Talk:FamilySearch Communities: Administrator Guide

Proposed article move
The scope of this article is now wider than just Facebook and Skype. I suggest that this page be Moved/renamed to Research Community Administrators or Genealogy Research Community Administrators. --Steve 07:56, 26 April 2012 (UTC)


 * I was discussing this very thing with Fran in our meeting yesterday. Thanks for starting this discussion. We've opened the discussion with Art as well. Hopefully we will have an answer soon.--McCormickMW 16:32, 26 April 2012 (UTC)
 * We are considering the use of "FamilySearch" in the title to communicate more clearly that these communities are administered by FamilySearch. We are thinking a banner similar to the one created for Historical Records might be useful to easily identify all the pages in the Wiki associated with FamilySearch community efforts. Steve, if you want to create one for testing this design, go ahead. From now-on, the Facebook and Skype communities needs to be documented separately. This will allow for further changes in our documentation and tools if needed. Fran 16:40, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

Community Building Ideas
The following are ideas that we’ve had, what do you think we could do to help make these communities more vibrant?


 * Highlight older questions that didn’t get responses throughout the week to ask the community to come in and help with.
 * Create a list of projects that are being worked on throughout the genealogy world that others can contribute to
 * Help get research helps documented in the FamilySearch Wiki so it is useful for those with a similar question in the future
 * Consider community events – perhaps have a weekly chat on various topics using Skype?

By Janell Larson Vasquez in Genealogy Research Community Admins

As we are getting started, people have been excited about these groups. Add your ideas to the list!
 * What are they hoping to get out of them that they are missing now?
 * How do we capture and sustain that excitement?

Genealogy bloggers who provide articles about resources in the same locality as the geographical area should be invited to post links to those articles, or we can post those links as we see them. Many bloggers can be found on Twitter who blog weekly/daily. --Robin Foster

This with new Wiki articles/additions can provide daily content, which is key to developing a community. --Robin Foster

Have we asked the question 'What do you perceive this community is for? --Fran Ellsworth

I just had a long discussion at my FHC this last Sunday. One, the FHD was wondering who was over the FH consultants, she said they were removed from that when made Directors. Two, we need to over come a paradigm of staying away from FB for many consultants. I can not get any of our consultants other than myself to go there. --Fran Ellsworth

Great ideas! Fran, we asked a similar question at the beginning, what would you like to see these communities do, but didn't get much of an answer.... There is always Skype if people don't like Facebook! :) --Janell Larson Vasquez

Back in the dark ages when we only had forums, no internet, it was very important to make sure all questions were at least acknowledged. If a person is ignored they don't want to participate in the future. --Cheryl Rothwell

How are we planning on integrating Skype for forums? It is still an app I am learning the ropes on. I think it might be good as back in the days of the AOL genealogy chats to have chats about certain research topics, i.e., military, church or census for those who are beginning and do some Q&amp; A. I think adding lessons or links about the historical context our ancestors lived in would be helpful as well. --Susan Thomas Thompson

One point in face books favor is it allows me to connect with cousins I hadn't seen since childhood. I think educating when we can about the benefits of facebook as well as techniques that keep us safe while using these features will help to encourage people to use it. For instance we have a family group page where all the cousins post pictures and keep each other up to date on family happening. --Mary Saylor

I agree with Mary here too. We also need to use it to get to the younger generation out there as so many of them use it on a daily basis and try to gear it at appealing and educating to all age group audiences who may be interested. One ca... --Susan Thomas Thompson

Even though I do it professionally I want to be able to educate people on discovering it for themselves. There is no greater joy then discovering who YOU are and the stories on YOUR own family than YOU! I am so glad FamilySearch is out there to make it approachable for everyone!! --Susan Thomas Thompson

It is difficult to set a chat time that is good for everyone in the US let alone the world. I'm happy to do it but my schedule does not allow me to be chatting at, say 10 p.m. my time to accommodate the folks on the west coast. But if you have it earlier the west coast is left out. Just... --Cheryl Rothwell

It's just a thought. There were some very lively and informed discussions and it was usually full every week. Not a necessity to have but just a thought for an added feature for those who like it live and may not have skype, but then again... --Susan Thomas Thompson

I learned this as a sysop in the Compuserve forums which became AOL. It's just something to consider. We may need to have a couple chats a week so everyone gets an opportunity to participate. If we don't make it convenient they won't participate. IMO. --Cheryl Rothwell

I lived in India this past year, and if there was a webinar I wanted to attend I would set my alarm so that I could. So my point is if they are really interested they will find a way to attend, that said I preferred those planned late or early. --Mary Saylor

Yes, perhaps having a few a week could be a thought and they could also be archived. I am not sure of how that technically works these days or what space we have accessible but thought I'd put that idea out there as well..:). And that might work well if there in the areas where there is more than one admin..especially if those admins might be in different time zones.. --Susan Thomas Thompson

If we could archive that would be good, allow them to review it on their schedule. I do that with several. --Cheryl Rothwell

Great questions, we can use either Skype or the chat in this group - I'm not sure how the group chat works here though. We should try it once to see. If we used Skype, anyone who was a member of the chat could read back over it at any time. I am not sure if that's how this group chat works though. --Janell Larson Vasquez

https://www.facebook.com/Ancestorville This group has regular chats on here. I have attended they are pretty fast and furious. If you look on the left hand of the page you can see the chat page they have set up. They send out a notice when chats are scheduled. --Fran Ellsworth

Thank you for the link!! I've been looking for something like this, for those who don't want to go through setting up skype. I've been wondering how we could do chats, and skype was the only option I'd thought of but that looks like a good alternative - they use http://www.chatzy.com/. Any other ideas for chat software? --Janell Larson Vasquez

That does look promising --Fran Ellsworth

I also use Blog Interact. They have chat, groups, video share, file photo share, and more. http://bloginteract.com/Once you are registered there is a place below just like on FB showing who's online and you can chat with a group you create there. I will put a screenshot above. --Robin Foster

Derek S Davey announced on Skype yesterday that he "scheduled a appointment with the head of the Michigan Archives." Other than the basics of keeping appropriate flow of Q&amp;A this is possibly my favorite idea. I see a lot of value in partnerships. I know this has been discussed before, but just wanted to add my 2 cents. If you don't live local and no GRC admins live local, try consulting over the phone with key people and post as your GRC on their society, archive, or library Facebook pages. --Michael McCormick - Jan 12, 2012 10:16 AM

Could we maybe use Twitter for chats? I'd love to start a weekly Twitter chat about my research area, but where these groups are centered on FB and Skype, I'm not sure if that would be allowed. . . . --Jenny Tonks - Feb 13, 2012 3:21 PM