Findmypast plans to deny full access to 1921 census - survey

[guest141721]

No doubt there are many like me who aren't resident in the UK but have an interest in finding information about the whereabouts of relatives. For us, a trip to Kew simply isn't on the cards so whatever FindMyPast may charge it will be less expensive than an airline ticket and hotel costs.

[chris_49]

Fair point, Nic and Roobarb. If anyone wants to do the survey, it was from Savanta, though my link was through MindMover and probably it'll be referred by others. There were some open boxes to let you make your feelings known, which  I certainly used.

I do some of these surveys for pocket money though I avoid those that are boring, or re-runs of earlier surveys, or want to know too much personal information (income, full DoB, exact postcode - approximations on the latter two are fine).

[Gadget]

As there hasn't been an announcement from FindMyPast stating what their prices would be I think it's a bit early to be thinking of lobbying and petitions. Companies conduct these surveys to get a feel for what the response would be, if the majority of the respondents have said they wouldn't pay that price then they would rethink their plans.

I was about to say the same as Roobarb. Let's wait and see what the actual product is rather than talking about petitions.

I agree with Roobarb and JenB. I think talking of petitions, boycotts, etc. are rather premature to say the least.

Gadget

[chris_49]

Points taken. The best way to try to influence at this stage is to take the survey. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem possible to join Savanta/Comres directly at the site, they probably get their respondents from other market research portals, of which there are several.

I think they are only targeting serious family historians, which might be a difficult group to reach, so I expect that they will recruit via a number of portals.

 

[Rosinish]

Gadget, my 'boycott' suggestion was tongue-in-cheek knowing there are many thousands awaiting its release just as I am for the Scottish census which seems an age away.

I think they are only targeting serious family historians

How would they know who are 'serious family historians'?

Annie

[Tickettyboo]

Re: subject

I think this is misleading at best.

I would be 'very' surprised if any commercial organisation would go to all the expense of digitising and transcribing an entire census for England and Wales and then prohibit access to it.  Not only would that be laughable it would, I should have thought, negate the terms of their contract wth NA.

From what you have said, it sounds like, as we all expected, the census will be released on the same basis as the 1911 census and the 1939 Register. For the first x months it will be on a ppv basis (both transcripts and images) and after the initial period has expired it will be included as part of what is available to search and view for subscribers to their site.

I can't see any point in 'lobbying' the company, either now, based on an exploratory survey (which they wont even see the results of for a while) or later when they have made a commercial decision to set the pricing.

There's always two sides to any situation. If companies like FindMyPast aren't going to recoup some of the enormous outlay to digitise and transcribe a dataset such as this, while they have a short window of exclusivity, then there'd be no point in them doing it at all. That would not be ideal either for the company or, in the long run, for researchers.

The pricing you have mentioned is not much different to that of the 1911 census which was released in 1909.
https://web.archive.org/web/20100407075434/http://www.1911census.co.uk/content/default.aspx?r=33&72

The company will set the price based on a commercial decision, lobbying them to say we'd rather have it for free or as part of a general sub seems rather pointless, they'd probably be able to guess that without any prompting.

Individuals choose to either pay and get the info they want, or wait till its included in their usual subscription - based on their own budget and how badly they want to know.
As with other releases, I'll most likely get a few on ppv - the ones I am eagerly awaiting to confirm/deny something or give me a clue about the circumstances of particular people. After that I'll hang on till its part of my regular sub - though will probably still continue to buy the odd one now and then in the meantime :-)

Boo

[guest189040]

In 1921 one pair of Grandparents were in Canada, so I know where they were and what happened to them almost yearly up to 1932.

The other Grandparent pair were where ?  So viewing records is a yes.

Then GGM was in the same house as she was in 1911 and GGP had already passed away and two of her Daughters were still living with her up to her death in 1926.

The other three GGP’s is another yes I want to view their records.

As for others I can wait until viewing is included in the sub.

[chris_49]

Gadget, my 'boycott' suggestion was tongue-in-cheek knowing there are many thousands awaiting its release just as I am for the Scottish census which seems an age away.

I think they are only targeting serious family historians

How would they know who are 'serious family historians'?

Annie

They asked you to self-describe. I don't know if the "occasional" family historians were polled, but I assume everyone else was screened out.

[chris_49]

Boo, I've given up the idea of lobbying. I'm asking people to consider taking the survey, which if you join MindMover you'll almost certainly be directed to. Then "serious family historians" will be well represented. (For hard to find groups they poll the whole membership, which is why I'm constantly polled to see if I'm as potential brand-new-car buyer  - dream on!)

I agree it's similar to 1911. My only quibble - and remember that I appear to be the only one who's done the actual survey, thus far - is that full access wasn't offered as an option at all, and that the limited membership for £150 plus was only asked after they asked far more questions about pay-per-view.

I agree that they might eventually offer full access, but this wasn't an option surveyed. So when? -six months, a year, longer?