Standards For Use of Technology in Genealogical Research

Mindful that computers are tools, genealogists take full responsibility for their work, and therefore they—

• learn the capabilities and limits of their equipment and software, and use them only when they are the most appropriate tools for a purpose.
• do not accept uncritically the ability of software to format, number, import, modify, check, chart or report their data, and therefore carefully evaluate any resulting product.
• treat compiled information from on-line sources or digital databases in the same way as other published sources--useful primarily as a guide to locating original records, but not as evidence for a conclusion or assertion.
• accept digital images or enhancements of an original record as a satisfactory substitute for the original only when there is reasonable assurance that the image accurately reproduces the unaltered original.
• cite sources for data obtained on-line or from digital media with the same care that is appropriate for sources on paper and other traditional media, and enter data into a digital database only when its source can remain associated with it.
• always cite the sources for information or data posted on-line or sent to others, naming the author of a digital file as its immediate source, while crediting original sources cited within the file.
• preserve the integrity of their own databases by evaluating the reliability of downloaded data before incorporating it into their own files.
• provide, whenever they alter data received in digital form, a description of the change that will accompany the altered data whenever it is shared with others.
• actively oppose the proliferation of error, rumor and fraud by personally verifying or correcting information, or noting it as unverified, before passing it on to others.
• treat people on-line as courteously and civilly as they would treat them face-to-face, not separated by networks and anonymity.
• accept that technology has not changed the principles of genealogical research, only some of the procedures.

©2000, 2001, 2002 by National Genealogical Society. Permission is granted to copy or publish this material provided it is reproduced in its entirety, including this notice.

• Standards for Sound Genealogical Research
• Guidelines for Using Records, Repositories, and Libraries
• Standards for Use of Technology In Genealogical Research
• Standards for Sharing Information with Others
• Guidelines for Publishing Web Pages on the Internet
• Guidelines for Genealogical Self-Improvement and Growth