1950 Census - So far I'm not impressed with the AI indexing.
So far, I'm not impressed with the AI indexing. Maybe it has special difficulty with Italian names.
I finally found my grandparents by searching for simpler names of families I knew lived on our street. AI had indexed the surname as "Enpolatte." The census taker heard/recorded Empolette. I think they spelled it Empoletti at the time (began as Ippoliti in Italy). I still haven't found my parents. To be fair, the writing of the census-taker was very cramped. I saw and corrected other misinterpretations on their sheet.
I found my parents (and my brother and me). The AI had our last name indexed as Emportant. I couldn't find them by searching. I found them by finding the enumeration district and then going through the images walking up nearby streets and then finally up our street.
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I am liking it so far except for the no one home and vacant lines! One thing I really like is something you indirectly pointed out. We can index our own family names which means we are most likely to know how to spell them or at least recognize them in bad handwriting. Much better chance to recognize our names than someone who does not know the surname. I do see it also learning. Now if it would just learn not home and vacant or ------ are not anyone's name!
I was on the National Archives just looking for the name Sharp in Idaho. That was a major trial since the AI just did not find many and there are a lot of them! I am finding many more in the Oregon one so have hopes for the Idaho one when it is reviewable.
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I am extremely grateful for that, Anne, and it is a very smart and effective way ultimately to reach an accurate result. One other comment. So far, I am much more impressed with the quality of the Handwriting Recognition results I've seen on/in the FamilySearch AI review app than those I've seen on the NARA census data.
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I agree. Ancestry did a pretty good job with their AI. Not perfect but pretty good all around. Oh and the ------s? We mark them as correct. We are told that the computer will add the family name to those. Now that ought to be an experience all by itself!
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