David G. Kanter
16 September 2005, 06:03 PM
This is a new thread to address a subject that arose in ReunionTalk > Wish List > Family Group Sheet Printouts (http://www.reuniontalk.com/showthread.php?t=615), but one that I suggest warrants being presented in this forum.
The last thing on my wish list is some type of "Suggestion" or "To Do" list, you know, to suggest that you know X about this person, so you should look at Y and W to perhaps find information…Under Edit > Logs > is my usual place for "Things To Do". You can create as many Logs as you wish - for specific family names i.e. DOE and your note for John - or the places where you research i.e., Library- check microfilm for... Vital Stats - need birth date for...
I also created another screen field that appears under the existing Note field. I call it "Post-It" - like those little yellow sticky things - I like Post-It because it's immediate and on screen, whereas the Logs need to be referred to. I never ever print the Post-It field - it's "just for me" to write notes to myself about what I think REALLY happened, or what I think of a certain researchers conclusion, etc.…How do you create this "Post-It" field?Options->Define->Person Fields->Notes->Add Note. Once defined, you would add it to one or more of the Views so that it will appear on the Family Card.
I take the same approach as Lily for recording such information; I just call my field "Research Notes". As she does, that's where I put explanations of conflicting information—well sourced—that from my research has less credibility and, therefore, I have not put in the regular data field. But I do want to record such conflicts so that a later researcher using the information in my Family File will see that I, too, had noted the conflicting information and understand which Source I believed better represented the "truth".
FWIW, if I have conflicting information where more than one appears to me to be of relatively equal credibility, I put all the information in the regular data field—which each separated from the other by the vertical "pipe" symbol ("|")—and ensure that there's a Source cited for each version of the information. If that's in a Date field, Reunion will present the Custom Date window for me to choose what date, if any, I want used for calculation purposes. Depending on the specific circumstances, I'll either choose one "real" date within the range of the conflicting information or deliberately leave the Custom Date with no value.
The last thing on my wish list is some type of "Suggestion" or "To Do" list, you know, to suggest that you know X about this person, so you should look at Y and W to perhaps find information…Under Edit > Logs > is my usual place for "Things To Do". You can create as many Logs as you wish - for specific family names i.e. DOE and your note for John - or the places where you research i.e., Library- check microfilm for... Vital Stats - need birth date for...
I also created another screen field that appears under the existing Note field. I call it "Post-It" - like those little yellow sticky things - I like Post-It because it's immediate and on screen, whereas the Logs need to be referred to. I never ever print the Post-It field - it's "just for me" to write notes to myself about what I think REALLY happened, or what I think of a certain researchers conclusion, etc.…How do you create this "Post-It" field?Options->Define->Person Fields->Notes->Add Note. Once defined, you would add it to one or more of the Views so that it will appear on the Family Card.
I take the same approach as Lily for recording such information; I just call my field "Research Notes". As she does, that's where I put explanations of conflicting information—well sourced—that from my research has less credibility and, therefore, I have not put in the regular data field. But I do want to record such conflicts so that a later researcher using the information in my Family File will see that I, too, had noted the conflicting information and understand which Source I believed better represented the "truth".
FWIW, if I have conflicting information where more than one appears to me to be of relatively equal credibility, I put all the information in the regular data field—which each separated from the other by the vertical "pipe" symbol ("|")—and ensure that there's a Source cited for each version of the information. If that's in a Date field, Reunion will present the Custom Date window for me to choose what date, if any, I want used for calculation purposes. Depending on the specific circumstances, I'll either choose one "real" date within the range of the conflicting information or deliberately leave the Custom Date with no value.