FamilySearch Indexing Exercise

Transcription

1 FamilySearch Indexing Exercise OBJECTIVE: To become familiar with the Internet indexing process and to learn how to install, volunteer for, and index information using the FamilySearch Indexing program. Materials needed: A computer with Internet access, and a willing heart and mind. Note: Success comes from (1) Studying the Tutorials and Project Information and (2) Following the instructions. HOW TO ACCESS FAMILYSEARCH INDEXING 1. Double click on a web browser icon on your computer desktop. 2. Type indexing.familysearch.org into the address field and press Enter. STUDY THE FAMILYSEARCH INDEXING HOME PAGE Find the Indexing, News, Projects and Help tabs at the top of the FamilySearch Indexing home page. The Indexing tab will be open. 1. Find the following on the FamilySearch Indexing home page: A. The Test Drive button. Clicking on this button allows a person to see what indexing is like. B. The Register Now button. (This will be covered later.) C. The Latest News link. Clicking on this link or on the News tab at the top of the page allows you to see news about indexing projects. D. The Start Indexing link. (This will be covered later.) E. The option to choose a language at the upper right. F. The Records Are Important section with a link to the free searchable indexes available through Record Search on the FamilySearch.org web site. G. The Indexing is Simple section with a link to Frequently Asked Questions about indexing. H. The Worldwide Indexing Projects section with lists of current, completed and future indexing projects. 2. Click on the See more link at the bottom of the Current Projects list or click on the Projects tab at the top of the page to go to a list of current FamilySearch Indexing Projects that all volunteers can help index. -1-

2 Click on one of the indexing project links to find an example and information about the project. Click on your browser s Back arrow to return to the list of projects. Click on Partner Projects in the blue menu bar under the Projects tab to see projects being administered by specific genealogical societies or groups. 3. Click on the Help tab at the top of the page. A. The Indexing Resource Guide will open with a list of links to tutorials, lessons, instructional guides, language resources, and questions about FamilySearch Indexing. The links in the Indexers section will be particularly useful to new indexers, especially the User Guide. A Glossary link can be found in the Where do I go for help? section at the upper left. B. Click on Training in the blue menu bar below the Help tab.. The Tutorials page will open with links to training lessons for indexing On your own time, please be sure to click on and work through Lesson 1: Indexing. C. Find these other options in the blue menu bar under the Help tab: 1. FAQ s - shows frequently asked questions. 2. Ask a Question - includes a field to type in a question. When you click on Ask, a list of links to documents that may answer your question will appear. 3. Support - provides links to the User Guide, project specific instructions for Current Projects and information for contacting Indexing Support. 4. My Info - provides a place to edit your registration information or change your password or preferences. You must sign in to do so. 4. Click on the Indexing tab at the top of the page. If you have already registered to do indexing, go on to the next section of this exercise. If you are not yet registered to do indexing, sign up to volunteer by clicking on the Register Now button at the top right of the home page. Choose a User Name and Password and fill in the required information. If you are a member of the Church, click in the box next to LDS members, click here... at the bottom and then add your Stake and Ward information. Click on Continue when you are finished. HOW TO OPEN AND USE YOUR PERSONAL INDEXING HOME PAGE 1. On the FamilySearch Indexing home page click on Start Indexing at the top right. The Indexing program will check for the latest version each time you start. -2-

3 When your computer is ready, it will display a Login window. Enter your Username and Password. Click on OK to load the program. Note: On your home computer, you may click in the box next to Save this password to simplify your login. 2. A Tip of the Day window may appear. Read the tip if you wish, then click on Close. The home page for your individual indexing work will appear. Find the following sections: A. My Messages (lower left) gives you memos and specific instructions from Indexing headquarters or your Stake Indexing Director. B. The section at the lower right has three tabs: 1. The My Goals tab allows you to set personal goals. 2. The My History tab allows you to see a history of your indexing work. 3. The Indexing Links tab provides links to indexing guides, tutorials, FamilySearch Indexing Projects and Partner Projects; and links to FamilySearch web sites. C. My Work (top) may include projects you are working on or messages about projects you have accepted. It also includes the following buttons: Download Batch: Allows you to download indexing batches. Work on Batch, Submit Batch or Return Batch: If you have batches showing in the field above these buttons, you may highlight a batch and then click on the button with the desired action. Work Offline: (upper right) Allows you to disconnect from the Internet and work offline once a batch has been downloaded. HOW TO DOWNLOAD A BATCH 1. Click on the Download Batch button. 2. On the Download Batch window, click on the name of a project to highlight it. At the Training Center, the instructor will tell you which project to select. Note: You can select from 1 to 5 batches to download at the bottom left. As you begin indexing, it is suggested that you download one batch at time. Some projects have samples and you can click on View Sample to help you decide which batch you may want to work on. -3-

4 3. Click on the OK button at the bottom of the window. A batch will be downloaded to your computer and opened. You will see a Welcome window telling you how to access project information. Click on Close. HOW TO INDEX A RECORD 1. Study the indexing screen. You will enter the information from the digital image at the top into the correct fields at the bottom. Look for the following helps: A. The image tool bar at the top of the screen. (Put your mouse over any icon in the tool bar to see what the icon will do.) The first icon in this tool bar (the triangle), closes the indexing screen and takes you back to your personal indexing home page. Find the icons that will allow you to invert, adjust the brightness and contrast, use the highlight function (if available) or rotate the image. To make the image larger, click on Zoom In (plus sign). To make the image smaller, click on Zoom Out (minus sign). You can also click on the down-pointing arrow at the right of the percentage field and then click on a percentage to set the size of the document. Reduce the image to 25% to see if there is more than one page to index on the image. Make the image larger until it easy for you to read. B. The data entry tool bar above the entry fields. (Put your mouse over any icon in the tool bar to see what the icon will do.) Find the icons that will allow you to save your work, cut, copy and paste, get handwriting help, or mark a field blank or unreadable. Note: The icons that appear in this tool bar change depending on which tab you are using the Header Data tab, the Table Entry tab or the Form Entry tab. C. The Header Data, Table Entry and Form Entry tabs. The Header Data tab allows indexers to enter information that applies to an entire document just once. Not all batches include this tab. If it is included, enter this information first when you download a batch. The Table Entry and Form Entry tabs are used to enter the information on the image for each individual. The Table Entry data fields are arranged in horizontal rows to show multiple entries at the same time. The Form Entry data fields are arranged vertically and only one entry shows at a time. You may use either one to enter information. -4-

5 D. Entry field titles and required fields. There is a title for each indexing field. An asterisk (*) by the field title and the word <Required> in the field indicate that something must be entered there. If a <Required> field on the digital image is blank, you can click on the Mark the field blank icon or press Ctrl+B to put the word <Blank> there. If there is no asterisk (*) by the field title and the word <Required> is not in a field, you can press Tab to skip the field. E. Field Help window. For each field there is a Field Help window at the right. The information in this window will change as you move from field to field. Read and follow the instructions for each field as you come to it. 2. Using the Field Help as your guide, type the information requested into each field. Move to the next field by pressing Tab or Enter. A. If the family number or surname for the individual(s) at the top of the page is missing, click on the Display previous image or next image in secondary viewer icon in the image tool bar at the top of the screen. The previous image will appear at the right. Scroll to the last family number or name on the image to find the information you need. Close the secondary image by clicking on the X at the top right corner of the pane. Note: You can also click on View in the menu bar at the top of the screen, and then on Show Previous/Next Image in the list that appears, to display the previous image. B. On some projects the information to be indexed will be highlighted in color on the digital image. The highlighting will move as you move from field to field in the data entry area. You can click on the highlight icon to turn the highlight on or off. Note: Click on View in the menu bar to see if highlights are available for a project. If the highlight entries in the list are grayed out, highlights are not available. Using Show Ruler instead may help. C. The program has an auto-fill feature that automatically fills in many of the fields for you. Make sure that the information that it fills in is correct, particularly in the Family Number or Surname fields or any of the place fields. If the information the program fills in is not correct, type in the correct information. D. If you need help with spelling a name, place, or term, right click on the data entry field, and then click on Lookup in the list that appears. If you start typing before you open Lookup, the letters you typed will appear in the Starts with field. You can also type letters into a blank field. A list of names, places or terms will appear below. Highlight the correct term and click on Accept Selected. If no terms apply, type what you see. -5-

6 Continue to type in the information requested for each field. At the end of a record (or line), press Tab or Enter to go to the beginning of the next record. 3. If you are ready to stop and you have NOT completed a batch, click on File on the menu bar and then on Save (or on the Save your work... icon on the data entry tool bar) to save your work to the FamilySearch Indexing server. This will allow you to continue working on the same batch at home or on another computer. Close the program by clicking on the X in the upper right corner of the screen. Note: When you have indexed part of a batch on one computer and want to finish the batch on another, follow the instructions in the HOW TO OPEN A BATCH YOU HAVE WORKED ON PREVIOUSLY section of this exercise on Page 7. You have seven days to complete a project. 4. When you have completed a batch, the final step is to complete the Quality Check. The Quality Check asks you to review some of the entries that you typed in that it did not recognize. Note: You may be asked, How many records do you want to add to this image? The default is 0. If another name was added in the bottom margin of the image or there were two names recorded on one line, indicate the number of records to add. Click on OK. The Quality Checker will replace the Field Help instructions at the bottom right. To keep your entry that way it is, click on Accept in the Quality Checker. You can click on Accept All to keep all identical entries in the same field. To change your entry, click on the field with the incorrect information and make the desired change. Press Enter or Tab. To change all identical entries, click Change all to new value. Click on Next or Back in the Quality Checker box to move back and forth through the unrecognized entries. At the end of the Quality Check you will be asked if you would like to submit your work. Click on Yes. The data from your batch will be uploaded. When it is finished you will see a window telling you that The batch has been successfully submitted. Click on OK Note: If the Quality Check or the offer to submit does not appear, you can click on File on the menu bar and then on Submit in the list that appears to complete the process. After a batch has been submitted, you can download another batch, click on a batch in your project list and work on it, or close the program by clicking on the X at the upper right. HOW TO ACCESS FAMILYSEARCH INDEXING IN OTHER WAYS 1. If there is a FamilySearch Indexing icon on the computer desktop, you can start the program by double clicking on the icon. -6-

7 2. To start FamilySearch Indexing from familysearch.org, do the following: A. Go to familysearch.org on the Internet. B. Click on the Index Records tab. (This FamilySearch Indexing home page will look different than the one at indexing.familysearch.org.) C. Click on the Start Indexing button. HOW TO OPEN A BATCH YOU HAVE WORKED ON PREVIOUSLY 1. Open the FamilySearch Indexing program. Type in your Username and Password. Click on OK. 2. Highlight a batch in your My Work list. 3. Click on the Work on Batch button. 4. Find the place in the batch where you were when you last left your indexing project. (You may need to click on the Table Entry tab and scroll down to find it.) 5. Follow the instructions on Pages 4-6 of this exercise to index the record. OTHER FAMILYSEARCH INTERNET INDEXING HELPS Image Navigation The Image Navigation tab in the field at the lower right of the indexing page allows you to quickly adjust the image to display the portion you want to see. Click on the tab to display a small copy of the image to be indexed. A gray rectangle will appear in the image to represent the portion of the image seen at the top of the screen. You can click and drag the gray rectangle to move the indexing image. How to adjust highlighting If the highlight position is off significantly, do the following: 1. On the menu bar click on View, and then click on Adjust Highlights. 2. Move the mouse over the image, and a grid of highlights will appear. 3. Click on any of the highlights, and drag the grid so that the highlights are positioned over the fields to be indexed. 4. On the menu bar, click on View and then click on Adjust Highlights again to return to the data entry mode. How to get help with the FamilySearch Indexing program. 1. Click on Help on the menu bar. 2. Click on Help in the list that appears. 3. When the Help window appears, you can use the Table of Contents, Index or Search icons at the top left of the window to help you find answers to your questions. Ensign Article: There is an excellent article titled FamilySearch Indexing in the August 2007 Ensign, pages It can be found on the Internet at lds.org. Go to Gospel Library, then Magazines, then Ensign, then Past Issues, then 2007, then August 2007, then to the article titled FamilySearch Indexing. You can read and/or print the text. -7- Internet Indexing ExerciseF , Intellectual Reserve, Inc. (7 Mar 2010)

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