Monster Media 1993 #2/Image.iso/gene/cem063.zip/CEMREC1.DOC

Text File | 1993-03-10 | 17KB | 373 lines

               C E M E T E R Y   R E C O R D I N G   P R O G R A M

                                   VERSION 0.63

                       by Martin Zöllner and Stephen Hayes

     PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

     The Cemetery Recording Program (CEMREC) is designed for recording monu-
     mental inscriptions with biographical and genealogical information.
     These inscriptions are found on tombstones, war memorials and memorial
     tablets in churches and other places. Though these inscriptions are
     usually on durable material, such as stone or metal, many are threatened
     with destruction by pollution, vandalism or redevelopment. Local and
     family history societies and genealogical societies have been recording
     the inscriptions in order to preserve the information they contain, and
     to make it available to researchers. In many places the inscriptions
     recorded in this way are stored on computers.

     A data capture tool, not a research tool

     The purpose of this program is data capture for monumental inscriptions.
     It is primarily intended for the use of members of societies that have
     undertaken, as a project, the recording of all the inscriptions in a
     particular churchyard, cemetery or other burial place. The aim is to
     make it easy to enter the information in a consistent format for com-
     puter storage. Though the program does have some search and retrieval
     functions, these are mainly to check the information, and not to analyse
     the data. While the program might be useful to a genealogical
     researcher, that is not its primary purpose.

     A test version

     This version of CEMREC is also a test version. It is being distributed
     so that people who might be interested in using such a program can try
     it out, and report on its usefulness to the authors, so that it can be
     improved. This version of the program is almost certain to have bugs. It
     should be used with test data only, to see if it is suitable for the
     task. A bug report form is included with the documentation so that
     reports can be made to the authors. Please do NOT use it for recording
     cemetery data as part of an actual project.

     The history of the program

     In distributing this program for testing, we are asking for comments on
     how it works as a program, and also on how it works as a tool for
     recording monumental inscriptions. We don't only want the opinions of
     computer experts. We also want the opinions of those who have had expe-
     rience of recording cemetery data. It is impossible to foresee every
     kind of situation that may arise in recording monumental inscriptions.
     We may have overlooked something vital. We hope that it will be useful
     to explain something of the background of the program.

     Some years ago the Genealogical Society of South Africa supported a
     cemetery recording project. The coordinator of the project was Peter
     Holden, who encouraged individuals and branches of the Genealogical
     Society to record the data in cemeteries, and to send him the results.
     He typed these into a standard format, and passed them on to the South


     Version 0.63 Released 1993-03-10                                 Page 1

     African Archives, where the data were keyed into a mainframe computer
     running the Stairs program. The information that has been entered in
     this way may be consulted on computer terminals at the archives depots
     in Pretoria, Cape Town, Bloemfontein and Pietermaritzburg. Bound
     printouts may be consulted in many university and municipal libraries.

     In September 1990 a conference was held to review the project. One of
     the problems that became apparent was that there was a tremendous
     duplication of effort in the transcription. In at least once instance
     the data were transcribed by hand at a cemetery, entered into a computer
     by the organisation that arranged the recording. A printout was sent to
     Peter Holden, who retyped it in a standard format and sent it to the
     archives, where the data were once again rekeyed into the mainframe com-
     puter. In effect the same data were transcribed four times - thus multi-
     plying the chances of errors creeping in quite apart from the quad-
     riplication of effort. The conference asked a subcommittee including
     members of the Computer Interest Group of the Genealogical Society to
     try to devise a better system.

     The first question to be decided was whether we wanted a transcription
     or an index. There were many different opinions about the matter, but
     eventually we decided to design a transcription program, rather than an
     indexing one. An index can always be made from a transcription, but a
     transcription cannot be made from an index. The program does, however,
     provide for indexing as well as transcribing.

     We also decided that there was no point in reinventing the wheel. We
     therefore tried to make contact with people in different countries and
     to find out how people in those places transcribed cemeteries. In 1991
     the question was discussed at length on the genealogy data networks
     between various countries, especially the International Genealogical
     Conference on Fidonet, and the soc.roots newsgroup on Usenet. We went
     through the same debates about transcriptions versus indexes, and col-
     lected opinions from the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia and New
     Zealand. We moved to the genealogy software conference on Fidonet
     (GENSOFT) for discussion of database fields and structures. In July 1991
     the fields in  four sets of tables were proposed and discussed. By Sep-
     tember 1991 we had a working prototype in Paradox. More discussions and
     meetings followed, including meetings with the South African archives,
     which showed that the prototype would be able to store the information
     on disk in such a way that it could be imported directly into the Stairs
     program without retyping.

     Paradox was fine for the prototype, but could not be used for the data
     entry program, as it was far too expensive, and its fields could hold a
     maximum of 255 characters - many tombstone inscriptions were bigger than
     that. We decided to use Clipper for the data capture program, as it
     could be compiled as a stand-alone program, which could be distributed
     free of royalties.

     Future developments

     This data capture program is only part of a wider project. In addition
     to capturing data, there will need to be a progam to merge data from
     different sources, and there will need to be one to move the data to
     other computers (such as the ones running the Stairs program in the
     South African archives). Eventually it might be possible to distribute
     the data on CD-ROM or similar optical media.


     Version 0.63 Released 1993-03-10                                 Page 2


     HOW TO USE THE PROGRAM

     The program is started by typing CEMREC at the DOS command line. It
     should preferably be run from a hard disk, though it should be possible
     to run it from a floppy disk of at least 720k. The program and documen-
     tation are in a compressed file, and should be uncompressed in the
     directory from which the program will be run.

     Adding records

     There are four main "tables" or files in the database. The central one
     is the Inscription table. This is where the actual tombstone inscription
     is entered. But before entering data in the inscription table, the
     Recorder and Cemetery tables need some information.

     The recorder is the person who transcribed the data from the inscrip-
     tions. The table should have the person's name, and the sponsoring
     organisation if any (such as a local or family history society). There
     is also a unique code for each recorder. We suggest that the person's
     initials should be used, followed by a number made up of the year, month
     and day of the recorder's birth - so Gavin Edward Jones who was born on
     6 March 1945 would have a code of GEJ450306.

     The cemetery information should give the cemetery a unique code (this
     will be discussed later, then give the name and location of the
     cemetery, and a description of the cemetery (is it a municipal cemetery,
     or a farm cemetery, or in a church yard?)

     The Inscription table begins with information from the Recorder and
     Cemetery tables. These are the codes that will link the data to those
     tables. Then there is a location field. This is not the location of the
     cemetery (that was included in the Cemetery table). It is the location
     of the grave WITHIN the cemetery. The way it is described will vary from
     cemetery to cemetery. It may be a grave number, or a block and row num-
     ber, or it may be something like "south of the church ten metres from
     the fence".

     Then comes the Inscription field. This is the most important field in
     the database. The inscription on the tombstone should be entered IN FULL
     AND VERBATIM. If the inscription is partly illegible, the gaps should be
     indicated by underline characters. Do not abbreviate terms that are
     given in full on the tombstone, and do not expand terms that are
     abbreviated on the tombstone. If the tombstone says "Wm" or "Jno" do not
     write "William" or "John". If the tombstone says "doctor" do not write
     "Dr". Copy the wording as exactly as you can. If the tombstone says "In
     loving memory", include it.

     After the inscription comes another field for cross reference. Here you
     can enter information from other sources - possibly a cemetery register
     or church burial register, which might give more information about the
     person. Note the information and the source.

     Finally there is a remarks field. Here you can include any information
     that might be relevant - such as an apparent relationship with the per-
     son in the next grave, the style and condition of the tombstone etc. If
     it appears that the person is not buried there, this could be noted (for
     example a soldier serving overseas might have a memorial erected, even


     Version 0.63 Released 1993-03-10                                 Page 3

     though buried in another country).

     When you have completed the entry for the inscription, you will be
     offered the fields of the People table. This is the index to the
     inscriptions. Initially one would put in the name of the person buried
     and details such as the date and place of birth and death, if known.
     Other people mentioned on the tombstone could be indexed in this way.

     Editing records

     The editing records section is similar to that of the adding records
     section. One can edit the main tables - Cemetery, Inscription, Recorder
     and People.

     The main purpose of the editing section is so that one can index more
     people for each inscription. If, for example, you use the program on a
     laptop machine at the cemetery, your main object is to get as many
     inscriptions recorded as possible. Indexing all the people mentioned on
     the inscriptions can be done later at home. So you could edit the people
     for each inscription.

     Editing is also one of the areas where things can go most wrong in a
     relational database. One of the important things is to maintain referen-
     tial integrity between the tables. If you know anything about working
     with databases, please test this out - there is one thing that the pro-
     gram should NOT let you do - change, for example, the code for the
     cemetery or recorder without also changing it in the Inscription table.
     If it lets you do this in any circumstances, please report it. This can
     cause the inscriptions to "forget" which cemetery they are in. Because
     we want this to be tested by different people in different circum-
     stances, we ask that you only use test data in this program. Don't enter
     information that you don't have a copy of elsewhere.

     Housekeeping

     This is for deleting records, packing the database etc.

     Printing

     This will let you print reports based on the search criteria you enter
     in the search section

     Search

     This is a "bonus" feature - not really necessary in a data capture pro-
     gram, but included as a reward for those who give up their weekends to
     fossick around in cemeteries recording all this stuff. It lets you
     search for records using words you are interested in, and then print out
     the results. Note that the results are not displayed on screen, but you
     can print them.

     Help

     The help feature is more unfinished than a lot of the others. Some code
     in the program has been reused from other projects, and so some of the
     help screens may be way off. There is still a lot of work to be done
     here.



     Version 0.63 Released 1993-03-10                                 Page 4

     FEEDBACK

     At the end of this document you will find a bug report form. Please use
     it for sending feedback to the authors of the program.

     As we pointed out earlier, we don't only want feedback on the program
     itself, but also on the methods used in the program.

     For example, the Cemetery codes. These need to be unique for each
     cemetery recorded. What is the best way of ensuring this? Should a
     national genealogical society or other body keep a register of all
     cemeteries, and assign a code to each of them?
















































     Version 0.63 Released 1993-03-10                                 Page 5

                                   USER REPORT

                               CEM-REC VERSION 0.63

     If you have looked at this program at all, please complete this form and
                                  return it to:

     Martin Zöllner                              Steve Hayes
     P.O. Box 36052                              P.O. Box 7648
     Menlo Park                                  Pretoria
     0102 South Africa                           0001 South Africa

     or to:

     Fidonet: Steve Hayes of 5:7101/20@FidoNet
              Martin Zoellner of 5:7101/20@Fidonet

     Internet: [e-mail]
               [e-mail]
               [e-mail]

                        ---------------------------------

               Name: ________________________________________________________

     Postal Address: ________________________________________________________

                     ________________________________________________________

     Postal or Zip code: ___________ Country: _______________________________

     E-mail address: ________________________________________________________

        Affiliation: ________________________________________________________
        (e.g. Family History or genealogical society you belong to)

     Have you recorded cemetery inscriptions before? ________________________
     (i.e. before you saw this program)
     Where did you get a copy of this program? ______________________________
     (e.g. give name of BBS you downloaded it from, user group, friend etc)

     Would you be interested in participating in discussions on standards for
     computer recording of genealogical data?

     ________________________________________________________________________

     In the space below (or on a separate sheet of paper) please write your
     impressions of the program - what you found good about it, what you
     found bad about it, how you think it could be improved etc.

     You may return this to one of the addresses above, either through the
     post, or by electronic mail. You may also participate in continuing dis-
     cussions about it in the GENSOFT conference on the Fidonet network or in
     the soc.roots newsgroup on Usenet.






     Version 0.63 Released 1993-03-10                                 Page 6