World Archives Project

I’ve tryed to take to survey But after I answer the first question nothing happens it won’t let me continue is there a problem

Not able to take survey.

I willingly entered your transcrption request to further advance my family research. However unless I have got everything very wrong Ancestry is asking me to transcribe records that have no interest to me whatsoever. I am Engish, live in England and would like to help myself and others to find their ancestors from Norfolk.

Your invitation is TOTALLY MISLEADING and appears to relate to those searching American/English records for/from Engish records that do not include OPR in the UK other than very specialised records relating to criminals or US records.

If you want Engish people to research their own family records and those of others I suggest you include the appropriate records in UK that I assume are not transcribed yet.

Most disappointed by the misleading statements you make when asking people to agree to transcribe records.

With immediate effect please cancel my offer to transcribe records unless you are able to confirm that UK Births, Deaths and Marriages need transcribing.

How can you ask everyone from outside USA to transcribe USA related records without there being a reciprocal arrangement.

I look forward to your
early reply .

Pam Orme

I was unable to take the survey. When I click on the survey link, it takes me to what looks like the end of the survey & thanks me for my time.

We apologize for any errors with the survey link. If you click on the link and it doesn’t take you to the right place please try copying this address into your browser, http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/survey.zgi?p=WEB228E5JWCS9W.

With regard to the comment by panorme1, whilst I, too, joined in anticipation of having UK records to transcribe, especially the 1911 UK census, (and hopefully Swiss records relevant to my ancestry). I accept that the BMD indexes are the province of the FreeBMD site who themselves are asking for transcribers. There is also the associated FreeREG site who are transcribing parish registers. I have no objection to transcribing the criminal records, but found the English Newspaper Index Cards to be
a confusing hotchpotch.

I do agree with pamorme1. I too was very disappointed to find no UK records available.

Also felt that it was very misleading, but rather than sulk, I joined in on the American records, and enjoyed it…..but now there are some UK records to transcribe- a little bazarre in choice, but OK, they are there.

I Used the link but still am only getting to the first question would like to take the survey but it will not let me

I would like to put my family tree on One World Tree but need clear instructions how to do this. Also, when I find additional members to my tree, how do I add these to my One World tree?

I am about to upgrade to Family Tree 2009 and enhance my Ancestry subscription. Will I be able to access the Criminal Records? Three of my ancestors were sentenced to death for robbery in 1840 and had an assisted passage to Australia aboard the luxury-liner-convict-ship The Lady Raffles!!

Pleased to say I have been able to take the survey without difficulty.

Since this is a ‘beta’ version, I’d like to suggest the possibility of giving feedback when sending back the results. It would be good to have certainty, for example if unclear exactly where to mark the transcriptions – I was unclear for the Criminal Records.

I wan’t misled about what this was about but I did start with your Forum debate which I found very helpful.

I’m enjoying keying in the criminal records and rather hoping I don’t find any of my ancestors.

Not able to access survey.

Personally I’ve enjoyed being able to transcribe records, which I know will enable people to trace their ancestors, isn’t that what we’re all after? Some of my early ancestors moved to or were from other countries and if transcribing these records makes it’s easier for me and others, what’s the issue? You never know where your roots will take you! And I’m english!

I agree with Karen, my family have moved all over the place and we wouldn’t have been able to find them if some American genealogists had not transcribed their gravestones and put them on the web. I hope what I transcribe can help other people build their family tree. We are all here to help each other surely, you never know who you might be related to!!!

I just took the survey.

Why no place for general feedback?

I’ve been thinking that it would be nice to have a sample record to actually key when starting a new record set. Would that be possible to program? For example, you would put up a sample record and we would key it and then somehow you would display the “correct” data entry and we could compare. Just to make sure we have the right idea.

I didn’t feel mislead about the request, my only concern is that my work supports a for-profit company for free and that people have to buy a membership to see it.

If I’m wrong about Ancestry.com operates, feel free to correct me!

Otherwise, after having only transcribed 4 images, the only problem I’m having is the image keeps jumping around, sometimes going to the to one end or the other, and I have to keep moving it back.

Although it’s another step, it takes about half the time for me to transcribe by hand and enter the data from that.

One thing I would like to see in the Keying Tool is to be able to resize the highlight box, if I follow the instructions for setting the form, the highlight box is way to big and I have to move it all the time, but if I set the + a little smaller then it’s not so bad, but I would still like to be able to adjust the box size when I first start to fit the field better.

As far as keying anything, I index all the time for my historical society, I do it to help others, it only benefits me as far as finding things quicker for a request. Indexing for others is important, even if it’s not my county, family, or of my interest. None of us would be where we are in our searches if someone else had not taken the time to index for us. As far as it being for a pay for end product, it’s not cheap getting all these records, many places such as where I live will not work with genealogist by giving a break on costs for lots of records. Websites are not free, and the staff should be paid, they have to buy milk and cereal just like the rest of us.

I have tried to take the survey, but the list of favourite projects doesn’t include the latest England and Wales Criminal records, so I have abandoned the survey at that point.

Donna B
As I understand it the index will be free to everyone, but to see the images you have to pay, unless you index 900 entries in 90 days, in which case you will be able to see all of the images for free, or receive a discount on a subscription renewal.

I have been keying the England & Wales Criminal Registers – very interesting but it seems a shame that you are not recording the crime for which a person is being tried or the length of any sentence they may receive.

We appreciate your comments. All general feedback can be submitted by using the “Provide Feedback” link in the tool or by sending it to worldarchivesproject@tgn.com .

Having keyed nearly 5,000 records, mainly newspaper clipping and criminal records (but also a few naturalisation records) I have loved every minute of it !

I hope my work benefits someone else in their research and has given me loads of things to look at – deaths on submarines, marriages of Russian princes – I hope the records never run out !

If you are having problems with the HIGHLIGHT facility….switch it off completely (top right of toolbar) and use the slide at right side to position image just where you want it. (although you have to set it up to get into the record – once the record is on the screen with the highlight- switch it off – much easier !)

I would like to take part in the survey however the project I have been working on, New England Naturalization Indexes, is not included. The two England & Wales Criminal Records projects are also not included in the survey.

Am I missing something?

Sometimes, projects are temporarily removed as other records are updated – they don’t usually disappear for longer than a day or 2

I have been keying the English Criminal Records and have come across the same problem a few times: Sometimes the form is a continuation of the previous form and does not have the date at the top. Is there any way to look at the previous form in order to retrieve data? I came across a similar problem when keying the newspaper clippings – in fact that was more necessary as it wasn’t just the date that was needed.

Thank you Jayne. I have finally mastered the Highlight facility for the Criminal Records but find it easier to turn it off after recording the first 4 or 5 records as it becomes steadily less accurate. Its still useful for quickly setting the heading, though

i would like to see a little more relevant information relating to the UK.. But on the whole I have found the projects interesting. At the moment my family search is halted until the 1911 census is available. i would very much like to work on that project. Only one little hitch with survey on first screen but a double click resovled it

I too felt disappointed that there were so few UK images which could be transcribed in the Project so far, however as Ancestry was originally set up by Americans this is understandable, and I have benefitted from some of the passenger lists and US Censuses during my research.

If we get enough interest shown by UK keyers then perhaps more items of interest to us will be scanned. So come on we Brits, get keying whatever the information!! I am also transcribing for freeBMD.

Overall I find the software easy to use. I do have a question though. While entering an image sometimes it is hard to make out the name so I may mark it as unreadable or I may have made a mistake choosing a letter. However, the following image has the name shown clearly and I would like to backup to the previous image and correct it. Is this possible?

I think it’s a shame that so much information is not recorded. i.e. the crime commited, the place of the trial and the length of sentence etc. Surely reseachers like to get all the information they can.

I am new to this .I am at present transcribing Criminal records.There is no column for the OFFENCE.
I also think I need feed back as to how I am performing.If I am making errors then my effort is pointless.
Please tell me how I have performed`.
Perhaps we should have had a TRIAL RUN before keying proper began.
Frenchcafe

Why are we all working for free for a profit making organisation. I would expect a membership discount based on number of records keyed

Still unable to access survey.

I agree with Martin, we pay a lot of money to access Ancestry, a little discount for the number of records transcribed would be a good way of saying ‘thank you’. UKindexer do allow credits to be accrued which can be spent on the site, so it can be done.

I’ve just started keying the Midddlesex criminal records – I’m hoping to find some of my ancestors there (they are are bunch of criminals & deviants by all accounts!)
I would also like to be able to change the size of the highlighted box or have a custom set up.

While I’m happy to do this for free – after all I’ve got a lot of my family information from others willing to share their research with me – it would be good if ancestry could reward our hard work by giving us a discount off our subscription

Just a comment for Pam Orme.

All of us who are researching our family history have greatly benefitted from having records transcribed by “someone” and placed online.

To be able to do my bit and help get more records online before they deteriorate to a point where they will be unusable is exciting. Records from anywhere in the world are both informative and helpful to family historians even if they do not directly relate to you at this time.

Mmmm, no skeletons in your closet, I guess, if you do not want to even transcribe the UK Criminal Registers.

Oh, I do live in the UK.

I, too, live outside the UK and, having used the Wills and Administration indexes (readily available in larger public libraries) found them to contain a wealth of useful information.
Since these are already in printed form, would it not be a failry simple task to have them transcribed for use on the internet?
I would be more than happy to input.

oops! some transcriber I would be if I cannot spell fairly! Sorry.

I am having great trouble with the keying. Having transcibed for bmd and freecen using spreadsheets and never having a problem, I can’t understand what is happening. When I press either the tab key or enter button, the movement goes crackers and I end up with a message on screen that flashes, I then have to restart my computer (because I cannot get out of the programme), and lose all my data

This is the first time I’ve under-taken such a transcribing project & I made same huge mistakes on my first attempts so I hope I don’t get my knuckles rapped!
The software is pretty easy to use & I’m getting quite addicted to it, always waiting in anticipation as to which county I might get in the next image set.
I would like to see a clearer & more prominant statement made by Ancestry as to the benefits given to Ancestry subscribers who are keying in all this information. Several people on this feed-back page have made similar comments but we don’t hear anything from Ancestry! I for one have completed 900 entries in under the 90 days & would like some kind of acknowledgment.

Having done a large amount of keying on these projects I have two particular bones of contention. What is the point of the ‘set form position’ where you have to mark the top two corners of the form? It is a most irritating thing to have to perform and as far as I have discovered does not assist in any of the procedures. Please can we have the process eliminated?
Secondly, there is absolutely no need to scan blank images which we have to attend to. It is a total waste of scanning effort, downloading time and transcribing time. Please can we have these items eliminated too?
However, I see from previous comments that our remarks are not taken much notice of so I suppose we will have to continue with them. Oh well, will plough on!!
I do enjoy helping the Project but feel a number of tweeks are needed.

I agree with Pamorme1. I thought you would have far more English records than this. Are you likely to be doing any different English records in the future?

I know the Family History Societies over here have been transcribing Parish Registers as I have helped with some for Bucks and Leicestershire, but there are thousands of other records just waiting to be transcribed that the Family History Societies haven’t even touched yet.

I am happy to transcribe English records, but not American ones as I don’t have many ancestors that went to America and I am sure Pam and I are not the only English members that thinks this! There may even be quite a few Americans that would like more English records to trace their roots back further in this Country.

Valerie Carroll

I feel yes we are contributing,that is fine if some want to do it to benefit genealogists as a whole. However, I feel some valid points are made here and would like to add my own observation. My genealogy research is limited to the early spanish colonizers to present, I can decifer a spanish surname in a heart beat, if I key in an area that I’m familiar with it helps ancestry and genealogist because the info is more accurate and, it gets done quicker. I can add that I see it from consumer standpoint becasue I can see have seen how common it is (and of course not the keyer’s fault) for a keyer who is not familiar with the local surnames to make more mistakes. So I guess my point is: Is that taken into consideration, yes people want to pick their area of interest, I can’t speak for anyone but my self but I’m obsessed with my family and the any historical contributions my ancestors have made, I would like to participate in my ancestral land.