALIA | Title: MR
State: New South Wales | Ship Name: ORMUZ
Birth Year: 1865 | Age: 27
Ship Departure Port: LONDON | Destination Port: SYDNEY
Departure Year: 1892

at 1 comment:

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Your favourite history book :: NYR 2012

To celebrate the National Year of Reading 2012, we asked you to tell us your favourite non-fiction history books. Now, after a  nail-biting few months of voting, it’s time  to announce your winner. Drum roll, please…

In first place came Michael Flynn’s The Second Fleet: Britain’s Grim Convict Armada of 1790 (Library of Australian History, 1993), a tremendous feat of meticulous research into more than 1,500 individuals who were on board the tragic Second Fleet.

It remains a seminal work. It’s also now out of print, but check with your local library, which might have a copy you can borrow, or organise an inter-library loan for you. Click here to find a copy at your library on Trove.

“Many thanks to the readership of Inside History for their support,” says Michael. “Revised versions of the First and Second Fleet books are ongoing, assisted by feedback from some of the thousands of descendants of these early colonists. Coming soon: a website with updates and information to be called Botany Bay Bound.” Stay tuned, we’ll bring you more news soon!


As for second place?

Two runners-up tied equally for silver. The Convict Ships 1787-1868 (first published by Brown, Son and Ferguson, 1959), by Charles Bateson, is an authoritative guide to Australia’s period of convict transportation.
And "In Her Own Words: The Writings of Elizabeth Macquarie" (Exisle Publishing, 2011) by Robin Walsh is an important recent work.

As a compilation  of personal records, diaries and letters written by  Elizabeth Macquarie, it offers fascinating insights into two figures who helped shape the early colony.


Though our list is by no means definitive, we’d like to thank everyone who voted. We enjoyed your suggestions, and even managed to add a few books to our must-read list — hopefully you have, too.

at 1 comment:

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Expert Q&A :: Getting even more from Trove

For our Expert Q&A Thursday, November 15 we had Virginia James and Mark Raadgever from the Trove team join us and answer questions on how to get even more from Trove. Thanks again to Virginia and Mark for giving us all their time and insights. We look forward to having the Trove team back again soon.

Please find the transcript of the Q&A and links below.

Don't forget our Expert Q&As happen every Thursday night on the Inside History Magazine facebook page.

When: NSW - ACT - VIC - TAS: 8:30-9:30pm AEDT | QLD: 7:30-8:30pm | WA: 5:30-6:30pm | NT: 7:00-8:00pm | SA: 8:00-9:00pm

As of November 2012 there are 316,919,556 pages consisting of 77,907,016 articles available to search in just the old newspapers on Trove alone! Please find the transcript of the Q&A and links.

Summary of links from the Q&A:

Check out photos and add your own :: Trove: Australia in Pictures on Flickr

=====================================================

Transcript of Expert Q&A - Getting even more from Trove:

Our Expert Q&A with Virginia James and Mark Raadgever from the Trove team starts in 15 minutes at 8:30pm AEDT. Topic: Getting even more from Trove. Please ask your questions in a comment below and Virginia or Mark will answer in a following comment.

Comment: IHM: Welcome everyone, the Q&A is now open. Thanks for joining us tonight Virginia and Mark. Please ask your questions.

Q. From Christine: Hi there, my research turned up a story, reported in an article in a WA newspaper, called 'peeps at people' the story was about a Gallipoli soldier who eventually ended up as a guide at Galipolii, having had a bad time, prisoner of war etc, I would really like to know who he was.
A. Virginia: @Christine, Wow, what a fascinating story. I take it no names were mentioned.
Q (b): From Christine: there is a photo in Bart Ziinos book of the Irwin family on a pilgrimage to Gallipoli showing them doing a grave rubbing, cannot find the image in Trove or eleswhere, ideas?
A. Virginia: @Christine, Hmmm... difficult one. If the image hasn't been contributed separately to Trove apart from the book you won't be able to find it in Trove. So it may not exist as a digitised image on its own. Even if it is, it may have a different title from the caption in the book so it might be in Trove but need different search terms to find it.

Q. From Alexandra: Hi there...I would like to get more involved in the Trove community...I think I understand what the text corrections are about ...but what are the images and the lists? Also is it possible to set up an automated search in Trove - a bit like Google?
A. Mark: @Alexandra In answer to your three questions 1) Images are photographs (or scans) that are added by individuals to the Trove: Australia in Pictures Flickr group (http://www.flickr.com/groups/pictureaustralia_ppe/), images uploaded to this group appear in Trove after about 2 weeks, as long as they meet certain requirements. 2) Lists are a list of items found in Trove that a user has collated to make it easier for people to find items that are related, for example http://trove.nla.gov.au/list?id=9823 is a list of newspaper articles about Harold Williams the singer. These can be created by anyone, and are particularly useful for sharing relevant items with other people. 3) You can't set up an automated search in the same way that Google does, however you can subscribe to an RSS feed that notifies you when any new items are added to Trove which match your search. The link to this appears at the bottom of your search results. This feed can be set to just results in a specific zone, or for results across all zones.
A. Alexandra: Mark - thank you so much - that's great news....I forgot to say thank you to both of you and the whole NLA team ....Trove is so fantastic ...I bore people witless raving about it....
A. Alexandra: Oooh and I've just discovered your Trove search box which I've just put on my blog...that's useful too...thanks.
A. IHM: The search box is on our blog as well, Alexandra. Here's the link for everyone else: Add a Trove search box to your website :: http://www.nla.gov.au/media/trove/add-trove-to-your-website.html
A. Chris: I have it also, and every now and then someone tells me how handy it is.

Q. From Rosemary: Often multiple lines of an article (eg those in the Family Notices) are missed in the OCR process - is there any way that the OCR can be redone or is the only option to manually correct the entries ourselves? 
A. Virginia: @Rosemary, Unfortunately no. We don't have the resources available to send items back for re-scanning so that's why we love our volunteer text correctors so much!
A. Rosemary: The association of the text with the correct line on the page is generally very good but I have seen some where it is completely unrelated - I have to find the entry by looking for the name of interest. Fortunately not common and I can live with that given all the interesting facts I'm learning about my families.
A. Mark: @Rosemary The information on the lines is based on the output of the OCR engine, which provides each line and word on the page a set of co-ordinates (like a map), if there is an error in the information supplied by the OCR engine, then this may result in the images not quite matching up. Also, if the match is a 'fuzzy' match, these are often not highlighted in either the article text or the article image, you can use your browser 'find' feature to find the items in the text. Also, if a user has changed the text without respecting the original lines (this is permissible if there are not enough lines in the OCR text compared to the original article, however the start of the lines should match where the line is highlighted on the page), this disassociation can also occur. However, the exact reason for any specific article is difficult to say without viewing the article itself

Q. From Fiona: Hi I adore Trove - it's a fabulous resource for researching my family tree. I'm wondering why there isn't much post WW2? Thanks
A. Virginia: @Fiona, that would be because we can only digitise up to 1954 because of copyright issues so that's only 9 years post WWII to digitise.

Q. From Chris: Hi, I'm an avid user of Trove but I need some guidance that you might be able to help with. When I google a name, I can just write it as 'john goopy' + Queensland and for the most part, that's what I will get ...with Mr. Goopy and J Goopy but not much else. When I do this with Trove, I get all manner of Goopys... the bane of my life, don't laugh Cass... How can I get more direct reposnes?
A. Chris: Or responses :-)
A. Mark: @Chris: to reduce the number of results you get in Trove, you may wish to do a phrase search - put the search terms in quote marks (e.g. "John Goopy") to find only those results where the two words appear one after the other, otherwise, you may like to try a 'near' search with an honorific (e.g. Mr) to find only those results which mention a Mr Goopy - for example "Mr Goopy"~2, will find all articles where Mr and Goopy appear within 2 words of each other... You may also need to use the fulltext: syntax to drop some of the less relevant results - see http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/result?q=fulltext%3A%28%22mr+john+goopy%22~2%29 for an example
A. Chris: Thank you, a simple change to what I have been trying certainly helps. Wish I'd asked before. Love OCR... it's often more interesting than the initial reports, even more than my typos. It's good that we have so many correcting though, something I do each time I search, even if it's only a few lines. Thank you for your time.
A. Virginia: @Chris, LOL, I think you might be the first person to say the OCR is sometimes more interesting than the original! And thank you so much for your corrections! Every single one counts!
A. Rosemary: I often get a laugh too from the incorrect OCR - things like the "thin" son instead of the "third" son; lots of interested variations on "passed" in "passed away" too that you would never think of.
A. Mark: @Rosemary I can probably believe almost anything from what I've seen in the OCR!

Q. From Michelle: Is there a possibility of correcting text in a block (like in the Text box) rather than lines separately?
A. Mark: @Michelle This is not something that we intend to introduce at this point in time. The text corrections are completed line-by-line as each line of text is linked to a specific location on the image, and it is not currently possible for us to match these locations with a basic text block rather than the line-by-line system.
A. Mark: This is what allows us to highlight the search results both in the article text and in the original newspaper image
A. Michelle: Thanks @Mark- was just a bit of wishful thinking.

Q. From IHM: Virginia, is there a way to search specifically for images in a newspaper?
A. Virginia: Sure is! Using the Advanced search screen (http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/search?adv=y) you have the option to search in captions only, and to restrict your search to illustrated articles only. The restriction on this is that advertising does not have the illustrations identifed, so this can't be used to find display advertising. You may also use the 'illustrated' facet to restrict your results to illustrated articles, then select a type of illustration.

Q. From Alexandra: Mark/Virginia - how do you choose which newspapers to digitise next?
A. Mark: @Alexandra This process is actually completed by the Newspapers Digitisation Program team (who do an excellent job with the complexities of the digitisation), in consultation with state and territory libraries - more information can be found on the ANDP website at http://www.nla.gov.au/content/selection-policy

Q. From Alison: Do they have plans to collate all the Digger photos under a single catalogue item to make for easier searching. I know newspapers in Brisbane and other port cities often did one page or 2 page spreads of Expeditionary Forces prior to embarkation, using studio portraits, with captions underneath cropped photos just showing the men's faces. I did some text corrections to some Brisbane issues last year, but having trouble now doing an all states search for them for someone else.
A. Virginia: @Alison's question: No, no we don't, but... *big smile* We'd love to have someone create a list of the Digger photos that would make it a single searchable item. So, Alison, there's a challenge for you!

Q. From Kathy: When I ask for an email to be sent to me when a page is finished being digitised, the time frame given is up to 1 month. Does this need to be revised at all? I am sure I've been waiting longer for notification for some pages.
A. Mark: @Kathy One month is a 'normal' timeframe if the batch that contains the article passes the final quality check, then this should normally be completed within 28 days, if the batch fails the quality check then it can take a lot longer (up to 28 days every time it is resubmitted, the most I've seen is a batch that had to be resubmitted 5 times). If the batch fails the check after you submit your email address, then you will receive notification when the page is available, if it passes, you will get notification that the specific article is available.

Comment: Chloe: I haven't got a specific question but I'm reading through the comments, learning new things from all the other questions. Thanks!
A. Mark: @Chloe Glad to hear that you're getting some tips and ideas from the questions.
A. Virginia: @Chloe, not ignoring you! Are you still getting good stuff from this? If you have any questions you'd like us to answer that you don't want to raise here, just shoot us a message via the Contact Us form.

Q. From Virginia: So... just wondering... does anyone use the rest of Trove? I think the other zones are feeling neglected. ;)
A. Virginia: I only ask because we often have pictures of service men and various ships that may interest family historians.
A. Alexandra: Oh no, don't you worry Virginia, I use Trove for finding books at the public library where I work..we love it...it's the tool we use the most after our own catalogue I think it is fair to say....and I recommend it to all our patrons...I particularly love it for images too...
A. Alexandra: If I have any problems it's usually with the archived websites....I click on the links but I never seem to get anywhere with them...I'm not a very experienced user obviously....
A. IHM: We're always pointing people to books & libraries via Trove and don't tell anyone but we use Trove to search other libraries catalogues instead of their systems... And of course there's all the pictures we find on Trove as well!
A. Wendy: I always do a 'complete' search first cause you never know what else is there :) I also redo the same search occassionaly to catch new stuff ... found a beautiful photo just last week of my great grandfather with convict leg irons he found on a skeleton , the photo is held by Tas State library . It wasn't there the time before , so has been added recently. My maiden name is Frerk, so that make things easier ;)
A. Mark: @Alexandra The archived websites can be a bit interesting to use, the are a snapshot of the website at a particular point in time, so many of the links on the pages will be broken. If you have a specific problem, please use the contact us form so that we can provide more specific results.

Q. From Carmel: I heard the other day where some have tried to fix the text and completely changed the story so their ancestor does not sound bad! this does not change the facts at all but corrections are checked before being authorised is this correct? I never thought of this and think the idea funny, luckily the original article cannot be changed anyway. I usually read the original and only revert to the ocr if I am having trouble reading it as well.
A. Virginia: @Carmel, Ack! If you see this sort of thing you should contact us via the contact us form and we'll look into it! We've been pretty lucky with not much 'vandalism' and yes it's true the original can't be changed, but still!
A. Virginia: But no, we do not check the text before the corrections are authorised.
A. Mark: In addition to Virginia's comment, the corrections are available immediately that the user clicks 'save', and they are normally searchable within the hour. However, to help protect against that type of behaviour, the original OCR text always remains searchable (Trove searches the original OCR and the most recent update)
A. Carmel: have not come across it myself but someone did remark that some had tried. Why get in the way of a good story and I would be recorrecting if it was one of mine.
A. Mark: @Carmel There have been a few occurrences where similar things have happened, though not in the way you've mentioned, so it does happen.

Q. From Tony: Hi Guys, when I use the advanced search or a basic search and then the qualifiers on the left side I often want to limit my search to articles 100-1000 words and <1000 words. This requires two searches or one without limiting article length and full of unwanted items. Is there any way to incorporate a search button for both?
A. Virginia: @Tony, give me a sec to digest that one. So you basically want to limit to results that are between 100 to 1000 words and then results less than 1000 words? Isn't that the same thing?
A. Virginia: Oh! Sorry, did you mean greater than 1000 words?
A. Virginia: @Tony, yes, it's possible but it's probably best if you contact us via the contact us form http://librariesaustraliaref.nla.gov.au/reft100.aspx?pmi=UGSBky1Wle for us to answer that one.
A. Tony: Hi. No that was 100-1000 and over 1000 words... so that would be >1000. Apoloies
A. Tony: Thats Apologies
A. Virginia: @Tony, actually that's what I came round to and there is a way, but we can best answer it if you put in a query via the Contact Us form.
A. Tony: I then use my search parameter in Trove tools to data mine a set series of articles. So having two seperate searches of the same topic is a little disorganised
A. Tony: BTW Cass, I submitted my PhD last Thursday...sitting here working on the oral defence for next Thursday.
A. Virginia: @Tony, do you mean you're using the Trove API?
A. Tony: Thanks for the reply Virginia. I will contact you via query page. I have used Trove's API but I now use Wragge Trove Tools

Q. From IHM: Mark. Is it better to sort by relevance or by date? 
A. Mark: Inside History Magazine - In almost all circumstances it is better to sort by relevance rather than by date. The main reason for this is that Trove, by default, does a 'fuzzy' search, which will introduce non-exact matches into your search results. Also, when looking at newspapers, the article category does influence the considered relevance of an article. The combination of these two means that when sorting by date, the most relevant results may not be visible due to the non-exact matches and advertising matches pushing them out of the way. Where sorting by date is best is when you are specifically looking for the earliest or latest mention of an item. Sorting by date can also be useful if you are using the fulltext: or text: syntax to turn off the fuzzy searching. If you are looking for results in a specific date range, then the best option is to use the date facet or the date search on the advanced search screen rather than trying to sort by date.
A. Tony: And Mark, Trove searches on every word..subject to OCR quality, while many others like Papers Past only search on headlines. Cudos
A. Mark: @Tony very, very true

Comment: Martyn: The ability to text search newspapers has opened up such a wonderfully rich resource. Thank you so much to all concerned!

Q. From Michelle: I have used a lot of digitised newspapers online from other countries and Trove is by far the most skillful research tool on offer in Australia. It is changing the way we present history and the best thing is- it is free. What do we have to look forward to over the next few years from Trove?
A. Virginia: @ Martyn and Michelle, Thank you so much for your comments! As for the future... we'll always be adding content, including more newspapers and hopefully improving things like Lists and things in the newspapers zone and generally tackling all the enhancements people have asked for!
A. IHM: Here's the link for new newspaper titles coming soon in case anyone wants it :: http://www.nla.gov.au/content/new-titles-coming 

Comment: Carmel: I really like the facility where new articles that have not been checked can be ordered to be notified when it is available, only problem is I was sent two pages last week and I cannot remember who I was researching! need to keep a log
A. Mark: @Carmel that is always a risk with those notifications, we actually do have a suggestion in on how to improve it...either email the user immediately to say they've requested notification, with the article details (title, newspaper, page, issue date)
A. Mark: or to try and include more information in the notification email.
A. Carmel: I know Trove has bought many of my ancestors to life, there are things in papers that I would not have found if not for Trove unless I had at least one more lifetime to sit and read every paper from start to end.
A. Mark: @Carmel That is one of the things we believe Trove has been most useful for, as it does allow that access which was not previously available

Q. From IHM: Virginia / Mark: What’s the most exciting thing happening in digital history for you?
A. Mark: Inside History Magazine - In terms of digital history, I think that the most exciting thing that is happening in this field is that it is become much more mainstream, and people are starting to realise that you can do historical research using the online tools, and that these online tools provide significantly more ability to find and analyse the resources that are available than traditional methods do
A. Virginia: For me... in terms of digital history is how Trove is inspiring researchers. We'll soon be presenting a Trove seminar featuring speakers for whom Trove has inspired their research, such as Science in the Australian Women's Weekly and others!

Q. From Alexandra: Just googled Wragge Trove Tools...and I think that's the rest of the night gone for me....why didn't I know about this? I was going to ask about APIs Virginia/Mark...are there any others out there??
A. Virginia: @Alexandra, APIs? Sure! Powerhouse Museum has one, Europeana, the NAA are building one...
A. Virginia: Sorry, that was a short answer, but those are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head at 9:30pm.
A. Alexandra: Thanks for that...sometimes I feel so very ignorant....
A. IHM: Here's the link to Wragge's [Tim Sherritt] Trove tools :: http://discontents.com.au and the transcript to our Q&A with him :: http://ow.ly/fj9Mm | Wragge also wrote a story for us in our Issue 12 about his toolkit and there's follow up coming early in 2013!
A. Virginia: @Alexandra, Don't feel that way, the digital world moves faster than we can keep up sometimes!
A. IHM: Ignorant, not at all Alexandra - we have these Q&As so we all learn! Also look at the State Records NSW API :: http://api.records.nsw.gov.au/
A. Carmel: We are all ignorant in many areas but if we do not ask the right questions will remain ignorant. As they say there is not such thing as a stupid question as if we do not know the answer we need to ask the questions. I guess in a way the ignorant are the ones who do not want to know the answers.
A. Tony: So true Virginia. When I started my thesis I was using microfische to access regional newspapers to confirm details...now I sit at home, structure a search and presto. The expectation for empirical evidence in PhDs will skyrocket due to the digital explosion

Q. From Wendy: What is API ?
A. Virginia: @Wendy, it stands for Application Programming Interface and just basically means a way of machine talking to machine.

Q. From Alexandra: So really Virginia when someone comes into the public library where I work and wants to donate photos the best thing would be to suggest that they upload them to Trove - as long as they own the copyright of course, yes?
A. Alexandra: And I'm talkiing about photos with historical significance of course...not just photos of my guinea pig.
A. Virginia: @Alexandra, Absolutely! What we suggest is that they scan them into digital format and then create a Flickr account if they haven't already got one and then upload the images with good titles and descriptions and tags to our Trove: Australia in Pictures group on Flickr.
A. IHM: Here's more info on the Trove: Australia in Pictures group :: http://ow.ly/fjaBO | And the group itself :: http://ow.ly/fjaM9 | Thanks again Virginia and Mark!

Comment: IHM: Thanks again to Virginia and Mark for joining us tonight! That was an excellent Q&A, as they always are with Trove! We’ll publish the questions, answers and links from tonight’s session in a blog post very soon.
A. Alexandra: Thanks guys...really enjoyed it!
A. Mark: Thanks all, it is always a pleasure to answer the questions - if you have any further questions, please use our contact form - http://trove.nla.gov.au/contact
A. Virginia: Thanks! We do love doing these sessions.
A. Wendy: Thank you every one , love these sessions
A. Michelle: I know the session is over but just think back a few years ago those of you who were researching- trolling through newspapers in hardcopy or on film spending hours looking for snippets then compare our research today where we can do such sophisticated searches in our PJs in front of the TV or on our devices coming home in the train. I can remember spending days searching the SMH for references to the 1867 flood at Windsor for mybook and can now do the same, with heaps more results in mere seconds
A. Katrina: Well, I've been using Trove for a couple of years, and I didn't understand any of the above!
A. IHM: Trove, crowdsourcing & digital history - it's changing the way we research and write history, and so much for the better Michelle. I'd like to read that book of yours one day. Let us know if you have any follow up questions Katrina but we'll have Trove back again soon!

Next Week: Who's joining us for next Thursday's Expert Q&A? Vicki Dawson & Rosemary Kopittke from findmypast.com.au Aust & NZ. Find out how to get the most from findmypast

When: NSW-ACT-VIC-TAS: 8:30-9:30pm AEDT | QLD: 7:30-8:30pm | WA: 5:30-6:30pm | NT: 7:00-8:00pm | SA: 8:00-9:00pm.

See you next Thursday, November 22 for more on findmypast.

=====================================================

Read the previous Expert Q&A transcripts:
[1]  Thursday, July 26 :: How to get the best from Trove Australia
[2]  Thursday, August 16 :: How to get the best from BDM Certificates
[3]  Thursday, August 23 :: Getting the most from NAA
[4]  Thursday, August 30 :: Interpreting photographs for family history
[5]  Thursday, September 6 :: How to get the best from Ancestry.com.au
[6]  Thursday, September 13 :: Using Trove for research
[7]  Thursday, September 20 :: Today's toolkit for the digital historian
[8]  Thursday, September 27 :: Preserving your artefacts with NAA
[9]  Thursday, October 4 :: Studying and doing research at UNE
[10]  Thursday, October 11 :: How to research war graves and Anzac ancestors
[11]  Thursday, October 25 :: What's new at Ancestry.com.au
[12]  Thursday, November 1 :: How to research cemeteries in Sydney & NSW
[13] Thursday, Nov 8 :: Australian War Memorial - Lost Diggers
[14] Thursday, Nov 15 :: Getting even more from Trove
[15] Thursday, Nov 22 :: Getting the most from findmypast AU & NZ
[16] Thursday, Nov 29 :: Using NAA defence records
[19] Thursday, Dec 20 :: What's new at Ancestry.com.au



                      Read more Trove tips  in our Issue 12: Oct-Sep edition.
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