Genealogical Data Systems
                              P. O. Box 6433
                         San Jose, California 95125
                         Telephone: (408) 264-1280

                      -Kinology, A Brief Introduction-

     Kinology has been defined as that branch of genealogy which involves
     the study of people who are genealogically related, but live, or had
     lived in the same era, or span in time.  The differences can best be
     described by comparing the activities of a kinologist with those of
     the more traditional genealogist.

     In many genealogical endeavors, the major drive is research into
     ancestry.  The ultimate aim, frequently, is to maximize the number of
     generations through which a positive lineage can be established.  As
     such, the typical genealogist is involved with a study of people who,
     for the most part, are deceased.

     The kinologist, in contrast, is primarily involved with the research
     of people who are, for the most part, still alive.  His entire family
     group may contain only a few generations, though the number of people
     included, is surprisingly large.  The basic principles are very
     similar, the actual techniques in accomplishing one's goals are
     totally different.

     One of the major differences is the type of database each works
     with.  The data of the traditional genealogist is based around the
     pedigree chart.  This provides data of a relatively simple and very
     stable structure.  After all, except for adoptions and some other
     rare situations, every family member has two and only two parents.
     Hence the data base is highly predictable in its structure and
     content.  Not so for the kinologist.  His database is somewhat
     similar to the descendant chart, with the shape and structure of the
     chart changing almost with every newly entered family member.  In
     modern times, with multiple marriages, divorces and other affiliate
     relationships, the data base soon becomes so complicated that it
     cannot be easily managed without computer assistance.

     About ten years ago, while working at IBM, I developed a kinological
     data base management system, the details of which were published at
     the APL '76 Conference of ACM (Assoc. of Computing Machinery) at
     Ottawa (Sept. 22-24, 1976).  A relatively non-technical paper was
     published in the Genealogical Helper (Nov.-Dec. 1981).  The programs
     were written in APL and designed for execution on IBM mainframes.

     Since that time, they have been rewritten to run on much smaller
     computers, including the IBM 5110 and 5120.  Family data are
     currently managed for several families on such systems.  The latest
     version, written for the IBMPC, was demonstrated at a large family
     reunion in September 1984.  However, none of these programs are
     commercially available.

     Jan M. Eng



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