FamilySearch Wiki talk:New Contributors Training

The meeting ID 6173 has been set up for 52 weekly meetings today.

Kara 15:52, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

Proposed Combining of Meetings, with Name Change
The two consecutive meetings, “Genealogists Helping Genealogists” and "Genealogists Helping Newbies," have evolved. Previously, the meetings were loosely structured. Those who attended where directed to the "Help:Edit and Contribute" page, some of the links that pertained to their particular situation were reviewed, and questions were answered. That worked well for first-time attendees, but those who returned wanted more training.

Although, once, someone came to request help about the Wiki in general, all other attendees have been contributors who wanted help with the necessary skills for that endeavor.

These two meetings have been combined into one, with a structured training agenda. Time is left at the end for questions and individualized help. Attendees have expressed the feeling that this was helpful to them and was meeting their needs.

The proposed training agenda was reviewed and approved by training attendees and Janell, who is currently in charge of Wiki Community Support for FamilySearch.

Thus, the name of this meeting is being changed to reflect its current direction and purpose. The new name will be "New Wiki Contributors Training Meeting." It will replace the “Genealogists Helping Genealogists” meeting page, to preserve the already established meeting links. The "Genealogists Helping Newbies" meeting page will be directed to this new page.

If you have any comments or questions, please include them here. --Judy 20:26, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

Wiki Meeting 5252
I attended a training meeting at the RootsTech conference in order to help update a page for Monterey, California, but thought I should refresh what I learned that day. I clicked the link for the Wiki Meeting and went to Meeting Place and entered 5252 to check a past recording of a meeting.

I saved the file for 7 April 2011 but could not hear it later when I tried to play it even though I tested my microphone settings and device settings. So I tried to click on the Web recording but still could not hear the sound. I could not figure out how to use the sound. I'm going to other programs to see if I can hear the sound in case I have just developed a problem with my new Windows 2007 computer.

Karen Clifford, 801-420-9915, [mailto:karenmpc@aol.com karenmpc@aol.com]


 * Karen, by any chance, when you were trying to hear, did you always start at the beginning of the recording? The recording for this particular meeting starts automatically the moment that the first attendee dials in, even if they're early. There may not be any sound until a second person comes in, and they begin to converse. If you haven't already, try dragging the slider to a later section of the meeting and then listen for sound. That may be the problem. --Judy 07:19, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Clarification request.
New Wiki Contributors Training -  Edit This Page

I am a little confused by the wording in Past Meetings, # 8. I reworded it according to my understanding. Is my understanding of it correct?

The Web Recording is in two modes, audio and video. The video can be played, but not downloaded.. The audio recordings and attachments can be downloaded. To do so, right-click the icon or link, and then select Save Target As....

Thank you,

Warren Daniel Newly assigned library Wiki Trainer Los Angeles FamilySearch Library


 * You're right. It was a little confusing. The Web Recording is a single recording which has both audio and video. It cannot be downloaded.


 * The audio recordings are separate, even though they're from the same meeting. They can be downloaded.


 * Other attachments may include documents, images, PowerPoint presentations, etc. They can also be downloaded.


 * Hopefully, the change I made to instruction #8 is clear enough. If not, please let me know. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. --Judy 07:32, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Training Concerns
I think hiding "New Wiki Contributors Training" under or within "Community Meeting" is a bad idea. First of all, I would not expect "Community Meeting" to have anything to do with how to do Wiki editing and training in how to do so. Would more than 50 people in the whole world expect this? Second, there should be Wiki Contributors Training and How-To's that do not eliminate: a) people who work; b) people whose internet connection is dial-up. Third, the Training and How-To's should begin with a Wiki Contributors How-To's Page that has a text outline of a Wiki editing overview, with links to other text pages that give details on how to do stuff. This Contributors Training and How-To's page should on that page explain that there is strange and arcane terminology and vocabulary that surrounds and defines the structure of information pages concerning how to do Wiki editing, such as the term "Help:" is some misguided person's substitute, indirect and obtuse term embracing "How To" as well as other elements of Wiki How-To subjects. Give three examples, so that the reader will know where exactly to find all the How-To pages prefaced with "Help:". Give the exact URLs for these pages and give examples of how to search for them and where to search for them. Then the same Contributors Training and How-To's page should have links to a glossary page and vocabulary page. These pages should explain the arcane Wiki terminology and give good reasons for keeping the strange terminology. The text-based training should contain all of the information in the videos. Videos are not searchable. Those of us on dial-up cannot view them effectively. Thank you. 04:19, 18 October 2011 (UTC)


 * You bring up some valid concerns. Let me try to address them.


 * The Community Meetings page lists all of the Wiki Community meetings being held, so that contributors may choose those that they wish to attend from among them. Having all the meetings link from a single page eliminates the need to hunt for them individually. This is especially helpful when meetings are held back-to-back. The link to Community Meetings can be found in the Navigation bar (the purple section along the right side of most Wiki pages), which only has Views open by default. Go to Nav bar &gt; Community &gt; Community Meetings. The New Wiki Contributors Training is the first meeting listed. You are right, in that this is not where a new contributor might think to look.


 * Concerning training resources for those who work and/or have dial-up Internet connections – the trainings are recorded for those unable to attend the meeting. Although a faster connection is preferred to watch the (Internet only) video portion of the recorded training, the audio recordings are downloadable. They can be listened to without being Online.


 * These recordings are not searchable in the Wiki because they are not a part of the Wiki. The meetings are held using MeetingPlace, and can be found following the instructions at Previous Recording and Lesson Plans.


 * At the Lesson Plans section you will find downloadable PDF files that contain the information given in the training, which includes screenshots. They also include the URL’s for the Wiki articles and other resources used in the training. This should be helpful for those unable to view the video portion of the training and those who have difficulty with their hearing.


 * There are other videos and lessons available to help contributors. The videos are downloadable, and the interactive lessons should not be a problem for those with a dial-up Internet connection. Any videos within the lessons are the same as those that are available separately. They can also be downloaded from within the lessons themselves. The lessons include handouts and practice exercises in PDF files.


 * The term "Help:" that precedes the name of an article for contributors is a function of the MediaWiki software that our Wiki is based upon. It separates the how-to content for contributors from that for researchers, so that the search results are not cluttered up for researchers. It is not something that we are able to change. Wikipedia uses the same format.


 * All contributor help/how-to articles can be reached through the Help:Edit and Contribute page. The page is broken down into several categories to assist contributors in choosing which resources they want. There is even a separate search box on this page, which searches only help pages for contributors. If you find any contributor help articles that are not linked to through this page, please let us know by posting to its Discussion page. The Help:Edit and Contribute page can be reached through Nav bar &gt; Community &gt; Contributor Help. It is also available by clicking a link in the large Write box found on the Main page. Another way to reach this page is through the Connect box on the Main page. Main page &gt; Connect &gt; Editing Made Easy.


 * We have a new mentoring program of which you may not be aware. Here, you may request one-on-one help by clicking the link for the mentor’s talk page, and posting a message there.


 * If, after reviewing the above resources, you find them insufficient, please feel free to help us improve them. Create such a page as you mentioned above, if you desire. We welcome all contributions which make the FamilySearch Research Wiki a better place for everyone. --Judy 16:33, 20 October 2011 (UTC)
 * My twenty cents worth.... I spent an hour trying to find the info I'd used for the 6 previous weeks to get to the Thursday training.  A real hour.  I was used to going thru the Write option, but nothing there had a reference with link to the training.  It was "old habit interference".  A later email from Family Search on the Wiki got me back here and Voila!,  Click on Community, then Community Meetings and there I am.  But I remember as a novice clicking on Write because in my mind  it was the closest option I could think of at the time to get to training.  And it was there.  Please put a "Training to Use Wiki" or "Learning to Use Wiki" link in the Write page links.   I agree, there is nothing inutitive about going to Community, the word has not internet nor computer use definition to it, and even if it did, it would take an intermediate internet/computer user to recognize it.  I consider myself an intermediate user of both, and it means nothing to me.  Warren 18:25, 21 October 2011 (UTC)