Sources/Multimedia in Reunion

[kepardue]

One of the things that I've always been cautious about in genealogy programs is how to cite a source. In searching for quality in the work that I'm producing, I'd like to make sure I get it right. I've been maintaining a file in Windows (Family Tree Maker) for some time now, but I'm now interested in more or less starting fresh on my new iMac Core Duo.

With that in mind, are there any references/tutorials/user groups that have any information on citing sources in Reunion? Is it more accepted to have a birth certificate listed as a Vital Record with the title being "Birth Certificate, Smith, Joe" or something else?

Also, is there any way to add an image to a source? That is, if I have a high quality scan of a birth certificate it would be much more useful to me to have it in Reunion to reference, you know, if it comes to pass that I doubt my own interpretation of the doctor's writing.

Also, with multimedia files, is there any way to back them up and ensure proper relinkage if my Mac dies, I decide the "Pictures" folder should be renamed "Sources", or if I transport my files to another Mac with a slightly different user name? I just want to be sure that I'm not locked into my setup.

Thanks in advance!

Kenneth

[Tim Powys-Lybbe]

One of the things that I've always been cautious about in genealogy programs is how to cite a source. In searching for quality in the work that I'm producing, I'd like to make sure I get it right. I've been maintaining a file in Windows (Family Tree Maker) for some time now, but I'm now interested in more or less starting fresh on my new iMac Core Duo.

With that in mind, are there any references/tutorials/user groups that have any information on citing sources in Reunion? Is it more accepted to have a birth certificate listed as a Vital Record with the title being "Birth Certificate, Smith, Joe" or something else?

Also, is there any way to add an image to a source? That is, if I have a high quality scan of a birth certificate it would be much more useful to me to have it in Reunion to reference, you know, if it comes to pass that I doubt my own interpretation of the doctor's writing.

Also, with multimedia files, is there any way to back them up and ensure proper relinkage if my Mac dies, I decide the "Pictures" folder should be renamed "Sources", or if I transport my files to another Mac with a slightly different user name? I just want to be sure that I'm not locked into my setup.

Thanks in advance!

Kenneth

I tried to create enormous sophistication with my sources when I started and this works fine in Reunion. But when I tried to transfer data to other programs, they generated error after error as the GEDCOMs were read in. Slowly I found that I had caused problems by two things:

(a) Including in the GEDCOM all the new fields that I had invented. Fatal. Don't. But easily put right.

(b) The sources had all sorts of different types and fields and data. There is no means of controlling these when creating a GEDCOM. So I had to go through all my sources and restrict the Type to Book and then use three fields only: Author, Title and Publisher.

I now find that more of the GEDCOM gets into other programs. But it may be that they have improved their importing practices over the years.

Tim

[Steve W. Jackson]

One of the things that I've always been cautious about in genealogy programs is how to cite a source. In searching for quality in the work that I'm producing, I'd like to make sure I get it right. I've been maintaining a file in Windows (Family Tree Maker) for some time now, but I'm now interested in more or less starting fresh on my new iMac Core Duo.

With that in mind, are there any references/tutorials/user groups that have any information on citing sources in Reunion? Is it more accepted to have a birth certificate listed as a Vital Record with the title being "Birth Certificate, Smith, Joe" or something else?

Also, is there any way to add an image to a source? That is, if I have a high quality scan of a birth certificate it would be much more useful to me to have it in Reunion to reference, you know, if it comes to pass that I doubt my own interpretation of the doctor's writing.

Also, with multimedia files, is there any way to back them up and ensure proper relinkage if my Mac dies, I decide the "Pictures" folder should be renamed "Sources", or if I transport my files to another Mac with a slightly different user name? I just want to be sure that I'm not locked into my setup.

Thanks in advance!

Kenneth
I'm one of the multitudes who has asked that Leister allow for sources to include multimedia items. I've got numerous death certificates, SS-5's, and more that I'd like to have associated with sources. I'm also hoping that they'll expand multimedia further, so that more than just image files are allowed.

As for the backup portion of your query, I have one cardinal rule I follow. I put absolutely nothing inside the folders that Reunion provided for me. I keep all my information under a single folder inside my personal Documents folder. That makes it easy to back up everything I have, including Reunion family files, multimedia, and other items that aren't part of Reunion's own data.

The key thing to understand about the "linkage" of multimedia items is that Reunion will look for them starting wherever it's told you keep them. Look on the Options menu for Multimedia... and give it one or more folders. Mine lists only one, which is inside the above-mentioned single folder. If I should ever need to restore from a backup, I would just put those image files back there, make sure Reunion knows to look for them there, and be on my way.

= Steve =

[LarryN]

As a genealogy librarian by trade, I can recommend Elizabeth Shown Mills's book Evidence! (with the exclamation point). It has samples of how to cite an enormous variety of sources, including Net ones as well as the standards.