Nature of Data

Another challenge with having not a clear dataset is that the nature of my data is something that I'm looking to create from scratch, not something I'm mining out of what already exists. In other words, I have to tell the dataset what I want it to be, instead of asking it what it is.

Through a process of guesswork and trial and error, I've been building the list of what I need to create this new family tree. This basic information includes:

  • Name
  • Birth / Death (including cause of death, if known)
  • Spouse / Marriage
  • Children
  • College Attended (if known)
  • Residences (to be added, will require more research)

This list includes basic biological information about WHEN people were alive, WHO they were related to (and how), and a bit about WHERE they may have spent time.

Excel Spreadsheet

cc_Excel 1st Draft.png

Above is the first draft of the excel document I created with the information I thought I'd need. A few things to note that changed as soon as I imported this information into File Maker Pro:

Parameters - Who is Included?
Initially I didn't include spouses - I think maybe I was assuming I'd only want to investigate what the men wore? This ended up feeling important to include, even if I'm not sure yet how it relates to the greater project.


Detailed Information
I got tired of adding separate columns for everything, so I started lumping things together. For instance, under "spouses" I just listed full names. When importing into FMP, all these name fields got separated out.

"Generations"
Initially I thought it was important to note which "generation" a person belonged to (starting with John Jacob Astor as Generation #1) - this helped me organize information in in my mind, but ended up being replaced by more specific relational functions in FMP. It's hard for me to let go of this idea of which generation someone is from. The question becomes: is this just because I can't let go of the archaic, traditional way of expressing family relationships, or is there something important in this that I'll need to figure out how to express visually later on?

Relationships
One of the most difficult pieces to conceptualize in this flat Excel model was how to connect relationships. In this first version, I listed somebone's "generation" and how many children each person had, not who all of those individuals were. This is clearly the sort of data that is much easier to manipulate in FMP than it is in Excel.

File Maker Pro

cc_FMP_first version.png

This was the first version of importing the information I had in the Excel spreadsheet into File Maker Pro. It felt pretty clunky and like I didn't understand how to arrange the back end to create any sort of useable data.

At least I started to understand how I might lay out the information and how to navigate the system.

I'll talk more about what happened next in the Manipulation of Data section.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author: Chloe Chapin