Welcome to the BetterGEDCOM wiki
About BetterGEDCOM
BetterGEDCOM was organized in the fall of 2010, by DearMyrtle, Greg Lamberson and Russ Worthington, after Myrt and Russ had problems sharing genealogical information about a mutual line. Their data had become lost or mangled in the transfer. Knowing many others shared the same frustrations, these dedicated technologists and users fostered the BetterGEDCOM grassroots effort. The project’s original goal was to develop a standard for genealogy [[#|data archiving]] and transfer that would be accepted internationally.
This grassroots effort has grown into a dynamic, open forum for the exchange of ideas about different aspects of technology and standardization. More than two years later, the BetterGEDCOM wiki is home to 163 members; 3,432 wiki pages have been created and more than 8,500 discussion posts have been made. Numerous approaches to the genealogical model have been expressed on the wiki. More importantly, personal and/or collaborative efforts have resulted in a substantial body of work.
Much of this work now needs a more structured and organised environment to come to fruition. To address this need, an ad hoc committee of BetterGEDCOM wiki members has established the Family History Information Standards Organisation (FHISO), a standards-setting organisation. FHISO will provide the environment for the further development necessary to realise the goals of BetterGEDCOM, and to participate in the development of general data standards where the collective interests of genealogy must be represented. Under FHISO, registered working groups will receive support, and project-level work will be managed.
FHISO continues to sponsor of the BetterGEDCOM wiki.
Establishing a community standards organization is not without its challenges. The article, "One Community, One Standard," outlines current challenges FHISO is facing.
Let's talk.Why FHISO?
WHAT'S HOT NOW
- The Family History Information Standards Organisation (FHISO) is hot, and it's hot now! Why FHISO?
- Read about Tony Proctor's article about BetterGEDCOM and FHISO appearing in the April 2012 edition of Your [[#|Family History]].
- To see the latest activity click Recent Changes on the side of the page.
- We are working to advance and refine the concepts in Geir's "A Data Model for Sources and Citations."
- We are working on the user requirements related to Personal Names, and discussing Neil John Parker's proposal, "Personal Names Data Standard."
- Tony Proctor has developed a model, "STEMMA" ("Source Text for Event and Ménage MApping”), featuring unique approaches to "source+citation, E&C, personal names, dates and date comparisons, time-dependent Place hierarchies, compound citations."
- We study the impact that recent changes in Genealogy Research Methodology have on how individual researchers use genealogy to organize and share family and community data; and we consider different approaches to the Research Process.
- We recognize the influence of Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence Explained and the Genealogical Proof Standard as briefly outlined at the Board for Certification of Genealogists website.
FHISO Membership
Family History Information Standards Organisation (FHISO) is a membership-based, standards-setting organisation. The success of FHISO depends on the voluntary participation of vendors, developers, technologists, users and power-users and those who approach genealogy/family history from a scholarly perspective. There is no substitute for the active involvement of these different global stakeholder groups in its standards-setting process. Only members of FHISO participate in its consensus-building and governance processes and access the members-only portion of the FHISO website. We hope the members of the BetterGEDCOM wiki [[#|join]] FHISO and become part of this dynamic new organisation.
For more information about joining FHISO, please see its website, "
Membership Enquiries."
Open [[#|Enrollment]] in BetterGEDCOM
BetterGEDCOM participants (currently 160+) formed this independent wiki community to define terms that genealogists, family historians and programmers use and to develop data sharing standards that software programs and websites would adopt to provide for seamless data sharing between users, and between users and websites. We invite all to participate in the discussions at BetterGEDCOM, looking forward to the day when all genealogy data can be shared without
[[#|data loss]].
BetterGEDCOM Blog
You may enjoy viewing posts at the
BetterGEDCOM Blog where researchers have diligently attempted to describe the problems we encounter when importing and exporting GEDCOM files.
Feel free to have a look around and make a contribution so that together we can facilitate better sharing of genealogical data.
Now there is a concept. Are there any other details on what that means? I know that several genealogy programs are making space / code for API or PlugIns. Maybe that is what the 'place holder' that I see in FTM.
Thank you,
Russ
API stands for Application Programming Interface. In other words, APIs are tools for computer programmers to use when designing programs. APIs are thus not something that are going to serve the same needs as what GEDCOM previously sought to.
Now that this has been set up, I'll start populating it with a bunch of the things I've been working on which will hopefully help define the problems, goals and possible solutions.
Not sure we are at the point of including or excluding anything.
We are hoping that the various vendors participate. We are Users, asking for the capability to Share our research with another researcher. As a User of a couple of applications, I am not sure that I care HOW this sharing happens, only that it does.
We are just starting the discussion.
Thank you for your feedback.
Russ
Thanks for your input. Certainly FS has indicated an interest in participating in this group.
When I asked Gordon Clarke (of FS) about updating GEDCOM as a file sharing interface between peers, and between an individual and a website, his response was:
"eventually all data exchange through new FamilySearch will be accomplished through APIs."
Well it is my belief that no one website should dictate the standard. Already many genealogy software producers have opted out of participating in FamilySearch certification.
This is the day and age of Open Source aps.
Why should any one group of researchers be left out of the loop merely because their software developer chose not to comply with one major website?
Being open minded -- not pointing fingers -- finding mutually acceptable solutions is the goal.
What must be forcefully conveyed to these large sites like FamilSearch, Ancestry, FindMyPast, etc. is that their data on their websites must be inn a format that can be exchanged easily and completely with the user's program of choice- not that the user must choose a program that adheres to their format of choice.
It is my firm belief that any such site that also produces its own genealogy program can't realistically be expected to do this- unfortunately.
However, everything we create in our data model could become the basis of an API. We might even get some volunteers to write APIs, once we have a standard. I'm a firm believer in the Open Source model. We have a lot of talented folks already. Tom, I'm sure knows a thing or two about genealogy APIs. I've written no few APIs myself. I've written numerous internet/vpn data transfer APIs. An API for each part of a, and the entire, BG model is the easy part. Coming to a consensus of what to include is where all the work is. Which, btw brings me to my last point. I've thrown my hat into the rig on a data model. Go look and hack it up, chop it up, criticize it. Here: http://bettergedcom.wikispaces.com/Data+Model+proposed+by+Brian+J+Densmore