BKGENONL.RVW   971129

"Genealogy Online: Researching Your Roots", Elizabeth Powell Crowe,
1998, 0-07-014722-1, U$24.95
%A   Elizabeth Powell Crowe
%C   300 Water Street, Whitby, Ontario   L1N 9B6
%D   1998
%G   0-07-014722-1
%I   McGraw-Hill Ryerson/Osborne
%O   U$24.95 905-430-5000 fax: 905-430-5020 louisea@McGrawHill.ca
%P   293 p.
%T   "Genealogy Online: Researching Your Roots"

It is rather amazing how, when you get a network connecting several
million people and a few simple tools, you can find out interesting
things about your family.  Through misdirected email, idle curiosity,
Web search engines, and selective Usenet mail forwarding, about a half
dozen of us have formed the eponymous "Robert Slade Internet Club." 
The net is a natural for genealogical research.

Crowe provides an initial chapter discussing how to get set up. 
Usually I don't look forward to such sections.  Internet connection is
a subject worthy of a book in its own right, so it can't be dealt with
really properly in a brief once over.  Too many authors simply use
this part of the text to impress, throwing around unnecessary, and at
the same time insufficient, technical information and jargon.  Crowe
takes a rock bottom, basic, practical approach.  Those who are
familiar with modem communications will find little detail, but
nothing wrong, either.  The book outlines what you need to get
started: a modem, an ISP (Internet Service Provider), some Internet
client software, a starter kit (becoming much more common these days),
and maybe a little help.  There is a warning about viruses, but while
providing little information it is neither sensational nor alarmist.

Chapter two looks at Usenet news, and covers not only newsreaders,
access, and the newsgroups themselves, but also netiquette.  The
discussion of mailing lists, in chapter three, provides annotations as
well as full directions on both posting and list administrative
requests.  (Mail clients are not covered, since Crowe considered them
important enough to mention at the beginning.)  Chapter four, on the
Web and Web browsers, also contains quick information on telnet
(actually pretty much exclusively on Hytelnet) and ftp.  Although
brief, the section on file transfers manages to touch on file types
and the necessary archivers.  Chapters nine and ten cover online
library catalogues, and the Library of Congress Online.  The Mormons
(or, more properly, the Church of the Latter Day Saints, usually
abbreviated LDS) are widely known for both their genealogical research
experience and databases.  As chapter eleven notes, these resources
are not yet available online, but information is provided about what
they have to offer.

Although there is no specific mention of an earlier edition (the cover
proclaims this to be the "Web Edition"), the book has the feel of
being originally written when local bulletin boards systems (BBSs)
were more important to the online community than there are today. 
Chapters five to eight look at BBSs, FidoNet, the National
Genealogical Society BBS, and the Everton Publishers BBS.  Chapters
twelve to fifteen then overview the resources of the AOL (America
OnLine), CompuServe, Prodigy, and MSN (Microsoft Network) commercial
services.

There are, though, definite gaps.  Crowe concentrates on resources
which return specifically genealogical information.  There are a
number of Internet tools that can help research family information. 
"People finding" Web sites are mentioned, but not strategies to find
relatives.  Some Web search engines are listed, but not AltaVista,
which would allow you to search a very large portion of the full text
of the Web, looking for names in conjunction with places, and so
forth.  Many similar tactics can be used to find potential family
members and branches.

Despite the shortcomings, this book does provide information to
serious genealogical researchers on the resources available to them on
the Internet.  It also gives those who are already connected and have
a vague interest some pointers on getting started in family research. 
Crowe's writing is brief, but clear, readable, and easily accessible. 
Perhaps a future edition can address the more subtle stratagems in
online searching.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1997   BKGENONL.RVW   971129