Genealogy, GEDCOM, and popularity implications

This paper examines the dominant genealogical file format GEDCOM and its implications. GEDCOM has come to influence the entire field of genealogy, including knowledge management and possibly even information seeking. The paper concludes with a note on the position of GEDCOM in genealogy, as well as with propositions on reasons for its popularity, and the ways in which a software format may in fact be a central contextual influence on some information practices.