There is a rumour that Free UK Genealogy is taking a vote from volunteers and users of our websites (FreeBMD, FreeCEN and FreeREG) as to whether the sites should remain free, or should be behind a paywall.  This is simply not true.  

There is no vote: the sites will remain free.

Free UK Genealogy is a charity set up to achieve, and committed to 

• the free provision of high quality transcriptions and (where possible) images of records of genealogical significance, 
• the development of tools to support community transcription, and 
• other activities that promote making family and wider history records available under open data formats.  

We generate sufficient funds for our day-to-day expenses from banner advertising and the kind donations - often in small amounts - from users of our websites.  Of course, we would always like more money - to improve our existing projects and develop new ones, to support community transcription and to more widely make historical records available to all, for free. Please get in touch if you have ideas for projects or partnerships that you would like us to consider.

There are a number of ways you can support us, and help the future development of Free UK Genealogy. 

• You can donate (if you don't already do so).
• You can spread the news about our projects, bringing them to the attention of those who would love to know we may have the information they are looking for.
• If you buy online (e.g. groceries, books, electronics) please consider signing up for our Easy Fundraising page.  You will only pay what you normally do on your online shopping, but we will be given a small amount, at no extra cost to you.  Easy Fundraising will prompt you, when you visit a website which is part of the scheme (or when you do a search, that a result is part of the scheme).
• You can volunteer in one of a number of roles - from transcribing to programming in Ruby, to working on social media campaigns.  This includes the opportunity to be a Trustee, or provide your professional knowledge through our new advisory board.

As a trustee of Free UK Genealogy, I can say with absolute certainty that the central plank of Dr Seakin’s message on Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter (that we intend to make any of the sites pay per view) is completely untrue, and the text that is set out there has NOT come from the trustees. (Please note: The relevant page on Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter is no longer available)

What we ARE proposing is to make our data available as “open data”, which will mean that anybody can re-use that data. That could include people who re-use it commercially, but we will still have it online, free of charge.

Should you be worried about this? Well, rest assured that I and the other trustees have worried about it for several years. Of course, we are concerned that we should do the right thing, and that we shouldn’t leave people thinking we are doing the wrong thing.

So, why open data?

Well, whilst we have achieved much, in bringing all that data to people free of charge, we have come to realise that something was happening that we never really considered back in 1999 (yes, that is how long FreeBMD has been with us). Basically, the data set that we have transcribed is so huge that it seems very unlikely that anybody else would do it again, but WE own that data, and that means that it is only as useful as WE let it be.
If somebody else has a good idea about using that data to make it even more useful to genealogists, then they can’t do it, and unless we negotiate an agreement with them (or we develop the idea ourselves) that good idea will never happen.

Now that isn’t what we are about!

So, we want to say to all those people out there who think they can do something clever with that data “Go, do something clever”.
Some of them will do something clever and make some money from it. Others will do clever things for free, and still others will see people making money from the data and decide to do something similar for free.
Basically, unless what somebody wants to do with the data is HUGELY clever, somebody else will do the same thing for free, so there will be little incentive for the pay sites to do simple stuff here, because if they do, somebody else will pull the rug from under them.

So, there you have it.

People will be able to use our data. They can even charge people for their end product, but we are sure that there will be plenty of new FREE content created, and that anybody who created a paid-for version of FreeBMD, FreeCEN or FreeREG would make no money!

Above all, the existing FREE sites (or rather new, revamped, FREE sites in some cases) will still be there.

Dave Mayall

Trustee, Free UK Genealogy

I'm Denise Colbert, the new Engagement Co-ordinator for Free UK Genealogy, and I will be supporting communications and volunteering. I've had a varied career but during the last few years I have used my skills and experiences volunteering with Wigan Archives and Local Studies which has brought me to this happy point.

I started out as a secondary science teacher. History has always been my passion, but my father suggested that science was the future and 'where the jobs would be' so I took his sage advice and really enjoyed learning about the scientific principles that underpin our everyday lives. I suspected that teaching would satisfy my desire to gain and share knowledge, and it really did. However, after a time I started to feel pulled in a different direction. I was devouring historical fiction, quizzing the elders in my family about their elders, and obsessively watching 'Who Do You Think You Are?'. The winds of change were blowing!

I started volunteering in Wigan Archives and Local Studies around this time. My teaching background enabled me to develop and deliver a series of Local History workshops for primary schools, which were very well received. They then contracted me to do more, going forward. While compiling my own Family Tree I helped others with theirs, conducting Family History workshops in the archives. I soon began to offer my research services in a professional capacity, which led to me being contracted to perform genealogical research on canal boatmen families for The National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port. I still remain actively involved with Wigan Archives, writing articles for Past Forward, their quarterly local history publication.

I realised during this time that heritage has a great capacity to engage people of all ages and abilities, and can be quite therapeutic. I set up Heritage for Health CIC, which offers bespoke local history-based services for people who could benefit from them, including those with dementia, autism and Asperger's.

I'm excited to be joining the Free UK Genealogy team, and really looking forward to the coming months.

Thank you to all those who came to the Open Data Conference on Saturday 30th January and especially to John Sheridan (Digital Director, the National Archives), Simon Tanner (Pro Vice Dean Research Impact & Innovation, King's College London) and our own Trustee Richard Light, for giving such enjoyable and illuminating talks.

Welcome slides with notes and the new Free UK Genealogy Open Data video can be seen here. A (poor quality) video of this section can be viewed here.

John Sheridan's talk can be seen here (we apologize for the poor quality of the recording). Simon's slides can be seen here and Richard slides can be viewed here.

The formal presentations were followed by a presentation of a new Free UK Genealogy video explaining why we believe Open Data is so crucial to the future of the organisation and projects, and hence the need for a new transcribers agreement.

Whilst the 'in person' attendees were able to join in the lively debate, online attendees became increasingly frustrated with streaming issues that were caused by the WiFi provision at the Linnean Society, not within our control unfortunately.

We understand how disappointing this must have been and are now working hard on editing the conference video, which will be published with a transcript as soon as we can.

Thank you for your patience if you tried to join us via one of these methods, and as one of the Trustees commented we need to ensure that technical issues do not undermine the messages of the day. It is important to ensure that all transcribers get an opportunity to hear the case for Open Data and get easy access to the proposed transcriber agreement and consultation process.

• The proposed Transcriber Agreement Consultation can be found here.
• Please use the consultation process to let us know your views on the proposed transcriber agreement and
• please check FAQs if you have any questions. We will be adding the questions raised at the conference to this page shortly. If you still have questions please email us at info@freeukgen.org.uk

Press coverage:
Digital adventurers - Family Tree Editor Helen Tovey gets to grips with 'Open Data' and what it means for family history http://family-tree.co.uk/2016/02/digital-adventurers/