Ozarks Genealogical Society

Joe Underwood ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) continued his discussion of the GenSmarts software.

GenSmarts is an artificial intelligence program that takes the known facts of a person’s life and suggests potential records that might exist in known resources – online databases, several genealogy libraries, and the Family History Library Catalog. The program makes educated guesses about missing information (dates, locations, etc.) based on the known facts.

There is no real guarantee that the suggested records exist, but they might exist. For instance, the program would suggest for Abel Fike not only the census records and county histories, but War of 1812 and other military records, cemetery records, land records, probate records, tax records, church records, etc. The program accounts for the time span that various records cover, so it won’t suggest the Social Security Death Index since he died in 1852.

Basic Screen: The main GenSmarts interface is divided into 5 elements:

The Menu Bar, which provides access to primary functions, open, exit, print, etc. To access these, simply click on the word.

Four tabs, representing four different perspectives on your data are:

· The My Genealogy File Tab, which lists the people in your file

· The To Do List Tab, which lists the research suggestions GenSmarts has for you. This is the default tab when you open GenSmarts.

· The Research Locations Tab, which shows those suggestions by location

· The Data Cleanup Tab, which provides information on how GenSmarts is interpreting your place names

Data Cleanup: lets you review how GenSmarts is interpreting the place names in your file. For example, when you use the phrase "CO", is it an abbreviation for COUNTY or COLORADO?

Filters: In it's unfiltered state, you can think of the GenSmarts To Do list as a database of all the ideas GenSmarts has come up with for your people. While it's interesting to see what sorts to the top of that list, you typically will want to focus on suggestions for a specific person, area, or research site that you are currently working. You do that "focusing" by asking GenSmarts to "filter" the big list, so that the list contains only the suggestions that match your area of interest (e.g. person/people, place, etc.). You specify the filter you want by picking it from the drop down list located immediately above the To Do List.

Query: The Query tab allows you to generate suggestions that are not based on any file data. This is helpful if you don't have an ancestor in a file that's currently available, you simply don't want to take the time to load your file, or you want to try some place names or dates that differ from your file. It’s also an easy way to help a friend or change the data a little.

Research: The Research Locations Tab is a listing of all research locations currently defined to GenSmarts. As of this date, there are 63 locations. The list can be focused on just those facility names containing the phrase you've typed into the "<= Search" box. You can select a facility to see additional details in the Facility Facts section of this tab, as well as a complete listing of all the suggestions pertaining to records available at this facility. You can not select multiple facilities at the same time.

Notes:

Use the CONFUSED button in the upper right hand corner of the GenSmarts window - it answers the 10 or so most frequently asked questions first time users have.

GenSmarts doesn't replace your traditional genealogy software (e.g. PAF, Family Tree Maker, etc.), but works alongside it by reading and analyzing the data you've already collected.

GenSmarts doesn't automatically change any data in your genealogy software. Once you have found new information, you use PAF, Family Tree Maker, etc. to record your discoveries.