Analyzing Data Clues to Solve Mysteries
Remember the old board game, Clue? Maybe you saw the movies or read
the books about the game instead. That’s the kind of week I had but it
was in real life.
I juggle two careers; one in education and one in genealogy. I love
them both! I’m not loving what is happening in either right now. I
miss my students. I miss traveling to archives.
Since I highly value both humans and the bread crumb records they leave
behind, I follow safety guidelines. I realize not everyone believes that
the virus is real or it will have dire consequences for them if they are
infected. I don’t agree with those that refuse to wear a mask or social
distance or go out when they aren’t feeling well but I respect their difference
in opinion – just stay away from me and my family!
That being said, my hubby and I have requested that we continue working from
home via an eLearning platform this upcoming school year and were granted that privilege. Should have been simple but unfortunately, it wasn’t.
One of us was told DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES COME ON CAMPUS and the other was told YOU WILL BE WORKING FROM A SAFE LOCATION ON CAMPUS. We work for the same school district and have the same job title and work with the same grade level of students. We both were determined to have the same level of risk which is why we were granted the eLearning permission. Both of us were highly successful using the online platform since March. We are both former National Board Certified Teachers and deemed accomplished by our district. No one can explain why we have different instructions as to how to execute our roles.
Since no one can provide us a valid reason, we have both decided to Zoom
into meetings when we’re notified they are occurring. I cannot tell you
how thankful we are that we have made the decision we did. On Wednesday
morning a Zoom meeting was held in a classroom with 12 on site attendees and 3 off site. The sign in sheet and pen were passed around onsite for attendance
and one took off his mask briefly to address the group but was told to put it
back on and complied. The next day, the administration was notified that
one of the onsite attendees was diagnosed with covid. Due to Hippa, the
name of the individual cannot be disclosed. Hence, the game of real life
Clue begins. It is a no brainer to figure out who has it as everyone knows who
was in attendance and who did not show up for work the next day. So much
for Hippa confidentiality. If only finding records of our ancestors or
determining relationships for them could be so simple!
Last Saturday afternoon I was notified that I won a free Clooz software
packet. I had been entered into a drawing from visiting the NGS online
Exhibit Hall last month. Since the May NGS Conference had to be
cancelled, the event was moved to online with breakout sessions available for
viewing (after purchase) on July 1st. Also available was a link to
corporate sponsors who would have been available face to face if the conference
had been held. Some of the sponsors offer product discounts or give aways
for visiting their “booth.” That was how I came to be the lucky
winner of Clooz 3.
If you aren’t familiar with Clooz, it is a program to document data with
features that help in analyzing the inputted information to determine identity
and relationship. The program will export to your family tree and offers
more than 200 report formats to help with analysis. I thought this was
just what I need to help sort out my Duer family that reuses names (John,
Thomas, Daniel) several times in each generation. I’ve also long sought
one document that would conclusively show that my Thomas is the son of
John.
Notified by email, I downloaded the software and on Sunday, watched several
of the 12 introductory videos at the site. The presenter has a
personable, calming voice and demonstrates where to click and how to enter
data.
I have a lot of records on my Thomas and John Duer so I’m not yet done
entering the information into Clooz to begin using the reports. I spent Sunday
adding People, Sources and Census info. I still have more to go but
somehow, I did something wrong and cannot find the saved file. I am clueless
(pun intended!) where I saved it! So, I plan on spending time today
determining where all my data went from last weekend and moving forward with the program. Hopefully, Cluz will give me some clues where it’s hiding.