FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Utah Meeting Notes

Project Page

2 Nov 2011

 * Thursday November 10 have virtual participants' meeting. That will be the first of a series of weekly meetings to coordinate the efforts of contributors to the Utah wiki. Patsy will set it up. The attendees don't need to be the same every time.
 * Agenda for the first meeting:
 * 5-10 minute overview and news
 * 10-15 minute training
 * Remaining time as Q&amp;A and practice
 * Recruiting from UGA members: Wilma to contact Bud, Sue, and Carie to get member list by zip codeso she can identify people in different counties
 * Dawne has two missionaries on her team training volunteers. She has contacted the people who volunteered from Logan. When we get the meeting set up, we will invite them.
 * Marilyn has had experience with populating cemeteries in the States on wiki. That gives her some idea of what is needed in Utah cemeteries. She has also had experience working with volunteers and writing wiki instructions for them.

26 Oct 2011
This was an abbreviated meeting dur to a Department Meeting that followed it. Some things we discussed included:


 * Wilma will continue creating a Progress Chart for Utah wiki tasks.She will also link a description of the tasks to the chart
 * Participants will sign up for tasks by putting their initials with that category. The category will include several related tasks. They must understand that others may do tasks in their category they sign up for. For example some may want to sign up for a single task across the board. Do we want to make that possible in the sign up? Dawne and wilma will do the initial plan for ther tasks
 * We need to plan recruiting efforts.

19 Oct 2011
Feedback from Utah wiki class taught at Logan Conference


 * Question asked about time commitment for the project. We suggest that in the beginning as a person learns wiki they spend around 3 hrs. a week. After that they can spend what they want.
 * 5 people at the session signed up for the Utah Wiki project
 * The PowerPoint was good but it needs to be improved. Perhaps it could show not just what wiki has but how the information can lead to records with answers.

Reviewed Utah WikiProject page


 * Order of contents
 * Move overall objectives to top of page
 * Much of this Utah Project page was patterned after New York which is being organized
 * We will change some of wording to better reflect Utah
 * Still a work in progress so contents and TOC may change
 * Reviewed Project guidelines
 * Document every guideline we add with a date
 * Don't repeat the purpose so often
 * We will create templates for frequently repeated text to speed up input. Some templates will include:
 * Find-a-Grave
 * Wikipedia
 * WorldCat
 * Google books
 * Internet Archives.
 * FHL Subjects
 * We need to have James involved
 * Explain forums where people can discuss changes
 * Explain words that may be new to users such as template.
 * Use bulletted lists for sources - Document this)
 * Link to definitions for unfamiliar terms in project page to help volunteers understand them.
 * Remind users of wiki etiquette and spell some of it out.

Style guide


 * Our first heading will be Quick Facts
 * The topic Neighboring Counties is a must. It shoud be a subtopic of Quick Facts and appear immediately below it.
 * Don't delete any headings when no info found for them on county pages. Instead note that no data was found. It might eventually be a valid heading

Other considerations


 * Create a link to meeting minutes from the project page
 * WA will create agenda pages separate from the minutes
 * Add tasks planned but not ready to Project page
 * Cemeteries is nearly ready
 * Look at Ballard KY for a good example of Cemeteries.
 * How does UGA gain visibility?
 * Adoption template on pages with link to website
 * Add the UGA template to user page
 * Don't add a template if a topic on the county page contains no records
 * USGenWeb should be searched for contents, but don't add it as a link unless it really has enough content to warrant it
 * Perhaps we could create a Utah Project group on Forums to discuss issues of concern
 * We need to put a watch on Utah pages to monitor changes. To lighten the load maybe we could divide counties and topics.

5 Oct 2011
Brief personal updates (DH)

Show and Tell accomplishments and follow-up from last week


 * MJM got the answer to the FHLC template that allows tou to link to a place and a subject such as "Utah, Beaver, vital records. We'll have to see how it treats Utah alone, since it's both a state and a county.. WA updated the Beaver County Talk page with those links and is completing the FHL task.She will move it to a WikiProject page.
 * WA reformatted and copied Beaver County on it's talk page. Will discuss in meeting
 * MJM Utah adoption sign: report of Diane Loose's reply
 * WA Wrote for Crossroads -- a WikiProject Utah article send it to Gina Ortega. Just an update on what we're doing. Inviting.
 * WA created a syllabus article on Utah Wiki for Logan Genealogy conference that takes place on Oct. 15. WA, DH and PXH are all going.
 * Purpose and scope written. Please review. Adequate until revised?

Assignments from 21 Sep still to accomplish


 * WA to contact James Tanner well before meeting on the Oct 12thShe will also send a preliminary invitation to others whoare invited.
 * DH will schedule the meeting throught MeetingPlace and send invitations and details for signing into the meeting.
 * WA will finish the Cemeteries task for acceptance
 * PXH to Schedule Main Floor classroom 3:00-4:30. - Done.
 * MJM to schedule microphone so taping will be heard.
 * WA will make a Utah wiki page specifically for the meeting Agenda items for today's discussion


 * UGA Board meeting (Friday night) prep
 * Patsy will present this. Give heads-up about Treasure Hunt. Suggest Prizes gicen by UGA. Photo Contest posibility to get good pictures on the wiki. Advertise wiki through member emails. Identify Chapter heads. Get member list sorted by Zip Code to more effectively target our audience for pictures, info, etc.
 * Suggest Utah Wiki be scheduled as a virtual chapter meeting
 * Find out who is into Social media who can help spread the Utah wiki word.
 * Meeting w/consultants, etc next week:
 * Logistics: Wilma will spearhead the meeting. Marylan will run the computer.
 * Have all been contacted? Are permissions in place to use Beth? Beth cannot take minutes. No one has been identified to do that. If the meeting is taped, minutes may not be as crucial. Other logistic items: meetingplace w/invitations (see under assignments). WA loves to use a whiteboard. Sonce that is not tied to a computer, WA will speak items that are written there.
 * Agenda, flow of the meeting: Look at Beaver to identify what else to add, what to reword. Refer attendees to the items of style. Church section in Utah will be addressed in a later Braonstorm. Make comments on Discussion Pages. We'll have an official Kickoff for Utah wiki soon after Logan. Patsy will handle the two sentences that Church topics won't be left out.
 * This meeting will focus on County Pages. We need to schedule a separate one for State Topics. Perhsaps even a third could focus on general topics.
 * Issues with wiki work. Two can't work on same area and save. First one saves - the other doesn't. Save often - every 5 minutes, Don't stay on a page long. Have tracking sheet.
 * WA will work with Danielle to organize a treasure hunt for Utah sources, similar to what was done in Illinois and soon to be in New York. That will likely be done at the first of the year.
 * We may want to set up a Social Group on FS Forums.
 * UGA Board Meeting
 * Beaver County Talk page
 * Class Oct 15 in Logan

Parking lot for future (These are carried forward until discussed)


 * There are ideas for recruiting on the Wiki FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject

28 Sep 2011
No meeting held. Safety meeting displaced it. Talked with Patsy and:


 * Postponed the consultants meeting to Oct 12.
 * Wilma will contact the people to attend. Patsy will give her the names.

21 Sep 2011
Brief personal updates (WA)

Show and Tell accomplishments and follow-up from last week


 * Wilma can now add pages!!!!
 * From Sep 7: Wilma did not yet get with James Tanner nor dsammy
 * From Sep 7: Wilma will finish the links to FHLC task for acceptance next week -- Not done.
 * From Sep 7: Wilma will finish the Cemeteries task for acceptance next week -- Not done
 * From Sep 7: Marilyn will fix the FHL template to link from a subject in the county to that subject in the FHLC (not a category search, but a county/subject search)
 * MJM worked on the Utah adoption sign.When she schanges the text we want to change, it affects everyadoption template. She sent an email to Diane Loosle about it. The change we propose to the template could really be an improvement.

Agenda items for today's discussion


 * Prep for meeting w/consultants next week (28 Sep). Wilma wants to have Beaver County as an example of what to do.
 * LDS will need its own brainstorming.
 * Danielle is organizing a contest for wiki content that will take place the beginning of 2012 after NY,
 * Class in Logan Oct 15. Wilma prepared her syllabus material. Patsy and Dawne will go to Logan too.

Information/Discussion Items


 * There are ideas for recruiting on the Wiki FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject

Assignments


 * Immediate: Write for Crossroads -- a WikiProject Utah article send it to Gina Ortega. Just an update on what we're doing. Inviting.
 * Contact James well before meeting on the 28th. This meeting was postponed because our ducks didn't all get put in a row. New Date is October 5. It is planned to be 1 hour. Wilma now has a list of those who should be invited to the planning/brainstorming meeting.
 * WA contact MJM re: FHLC template
 * Patsy and Marilyn will schedule a room. And Dawne will set up meetingplace.

Parking lot for future (These are carried forward until discussed)

7 Sep 2011
Our time was very limited this week so we focused on a few items only

Show and Tell accomplishments and follow-up from last week


 * Review the guidelines for links section Agenda items for today's discussion


 * Prep for scope of Utah project brainstorm on 28 Sep meeting.
 * Oct 15th (Sat) Class about WikiProject UTAH in Logan for a FamilyHistory fair
 * Would one of you like to come?
 * What specifics shall we cover?

Information/Discussion Items


 * Wilma is going to Logan FH Conference On Octoberr 15. Perhaps Dawne and Patsy will go with her. Fran is presenting about wiki.
 * What is role of moderator? The wiki has a fine description. So how does our position mesh with that? James Tanner has emailed back and forth with Patsy. She has shared those communications with the group.
 * Next few meetings, while we are still setting some things up, we will not open the meetings up to the public. Meeting on Sep 28 will be by invitation. Off-site people will attend by MeetingPlace. The purpose of the meeting will be to scope out projects
 * Project pages need to say something about being UGA.

Assignments


 * Wilma will finish the links to FHLC task for acceptance next week
 * Wilma will finish the Cemeteries task for acceptance next week
 * Marilyn will learn to create a wiki link to the subject index page in the FHLC
 * Marilyn will conduct next week's meeting in Wilma's absence

Parking lot for future (These are carried forward until discussed)


 * Recruiting: Pray for guidance in how to deal with sharks on the wiki.
 * How to handle two people editing the same page at the same time (some ideas on 3 Aug)
 * Guidelines for quantity/quality of sites we link to.
 * Style guide

31 Aug 2011
How Ya Doin? We're all doing. (MJM)

Show and Tell accomplishments and follow-up from last week


 * Guidelines: Wiilma started the page of guidelines to help contributors determine what sites we link to according to quantity/quality of information. We edited the first few and were assigned to go through the rest separatele and return with suggestions.
 * MJM check on FHL template for linking to a subject ID. She will contact Steve Cotrell on this.
 * WA Created pages for tasks: Linking FHLC categories; Cemeteries: Patsy will work with Wilma to get these done. (Wilma is working with HQ support to get the problem fixed so she can create and set up her own pages.)

Agenda items for today's discussion


 * Prep for September 7th meeting at 3 p.m. after US/Canada unit meeting - we will not meet on the 7th.
 * Featured article on wiki on Illinois county brought some discussion because main person working on it felt it was still a work-in-progress. It generated some quick additions as well as fixing of spelling errors

Assignments MJM: Change the page adoption template so it invites people to contribute, not to adopt a page. She will also contact Steve Cotrell to see if you can connect to a sujject on the catalog.

PXH: Contacted Utah moderators. She sent them each a letter soliciting their support for our work with UGA to create tasks and solicit volunteers,

WA will do everything else

24 Aug 2011
How Ya Doin? (5 minutes)

Show and Tell accomplishments and follow-up from last week


 * Guidelines are started for quantity/quality of sites we link to. Review these for next meeting.
 * Beaver County, Utah has links to FHLC in each section. Assignment: MJM will check on template for searching rather than category number. Will be much easier and will give more for entire county rather than just county level.

Agenda items for today's discussion


 * Create pages for tasks: Linking FHLC categories; Cemeteries: Patsy will work with Wilma to get these done. (Wilma is working with HQ support to get the problem fixed.)

Parking lot for future (These are carried forward until discussed)


 * Scope of Utah project brainstormed on 7 Sep meeting
 * Recruiting: Pray for guidance in how to deal with sharks on the wiki.
 * How to handle two people editing the same page at the same time (some ideas on 3 Aug)

Assignments:

MJM change adoptt-Utah template and write explanation including links to intructions.

PXH will contact Utah moderator

WA will continue writing guidelines so that contributers can add information with a measure of confidence that what they add will not be changed unnecessarily, and do-gooder format changers can bediscouraged from making superficial edits.

17 Aug 2011
How Ya Doin? (5 minutes)

Show and Tell accomplishments and follow-up from last week


 * UGA Board Meeting
 * Website
 * Wilma cannot create new pages or edit at the top of a page. Please do the edit for me on the WikiProject Utah page: Assignment for Patsy and Marilyn
 * Fixed links to USGenWeb sites Beaver county Military and Vital.
 * Links are being made from county under local history to the Marriott Library Digital Collections for each county.

Agenda items for today's discussion


 * Do we want to set some guidelines about how many entries a site should have before it is linked to?
 * If the county has a lot of resources, we would not do one with only 3. Guidelines: time of making the link, value to the user, importance in relation to other sources. You make the choice, but explain to the user.
 * Project going to each section in the FHLC.
 * Meetings needed with the Utah/LDS experts.
 * LDS wards and branches ultimate: 28 Sep
 * Utah scope of project: 7 Sep

Parking lot for future (These are carried forward until discussed)


 * Scope of Utah project brainstormed on 7 Sep meeting
 * Recruiting: Pray for guidance in how to deal with sharks on the wiki.
 * How to handle two people editing the same page at the same time (some ideas on 3 Aug)
 * Guidelines for quantity/quality of sites we link to.

10 Aug 2011
Temperature Reading (5 minutes)

Show and Tell accomplishments and follow-up from last week


 * Report: UT GenWeb tasks: Beaver County Military and Vital. Wilma has worked on this as an example of what she found at GenWeb and how she entered it. We thought she did well. We did suggest tha she link to GenWeb where it is mentioned. This item led to a discussion about how many entries a record needed to have before it should be added to wiki. Many times GenWeb has only a few images someone has entered for their family. Should everything there be noted? We determined that the number would vary accorsing to:
 * Did it cause clutter on the page, or was it misleading, making someone believe there was more info available than there was?
 * How good was the coverage?
 * What else is out there?Was the time entering it worth the content?
 * Consider the time period
 * Consider the place
 * If a record with few entries was listed, it shouls appear lower on the list
 * Follow up: UGA board meeting this Friday. Patsy will present info on the Utah project pages and wanted suggestions on what to share. She will show the project pages. She also plans to have a blurb about the Utah wiki project for the website that connects to an email allowing people to volunteer. We would like the FamilySearch link to go to the Utah wiki page. Or there should be a third link that connects to the Utah wiki.
 * Follow up: Pat - would she listen to recordings or are minutes sufficient? Probably not. but each week we will ask to see if she will be able to sign in remotely.
 * Follow up: Church records project at county level. See first draft of ideas. (Word document)

Agenda items for today's discussion


 * Illinois county pages — what to incorporate Forum thread -Proposed Modification to County Page categories/topics and U.S. counties example.
 * Illinois community has decided to put all repositories, including court houses, as well as societies and museums at the bottom of the page. And they've reorganized the repositories' grouping. Their thinking is that users want records - especially online ones - before they want to know repositories, We do not have to follow this lead. In fact we will not worry about that at this time. Instead we will focusing our time on content. Organization will come later.
 * One decision Illinois made that we don't like is to make many Level 2 heading. Supposedly text and pictures can wrap around them, but this is not the case. Also they chose a heading to begin the county page content that doesn't make sense in the content of the content that follows. The heading was "[County name] County Organization." Then what follows i a table listing when varios record types began. Patsy will, however, get wid of level 2 headigs in usah.
 * Start a Preferred formats section on the main project page? After saying we would focus on adding content in the last bullet, we would like to identify some standard formats for entering data. This could become a style guide of sorts
 * Use bullets for each item?
 * List statewide items under each county? or link to a page that lists them?
 * UT GenWeb task: is it ready? Not until we have some guidelines for sites we link to. We will discuss that next week.
 * County church info, The project is not
 * We need to consider all denoninations. If we list them in Alphabetical order the Mormon Church won't be first in most counties.
 * what name should mormon church be called: Mormon, LDS, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? W think the official name of the Church is too long. If we use the populat name for other religions, we shouls do it for our own church.
 * Create Phase I and Phase II tasks
 * With Phase I LDS use Jenson's Encyclopedic History

Parking lot for future (These are carried forward until discussed)


 * Recruiting
 * Scope of Utah project
 * How to handle two people editing the same page at the same time (some ideas on 3 Aug)
 * Guidelines for quantity/quality of sites we link to.
 * Do we want to set some rules about how many entries a GenWeb link should have before it is cited?

3 August 2011
How to use Meeting Place • Use it when someone needs to attend that way • No need to record on a regular basis if we keep the notes posted • Learn if Pat can attend or would listen to the recorded meeting How to handle when two people editing a page at same time. No real resolution unless contributors: • Make short edits • Copy what they write before they save What to report at UGA Board Meeting on Friday Aug. 15 • See if we can have contributing to the wiki display on UGA’s homepage, with the link going to the wiki project page. Put the notice both under FamilySearch link and on sidebar • Write a short a short, inviting blurb about being a wiki contributor to go on the website. Some may be taken from Patsy’s Crossroads article. The group especially liked the part that told different ways people could contribute. Church Records Project pages for state and counties • Wilma would like to schedule a brainstorming session about the Utah church pages to help identify what to put on project pages as assignments for volunteers. • We identified people who could be at the planning meeting with deep church knowledge • One hope with coordinating in the beginning may create a consistency in the pages – especially county pages • Marilyn has a list of those to invite, and she will issue the invitations • The meeting is tentatively scheduled for Wed. Aug. 24 after U.S. and Canada Unit meeting • Division of responsibilities: Wilma and Dawne will do more of the recruiting and setting up projects, Patsy, Marilyn and others will be responsible for quality control and some data entry, with the hope that much of the content will be added by the community Perhaps we can learn from Illinois about page layout, project coordination, etc. • Danielle has coordinated that project. They have standardized a county page design. Currently McHenry County set up as the example for county page headings.

Next week’s agenda • 10-15 minutes on Illinois learnings

Parking lot item: •

10 Aug 2011
Temperature Reading (5 minutes)

Show and Tell accomplishments and follow-up from last week


 * UT GenWeb tasks: Beaver County Military and Vital

Agenda items for today's discussion


 * UT GenWeb task: is it ready?
 * Illinois county pages — what to incorporate
 * Use bullets for each item?
 * List statewide items under each county? or link to a page that lists them?

Parking lot for future (These are carried forward until discussed)


 * Recruiting
 * Scope of Utah project

29 July 2011
Wilma out of town (camping)

Follow up on previous meeting(s)


 * Dawne schedule a physical place to meet.
 * Results:Done. We will meet in the 3rd floor glass room through December 2011.  We can use the phone 801-240-3120.  If the phone isn't in the glass room, we need to get the phone from the drawer in the cabinet by the photocopier inside the doors to the administration area.
 * Possible change in meeting time to allow Pat to attend. A possible time is 2:15 on Tuesdays, Wilma will attend through MeetingPlace.
 * Results:We will need to keep Wednesdays at 9:30am because of conflicts. Pat may be able to call in using the above numbers.
 * Dawne Set up Meeting Place so it is recorded.
 * Results: MeetingPlace was set up. Verify that it is automatically recorded. It will be recorded except when we don't use Meeting Place, like today.
 * Wilma create a place to keep minutes.
 * Results: Done. It is called WikiProject Utah Meeting Notes.
 * Wilma read Patsy's article about the Utah adopting for UGA Crossroads.
 * Results: Wilma hopes to accomplish this before going camping. (Wilma's comments) She did this and approved the article.
 * Wilma update the instructions for linking as discussed in the meeting.
 * Results: Done. See Adding Links Dawne is testing the instructions to see if they are clear and correct.
 * Patsy post minutes of today's meeting.
 * Results: Done. see 20 July 2011 on this page.
 * Wilma will make the changes suggested for the County History task.
 * Results: Made a number of changes, especially to Where to find the information Tasks County History I believe the task got a little easier to accomplish.
 * Please review them and comment on the discussion page and sign with four tildes.
 * Completed Tooele County to test the instructions.
 * Wilma will add a section called "Tasks Waiting in the Wings".
 * Results: Done. See the WikiProject Utah page.
 * Patsy and Marilyn agreed to complete the Courthouse tasks they signed up for.
 * Results:Not done.

New agenda items


 * Please review Tasks County History and make suggestions. Are we ready to roll on this?
 * Please review Tooele County and make suggestions

20 July 2011
Minutes Utah Wiki Development July 20, 2011

Attending: Wilma, Dawn, Marilyn, Patsy Prayer: Wilma

• Dawn suggested: o Wilma take charge of the meetings – we agreed o Dawne contact Christina to schedule a permanent room – we’ll hear back from her o Dawne schedule MeetingPlace. Record the meetings - We’ll hear back on this item o We have an agenda. – Wilma will create a place on wiki for this • Possible change in meeting time to allow Pat to attend – Tuesday at 2:15 p.m. – We’ll clear this • Patsy created an article about Utah adopting wiki for Crossroads. Marilyn helped edit it but did not see the final draft yet, Dawne shared it with her team, Wilma will read it. It was shared with Pat • Wilma brought her guidelines for writing on wiki at “wikiproject Utah hows” out of obscurity when she shared them. They will be linked to the project pages. We suggested a few changes there in the instructions for adding links o Changing a few words o Listing the instructions as 1,2.3.4, so volunteers know they must do all of them • We focused on the county history project page especially the instruction to create a history. Wilma tried out her own instructions and decided that creating a table was too difficult. We suggested creating a bulleted list. It looks nice, is fairly straight forward in the text entry option, can be expanded, allows inserting • Wilma proposed that on the admin page there be a place for projects in the wings. • We will post our minutes on the wiki