Re: [Gramps-users] Handling multiple, partially overlapping sources

[Martin S. <mar...@ma...>]

On Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 02:27:27PM -0700, Jim Saffle wrote:
>I would like to use multiple sources to increase confidence in the facts of a
>particular event like a birth. However, the birth event might contain
>multiple facts in addition to the date such as place and time of day.
>Something like a birth certificate or birth announcement might specify this
>information in its entirety while a drivers license or a death index might
>specify only one or two of these facts. The latter set could be useful for
>supporting the date in a birth event, but I would be uncomfortable using it
>to support a birth event fully specified with a location and other
>attributes. Is it possible or how do I get Gramps to match the source with
>specific fact?
>
>What about differing degrees of specificity between sources? For instance,
>two birth sources might agree on the date, but one might only give the town
>and state of the birth while another might provide the full street address.
>Alternatively, one source might specify the month and year of an event while
>the other specifies the full date.
>
>What about sources that contain one or more conflicts between their facts?
>For instance two sources might agree on the date but cite different places.
>They could both be useful for boosting confidence in the date despite the
>disagreement on location.

It would seem that the obvious way to tackle this in Gramps is to add a
note to the source reference.

Mind you, I don't see that overlapping sources or degrees of specificity
present any problem at all. I would use as many of these as I needed to
best support a claim, and would weed out those I didn't need (and didn't
want).

For me, the larger problem is in following the trail, i.e. reminding
myself why I have made a particular claim. To that end I add remarks,
transcripts, and partial transcripts as notes to each individual (rather
than burying them in the source reference).

Over the last several years there has been a lot of discussion about
sources on this list. I suggest you also consult the archives.

Martin