Family Histories

Your Files, Shared Via P2P

For the motivation and direction of this project, see these blog entries. For progress updates, you'll want to subscribe.

Here are some scenarios I envision:

• Share files with selected people. (I have some interviews and journals in raw text that I'm converting to HTML for easier searching; I would also like to annotate them with semantic markup or add other XML documentation that help identify individuals/time-frames/localities for more targeted searching. Then I'd like others in my family to be able to get those updates, either to improve/replace their copies or discard them, sending me notes of encouragement or rebuke as they see my work. My sister has >2G of files that I want to copy and annotate/document, and my brother has done genealogy work that I want.)
• Offer the bundle of Tolman histories for download, and allow people to subscribe so they'll automatically get the latest when we release it. They'll be able to review differences when they get those updates.
  • Search by: keywords, dates, individuals
  • Search only for things that apply to my ancestry (and avoid people who aren't in my direct line). There's an online service that does this for the Tolman descendents in the US.
• Share groups of files with groups of people.
• Share between individuals without the need of any central server.
• Notify me about changes to files, and show me just those changes.
• Notify me about new files someone has added, and let me choose whether to add it to mine.
• Ideally: do the same for bits of information, such as ancestor data found in a history.
• Install easily on Windows, Mac, Linux.
• Secure transmission.
• Authenticated & authorized sharing.

My latest software for searching and cooperating with your P2P (or other file-sharing) program can be downloaded from here. (The source code can be retrieved here.)

First, a disclaimer: this is my vision of sharing, but I don't yet have experience with a network of people doing this. I have just begun inviting people to join my personal network and/or subscribe to the public Thomas Tolman Family Organization data updates; I will be sure to post updates in this feed as things progress.

So, you've got files you want to share. Here's a way to decide how to set it up (for each folder targeting a different group):

• Do you want to share with the entire world?
  • Yes, you want to share with the entire world.
    • OK, so you should create a feed and publish its location. (BTW, I assume you do not want to have everyone else in the world change information in those files. If you want that, let's talk, because I'm very curious what you're doing!)
      Here are some options:
      • Vuze
        1. Add a share: go to File, Share, and Folder Contents and choose the folder that you'd like to share.
        2. Then make a category for it: go to Tools and My Shares, then right-click on the folder and "Assign Category" and "Add Category" and give the name you'd like.
        3. Then create the feed: go to "Library" on the left, right-click on the category name (which shows in the upper-right, above the files) and enable "Create local RSS feed".
        4. Then find your RSS file to publish: go to "Tools", "Options", "Local RSS etc", and click on "Click to view the local home page", click on "categories", and there you will find links to the RS files to share with the world. Here are some examples of some published feeds.
        5. FYI: Alternatively, you can use the DDB Feed plugin to create your feed, which gives you a "publish.xml" file that makes it easy for others to subscribe if they also install the DDB Feed plugin.)
  • No, you do not want to share with the entire world.
    • Do you want to keep your own copy separate from the files that other people change?
      • Yes, you want to keep your own copy.
        • Here are some options for different tools:
          • Vuze
            1. Install Vuze
            2. Go to Tools and Options, then Plugins and Friends and click on Enabled. Then go to File and Restart Vuze.
            3. Set up your folder for outgoing files: Create a folder. Go to File, Share, and Folder Contents (Recursive), and select that folder. Then go to Tools and My Shares, right-click on that folder, and choose Assign Category and Add Category with any name you like. Then, after you add your friends, go to Tools, Plugins, and Friends and right-click on them and choose Categories and "Enable subscriptions with friend(s)" and enter the name of the category you want to give them.
            4. Set up your incoming folder:
               1. Add ability to save downloads to different directories: Go to Tools, Plugins, Installation Wizard. Click Next (for the list from sourceforge.net), choose the Save Path plugin, then click Next and Finish so that it completes the install. Restart Vuze. Then go to Tools and Options, then expand the Plugins list so that you see Save Path below it, and click on it and choose Category as the setting for new downloads.
               2. Get the friend key from your friend. Go to Tools, Plugins, then Friends. A screen will show where you can enter your friend's key, then Add. Then you can right-click on the user, go to Categories, then Subscribe, and choose the categories to pull. It will show up on the left-hand-side under SUBSCRIPTIONS; click on it, and make sure Auto-download is enabled. Right-click on the subscription and choose Assign Category and choose the category you'd like to name this feed. The files will be downloaded into a subdirectory with that name.
            5. Install P2P-Docs
            6. In P2P-Docs, configure a library where the incoming folder is set to the Vuze Downloads folder (typically found in the user's Documents folder). Set the outgoing folder to your chosen outgoing folder.
            7. From now on, inside P2P-Docs you can see what other people have changed, or see what you have changed and push your new stuff to everyone invited to your Dropbox folder.
          • Dropbox (The free version has a 2 GB limit.)
            1. Install Dropbox
            2. Create a folder inside the Dropbox folder for your outgoing files. Don't put anything in it. (If you want a separate folder for incoming changes, then make it, too.)
            3. Share that folder for outgoing files. You can do it online by logging in to dropbox.com; you can also click on the Dropbox service icon and "Open Dropbox Folder", then find the folder you want to share and right-click on it and select "Share this folder...".
            4. If you want a separate folder for incoming files, create another one and share the same way.
            5. Install P2P-Docs
            6. In P2P-Docs, configure a library where the incoming folder and outgoing folder are set to the Dropbox folder(s) you created, and the home folder is the one containing the files you want to share.
            7. From now on, inside P2P-Docs you can see what other people have changed, or see what you have changed and push your new stuff to everyone invited to your Dropbox folder.
      • No, you don't want to keep your own copy separate from the ones that other people change.
        • You don't need anything complicated: use Dropbox.com (a popular program) or AeroFS.com (a P2P program) to share files.

The Thomas Tolman Family Organization publishes it's genealogy data publicly, and you can subscribe to data updates using P2P tools.

If you want to test out any of this back-and-forth sharing (or any other approaches), drop me a line. If you've got any other ideas, drop me a line. There are a bunch of other people working on related issues, so I'm sure you'll find a group with similar interests. This is getting fun!

Histories of Tolman Family Ancestors

If you're a descendent of Thomas Tolman, you might be able to find histories of your ancestors in the Tolman Family collection. These are provided by the Thomas Tolman Family Organization, and you can subscribe to their data updates using P2P tools.

Trent