Wikipedia says:
A bibliographic citation is a reference to a book, article, web page, or other published item. Citations should supply detail to identify the item uniquely. Different citation systems and styles are used in scientific citation, legal citation, prior art, the arts, and the humanities. Regarding the use of citations in the scientific literature, some scholars also put forward "the right to refuse unwanted citations" in certain situations deemed inappropriate.
I personally disagree with the use of "Citation" referring to anything but the whole of the information needed to cite a source. The general use by programs of the term "citation" referring to the GEDCOM structure "Source_Citation" is in my mind incorrect.
But programs (written by programmers not genealogists) have used "citation" or "citation detail" for years and we are stuck with it and any documentation must consistently define and use the terms that the programmers put into their UI.
Two individuals that were principles at the database consulting firm I worked for in the early 1980's went to work at LDS developing their Genealogy databases. We as a company were database normalization experts and they were tasked with creating the new storage schema. GEDCOM never got fully Normalized, which to this day is my biggest issue with GEDCOM.
In GEDCOM a "Source_Record" contains the following field definitions: Source_Originator, Source_Descriptive_Title, Source_Publication_Facts, Text_From_Source, Source_Repository_Citation, Multimedia_Link
GEDCOM v5.5.1 Definition:
Source records are used to provide a bibliographic description of the source cited. (See the <<SOURCE_CITATION>> structure, page 39, which contains the pointer to this source record.
In GEDCOM the "Source_Citation" structure (for use when "Source_Records" are used) which I assume is the same as the FH term "Source-Citation-Details" has the following field definitions: Where_In_Source, Entry_Recording_Date, Test_From_Source, Multimedia, Certainty_Assessment.
I point out these fields in GEDCOM only to aid in your understand of how I input data and my struggle with the grid's use of the Method 1 vs Method 2, the topic of this thread.
Mike said the following:
As it says in the article: "There is no one Method that should be applied universally to any Project. It is the Source Citation details that determine which Method is most appropriate for each Source Document or Document Class; some will be better suited to Method 1 and others to Method 2; it is common to find both Methods used in a Project."
So a person is not a "splitter" or a "lumper". The type of Source Document determines the Method.
I'm not sure I understand this comment!
What "Source Citation details" are used to make the determination between "splitter and "lumper"?
1) Source Document Media: I attached media to both "Source_Records" and "Source_Citation" for many of my sources. A census document for example would have a cover page and other general pages added to the "Source_Record" while the actual Census page where the GEDCOM CENS "fact" would link to that image. This would also be true for books as well. A letter would have an image of the letter all pages at the Source_Record and detailed paragraph at the Citation Structure. Specific Close up grave marker images are kept at the Citation Structure, but at the Source_Record level I always store a wider image of the singular marker with some surrounding context (field), or in the case of mausoleum, crypt, columbarium or other mass grave a contextual survey of the area.
2) Number of Citations to each Source Record: Regardless of the type of source, I always have something to enter in either the GEDCOM "Where_In_Source", "Entry_Recording_Date" or "Certainty_Assessment" fields. So I'm confused as to the difference between "Splitter" and "Lumper".
3) Text from source: I generally (similar to images) try to have specific fact related text in the citation and with a wider context in the source_record.
NOTE: Because GEDCOM provides for a CENS fact, this is the only place I store images of the Census page, but still reference the page in the "Where_In_Source" field and the same "Source_record"
Typically, using Method 1, each Source record will be associated with one specific document such as a Birth, Marriage, or Death Certificate, a Parish Record, or a Census entry.
It suggests for these document types that the image should go in the "Source_Record", but I always put them as part of the Citation_Structure!
Typically, using Method 2, each Source record will be associated with an entire class of documents such as all UK Civil Registration Indices. So there may be fewer Source records than with Method 1.
Other than indices, when would Method 2 be used? I don't cite many indices because the ones I've seen are created from other documents. I can understand have a single Source_Record for lists of data but that would be no different than having a single Source_Record for the 1920 US Census, or the 1855 Bergen, Norway Census