Sources only counted if on FamilySearch

FrankLittle

Not all possible sources are available on FamilySearch. But a person may have acceptable sources available but which cannot be shared (e.g. by copying the image, if it is subject to copyright or other terms of use).

Such entries will then score only as medium instead of high, regardless of the accuracy of the data used to make the entry.

How do we resolve this? (This is not primarily a problem only for the Data Quality Score, of course).

Rhonda Budvarson

@FrankLittle thank you for your feedback. There is a ticket for this issue. I will see if we have an update.

Gordon Collett

Could you post an example of an ID where you see this as a problem?

I can't think of a single case where a source cannot be shared if one is available. A source on Family Tree, probably better termed a source citation, only needs a title. Everything is optional. Just a title, of course, isn't very helpful. The most important part of a source is the sectioned titled Citation in which you put the full information about the source.

Just think of it as you would a footnote or bibliography in a research paper. Those include the author, title, publisher, and such, not a copy of the work a fact or quote the work is found in. This is sufficient for anyone who wants to check the item to find the source and do that check. We're just really spoiled these days in that so much is available online and just a click on a URL link away. But there is far more that is not and never will be and all those sources should be references on a person's profile, also.

FrankLittle

I have to agree with your comment. And I look forward to the update on the ticket.

Gordon Collett

If you add a self-created source to your Source Box, you can add that source to as many profiles as you wish. Just have to keep in mind that if you edit the stored source, you change the source for every profile it is on. You can add a note to each individual attachment to personalize it.

Whether a source has an image attached does nothing to change the quality of the source. But the presence of an image does make it much easier to check the reliability of the source. One click is much easier than a 1000 mile flight to the archive the document is found in.

FrankLittle

Thanks for that suggestion. It certainly helps each individual to reuse their own source entry. It does not help us to build a broader base of sources, including those for which transcriptions, indexes, or images are not available via FamilySearch.

Also, given the variability in the accuracy of transcriptions, wouldn't a source with an image one could verify (if one had access) count more highly than one where independent verification is not possible?

But returning to the topic at hand, when looking at the open issues, I do see that you posted (at the end of a post) this comment, which is I think a better description of the issue I originally intended to raise: "On a totally unrelated note, will we ever be able to extract information from our user created sources and enter it as part of the source so it shows in tags just like indexed information?" Yes, that's the underlying question, and associated with that—if implemented, what will this mean for quality scores.

Gordon Collett

Getting back to the original topic here, I took the opportunity when starting to add a person to Family Tree and didn't have much information on the profile yet to play around a little. What I discovered is that the starting premise here is not correct. All sources are indeed counted as part of the Quality Score calculation.

Here is what you see if there are no sources at all:

Note the phrasing: This person has no sources.

Clicking there, one finds that this is such a critical deficiency that it cannot be dismissed:

Since there can be no source tagging if there are no sources, I suspect that there is no way to get the quality score above Low without any sources.

Contrast this with a person who has only user created sources:

This changes the notice to: This person has no indexed sources.

But this message can be dismissed with just a few clicks:

With that gone and the user created sources tagged to the appropriate data, one can easily get the quality data score to High without a single indexed source.

(This is still medium because I am missing death information. I added a second user created source to have two tags on the name and birth. There are still no indexed sources on this record.)

So if one is positive there are no indexed sources, just dismiss the notice. Otherwise, just take this as a reminder that if there are indexed sources, the best way to prevent duplicate profiles getting created and to avoid incorrect merges is to get every single applicable indexed source attached to the profile.

FrankLittle

Interesting. Thanks for looking into this further.

So given that one can make one's own sources, and given that there is a mechanism for repeat use (via one's own Source box) though not for sharing between users, and given that some account is taken of the use of own sources, I think I should retract my original statement. Nonetheless, I've found this discussion helpful and illuminating. Thanks for the opportunity.

Rhonda Budvarson

@FrankLittle @Gordon Collett thank you for this excellent discussion. And Gordon for the above and beyond user test!!