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NZSG – a way forward

November 2009

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• NZSG – Strategic Issues• The NZGDB project• Possibilities for NZSG

Joe: What you do? how you do it?Lynne: How we move the society forward, options, demos

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NZSG Strategic Issues• The NZSG’s present recipe is faltering

– Books, magazine, meetings are less attractive to the Internet generation.

– Increasing competition from new-technology sources– Dick Eastman: “Interest in family history is booming,

but conference attendance and society membership is declining”

• The NZSG must change to survive, but it’s not clear what do to– Will “putting everything on the Internet” save the

society? Or will it hasten its demise?

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Internet Benefits 1• A better way of selling information?• If NZSG “put its data on line” then

– Reduced distribution cost compared to CD’s– Easier technology as Index grows > 640MB– Issues like Index V5’s privacy problems easily managed

• Would have been sorted in an hour, without withdrawal

– Can reach a global audience more easily– Can keep updating databases continuously

• Not a big production like V5 index, but continuous improvement• Can sell annual subscriptions

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Internet Benefits 2.

• An attractive Internet presence will be a drawcard– A reason for joining NZSG– A reason to stay a member

But:-

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Internet Issues1 Will people pay?

• Will people pay for information on line?– Perception “Internet sites should be free”.

Resistance to Ancestry.com, WVR, etc.– However, FindMyPast etc popular, so people will pay

where they see value

• What is “Fair price” for on line access vs CD?• How much revenue can you expect?

– Probably lower unit charge, but more revenue

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Internet Issues 2. Existing Income

• Will this damage existing income?– Will people still buy CD’s?

• Very few: most not• On the other hand, can sell as a subscription

– So recurring income

– My guess: lower price, but higher revenue• But this is only a guess, won’t know until it’s tried• And once tried, expectations will be set, difficult to change

if you’ve got it wrong

– With no CD currently in production, this is the best time to make the change!

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Internet Issues 3 Security.

• Can information be stolen?– Properly done, more secure than CD’s

• But can’t totally secure the information with either medium

– Can log access (demo of NZGBD log feature?)

• giving NZSG a tool to monitor lookup on behalf of non-members (endemic problem now)

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Internet Issues 4. Cost.

• Requires a significant amount of programming to do properly

• FamNet development ~ 3 mths full time, and still not finished. And this was building on the NZGDB development, ~ 3 years, independently estimated at $700K if you were paying for it at commercial rates

• Requires a serious back-end environment• Professionally managed server, security patches, serious database, etc.

• Requires ongoing systems management• Does the NZSG have the appropriate skills for this?

• Only feasible option is a partnership– NZGDB, LDS, TGN, WVR, etc.

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• NZSG – Strategic Issues• The NZGDB project• Possibilities for NZSG

Joe: What you do? how you do it?Lynne: How we move the society forward, options, demos

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The Vision• The best source of NZ Genealogy info• The best record about an individual• All important features of PC genealogy

programs• All the advantages of Internet-shared

databases• A vibrant, on-line community

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The Concept (1)• To combine features of your personal database

– (FTM, Legacy, PAF, etc.)– Search, Update, links, scrapbook, etc.– Reports, charts, …

• With the advantages of web systems– Sharing– Collaboration and linking– Instant Publishing

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Initial Thoughts. Genealogy is: -

• A work in progress– So must be easy to update – fact by fact

• A cooperative activity– So easy communication with record owners a must

• It’s the extras that make it interesting!– So not just GEDCOM, also pictures, narrative, etc

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More Thoughts• Privacy is important

– Must manage privacy, not leave this to user– Must provide secure sharing of private information

• Ownership is important– Your data should not end up as somebody else’s

• No download facility• Synchronize tools automatically create attribution

– Nobody else should change your data

• Yet: incorrect facts should be correctable– Communicate with record owners– Post-it facility

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The Concept (2)Search, Update• Reduce duplication

– Link as alternative to Copy

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Demo

• Illustrates three key themes– Control– Publish– Communicate

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Since release• Database Growth

– June 2007: ~ 600,000– June 2008: ~ 6,000,000– Now (3/11/09): 14,140,706

• Features added– Duplicate matching– Scrapbook– On line updating– Tree merging– Charts– General (user-defined) databases

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User-Database Facilities• Create database, with your table design

– Instantly available on line, for data entry and update– Ownership: Group, Individual, or Hierarchical– Owner can control access

• Combined Database Search– Numbers of hits. Still have to go to DB to see records

DEMO

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Ongoing development• Subscription and restricted databases

– If/when there is a customer

• E-commerce and advertising• “Vidtree”• Family Show and improvements in charting• Web 2.0 portal

– Includes personal web sites, blogs, wikis

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What do I do? How?• Develop program with ASP.Net

– Visual Basic– SQL Server– Technical advice from net– Often 40-60 hours/week

• Job management database– Job recording, Time recording

• Server support – outsourced to IFM Ltd

Joe: What you do? how you do it?

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• NZSG – Strategic Issues• The NZGDB project• Possibilities for NZSG

Joe: What you do? how you do it?Lynne: How we move the society forward, options, demos

WWW.NZGDB.CO.NZ

NZSG and the Internet• Why do people join (and remain in) the society?

– The magazine? The library?– Access to CD’s? Meetings?– Social? Habit?– The website? Access to other sites?

e.g. Gale Newspapers

• Will this attract the next generation?• (In my opinion) The NZSG needs to use the Internet as a reason to join

the society– Should rank in importance with the magazine, perhaps more, with

appropriate budget.– Offer databases on-line, making the members-only web site a reason to

belong

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NZSG databases on line• I believe that NZSG MUST partner with somebody

to achieve this– Has neither budget nor skills to go it alone

• Significant development and systems management required – could easily turn into a black hole for $$

– Only affordable way is to piggyback on an existing development: a company with an existing Internet family history presence

• Options:– NZGDB, TGN, WVR, FindMyPast etc

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NZSG revenue options• To offer NZSG CD databases to Subscribers

– And to put other collections on-line, e.g. Certificate Collection

• Revenue options– Premium subscription

• Say $40 more than standard?

– Charge individually for each database– Pay per view

• I strongly favor a premium subscription – Simple to program and to manage– Can charge annually– My opinion: more attractive to members, will bring in much more

revenue

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NZSG Cost-Saving(and service improvements)

• Electronic Communication with members– Substantial cost savings from partially replacing

magazine– Better service: monthly distribution– Services like “Information Wanted” etc electronic only

• More immediate, searchable

• Remote presentations– On-line video presentations. Free or ppv?

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Why NZGDB? 1• Only credible Australasian partnership option

– Others are U.K. or U.S.A– NZSG will not be important to them, you’d be lost in the noise

• Only one where you can influence priorities– Also, probably the only one that will support your own branding,

while also giving you the advantages of a larger presence.

• We will be the cheapest– Like Bunnings, we will beat any comparable offer by 10%

• We have the facilities– NZSG’s entire CD collection = approx 20% extra database space.

GDBServer would still have 95% free disk space

Ben Franklin: “We must hang together, else we shall surely hang separately”

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Why NZGDB? 2• We can start putting your data on line tomorrow• I can complete the programming that you will need within days

of “go”– Further programming to make it easy to manage projects on-line,

supporting Diane etc, is easy

• We can handle electronic newsletter distribution etc immediately

• Data remains yours, you do not lose control– Recommend annual contract – leaves options open for the future

• Can take advantage of NZGDB’s developments to offer exciting services to your members and branches.

Ben Franklin: “We must hang together, else we shall surely hang separately”

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Why NZGDB? 3• Brings further revenue options

– NZSG could sell discounted NZGDB subscriptions and earn commission

– NZGDB could sell NZSG memberships (commission)– NZSG databases will appear in NZGDB combined-

database search, driving non-members to NZSG subscriptions

– NZSG could earn revenue through introducing other organizations to NZGDB (ongoing commission)

– NZSG could sell NZGDB advertising (commission)

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Why NZGDB? 4• Brings further data (service) options

– Could be added to the NZSG site in minutes (just paste a link)

• Free: -– Shipping database– Biographies– Useful Web Sites– Publications (including E-books)

• Subscription– NZGDB

• E-Commerce options– Sell books, CD’s, etc through NZGDB site

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Costs• Could be on basis of: -

– Annual Fee– %age of premium/direct revenue– Payment for development time– Payment for specific services– Or some combination

• Doesn’t need much if approached in a spirit of honest partnership.

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Issue - Trust

• How can I trust the society?– History of hostility, misrepresentation, even outright

lies. Explicit “No apology” in spite of evidence.

• How can the society trust NZGDB?– Recent NZSG_LST traffic shows that Richard

Stedman, and presumably council members, STILL believe that we have stolen the NZSG’s data

• How can NZGDB get a fair hearing?