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===Use Photo Editing software  to better define old handwriting===
===Use Photo Editing software  to better define old handwriting===
*[https://familysearch.org/blog/en/consumer-professional-photo-editing-software/ Consumer vs. Professional Photo Editing Software] by James Tanner  April 5, 2013  includes a [https://familysearch.org/blog/en/consumer-professional-photo-editing-software/#comment-27059 comment ]  following the article,  by Sherry Morgan,  April 30, 2013  “I use photo editing software for documents as much as for restoring photos and one can do some decent work with a free program called [http://www.irfanview.com/ Irfanview]. It does have a learning curve, ... I use it frequently at our Family History Center after scanning microfilm or microfiche to clean up or an all over brighten or darken and contrast to better define old handwriting”. FamilySearch Blog
*[https://familysearch.org/blog/en/consumer-professional-photo-editing-software/ Consumer vs. Professional Photo Editing Software] by James Tanner  April 5, 2013  includes a [https://familysearch.org/blog/en/consumer-professional-photo-editing-software/#comment-27059 comment ]  following the article,  by Sherry Morgan,  April 30, 2013  “I use photo editing software for documents as much as for restoring photos and one can do some decent work with a free program called [http://www.irfanview.com/ Irfanview]. It does have a learning curve, ... I use it frequently at our Family History Center after scanning microfilm or microfiche to clean up or an all over brighten or darken and contrast to better define old handwriting”. FamilySearch Blog
===Use an optical magnifier available at some Record Offices===
Use an optical devise such as the Optelec magnifier at Suffolk Record Office which allows you to magnify and view a document in two of several contrasting colours. Try you local Record Office.<ref>  Maiden, Jack [http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=216658&p=2143316 "Transcribing problem of handwritten soldier diary"] ''Great War Forum'' 22 August 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2014</ref>


=== Use Speech Recognition or Dictation applications===
=== Use Speech Recognition or Dictation applications===

Revision as of 23:48, 23 August 2014

A collection of miscellaneous tips and tricks not covered in other articles that might help you with your research.

Access some subscription websites with a Library Card

  • In England, a Borough or County Library Card may enable you to access The Times remotely but probably not other historical newspaper sites. However, enquire what is available to you both from your local library and the libraries of surrounding boroughs as what is on offer can differ widely and membership requirements are usually easily met. Popular choices available online include The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and Who's Who & Who Was Who. Other subscription sites may be available from terminals in the library itself e.g. Ancestry - this may sound restrictive but, if you already subscribe at a base level, may be useful for consultation when you want to look up a source restricted to premium subscribers.
As an example, Suffolk Libraries shows the databases available to the users of the 44 local libraries of Suffolk County Council. Ancestry and FindMyPast are available but must be accessed in a local library or record office, while other databases are available on home computers.

Access some articles in the JSTOR subscription website for free

JSTOR is a not-for-profit organisation which provides access to scholarly journals, primary sources, and books. In addition to access through the British Library, or through some library cards, (such as those issued by the National Libraries of Scotland, Wales and Australia) some items may be accessed for free, on your home computer, up to three items from the archive every two weeks. More details are in the article JSTOR Register & Read—Free Reading of Historical Scholarship.

Browse the titles of the Journals and books available in the JSTOR website. Includes a Search facility. Note however, not all articles are available under the free scheme. An example of an article available is "Real Incomes of the British Middle Class, 1760-1850: The Experience of Clerks at the East India Company" by H. M. Boot The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 52, No. 4 (Nov., 1999), pp. 638-668

Access an obsolete website in archive.org

Capture a web page in archive.org

  • Perhaps you may want to “capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future”. For example, you may want to save a web page which has a family history reference. Use this archive.org link and select Save Page Now
Does not apply to all websites. Read the FAQs: Wayback Machine for more details of the types of webites which cannot be archived.

Find the meaning of words used in India

Convert a date which has used the Bengali Calendar

Find an exchange rate

  • Prior to 1871, 1 rupee was equal to two shillings (24 pence), so there were 10 rupees to the pound.
  • An old page from Wikipedia History of the rupee, accessed 30 August 2013 contains the following data
Rupee exchange rate in pence
1871–1872: 23 ⅛
1875–1876: 21⅝
1879–1880: 20
1883–1884: 19½
1887–1888: 18⅞
1890–1891: 18⅛
1891–1892: 16¾
1892–1893: 15
Source: B.E. Dadachanji. History of Indian Currency and Exchange, 3rd enlarged ed. (Bombay: D.B. Taraporevala Sons & Co, 1934), p. 15.

Send money to India

Moneygram, ICICI Bank and Western Union have been suggested as means of sending money to India for the purchase of certificates etc[1]

Translate from another language into English

Perhaps you have found a webpage which is not in English. You can obtain a computer produced translation of non English wording using Google Translate, or some browsers such as Google Chrome have an automatic option to translate webpages.

Find out the meaning of an archaic medical term

Useful for interpreting the cause of death on a burial record or the medical conditions on a soldier's service record.

Interpret personal name abbreviations used in records

Read old handwriting

Use transcription aids

Use Photo Editing software to better define old handwriting

  • Consumer vs. Professional Photo Editing Software by James Tanner April 5, 2013 includes a comment following the article, by Sherry Morgan, April 30, 2013 “I use photo editing software for documents as much as for restoring photos and one can do some decent work with a free program called Irfanview. It does have a learning curve, ... I use it frequently at our Family History Center after scanning microfilm or microfiche to clean up or an all over brighten or darken and contrast to better define old handwriting”. FamilySearch Blog

Use an optical magnifier available at some Record Offices

Use an optical devise such as the Optelec magnifier at Suffolk Record Office which allows you to magnify and view a document in two of several contrasting colours. Try you local Record Office.[2]

Use Speech Recognition or Dictation applications

Speech (or voice) recognition or dictation applications/software may be an aid if you are transcribing a document, or recording other information.
A free application for iPhones, iPads and iPod touch is Dragon Dictation. You may need to ensure the microphone option is turned on.[3] These mobile applications perhaps could be useful for recording information for cemetery transcriptions.
Your computer may contain a "Dictation" or similar option. As an example, for Apple Macs, choose Apple () , then System Preferences, select the View menu, then choose “Dictation & Speech".[4].Note however the Apple Mac option does not recognise some voices and will not work at all in these cases.

Scan and edit a document using OCR (Optical Character Recognition)

  • OCR anything with OneNote 2007 and 2010. howtogeek.com. OneNote 2010 is included with all edition of Microsoft Office 2010 except for Starter edition. OneNote 2007 is included with Office 2007 Home and Student, Enterprise, and Ultimate.
  • Microsoft Office Word 2007 instructions on how to Scan and edit a document, from Microsoft Office Online.

Photographs

Scan photographs

Please not that these scanning tips are for personal scanning and not to be used for scanning images for this website. Specifications for image scanning for this website can be found on the Upload images page.

Digitally restore old photographs

Scan negatives

Date family photographs

TechTips

The FamilySearch website has two series of general TechTips, some of which appear under 'Photographs' above

Aspects to consider when hiring a professional researcher

Search for a Library which holds a book you want to read

Search for books on a particular topic

Copy Information from Full View Google Books

Refer Google Books

Use the Virtual Magnifying Glass

You may find this Virtual Magnifying Glass is useful.

For Fibiwiki editors

  • Oocities.org This website was set up in 2009 to preserve content from the closed website "geocities.com". It may be possible to recreate a link from geocities.com

References

  1. India List thread Sending money to India dated May 2012
  2. Maiden, Jack "Transcribing problem of handwritten soldier diary" Great War Forum 22 August 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2014
  3. Great War Forum thread Dragon Dictation - IPad, iPhone (retrieved 6 June 2014)
  4. Mac Basics: Dictation lets you speak text instead of typing (retrieved 6 June 2014)