STANDARDS FOR USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH

STANDARDS FOR USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH recommended by the National Genealogical Society; from The Computer Genealogist, a publication of The New England Historic Genealogical society March/April 1998, p. 14.

mindful that computers are tools, genealogists take full responsibility for the results of their work, and therefor they --

  • + learn the capabilities and limits of their equipment and software and use them only when they are the most appropriate tools for the purpose.

  • + refuse to let computer software automatically embellish their work.

  • + treat compiled information from online sources or digital databases like that from other published sources: useful primarily as a guide to locating original records, but not as evidence for a conclusion or assertion.

  • + accept digital images or enhancements of an original record as a satisfactory substitute for the original only when there is reasonable assurance that the image accurately reproduces the unaltered original.

  • + cite sources for data obtained online or from digital media with the same care that is appropriate for sources on paper and other traditional media and enter data into a digital database only when its source can remain associated with it.

  • + always cite the sources for information or data posted online or sent to others, naming the author of a digital file as its immediate source, while crediting original sources cited within the file.

  • + preserve the integrity of their own databases by evaluating the reliability of downloaded data before incorporating it into their own files.

  • + provide, whenever they alter data received in digital form, a description of the change that will accompany the altered data whenever it is shared with others.

  • + actively oppose the proliferation of error, rumor and fraud by personally verifying or correcting information, or noting it is unverified, before passing it on to others

  • + treat people online as courteously and civilly as they would treat them face-to-face, not separated by networks and anonymity.

  • + accept that technology has not changed the principles of genealogical research, only some of the procedures.

    Copyright 1997 by National Genealogical Society. Permission is granted to copy or publish this material, provided it is reproduced in its entirety, including this notice.

    Return to Jefferson County NYGenWeb page

    Return to Jefferson County Tidbits page

    If you have any questions or comments about this page, please contact: Nancy Dixon

    http://jefferson.nygenweb.net/gentech.htm updated March 24, 2009

    Copyright 2009 Jefferson County NYGenWeb — a member of the NYGenWeb Project