Computer Software to aid in Research of Irish Heritage

[FinbarMurphy Participant]

Hi

I am an amateur researcher of my families Irish ancestry , helped in part by work my father undertook in the 1990’s.

My real job is software development and as I have been working through and extending the work my Father has done it seemed that there are very few if any tools designed to make the research process easier ( Your own website and forum being an exception).  There are obviously many online research resources now available and a multitude of online Family Tree sites and software, but for me I needed a simple set of tools to help me capture and organise my research in a way that worked for me, and allowed me to record things as I found them, and not be constantly looking for notes I had scribbled the week before !

So I have created my own, which I am using successfully to track down various branches of my family and explore the backstories that they produce.  I am interested in exploring the commercial applicability of what has been created.

At the moment these tools are just being used for my private use, so the features and functionality are based on my own ideas / problems faced so I would be very interested in getting feedback and advice from other researchers.  If any forum member would be interested in helping with this please get in touch by replying to this thread.

Kind Regards

Finbar

 

• This topic was modified 5 months, 4 weeks ago by  FinbarMurphy.

[SandyS Participant]

Dear Finbar,

I am blind and need to use screen reading software to access the computer. Are you aware of and knowledgeable as to how to make software accessible to
those of us using such assistive programs? The major problem I find with commercial software is that much of it isn’t accessible to those of us requiring
assistive tech.

Take care,

Sandy Stegmayer

[FinbarMurphy Participant]

Sandy

Thanks for responding and you have an excellent point, our tools are very much based on visualisation/layout but we have not considered the requirements for blind/partially sighted users. Assuming we get the opportunity to progress this project I will make sure consideration is given to this requirement.

Kind Regards

Finbar

[Bob Frewen Participant]

“There are obviously many online research resources now available …………., but for me I needed a simple set of tools to help me capture and organise my research …………., and not be constantly looking for notes I had scribbled the week before !

Hi Finbar,
Is that not contradictory? All the existing IT solutions for recording genealogical data (storage online and offline) allow for adding notes, photos, html links, etc. Most go further and allow for sorting and printing by forename or surname, by DoB or DoD or marriage. None of these are difficult to use.
Currently geno companies vie with each other by differentiating with add-ons, e.g. hotlinks to external/independent databases, smart clues to possible relatives/matches, photo retouching tools, etc.
What do you propose doing that is different and better?

[FinbarMurphy Participant]

Hi Bob

Thanks for replying and the point you make is valid, the geno companies provide a wealth of tools for recording what you discover, and I use several of them myself, I do feel that there is a space between “searching” and “documenting” that is not addressed,  and that is where we have focused our effort.  I didn’t want to spell out in detail what we are doing, as I am not sure that this forum is the right place.   If you would like to contact me directly finbar.murphy@btinternet.com I would be happy to explain/demonstrate in detail what we are doing or if you prefer to have a browse “incognito” I would point you at http://www.matthatwaspat.com a website we have built to support our tools.

Kind Regards

Finbar

[Bob Frewen Participant]

Hi Finbar,
It’s always welcome to see a new geno product. I’ve had a look, but did not try it out in full as I don’t (or want to) use Google Chrome.
If your site is designed as ‘an aid for research’ why does it not have links to the key sites that would be used? (GRO, NLI,NAI, etc.) It mentions somewhere that it does have a link to capture a Griffiths image, but what most people would like (love!) is a tool that simplifies connection of name & plot. Is your product not more of an ‘aid for storing data’? If so it should have a keyword ‘search’ function.

Using the demo (limited because I did not register) apparently it does not ‘capture’ any more data than for e.g. FTM. The ‘Presentation’ tool might be useful – but, in reality, how many genealogists sit a group of people down in front of a screen and give a presentation? Those that do are used to using Powerpoint/similar, so why learn/use another system that might not be as efficient? The ‘Portfolio’ page is really just a ‘notes’ page for random research jottings. It would need substantial ‘auto-fill’ of data just to compete with what already exists. On ‘Capture’, most people already use ‘Paint’ or similar to crop/cut/capture images and if the image is too large (e.g.a newspaper page) they simply download it as a pdf.

In my view there is a huge amount to achieve before this product could be brought to market but even then I still cannot see how it could be monetized. The name is awful for a commercial site. Being confined to the Chrome browser blocks out a big number of potential users. Like many geno programs the basic version is free and you want to charge for the ‘better’ version. How can you get anyone to pay for what essentially is a ‘me too’ program but is actually one that (IMO) does far less than existing products? You might make yours cheaper but most prospects would pay a little more to acquire a tool that was more efficient.
I perhaps can see how it suits your research, but it would not work for me, used as I am to my own ‘system’. Best of luck in taking it to the next stage if you proceed, and thanks for sharing.
Regards
Bob

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