Iris van Duijn

Interview with: Iris van Duijn

29 March 2013

Introduction

“My name is Iris van Duijn, I am 50 and I’m a Heritage Helpers addict! My hobby is making family trees and researching anything to do with the past.”

Why Heritage Helpers?

“I was looking for family from Leiden one time on the internet. When I had found them I ordered a scan. No problem. When I was going to pay, what did I find??? Payment using Heritage Helper points! I was so curious that I clicked on it and came directly to the Heritage Helpers website.  A new world opened for me. Amazing!! I don’t have that scan yet (oh dear!) and I haven’t got any further with my family tree. I’m enjoying entering names too much! I feel like I’m helping to make history available on the internet.”

When do you work on Heritage Helpers?

“My ideal data entry day is to start in the morning and work through until the evening, but unfortunately there is other work to be done and clothes needs ironing. I actually did it once, the whole day and evening, and I really felt good about it. I wish that it was a real job, then I could spend the whole day doing what I really enjoy. Now I do it in the evening, to relax.”

What have you learnt?

“I have learned not to be so unsure of myself. It’s almost impossible to get it wrong, and the idea that every scan is done twice to get rid of the mistakes makes it even better.”

What could we improve?

“Technically it is great, it’s rewarding and the information is good. I would like to see some other projects. At the moment it is only possible to enter names. I’m happy to do it, but missing links was different. You still had to be careful but it was faster to do.”