What instructional resources are available for Get Involved volunteer activities?
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In the 1950 census, what should we be doing with family members. Sometimes, nothing is highlighted where the dash is. Sometimes, it enters a "-".
Also, found an entry that entered the names from two lines into one outline box. I ended up accepting it since the next line ended up being skipped.
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@HerrJamesAlan1 It depends on the type of review you are doing. Here is information from the FAQ's page found here:
https://www.familysearch.org/en/info/1950-us-census-project-frequently-asked-questions
What should I do with “--” in the Surname field?
- In Name Review, leave it as is and mark as a Match. Think of it as shorthand for the actual surname.
- In Family Review, replace it with the surname itself.
And:
What if the highlight isn't covering the full name?
Capture the requested information, whether or not the highlights cover the words exactly. It could be off either horizontally or vertically.
For example, both the first and middle names should be included in the First Name field, even though the highlight may not cover them entirely.
I hope that helps. Enjoy reviewing the 1950 Census.
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Please add dedicated buttons for "Not a Name" and "Crossed Out". These are encountered so often, that they slow down the progress. Instead of one mouse click, it is 4 mouse clicks, plus the time to get the cursor over the right choice.
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I tried to work on a page today that the blue boxes were badly out of alignment and it seemed impossible to input what I wanted. I entered a "Transcription Error" and mentioned how bad the alignment was and then finished the page with "Not Sures". This page needs to be manually done.
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@HerrJamesAlan1, I heard the engineers are working on the buttons for "not a Name", "Vacant", etc.
It sounds like you are doing the best you can with the bad highlights. At least you will get someone else to look at it.
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Wonderful! I see the "Not a Person" button. Works great!!!
And I see the Default entry has been deselected from "Transcription Error".
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After using this for a while, I find it much faster and convenient to have the single button.
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Is it possible to give us the ability to add a blue box for "Last name"? Sometimes there is a name in that field and it skips over it. Or the wrong name might have been used.
Just found an example:
Patterson, Ruth --- Head
Hines, Robert --- Lodger -- but line is crossed out
---------, Betty --- Lodger's wife -- not crossed out
I entered "Crossed Out" for the names Hines and Robert, but then only get a blue box for Betty without an option for last name.
Also, I have seen where a row has been missed and it skips over it.
Another suggestion: If the 20th operation is the Last name, extend until the given names are also entered. Never end on the Last name.
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@N Tychonievich Can you please move this post to the 1950 Census category? I think it fits better there. Thank you.
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Here are conflicting instructions, both put up on April 5.
How do I review hyphens and empty surname fields in Family Review?
Article Id: 17477
April 05, 2022
A dash or empty surname field is usually the result of an error by the computer. The person filling out the census probably left the field blank or entered a dash to indicate that the surname was the same as the line above.
Correct the error by deleting any dashes and entering the appropriate surname.
How do I review hyphens in the Surname field in Review Names?
Article Id: 17483
April 05, 2022
Leave the name as is and mark as a Match. In most cases, the hyphens are shorthand for the actual surname.
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Something that should be fixed is the correction box for the name in the blue box. By default, it covers up the blue box. I can fix that by dragging the screen down far enough that it moves upward. I have to do this with every new census page.
But it needs to be farther to the left. As you type corrections, a drop down menu appears, but it covers the blue box which I want to remain in sight while I consider the names in the menu.
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Looks like the correction box has been moved. It now starts out below the blue box far enough it is not in the way.
Thank you
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Several times, I have entered my choice on the last field of the series, and suddenly decided I wanted to change my choice. But too late, the series was over. Can you make it so that there is a way to go back on that last choice before it closes out the series? Maybe a couple second delay before moving on?
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The correction Box has returned to its initial position and covers the blue box.
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We should have the option when doing Names Review to leave a message for the Family Review person. Just today with some really hard to read names, I decided to look in the 1940 census and found the same family and could now recognize what the names were. BUT, the series of 20 had ended after the head of the family, and I had no way of going back to the head of the family, but now knew the name while I was still working on the children of that family. Just seems like a waste to now know the name but no way to pass that information on to the Ramily Reviewer.
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In doing Header Review, if the place is identified as Twp or Boro, etc and the filled in name of the place does not include Twp or Boro, etc, should we add it?
In doing a county that I am from, the town was listed as Ellwood City and the computer filled in form just used Ellwood. But the name of the place is really called "Ellwood City" and I have been adding the word "City" to the form.
And others in the same county are townships and not cities, so I add Twp to the name on the form.
Thanks
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You should enter exactly what is on the document, i.e., if it says Ellwood City then you are correct to add City. Here's a knowledge article that might help. I'm 28 miles from Ellwood City, so I also know it has never been called Ellwood.
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On header review, I sometimes encounter a page that has no E. D. Number. But the entry screen does have an E. D. Number. Should I erase it to match the form? Or leave the E.D. number in place that it had filled in?
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Some of the Enumerator's Signature or Checked by Signature are quite hard to read and the computer has just generated garbage. Can I just write something such as Unreadable?
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The Hotel, Large Rooming House, Institution, Military Installation, etc fields often have uncleared data in those fields and require manual clearing. Can a clear button be added to clear this fields with one click?
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Another one to ask about in header review. The census record leaves the Incorporated Place or Township blank, but the computer generated form has it filled in. I suspect that the computer program had read the E. D. ID of 37-132 and recognized that as Wilmington. (In Lawrence County, PA) I left it in place and I see the next record that comes up is also 37-132 and has Wilmington filled in on the census record. So it appears that my guess might be correct?
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Another question on headers review. The census sheet says Union Twp as the place, but the computer generated field says Oakland. Now Oakland is a place in Union Twp in Lawrence Co, PA. I suspect that the E.D. number was used to generate the place. I put Oakland - Union Twp as my answer since both are correct.
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All good questions, James Alan, but I think that this portion of the review is ending!
I just read over in the 1950 Census section of this Community that the Header Review is being discontinued. There is an update of a few hours ago listing some changes that should happen on May 24th. It is the very first post.
"Second, Header Review, while still an important part of the entire review process, is going to be reviewed in a different manner. It will show as 100% complete, and you will be able to focus on either Name Review or Family Review"
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I have noticed that Ancestry.com brings up 1950 census records now. And I am guessing that this is the original raw data from the computer translation. I added a number of these records to my Ancestry tree. And there were errors in things like spelling of names, for which I entered suggestions in Ancestry for the correct spellings. Are these corrections in Ancestry fed back into the review process going on?
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For names review, when someone is marked as "Jr" and shouldn't, I have been deleting the "Jr" and submitting. But I have noticed that if I go back, the "Jr" is still there which means that just deleting "Jr" wasn't sufficient. I have done this many times. Should I instead just enter a "-"?
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I have been doing a lot of name reviewing that is not associated with the census. Is there a tutorial for using the Advanced Edit Mode? I figured out the basics on my own, but I still have a lot of questions about using it.
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I have been doing name reviewing on baptismal records. The most common problem I find is that the Given Name and/or Surname have been misidentified. For example, I might see on the screen two highlight boxes with "Richard" and "Johnson," and both names are identified in a Given Name field as "Richard Johnson." So, the Surname field is missing, and the wrong information has been entered in the Given Name field. Correcting the Given Name is easy. I just change it to "Richard." But how do I fix the surname?
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The baptismal records I have been reviewing are handwritten. When the recorder gets to the end of a line, the name is usually broken up if it doesn't fit. For example, the end of the top line may have "Ric-" and the beginning of the next line has "hard", with the Given Name field filled out by the computer as "Ric-hard." Do I delete the hyphen?
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I've been doing a lot of name reviewing in Spanish. There are some names that are traditionally written with diacritical marks. For example, "González" instead of "Gonzales." If the computer doesn't add the diacritic, should I add it in manually? In the document, I may see the same name handwritten both with and without the diacritic. Do I correct it to what is actually written in the document, or correct the name if it is missing the diacritic in its handwritten form?
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Hi Lance. When we are indexing, we do add in the diacritics IF they are on the image. Our task is to make an exact entry of what is written on the image. For instance, if a name was spelled Jhon and we think that should be John, we still must index Jhon. In the situation of Gonzalez, if there are no diacritics, then we don't add them. We never change the spelling of names. We might be told to change misspellings or expand abbreviations on place names (cities, counties, countries, etc.), but never on given and surnames.
Usually in transcription, when there are hyphens at the end of a line, we are told to ignore the hyphen. I would say the same is true in the documents you are reviewing. The census instructions quoted above have nothing to do with indexing and reviewing.
When we index, if we can't determine if a name is a surname, it is typed in the given name field. That might be what you are seeing. It is hard to say without seeing what you are working on, but, it seems that if the names are searchable then they probably should be left alone.
Just my thought without seeing what you are working on.
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Thanks Melissa S Himes! The trick here is that name review goes by different rules than indexing. In name review, we make corrections. The goal is to present the names inn the form that a researcher will be looking for -- to better enable them too find it. That's why I have so many questions that are hard to find answers for.
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