FamilySearch Community Tools

FamilySearch Community Tools was a workshop given at RootsTech 2011

During this hands-on workshop we learned how to become a part of the FamilySearch Community using tools like the Research Wiki, Research Forums, and online classes. The information shared in the workshop was added to this Wiki article to make it possible for anyone to explore and participate in the world of "community" with FamilySearch. We all know something that can help someone else find their ancestors!

FamilySearch Community Tools

 * FamilySearch Blog]
 * FamilySearch Wiki (English), (Spanish), (Portuguese), (Swedish)
 * FamilySearch Forums (English), (Spanish)
 * FamilySearch Indexing
 * FamilySearch Research Courses
 * FamilySearch-Getting started with family history
 * FamilySearch Feedback including 19 product filters)
 * FamilySearch Help
 * NEW - Family Tech

FamilySearch Facebook Pages

 * FamilySearch Facebook Page
 * FamilySearch Wiki Facebook Page
 * FamilySearch Indexing Facebook Page (English), (Spanish)
 * Family History Library

FamilySearch Twitter Feeds

 * FamilySearch News Twitter Feed
 * FamilySearch Indexing Twitter Feed

FamilySearch YouTube Channel

 * FamilySearch YouTube Channel

Forums

 * Locality forums – when you cannot find the answer to your research question in the Wiki, click on the link to the Forums and ask your question. Someone will respond, and if details are available in the wiki, they will likely include a link to the article. There are forums for Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, Oceania, United Kingdom and Ireland.
 * Historical Records Forums - the Historical Records on FamilySearch will often link to an article on the Wiki that describes in more detail how to use the collection. Sharing your own ideas for using the records will help others with their own research, plus it will preserve the knowledge you've gained through experience.
 * FamilySearch Indexing Forums - Get help and also share your knowledge about indexing.
 * FamilySearch Wiki Forums - Discuss using the wiki or report technical issues. Leave feedback or post suggestions regarding how the Wiki can improve. Plus, the newest forum is specifically for contributor's. On this forum you can ask questions about contributing, how to add or edits articles, etc.
 * Additional forums include: FamilySearch.org, new.FamilySearch.org, Family History Center Support, and Forums Feedback and Help.

Research Courses

 * The option to give course feedback is a community effort. Example: German Town of Origin is sponsored by Teresa S. McMillin. Her course links to her website and also has the option to leave feedback about the course.
 * Linking courses to corresponding wiki articles is a community effort. Example: The Descendancy Research: Related Materials course links to the corresponding wiki article. Also note that the wiki article links to a three-part video recording of the course.
 * Anyone can add the links from the Wiki to the Courses.

Historical Record Collections

 * Records page will often link to "Learn more”. This is a link to the wiki page. See Utah, Salt Lake County Death Records as an example.
 * The Wiki articles that describe the usage of an historical record collection will also link back to the search option on FamilySearch so you can immediately conduct the search for your ancestors. You can easily identify an Historical Record article in the wiki because of the banner that appears at the top of every Historical Record article. For example:

Worldwide Indexing

 * Pages in the wiki are created for indexing projects. Sometimes the current status of the project is noted on the wiki page. See FamilySearch Indexing: US, Texas-Birth Records, 1903-1934 as an example.
 * Indexing articles in the Wiki are easily identified with a banner that includes links to the indexing project. Within the banner you will see a link to the indexing site where you can begin participating.

English Wiki Links to Spanish Wiki

 * The ability to link an English wiki article to the corresponding article that resides in one of the language wiki's is a multi-language community effort. If you can read and translate in other languages, you could support the wiki by translating articles and adding the content to one of the other wikis.
 * For example, see the Peru page in the English wiki. At the bottom of the page you will see a link to the corresponding page for Perú in the Spanish Wiki.
 * Currently, all inter-wiki links to other languages exist at the bottom of the page. If you do not see a link to another language, then you know that the page has not been translated.
 * Note that the Spanish wiki does not yet have the inter-wiki links to the English wiki.

Finding Your Way Around the Wiki

 * 1) Basic Navigation:
 * a. Views
 * b. Toolbox
 * c. Community (the hidden feature!)
 * d. Personal tools
 * 1) Keyword searches
 * a. Basic
 * b. Advanced
 * 1) Browse by country
 * 2) Browse by topic (the categories)
 * 3) Navigational boxes
 * 4) Clickable maps
 * 5) Disambiguation pages
 * 6) “What links here” on every page

Getting Help

 * 1) The Wiki Basics
 * a. Tour - https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Help:Tour
 * b. Overview - https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Help:Wiki_Overview
 * 1) Wiki Help with Editing
 * a. Help: Edit and Contribute - https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Help:Edit_and_Contribute
 * 1) Wiki How-to
 * 2) The video tutorials - https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/FamilySearch_Wiki:How_To_Demonstrations
 * a. Basic Search
 * b. Advanced Search
 * c. Basic Editing
 * d. Creating Links
 * e. Adding Images
 * f. Creating a New Page
 * 1) The Wiki Forums
 * 2) The FamilySearch Help
 * 3) The FamilySearch YouTube channel has a new series of getting started videos that will help with getting started in your family history research - http://www.youtube.com/familysearch

Authoring in the Wiki

 * 1) Connect with the community through your own user page. See examples:
 * a.
 * 1) If you add some basic content to your user page you will learn:
 * a. How to submit images for approval
 * b. How to add a photo to a wiki page
 * c. How to create headings on a wiki page
 * d. How to use templates
 * e. How to create internal wiki links
 * f. How to create external wiki links
 * 1) Content ideas for your user page:
 * a. Add a photo
 * b. Add a short biography
 * c. Add user boxes (share more about yourself through these visual badges)
 * i. https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Help:Userbox
 * ii. https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/FamilySearch_Wiki:Userboxes
 * d. Add links to the WikiProjects you are working on
 * e. Add links to your Wiki Sub-Pages i.
 * f. Your own pedigree chart
 * 1) Related articles
 * a. Help: User page - https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Help:User_page
 * b. FamilySearch Wiki: User page – https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/FamilySearch_Wiki:User_page
 * c. FamlySearch Wiki: Talk page guidelines https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/FamilySearch_Wiki:Talk_page_guidelines
 * d.