FindMyPast frustration: Metadata madness

I’m trying extract the answer to a simple question from FindMyPast.

In short: I want to know what directories are included in their Victorian Directories record set. In 2012 there was a list on the site. Now there isn’t.

They replied courteously and promptly to my initial message. I’m not sure they actually read the question. They provided me with a link to the Victorian Directories search page.

I can forgive that. I replied and told them that the link did not have the information I asked for. It gave the name of one directory only. I pointed out that there were more directories in the record set than just that one.

I received a courteous and reasonably prompt reply signed by a different name. They explained to me that the link I had been provided could be used for searching Victorian Directories, reiterated that this one directory was included, and provided some additional blurb about the directory.

I realise that my timing may be bad, with the release of a big new data set. But still….

Now I’m trying to work out how to reply. Meanwhile, I shall vent.

My thoughts on not having a list of inclusions:

• It’s bad form for any data manager. Bad data manager! Really, the data custodians who are entrusting them with the digital presentation of their data should give them a smack and tell them to do better.
• It’s poor customer service. We want to know what we’re paying for.
• It demonstrates a lack of understanding of a genealogist’s needs. We need to know what records we have searched. We need to know if the nil result we came up with was because the person wasn’t listed in the directory, or if the record wasn’t there.* The interpretation is very different!
• Poor data management warns of poor quality control. I’m not convinced that all of the directories that should be there (assuming it hasn’t changed too much since 2012) are on the site.
• It is not possible for a user to check the data quality – and we need to. See point above. Last year I found that I wasn’t getting the results I expected from the Merchant Seamen collection because two series that were supposed to be in the site were missing entirely. Hundreds of thousands of records from The National Archives were simply not there.
  That one directory they mentioned sounds like a great resource. What a pity it was never among the results returned.

Next steps:

• Work out what I could realistically achieve by writing back again.
• Write a reply framed with those goals in mind.

I also wonder what is the best way to provide feedback to FindMyPast about metadata and search issues, in a way that will be heard. I can’t imagine that this sort of feedback actually goes anywhere via the help email given the responses I’ve had to this and other questions I’ve asked.

 

 

* We also need to be able to find out if the record didn’t come up in the search results because it was spelled differently, mistranscribed, the page was gone, or it was unreadable. We need to be able to browse our way to the page and take a look! But that’s a search interface issue rather than a metadata issue. Today my vent is about metadata.

A grumble and a workaround

I want to love FindMyPast, really I do, but sometimes they make it hard.

Don’t get me wrong - I am excited about and grateful for all the material from various archives that is now becoming available online as digital images (and a big shout out to Ancestry here too!).

However…

…as I said last year…

….the Merchant Seaman records are not plain sailing!

FindMyPast has digital images of various series of Merchant Seaman’s records from The National Archives. This time I was interested in Series BT113 – Registers of Seaman’s tickets. Both BT113 and the index to it, BT114, have been scanned, indexed and made available on FindMyPast. Fantastic! So far so good.

The grumble

Here’s where it starts to go wrong.

The series number and the subseries number are included in the transcription display, as they should be, but they are not a lot of use if you want to use them to find records on the website! 

• You can only filter on the series number if you’re using “Old Search”.
• You can’t filter on the subseries number at all.
• You can’t page through the registers.

That’s right. Even if you have the correct archival reference details, you can’t browse your way to a particular entry. As a user of the collection, I’m not happy about that.

This time around, I found the person I wanted in BT114 (the index series) but I couldn’t find the corresponding record in BT113 by searching the database no matter how imaginative the spelling variations and search criteria combinations I came up with.

Although I had the ticket number from the index series, and The National Archives catalogue indicated that ticket number 68599 was in BT113/35 there was no way provided to move to BT113/35 and page through to the item I wanted.

I was left with no idea why I couldn’t find the entry. Mistranscription? Damaged page? Missing page?! No idea.

The workaround

After searching, failing, getting frustrated and trying again with no more success, I left it for a few weeks. Finally it occurred to me to look at the URL and see if the structure that was missing from the search facility might be present in the URL.

To start with, I looked at the URL for a few random transcripts from the right series.

A record in BT113/253:

http://search.findmypast.com.au/record?id=tna%2fbt113%2f2133117033%2f1

A record in BT113/27:

http://search.findmypast.com.au/record?id=tna%2fbt113%2f2132655833%2f1

The changing part of the link, marked in red, was larger for items with larger subseries numbers. I crossed my fingers and hoped that they had scanned and named everything in a nice, orderly, sequential way!

I guesstimated the number that would put me into BT113/35, entered it into the URL, and after three or four attempts (or maybe half a dozen) found a record in the right subseries. I then continued the same process to reach the ticket number I wanted. That took at little longer as I had to click through to the images each time to see the register number. Before too long the details for ticket number 68599 were in front of me.

Now I know why I couldn’t find the entry I wanted. It was there, readable, and not mistranscribed. It’s just that the register details were filled out for an entirely different person. I was taken aback for a minute. I was sure I had the register number right. Then I realised that next to the entry was written “Cancelled” and “Reissued to Moses Mercer Mack”. Just the man I was looking for! Unfortunately that meant that there were no useful details about Captain Mack (yes I have found records of him later in his career) to add to what I know, but at least I am no longer puzzling over that register entry it and searching for something that’s not there.

 

By the way, if you’re researching Moses Mercer Mack (c1828-1883), a master mariner from Belfast, please get in touch. I’d love to compare notes with you.

UK Merchant Seamen records are not plain sailing

Having found a merchant seaman record for John Lee I wanted to find out whatever I could about his service. One thing I’d like to know is: did he stay in Australia by agreement, or did he jump ship?!

From this point my plan was quite straightforward.

1. Obtain whatever information I can readily find by myself online.
2. Hire a researcher to make sense of it and follow up on any other records it may lead to.

It seemed that I should be able to find more on John Lee in The National Archives series BT112 (which is indexed in series BT119). According to the TNA website and to the FindMyPast website, both series are digitised and searchable on FindMyPast.

It’s possible to filter the Merchant Seamen collection by TNA series, but I couldn’t find a record from series BT112 or BT119. Not for John Lee, nor anyone else. I couldn’t find any record at all.

I contacted FindMyPast and they got back to me promptly, confirming the issue. If you haven’t been able to find your seafaring relatives from 1835 to 1844 in these records, hold tight. FindMyPast have promised to update me when the data team looks into it.

FindMyPast.com World Subscription Offer

Earlier today I read on Dick Eastman’s newsletter that a beta version of FindMyPast’s international records site was now available, and offering an introductory World subscription at just $4.95 US per month.

I found that I was able to log into FindMyPast.com’s site using my Australian site (FindMyPast.com.au) credentials, and to apply the remainder of my .com.au subscription to purchase of the World subscription.

The end result is that I now have a one year World subscription for only $25 out of my pocket. That’s a pretty good discount, considering that purchase of a World subscription via the Australian site would have been $224.96 less my existing credit (a bit under $200 out of my pocket).