Yes, we all have these moments. There is an idea brewing and you might think “it already exists” and you would not be wrong, but I am thinking of a bigger picture. It is set to genealogy. We all have these settings. We want to find out about our family. And for the most part Ancestry (one of the rulers in that franchise) is pretty much the best there is. Yet, as I see it, there is a larger need to keep our records on the side, for other settings to match. There currently is no real solution there. However, consider your Google Account. Nothing wrong with that, but what if you could expand on your own space, optionally an encrypted account where you set whatever you had and expand regardless of genealogy solution you do employ and set these parts of the puzzle on your own merits and your own space and your own connections. It sees like a lot, but hear me out. Lets set a ‘kinda’ fictive setting.
My maternal great grandfather was an unknown to me. He resided in Saffron Walden (UK) and lived on Debden Road 21 (at some point). Now it is an Osteopathic Clinic, and I found out that it was a pet store in the 50’s. So was my great grandfather a pet store owner? A lot of these details are not registered and I found them by chance. So wouldn’t it be great that a player like Google could collect and keep these details safe? If Google could interact with Ancestry and like minded providers and collect that data too, it might be great. I don’t want to take business away from Ancestry. But you cannot expect them to hold it all. Yet in unison with others. People could learn a lot more from their ancestors in this way. So who lived at Debden road 23? Or across the street? There might be a lot more info floating around. All things that Ancestry might not have and you can collect these parts and add them to your settings. What I learned was that my ancestors had connections to Exeter. There was a possible connection to a cemetery there. Ancestry might have it, but the collection of images and locations now are stretching some genealogy solutions thin. Wouldn’t it be great if Google had a solution for people to collect these parts and verify them somehow? I wonder if Google figured out how many millions have some kind of need for this and consider that they were all about ‘whatever the consumer needs’ I kinda wonder why these steps weren’t acted on (perhaps rejected initially) but there is a larger need and I think that Google fits that prescription better (I just don’t trust Microsoft). And did anyone consider that map connections the might hold some truths?
It is merely thoughts that are invading my brain and it is set to facts that I am exposed to, but there is a larger setting and there are millions that have a larger pool of connections that are forgotten, everyone that preceded me is dead and with my death (somewhere in the future) that knowledge is lost to all. Perhaps no one considers me worthy. But do you share that with your brother and sister? And there children? Will they not get curious at some point? It isn’t merely me, but it is the people who come after me and you, they might want to know.
So have a great day and consider what you no longer know because your ancestors are removed from life. It is lost data and preserving that might mean more to your progeny than you currently realize.
Have a great day.
Lawrence van Rijn - Law Lord to be 