Software and database updated

Dear friends of Founders and Survivors,

Thank you all for your patience while we updated the software that runs this website. One of the main tasks was to put in place a new system for submitting convicts and viewing and editing your submissions. There are now two new links in the sidebar, for viewing/editing your convicts and submitting new convicts, which you will be able to use when you log in. Please use these links instead of the old submission form.

The software update required me to convert convict submissions from the old to the new format. Two consequences are that you are now required to log in to the website to submit convicts, and the submission form has a modified structure.

We previously did not require people to create personal accounts on this site, but creating an account does make it a lot easier to keep track of your submissions. As we move to the next phase of the project, and involve more volunteers in the project, we now require you to create an account and log in if you wish to submit a convict or register as a volunteer. You can register an account using this form. Please create one account for yourself. You can submit as many convicts as you like under your account.

Under our old system, some of you will have submitted convicts without logging in. I will have to manually update our database to enable you to access these submissions. If you previously submitted convicts without having an account, please create an account, then contact me and provide your name, email address and, if possible, the names of any convicts you submitted, and I will update the database.

The main difference in the structure of the submission form is that there is a new 'Convict's name' field which is a short form of the name that you submitted. If you submitted a long name, or multiple names and aliases, the short name will have kept only the first 16 characters of the name. The full name and aliases will still be available under 'Name and aliases'. I have also added a 'Convict's biography' section where you can add general information about your convict. You are able to edit any of the data in your submissions.

If you have any comments or questions about our project or this website, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Claudine Chionh
Developer
Founders and Survivors: Australian life courses in historical context, 1803-1920
http://www.foundersandsurvivors.org/