Producing a Family CD
You have been researching your family history for a couple years or longer. You have acquired information and possibly old photos in your family tree. You plan vacations to places for possible sight seeing, but also with locations to further your research. You acquire radiation not from the TV, but from the computer monitor doing on-line research. You contact members of your family excitedly every time you find something new. They are somewhat interested in what you know, but not at the level that you are. These are tell tale signs that you have the genealogy bug.
In every family there seems to be a family historian. How do you preserve all the time and money invested to pass down the documentation and old family photos that you have collected? I faced this question a couple years ago. My decision was to produce a family CD preserving all of my research and sending it freely to all my siblings, children, nephews, and cousins. Years of research will eventually be lost, or research time duplicated, if the next generation historian does not appear. Interest in your family's history must be nurtured when an individual is young. Perhaps later in life, one family historian for the next generation will appear later in his or her life and pass the family history to their next generation. The second volume of my family CD is currently in the works. Enough newly acquired information will require even more updated editions. The response from family related members has peaked their interest in our family's history. My limited goal with this "hobby" at this time of my life has be accomplished. Only time will tell if I have been truly successful. Maybe it about time that you should produce you own family history CD. The following sections detail my style of work and the reasons for its format. Perhaps this will help you with ideas that will turn your "hobby" into what it has to eventually become and you accept the title of Family Historian.
FORMATS USED IN GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH
In genealogy, there are many programs that can be used. The price and capabilities of such programs vary greatly. My wife uses Family Tree Maker on her computer to do her side and my side of the family tree. My approach to my family line was just the opposite on my computer. I found a free program on-line not even related to genealogy. It is a basic system that works like a file cabinet. You can set up individual file drawers, folders in each drawer, sub-folders within folders, etc., and finally individual pages which are dated and referenced. My main goal was to organize documents, photos, and written ancestral biographies. I divided up my folders by surname, then broke them down into individual names within the family. Females with married name changes would be found in two or more folders depending upon the stage within their life span. Document or photos involving two family members or more were also placed into a folder called family. I scanned all of my documents into a single folder called Docs and numbered them progressively with four digits; example Doc0001, Doc0002, etc. This allows me to compile up to 9,999 documents. Wherever the document would fall, I wrote up a detailed explanation of that document in an individual ancestral folder. I broke down and created a code for all photos of ancestors also based upon surname, first name, and numbers of photos. Hopefully, I did not confuse you. I did create a fairly simple system that I could just digitally open a file drawer, then look up an individual and see what I have collected. With a simple glance of the documents in that folder, I could tell the date and type of document or photo. Furthermore, I could see where that document or photo was on file to pull it up.
This just gives you an extreme practical example of the two roads that you could follow in genealogical programming research. And with all of the programs out there, there is much in between. The choice is of course yours. My wife's program choice was for the professional researcher. Data bases are easily traded and entered with similar programs using Gedcom files. My unusual method I choose for practicality to eventually create a family CD containing an extensive collection of documents and photos. This CD could be used by the complete computer illiterate. Its design would allow viewing by television through just about any DVD player without even owning a computer. My final goal was to present family genealogical information to promote interest and be easily used by a child or great grandparent.
WHY NOT FIRST CLASS - DIGITAL, MULTI-MEDIA, AND SELF-BOOTING
When I produced my first family genealogical CD, it came out as a series of folders with all my research. It consisted of documents, photos, and biographies. My goal was to make it easy to use by a child or a grandpa alike. It was pretty good, but cumbersome to use. A person had to play with it in order to understand its format and use it. The feedback that I received was good. So I said "Alright, I produced my CD, but I think that I can do better."
After doing a little research and looking into what was available, the solution hit me like a bolt of lightning. I can build a website. If you have been poking around a few of my pages, I know that you will agree to that. Why not take that same concept and apply it to volume two when that time comes. I would gain a major advantage because I could easily flip from this web site and the CD. Family enjoyed my first CD, but they had some problems navigating it. But they don't have problems surfing the Web. Why not a CD that is self-contained and works like a huge 600 meg Website. And how about making the CD self-booting, with an opening screen, introduction music, then it pops up to a main page with a side menu to choose from that will lead to an awesome sized Web-style experience. The feedback that I have received from my latest #2 CD upgraded from good to very nice. I can tell that it is getting well received because word is spreading verbally and I'm getting e-mail for more copies. I would like to pass unto you just how I did it. If you are interested in going what I would call first class digital, keep reading.
I began building Websites using HTML. It takes time to learn and most people don't. Then, having Microsoft Office on my computer, I got into a web designer included in that package called Microsoft FrontPage. I have now been using it for a long time because it is easy to use. Also, included in the package under templates for webs is a page format called BANTOC.HTM. This particular template I thought ideal for creating a family CD. I am currently looking into starting a family genealogical newsletter that will also use this very same template, but packaged as a 2 or 3 meg attachment to e-mail. My wife receives a couple family newsletters from her side of the family through the mail. But with postage costs and my firm belief in the digital future, I think not. But that will be another future page on this website.
This particular web-style page when viewed is divided into three frames. The entire Web Page should be renamed INDEX.HTML. This will all fall into place when I discuss making your CD self-booting. There is a top banner, which is always viewed on the browser. You would put the name of your CD there. The left frame on the browser screen controls the main center frame. It is easy to create categories with hyperlinks, thus now you have a menu. This menu normally also stays visible when using the CD. Now all you do is create WebPages. On any category that you like, you may go as deep as you wish creating linked WebPages. Just remember to have a back button and a home button on the bottom of each page. I created pages for every photo and document that have collected to date. I broke the documents and photos into family surnames. Then I went further and made a page for each individual in that family. I also created a family photo and document page for family documents or photos with multiple family members. There each document or photo could be easily accessed with just a few clicks of the mouse. On each page I gave a brief description above just what is being viewed, background and where I obtained it. The result was a CD that could be used by a child or a grandpa alike. Below is the main screen for my CD. It may give you other ideas that could be created in your menu.
DO YOUR OWN THING WITH MULTI-MEDIA
Unlike genealogical WebPages, which normally are dry and uneventful, this is your CD and you can flavor it a little or a lot using animated bars and icons if you like. You can set up background music, record your voice, and even include movie files on your CD. The choice is yours. Make sure that you put some of you into your creation. I did a voice over on the page pictured above. The result is that the viewer hears the words as they are read once the screen opens. (Nice intro idea)
DON'T STOP NOW- THERE'S MORE THAT YOU CAN DO
In creating WebPages I have learned that things can be too large. A photo or document just doesn't fit WebPages. So you normally shrink them down. On your CD, you may want to follow this practice. OK, now there's a problem. What about the full size photo or document? Maybe a relative would like to print out that full size photo or document. Well, that's not really a problem. Unless your collection is vast, you should have lots of free space on your CD. Just have two folders for everything. I have a folder accessing the smaller photos being used on the CD called PICTURES. I also have another folder called PHOTOS that contains the full size photos. Then Uncle Harry can crop and print any photo that he may never have seen to his heart's content. I also have on the CD a folder called PRINTOUT. In this folder a listing of the full size photos and documents exist with its file name and a one line explanation. Today's generation of DVD players work exactly like a computer. They see folders, sub-folders, and individual files as JPG or MPEG. There is nothing like viewing these items on your TV, the 21st century of the old 50s and 60s slide projector.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR CD SELF-BOOTING
When I wanted to make my CD self-booting, I did some searching on the web. There are several programs out there. The one that I chose is called Avvia.exe. It is relatively simple to set up to open your main page, calling it INDEX.HTML. You also have to set up an AUTORUN.INF file. If you do a search of the web, you will see sites talking more about it yourself. Personally, I added a special boot up page with a flashy intro, time delay written in java, then the boot to my CD. But that's a little more complicated to explain to a novice. I have a little experience with computers and amateur programming, since I've been playing with them since 1988.
IN CONCLUSION
I've found out that this CD format once created, and it does take some time putting it together initially, makes it easy to create family CDs. All you do is save all the files that you want on your CD into a single folder. The BANTOC.HTM format turns that folder into a self-contained website. When the individual folder contents are burned to a CD, that CD will work like a self-contained website, plus the extra folders that you added. Now all that I have to do is to keep adding to my CD folder on my hard drive. When I decide that it is time for Volume 3, all I do is burn the CD. It's design has already been created. I hope that you have found this information helpful. Now that you have decided to produce your first Family CD, the only question remaining is how long will it be until you update it and produce Volume 2.
