What’s New This Month at JRI-Poland

October 2024 Highlights

JRI-Poland’s session at the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) annual conference in mid-August focused on “What’s New” at JRI-Poland.org. The one-hour session highlighted (1) Data Additions to the JRI-Poland Legacy Database and Larger Plans; (2) Innovations Putting Data in Context; and (3) Communications between JRI-Poland and the Researcher. In addition, two new JRI-Poland website features were introduced… JeRI, the new AI bot and Interactive Mapping – innovative features in the Jewish Genealogy world. Read more…

Data Additions and Larger Plans

In the months between the IAJGS 2023 London Conference and the IAJGS 2024 Philadelphia Conference, JRI-Poland added 184,355 records to the Legacy Database. These represent vital records as well as other types of records for 42 towns. The towns included in these new records are:

Bedzin, Biecz, Blaszki, Bochnia, Brzesko,  Czchow, Dabrowa Tarnowska, Gliniany, Gniezno, Grzybow, Jaslo, Jadlowa, Kamionka Strumilowa, Kolomyja, Krosno, Lodz, Mosty Wielkie, Nowy Sacz, Nowy Targ, Probuzna, Radom, Sadowa Wisznia, Sambor, Skalat, Sokolowka, Sosnowiec, Stary Sacz, Stary Sambor, Stryj, Strzeliska, Szczucin, Szczurowa, Tarnow, Tartakow Miasto, Trembowla, Warszawa, Wroclaw/Breslau, Zabie, Zablotow, Zabno, Zgierz, Zolkiew (Nesterow)

In addition, more than 100,000 records were processed and converted into the “New Format” needed for the developing NextGen format. This upgraded data is serving as the next round of test data for our new and much enriched and enhanced database. You can search for data for the town of Zawichost to see how the testing is going and perhaps to preview how the new expanded data will look. 

These improvements include segmenting out all people mentioned in the record so that each can be individually searched and adding links for retrieving and displaying images of the original source records.  Errors and omissions are also being searched for as part of the upgrading process resulting in greatly improved data quality.  While the latter is time consuming, it follows our critical decision to “take our time” and “clean” our data.  We would like to add to our team of data-cleaners, so if you are interested in this rewarding task, please contact [email protected].

Data Additions expected in the coming year include the movement of 184 files from the Warsaw Civil Records Office to the AGAD Archives which will give JRI-Poland access to these important Galician area files with tens of thousands of records for the very first time. Approximately 120 of the files are now on hand at AGAD and data entry is underway.

JRI-Poland has also arranged access to vital records in many town civil records offices.  Our contractors have scanned their Jewish records and extracted the genealogical details for our new database.  

The Polish State Archives announced a 5-year project to improve thermal protection at 22 archives branches. This comprehensive project highlights the importance of preservation to the Polish State Archives.  While this initiative requires temporary closure during construction and may hamper public access, we will be kept in the loop as their plans take shape. JRI-Poland is grateful for our long-standing relationship with the Polish State Archives and appreciates their concern for customer service continuity!

Putting Data in Context 

JRI-Poland proudly announces the addition of the “JRI-Poland Resources” section in the Town Card featured in the Town Explorer module of our website. This is where researchers will find supporting information that will facilitate a broader understanding of their families’ individual and communal life beyond the data presented on the “four corners of the documents”.  Clickable buttons will allow the researcher to quickly display tables such as Surname Lists as permanent data is entered into the NextGen database as well as our very latest feature – Interactive Mapping!

ANNOUNCING: Interactive Mapping!

At the Philadelphia conference, we announced our new capability… to upload maps and overlay them with information about the locations or properties on the map.  In a few short months, this new feature has already evolved into pilot projects displaying: (1) Cadastral Maps which indicate parcels, addresses and property owners by name (!); (2) District Maps which indicate more complex city or town layouts such as the organized neighborhoods of Warsaw and Wroclaw (Breslau); and, (3) Cemetery Maps, which have the potential to display individual grave locations and/or sections.

 Users can display additional information by rolling over spots on the map – interactively. Some map pages include comprehensive tables and photos. Spots include links to other websites and YouTube videos so that you can further explore your town’s historic Jewish community.

To explore our sample projects, please visit the Town Cards for: Ciechanow, Warsaw and Lublin

If you are aware of a useful map for your town(s), please write to [email protected] to discuss how it might be integrated into the Town Card. New ideas for use of this innovative application are greatly appreciated!

ANNOUNCING: JeRI BOT – The First Jewish Genealogy AI Assistant!

JRI-Poland proudly announced “JeRI” the JRI-Poland AI Assistant – which is a first for Jewish Genealogy! We are delighted our website leads the way by crafting and implementing a BOT for fast and consistent help to our researchers. To use JeRI, simply click on the “Chat Widget” at the lower right corner of any of our new website screens. The Chat Widget looks like a cartoon dialog bubble with a smile on it.

To provide this level of help, JeRI has been fed the information in the JRI-Poland Website, Blogs, Knowledge Base, and FAQ pages from the JRI-Poland Community Forum, as well as the questions and answers from more than 3000 chat conversations over the past two years on our Tawk.to Interactive Chat Application. Like all BOTs, it has limitations – one of which is what the industry calls “hallucinations”. If you get a strange answer from JeRI – please inform us! We do review JeRI’s answers periodically to learn its limitations and we can formulate specific answers for questions that it might struggle with in order to improve the user experience. However, so far – so good! 

To get an idea of what JeRI can do (if we train it!) try asking JeRI who is the oldest person in the JRI-Poland database and enjoy the answer!