FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Washington

Overall Objectives
The purpose of the Washington Wiki Project is to help readers find and use Washington resources and records for genealogy and family history. The project will update and improve:


 * Washington county pages. Example Pierce and Okanogan counties
 * Washington main page.
 * Statewide topic pages. Example Vital Records
 * Other Washington-related pages

Guiding Principles
For immediate and lasting value to users of the Washington wiki pages, the project is guided by these principles:
 * Encourage and promote a sense of fulfillment for contributors and of satisfaction and enjoyment for users.
 * Support Family Tree by providing information that helps users add good sources and make correct connections.
 * Provide a consistent, inviting "look and feel" that reinforces or enhances the wiki content.
 * Help users know what to expect when they follow any link.

Constraints
 * Do not include names, but link to them.

Ideas not yet wordsmithed
 * Easy access
 * What can they go to on the wiki or internet for background and records.

Project Guidelines
During the project, specific tasks will be outlined and claimed by team members and other contributors. "Basic training" will be given for those wanting easy tasks. As comfort levels increase, tasks with some increase of difficulty will be available. The most difficult tasks will be by assignment.

Guidelines for content added to the wiki:
 * Highlight and list important and relevant items. Long lists would bury, rather than highlight, what's important.


 * Tell readers what to expect when they follow a link or search a suggested record.


 * Balance wiki content with these four factors in mind:


 * a. Genealogical Value. Does this help Wiki users further their research?
 * b. Clarity. Make sure everyone understands your meaning and the purpose of your words.
 * c. Brevity. Be succinct as possible without sacrificing purpose or clarity.
 * d. Documentation. Use footnote(s) to identify the source(s) of the content you are creating.

On the county pages, the purpose of the topics is to help users know how these records can help in their research. This includes:
 * Intro paragraphs: These are "templates" or form paragraphs that explain:
 * Dates of the records: This tells people whether those records existed when their ancestor(s) lived there.
 * Contents of the records: This helps people know if the records have the information they need.
 * Where the original records are stored.


 * Specific records for the topic are mentioned using bullet lists and include:
 * Links to online resources, such as indexes or images of records or how to use those records. Links go directly to results for that county.
 * For a few topics, Links to catalogs such as the Google books, WorldCat, Family History Library Catalog, among others, are appropriate. Again, these go directly to that county.

For more style and guidelines for the Washington Wiki Project.

Easy: Cut and paste tasks
Copying the templates (form paragraphs) in this task to the topics for each county is very easy. Yet completing the 12 cut-and-pastes for a county will be very fulfilling for you, and the templates hold a great deal of information that will be useful to the readers.

Templates have the added benefit of being easily changed and updated in one place, and automatically updated on every county. Sign up for 1 county to do 12 cut-and-paste tasks in that county. When completed, sign up for another county.

Copy and paste, then adapt to county
Easy. 1) Copy the text, 2) use Wikitext when pasting, and 3) change the county name.


 * 1. Copy the following to two places in each county: 1) immediately below the Boundary Changes heading and 2) immediately below the History Timeline heading. This link gives a timeline of boundary changes for the county, and will be valuable to users.
 * Historical County Boundaries from Newberry Library


 * 2. Copy the following under the History Timeline heading, then adapt the essay #, author and county from History Link.org
 * Emphasis for this timeline is on events that affected migration, records, or record-keeping. Unless otherwise mentioned, the events below were gleaned from Wilma, David. Okanogan County -- Thumbnail History, History Link.org Essay 7608.


 * 3.

Create the History Timeline
This task is best for people who like history. The task is "Wiki easy," but requires attention to detail and some brief writing.

You will list by year important happenings in the history of the county—with emphasis on events that affected migration, records, or record keeping. When in doubt whether to include something or not, go ahead and include it. Since it is arranged by year, it is user friendly.

Format See Okanogan County example
 * This is a bullet list, with year first, then month and day, if applicable
 * Then short explanation -- preferably one line, max three lines.

Examples of events that would be included:
 * 1811 - Fort Okanogan was founded for fur trading. Ownership transferred at various times from John Jacob Astor's fur company, North West Company, Pacific Fur Company, and Hudson's Bay Company.
 * Importance to users: there could be records somewhere. However, we only list the event, we don't look for the records -- at least not yet.
 * 1888 Feb 2 - County was formed from Stevens County. Ruby was the first county seat. County seat moved to Coconully the same year.
 * 1906 - the first rail service came to the county.

Sign up for a county

Tasks requiring image and template experience

 * 1. Huge maps have been placed under the Maps heading. Please put those into templates and make them a more viewable size.


 * 2. A small portion of the map in task 1 can be extracted, made clickable for neighboring counties.


 * 3.

Repositories Tasks
The first set of tasks includes adding content to each Washington county page. Content will be added by completing written tasks which will apply to each county. These tasks will have written instructions giving guidance on how to enter information, format the information, and how to cite the information, when applicable. Some of these tasks entail specifically:


 * County headings - additional county headings will be added to each county page to make them uniform and cover more research topics users may have questions on
 * Infoboxes - adding dates concerning major resources for each county and giving information regarding important Washington statewide indexes
 * County repositories (libraries, archives, museums) - contact information for repositories that hold original and compiled records for individuals that lived in that county including links to the repositories' websites with additional information
 * Locate Family History Centers

Vital Records Tasks
The second group of tasks focuses on the following record type:


 * Vital Records

Each record type above will include what records are available, time period the record covers and how they can be accessed including links to databases, images and references to books and microfilm and information to repositories.

Probate and Land Records Tasks
The third group of tasks focuses on the following records types:


 * Probate Records
 * Land Records

Each record type above will include what records are available, time period the record covers and how they can be accessed including links to databases, images and references to books and microfilm and information to repositories.

Newspapers and Church Records Tasks
The fourth group of tasks focuses on the following records types:


 * Newspapers
 * Church records

Each record type above will include what records are available, time period the record covers and how they can be accessed including links to databases, images and references to books and microfilm and information to repositories.

County Histories Tasks

 * County histories - list of county histories available with links to online books and references to libraries

Cemetery Records Task

 * Links to major cemetery websites that contain cemetery transcriptions for the county
 * Difficulty level 3. People trained specifically for this task.
 * Copy the colored table
 * Adapt the websites to current county
 * Check the links

Schedule
Beginning 1st Quarter 2013

Washington Wiki Project Tasks
Before beginning any tasks please review the Washington Project guidelines.

FIRST TIME WIKI USERS: For instructions on how to edit the wiki use the following:


 * Online and Video Instructions
 * Editing on the Wiki written instructions

The following are tasks to be accomplished for the Washington Wiki Project. Each task has step-by-step instructions to accomplish it. '''SOME TASKS ARE NOT YET COMPLETED. WHEN TASKS ARE LINKED (typed in blue) THEY ARE READY FOR PARTICIPANTS TO WORK ON THEM.'''


 * Task Difficulty Tasks are rated for difficulty. Within each phase task table look for 1, 2, or 3, with 1 being the least difficult and 3 being the most difficult.

Background and Repositories Tasks
Verify neighboring counties.

Examples of Washington County Page
Note: The sample county started out as Adams when Marilyn Markham was using the FamilySearch Library missionaries, but became the Okanogan page when the Wiki Content team took over.

Adams County; Okanogan County

Style and Guidelines
Style and guidelines for the Washington Wiki Project

Registration
If you are interested in participating in the Washington Wiki Project, click here to register as an Washington FamilySearch Wiki Project Volunteer. As soon as you are registered, you may begin to add information to any of the tasks typed in blue in the tables above.

Community Meetings
To be determined

Online meetings with focus on Wiki pages for Washington.


 * Share ideas, suggest improvements
 * Get news and progress reports.

Attend from home, at a library, or wherever you have an internet connection and a telephone.

Current Meetings
None are scheduled at this time.