Frequently Asked Questions

revision date 9-3-96 jm

What is the intended project scope?

We will be making a concentrated effort to do nothing but KY biographies. The project is not involved with any other form of document. No wills, censuses, cemetery records, etc.

Part of it will be entering all the biographies from Battle, Perrin, and Kniffen, and other existing sources. Part of it would be duplicating their work, a hundred years later, collecting a new set of biographies. In both cases, we would want to make them available on the Internet, with a search engine so that individuals could be easily looked up.

We will encourage people in other states to submit bios on early settlers who left KY and went to other states. This may lead inevitably to a U.S. biography project, but nobody wants to think about that right now.

Who is managing the project?

Not determined at this time. Sandi Gorin and Jeff Murphy will not be heading it up.

Copyright Restrictions

In 1909 the copyright law stated that a copyright was for a period of 28 years. This could be renewed for an additional 47 year period, making a total of 75 years of copyright protection. In 1976 the copyright law was changed. Copyrights are now for the period of the creator's life plus 50 years. Anything copyrighted before 1976 falls under the 1909 law.

This means that anything published prior to 1921 has no further copyright protection, and can be published freely by anyone. The same would apply to photostated copies of that material, or reprints of books originally published prior to that time. The mere reprinting of material does not extend the copyright beyond the 75 year period, unless additional material has been added, and even then only the additions may be copyrighted.

Established Procedures

There definitely needs to be some means of letting the people in the KY Project know when a biography has been entered. This need can be met by a weekly announcement automatically mailed out to subscribers to the KY mailing list. Beyond that, however, we should consider the possibility of an automated method of indexing and notification, similar to that used by the USGenWeb query system.

There needs to be a procedure to define expected checks as data is entered and verified.

A procedure needs to be in place defining the format of the entered data, standards for referencing the source, etc.

This FAQ defines the entirety of the project. Other ideas, comments, etc. are outside of the scope of the project, unless the matter is discussed privately with the project leader prior to its presentation.

Storage of Biographies

At least two sites will keep copies of all biographies. Jeff will be one of them. The other is not yet defined.

File names will consist of surname.initials.bio. When a volunteer is unable to upload the name in this fashion, the name will be changed by the editor or the project archivist.

Functions to be Performed

  1. Project Coordinator. Ensures project standards, bounces the obstreperous, reminds us why we're doing this, smiles a lot, weeps in private.
  2. Assistant Coordinators. One handles the project for existing biographies, the other for new biographies. Both serve at the pleasure of and in conjunction with the Project Coordinator.
  3. State Project Liaison. Assigned by the state project. Reports to the state weekly regarding our activities, which biographies have been indexed, which counties may want to point to the biography, etc.
  4. Project Secretary. Maintains records of which biographies have been entered. Assists Project Coordinator by maintaining lists of volunteers, other lists as required.
  5. Editor(s). Checks submitted biographies for obvious typing errors, and conformance to project layout standards. Receives all biographies from data entry volunteers. Sends them to Project Archivist upon completion.
  6. Project Archivist. Receives all biographies from Editor(s), uploads to archive locations. Responsible for conformance of file names.
  7. Volunteer Coordinator. Helps new people get started. Works under the direction of both Assistant Coordinators. Maintains records in conjunction with the Project Secretary to track whether biographies have been entered. Works with all volunteers to avoid duplication of effort.
  8. Volunteers. Works under the direction of the Volunteer Coordinator. Enter data. May be asked to review new biographies for conformance with project standards before entering. Passes entered biographies to the Editor(s).

The following steps are planned:

  1. entry of existing biographies
  2. development of current biographies (KY Living Biographies Project)
    1. identifying a standard biography interview format
    2. contacting Kentuckians and asking for their participation in registering their biographies
    3. develop a waiver form to be signed by each of those whose biographies appear in this project, indemnifying the Project against objections to their inclusion in the biography by living relatives.
  3. entry of current biographies
  4. location of a place on the Web to store the biographies by county
  5. creation of an online indexing mechanism/search engine