Living Family History (LHT) A means for making and sharing a multimedia family history 30 January livingfamilyhistory.

Transcription

1 Living Family History (LHT) A means for making and sharing a multimedia family history 30 January livingfamilyhistory.info

2 Contents Why write a living family history? Suggested features of a family history Typical form of the narrative/startup files Viewer Software - A web browser Editor Software Sound clips and background sound Delivery to the user Organization of LFH Modules Sources of Material Genealogies Pictures and the Electronic Scrapbook(ES) Overview of editor activities Creation of narratives and links Electronic Scrapbook (ES) Roles for LFH Starting from scratch as an LFH editor Getting started as an LFH editor for an existing family history LFH Editor Software User Interface Need a mentor? Exercises Electronic Scrapbook (ES) features Limitations of LFH

3 Why write a Living Family History? Know your roots and pass it on. Share the good times Pass on your experience, faith, wisdom and great memories to your family. A family history should be Living because memorable pictures and events occur randomly; LFH provides a place for everything.

4 Features of LFH Key features: Computer based (PC/Windows 9x+/NT or Macintosh) Modular/organized like a family tree Links connect other families, genealogies, Electronic Scrapbooks, Video interface pages, etc. Multimedia links to photos, video clips, sound clips, background sound on photos Easily customizable for deliverable Upgrade-able to adapt to new technology Narrative features One startup narrative per family Links to supporting material Table of contents Links to electronic scrapbook/photo album Links to sound, video clips, other narratives, etc.

5 Typical form of the startup narrative Introduce the married couple Names His family with link to parents Her family with link to parents Link to a chain of electronic scrapbooks of family (full screen) photos and videos. Setting description The environment from marriage to the time the last child left home. Contributions (via links) Chronology of events The children (for each one:) Memorable one liners, stories, accomplishments, etc. Link to a chain of electronic scrapbooks of full screen pictures. Link to the child s family history.

6 Viewer Software - A web browser Everything is in the language of the Internet (Most everybody uses it; few need to know it) Text based (universally readable) Readers (web browsers- FREE) Navigation is friendly and familiar to the connected.

7 Editor Software Genealogy software importing and exporting to GEDCOM formatted files.(optional) (PAF5, FTM, etc). Genealogy conversion software converts GEDCOM to HTML (ged2html, etc) Photo editing software (Picasa, Photoshop, etc) LFH software (does the rest) manages families and all components builds Electronic Scrapbook (ES) files of photos with captions and optional background sound builds interface files for video clips and genealogies handles customization and delivery adapts to a wide variety of browsers and computers Perl (free installations for the full featured LFH Editor) (ActivePerl for the PC; Perl 5.18 for Mac/OS X.)

8 Sound clips and Background Sound Sound clips (.wav, mp3, ogg, etc.) can be linked or played as background music to an Electronic Scrapbook

9 Delivery to the Viewer CD-ROM (good for those without a high speed connection to the Internet) Internet (password protected systems) LFH prepares a compressed (zip) file after customization Share with relatives via the Cloud (DropBox.com, etc.)

10 Organization of LFH Folders Family_History (folder) Surnames <surname> <family folder> -» startup_<name>.htm [a startup narrative]» es [ES files generated by the Generate function] Native (pictures, small audio clips, genealogies, shared ES files, etc.) Master startup file (links to all startup narratives) editor_ops (For editor use and viewer customization) AUX_CD (most audio files and small videos) AUX_Big (most videos, very large audio files)

11 Sources of Material Go to the oldest members of the family with a recorder and have a conversation. Genealogies (GEDCOM) files Scrapbooks, photos, diaries. Recall Solicit participation. Special items memorable one liners. Adventures

12 Genealogies PAF (Personal Ancestral Files) is freeware to originate data FTM (Family Tree Maker) another way to originate data PAF and FTM can be converted to GEDCOM, a genealogical file standard GEDCOM can be converted to HTML using shareware. Link interface files to the HTML can be generated by LFH software Insert links to the interface files from your narratives.

13 Pictures and the Electronic Scrapbook(ES) Scanner (Save to JPEG) Digital Camera (Usually set for JPEG as default format) Optional: Use software such as Google Picasa to insert captions (save to JPEG) Import JPEG pictures into an ES using LFH software and edit captions. Link ES files together using LFH software Insert hyperlinks to the ES files (or pictures therein) from the narratives.

14 Overview of LFH Editor tasks From PC/Windows 9x+ or Macintosh OS X Request by comment for LFH software from blog of html:// livingfamilyhistory.info Create new narratives and save to HTML Convert GEDCOM to HTML and inset hyperlinks in startup files. Scan pictures Import pictures into an ES. Enter and manage families with LFH components. Link startup files to ES files. Link startup files to other files. (genealogy and video interface files, sound clips, etc.) Customize to relationship and viewer computer for delivery

15 Creation of narratives and links Word processor format a. Startup_grandparent.doc b. startup_parent.doc c. startup_us.doc Hyperlinks are created by your word processor. When saved as a web page (HTML), they become HTML links Web page format 1. startup_grandparent.htm 2. startup_parent.htm 3. startup_us.htm Other files to link to: Electronic Scrapbooks genealogy interface files other narratives sound clips videos

16 Electronic Scrapbook (ES) Scan to JPEG files and place in folder named editor_ops\imports In editor_ops : (Use LFH to) Import JPEG pictures into ES files Insert links between ES files Generate ES In the narratives: Link to the ES files or individual images therein. Save to html if necessary. In editor_ops: Use LFH to prep the startup narratives (HTML files) for full screen popup display of the ES files to which it links.

17 Roles for LFH Viewers (If you have an LFH Editor among your kin, ask for a delivery) LFH Editors Writers Genealogy researchers Image editors Sound and video track editors Webmaster for livingfamilyhistory.info PC programmers (Java, Perl, C, MSDOS) Macintosh programmer Web page editor

18 Starting from scratch as an LFH editor Go to Do a quick skim of the Editor s guide Download family_history_setup.zip Use the training guide to customize your family history. Some editor features of LFH require Perl which is a free package for the PC or Mac

19 Getting started as an LFH editor for an existing family history (in LFH format) Go to Do a quick review of the Editor s guide Ask your family history editor to deliver a customized family history with the editor package Use the training guide to customize your family history. Some editor features of LFH require Perl, which is a free downloadable package for the PC or Mac

20 LFH Editor Software User Interface

21 Need a mentor? If you are confused or wish to share your ideas about LFH, : the webmaster at virgban@gmail.com or post on the blog at Mentoring is provided free of charge by the webmaster

22 Exercises Peruse pages at: Download and install LFH Install or activate Perl (needed for some LFH features). Try the features of LFH software. Notice the ToolTips for all buttons Startup creation (Use LFH (Manage Families) Type a narrative into a word processor having html conversion. Save as both source (.docx) AND html (startup_xx.docx >> startup_xx.htm)

23 Electronic Scrapbook (ES) features The Import JPEG function adds images to LFH Place JPEG files into imports folder to import them A single function generates all ES files A single function generates all ES files for a family Hypertext (ES) files are produced from selected groups of JPEG files Your browser loads a single ES into memory at a time. Logical classifications for Electronic Scrapbooks Not browsable (link individually) Browsable group (link to the first of a group of pictures and use the Next button to navigate the group until a Done button appears for the last image of the group) Totally browsable ES (only link to the ES). These ES files may be connected by links to make a huge virtual ES. These ESs are typically navigated via a NEXT button.

24 Limitations of LFH Electronic Scrapbook files may not be printer friendly at this time using some browsers. Print does not necessary look like the print preview. (But they look great on screen.) Image format: (JPEG format only) Editor software only works on PC/Windows and Macintosh OS X Only a beta version of LFH is available with free support phone: virgban@gmail.com