Feb. 25, 2006 - AAGS Goes "CSI"
In the post-meeting hands-on workgroups, AAGS members became "CSI" detectives. Given a special "case" by our "CSI chief" (advisor Deborah Abbott), our assignment was to use important information provided to solve the case within one hour. This involved finding and identifying the lineage of a selected ancestor and his wife, armed with two obituaries, two death certificates, and a social security application. Because of conflicting facts, our open-and-shut case took a wrong turn down the dreaded path of "assumptions." The group started to assume facts based on what we read, instead of using our analytical skills. After picking apart our info, we carefully re-examined dates, spelling of names, timeframes, and key phrases, and physically noted the discrepancies. Concentrating on the names of the parents and key dates led to the resolution. Overall, we learned not to assume anything and not to accept all information on an official document as the gospel truth. Informant info can be inaccurate (mistakenly or intentionally) and so can documentation by clerks (for instance, they might have spelled a word based purely on the way they heard it).