Tuesday's Tip – A Tool to Organize Your Evidence (Evidentia)

Editor's note: Today's post was written by Richard Hanson.

As we genealogists become better educated and more proficient in this hobby (or obsession), the importance of conclusions being based upon real evidence becomes obvious. We also discover that this is not as simple as it seems. We encounter conflicting or incomplete evidence. We have to evaluate the validity of each fact. We frequently must treat the available facts as clues leading us down a path that will, hopefully, lead to a conclusion. Or sometimes, multiple possible conclusions.

I recently discovered a software app, Evidentia, that may help in this process. It allows you to enter and organize your evidence, link evidence to conclusions and then generate reports documenting your effort. The goal is to help you be in compliance with the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS). Evidentia is not a replacement for your existing genealogical database software. Consider it a supplement for use in complex situations, with generated reports that can be pasted into your database's notes section.

The software is available for Windows, Macintosh and Linux. Its first version was released December 2012. Cost is $25 (download) or $29 (CD). There is also a free 30-day downloadable demo available.

I plan to download and try out the demo version on some of my more complex problems, then report my conclusions in a future blog.

If you have used Evidentia,

please post a comment about whether or not you found it useful.

Shop and Support Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society.
Click here for details.