2023-07 Jul - Indexing is Like Adding to the ATM

Jul 7, 2023 family history indexing

An 9.1 minute read (1.5 minute Summary, 7.6 minute Expanded)

From your Ward Temple & Family History Consultants for July 2023:

Summary Message:

Current Workflow for Family History:

1. Historical people’s information first has to be digitized (others do this).
2. We index people’s digitized information so the image can be associated with text, which can be found in computer searches.
3. We link families' data together in FamilySearch.org (each member’s initial target is 4-Generations found and linked. Later we work cousin lines too.)
4. We link people’s information to the right person (as sources) to get to know them better.
5. Finally, we can get names to take to the temple and offer them the choice of being linked to their families for eternity in our own pattern of regular temple attendance.

“Anytime you do anything that helps anyone—on either side of the veil—take a step toward making covenants with God and receiving their essential baptismal and temple ordinances, you are helping to gather Israel. It is as simple as that.” ~ President Russell M. Nelson, 2018 Youth Devotional

What do we mean by “Indexing”?

• Action (2 mins): Rewatch and show your family this animated & emotionally moving video Indexing is Vital (it’s the 2nd one down). The picture is definitely worth 1,000 words.
• Indexing means turning records into searchable sources, allowing people to find and attach them to ancestors in their family tree in FamilySearch.
• Searches that used to take hours, days, or even years can now be accomplished in seconds.
• Indexed records make a wonderful new tool possible called “hinting.”
• Indexing is the shortest (time duration) type of family history work
• FamilySearch pre-sorts records into small batches (often one page_) that can be done in short periods of time (2-5 minutes)
• You can pick “easy”, “intermediate”, and “advanced” difficulty levels (like a game) depending on your confidence level
• It can be done with others as you puzzle out together what the handwriting means
• You celebrate with virtual confetti after each batch as a thank you!

“Because of indexing, more people are discovering their ancestors more quickly than at any time in history. This ease of discovery is helping thousands of people every day to better understand who they are and where they came from.” ~ Mike Judson

Expanded Message:

• Story: When my oldest son was 5 years old, he wanted to do some activity and I said, “I don’t have any money on me to do that.” Having observed his Dad before, he applied his insight and said “Dad, just go to an ATM and get some money.” I laughed aloud and told him that was a good idea. Then I had to teach the principle that Dad had to put into the bank more money before I could take some out by the ATM.

• We can all take names out of FamilySearch.org for the temple trips. And within a couple of years to the completed new Temple.

• Perhaps this last step gets the most talks and attention, but the preceding steps are just as important to enable temple work.

• The work and the current process requires putting effort into the “bank”, so to speak, at FamilySearch.org before taking some out for a temple trip.

• So how is our Ward doing putting into FamilySearch.org (indexing)?

  • Our Ward data currently indicates that three (3) people have performed indexing this year.
  • To what degree might we be thinking like my son thought ATMs worked?
  • Can our Ward do a little better?

• Why do I use the phrase “Current Workflow”? Indexing started in 2006, and much has changed in HOW over nearly two decades. The WHY has not changed.

• Given that over the last few decades Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology has been error prone making it hard to apply at scale. Recently, there’s much excitement about technologies such as AI machine learning (TensorFlow, and Natural Language Processing) which have made big strides reading typed and handwritten human language data sets.

• I have said “current” workflow because for future workflows, family search and Ancestry are experimenting with AI Machine Learning to help automate some of the tedious bits of the work of recognizing old records. The goal is that this new handwriting recognition technology would do a first pass at deciphering and transcribing records and then humans would check and correct, as we did recently for the 1950 US Census after the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) released its 6.6 million population schedules with information on over 150 million Americans.

  • Machine learning performs well with text produced consistently with movable metal type printing (Korean Choe Yun-ui invented the metal movable type in 1234 AD, and German Guttenberg developed a printing press in 1440 with the advantage that European languages use small alphabets, 26 letters for English. Chinese & Korean use thousands of characters. These presses produced Bibles, newspapers, pamphlets and books that sold well. 1,000+ presses existed by 1505 AD) and typewriter records, but typewriters weren’t invented until 1868, leaving many hundreds of years of handwritten records where printing presses weren’t available or cost effective before typewriters decentralized typed records. In many countries, a type of writing was used for these older records that some of us and our children have to refresh or learn from scratch. This technology was called cursive handwriting and combined technologies called quills, inks (linseed oil and lampblack) and ink wells. Later advances in technology led to fountain pens.
  • I am grateful for those people who hand-wrote cursive legibly. Others wrote less well and made their records get classified beyond “easy”, beyond “intermediate”, to “advanced” indexing, meaning that it is harder to read or the means of preservation didn’t have the ideal contrast or lighting.
  • So the current workflow, indexing step, requires that we apply human pattern recognition (much better than machines so far) to decipher what the words are and transcribe (type them in) them. By so doing, we enable fast searching, that we are so used to today with search engines like Google.
    • ASIDE: Before the pandemic, I bought a fountain pen and found that I had to refresh my long-ago schooling about cursive writing. Then I had to practice a lot before achieving a useful degree of legibility. I now use cursive in my occasional journal entries. I was taught and refreshed with Spencerian cursive. There are also the Palmer Method, D’Nealian, and Zaner-Bloser to chose from.
    • While indexing, you may see these various types of cursive writing.
    • Each person wrote record with a unique style of cursive handwriting. We adapt to each writer to discern what a particular mark means.
    • Also, writers made mistakes and often crossed out the mistake (no backspace button then). Modern technologies often generate errors with such cross-outs. Humans are better at this case, so indexing stills need your help.

• Why does the Lord need many hands to make this work light? The WHY of indexing hasn’t changed.

  • Family Search estimates that a little over 1 billion people’s information has been preserved on FamilySearch.org online.
  • Gideon led 300 against an army of 30,000 (a 100 to 1 situation) and with help from heaven they succeeded in accomplishing what the Lord commanded.
  • We, like Gideon, face a similar colossal challenge in that Family Search estimates that 27 Billion people still need to be identified and their information linked online to complete the family tree of humankind since 1500 A.D. There are about 16 million living members today. (a 1,750 to 1 situation). There is much to do on both sides of the veil.
  • In geographical regions of North America, South America, Europe, and the Nordic countries, Family Search has preserved 5.3 Billion records. Yet still an estimated 10 Billion more records need to be digitally preserved from just these countries, and then indexed, linked to their families.
  • At the current indexing rate it could take 200-300 years to index 5.3 billion records already preserved, yet with collaboration/crowdsourcing and human-computer teaming it could be reduced to 20-30 years.
  • We don’t know when the Savior returns, but we know the urgency with which prophets have spoken about gathering Israel. We know these are the latter days.

• Those in the Book of Mormon (Mosiah 24:15) who prayed that God might help with their burdens were blessed according to their faith. We can ask for help from heaven as we decide how to allocate our same 24 hours per day that everyone has had from Adam & Eve to 2023. We’re all equally time constrained daily.

• The outmatched nature of Gideon’s situation necessitated he ask God’s help to do as commanded. How similar is our situation today?

  • The scale of the work drives human-machine pairing experiments, applying of technologies so each pair can do what we do best (machines do tedious, repetitive bits; humans do pattern recognition).
  • Gehazi said in 2 Kings 6:15-17 “Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he [Elisha] answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw”
  • So if you hear or think “My family history is done”, without judgment, it indicates (like Gehazi) they/we don’t yet see the scale of gathering scattered Israel, indeed the entire human family, beyond the scope of just our own families. If we feel to exclaim “It’s too much!”, or (like Gehazi) “Alas, how shall we do?”, as Elisha, we can call upon our loving God for heavenly help to do our part in this great work.

• The Lord, through Church leaders, has invited you and me to help with this enormous task. In this greatest challenge, “Many hands make light work” applies.

• Primary-aged children can help index! (supervised by an adult who is familiar with indexing)

• Youth can help index!

• Adults can help index.

• Families can collaborate on 1-2 batches for Family Home Evening or during the extra hour we have at home on the Sabbath now.

• All are invited to help.

“We have opportunities to fulfill our mortal missions, but we don’t have to. No one will make us. We have our agency to choose how we spend our time and energy, our talents and resources. In fact, what we choose to do is actually part of our testing. The choice is yours and mine.” ~ President Russell M. Nelson, 2018 Youth Devotional

“We respect agency. In this secular world, many will not respond and participate in the gathering of Israel. But many will. " ~ Elder Quentin L. Cook, “Safely Gathered Home”, Apr 2023

“I invite you to increase your participation in family history, including family history research and indexing. I promise that as you increase your time in temple and family history work, you will increase and improve your ability to hear Him.” ~ President Russell M. Nelson, Hear Him, Apr 2020

• How do I index?

  • Contact one of your Ward Temple & Family History Consultants for free help.
  • We’re happy to show you all you want to know about indexing.
  • You tell us what you want to learn how to do better and we help you one-on-one.
  • Check the hours at the Family Search Center at the Stake Center.

• Aspiration, inspiration and invitation, NOT guilt trips.

  • The intent of these messages is not as a guilt trip, but rather as an invitation to participate in the grandeur of the vision and scope of the work God asks of his children as we prepare for the Savior’s second coming, with the urgency our Prophets have reinforced. With our hand in the Lord’s hand, all things are possible according to our faith as we keep running the race that is set before us, practicing Christlike love and service daily, including uniting families through family history and temple work.

“That gathering is the most important thing taking place on earth today. Nothing else compares in magnitude, nothing else compares in importance, nothing else compares in majesty. And if you choose to, if you want to, you can be a big part of it. You can be a big part of something big, something grand, something majestic! Now, participating in the gathering of Israel will require some sacrifice on your part. It may even require some changes in your life. It will definitely take some of your time and energy and your God-given talents. Are you interested?” ~ President Russell M. Nelson, 2018 Youth Devotional

Thank you for all that you do.

Sincerely,

Your Ward Temple & Family History Consultants