Book details of 'Genealogy Online: Researching Your Roots, Web Edition'

Title	Genealogy Online: Researching Your Roots, Web Edition
Author(s)	Elizabeth Powell Crowe
ISBN	0070147221
Language	English
Published	September 1997
Publisher	Computing McGraw-Hill

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Reviewer amazon.com wrote:
Genealogy has always been a laborious, time-consuming hobby, but the Internet-connected home computer has changed all that. In Genealogy Online, Elizabeth Powell Crowe presents modern-age genealogy tips, tricks, and resources to the family historian. Be aware that Crowe focuses on genealogists who wish to learn how to use computer resources rather than on computer users who wish to learn how to do genealogy. She spends a fair amount of time discussing cyberspace basics--what the Internet is, how to use modems, netiquette, and choosing an ISP. Crowe then gives examples of the help that can be found on ROOTS-L and other mailing lists, the Web, and various bulletin board systems. The Web section alone offers connections to 50 of the most helpful research sites. Although she discusses at length such invaluable services as the National Genealogical Society BBS, online library card catalogs, and a number of genealogical databases, she doesn't overlook one of the researcher's most valuable resources--other researchers. Crowe guides the reader to a number of places where genealogists exchange tips and discoveries, including numerous newsgroups and genealogical forums on the various online services.
Reviewer Rob Slade wrote:
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
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Book description:

Top online genealogy tool-now Web enhanced! Thanks to the World Wide Web, online genealogical research is easier and more rewarding than ever before. And the new Web Edition of Elizabeth Powell Crowe's Genealogy Online packs all the latest sites plus scores of other convenient Internet and online resources-all you need is a modem and this plain-English guide! In no time you'll start uncovering details of your family history... make the most of related software and hardware (even WebTV)... and harness powerful Web search engines and catalogs to collect farflung genealogical data. With this new edition you can: surf Web sites-from the Genealogy Tool Box to the Gen Web project-ideal for beginning and advanced genealogists alike; capitalize on other Internet resources, such as Usenet newsgroups, mailing lists, and FTP sites; access local bulletin board systems (BBSs) and online library card catalogs; gather information from special online services-FidoNet and Friends, the National Genealogical Society BBS, Everton Publisher's BBS and the Library of Congress Online; participate in genealogy forums on AOL, CompuServe, MSN, Prodigy, Senior Net and other commercial online services.