The first edition of this book was published in 1999, the new edition has been revised throughout and expanded by 4 pages - for the same price.
This book describes methods of finding genealogical and surname information both on the World Wide Web and using email discussion lists. The strongest feature of the book is detail of how to search the Web, with comparisons of results of different search methods. It describes the differences between a structured directory like Yahoo which mainly indexes the first page of a web site, a search engine like Alta Vista which tries to index all the words on every page, gateways with links to genealogy web sites, and GENUKI which has articles and data for UK & Ireland genealogy as well as a structured list of links with comments.
Just typing two words in the enquiry box on a search page might give a million hits - every page with one word OR the other. But you can choose different search methods; AND gives only pages containing both words, "near" only gives pages where the words are within (say) 25 words of each other, and "phrase" gives pages where the words are adjacent and in the correct order. The book also describes ways of eliminating some unwanted hits - for example to remove Sussex counties in New Jersey and Delaware but leave the one in England.
The book lists recommended web sites, and articles about searching and search engines. Peter Christian has a Web Site for readers of the book, with links to sites mentioned in the book, and other recommended sites. The full text of the book is available on-line (on 45 separate web pages).
Peter Christian is the author of "Web Publishing for Genealogy", and "The Genealogist's Internet", he has been editor of "Computers in Genealogy", designed the web site of the Society of Genealogists, and is Computer Documentation and Training Officer at Goldsmiths College.The book will help everyone from a family historian using the Internet for the first time to the computer expert willing to learn from Peter's detailed practical knowledge.
Contents
Web Publishing for Genealogy (2nd edition) is a 20 page paperback, ISBN 0 948151 21 8, published by David Hawgood in November 1999.
This page was amended by David Hawgood on 1st April 2002.