FamilySearch Wiki talk:Wiki Support/Responsibilities and Projects

Wiki Transition
Fran, as we work through the Wiki transition, we are discussing the planning and trying to determine how to work with the community on the items below and how to organize the work. We'd like to lay out what things look like in the community and how "big" each responsibility is. Could you help us fill out the following table with additional information so that we know what we are looking at?


 * Hours/wk is how much time is needed to do the task the way it should be done
 * Comm% is what % of the work is currently done by the community
 * Staff% is what % of the work is currently done by staff or missionary support
 * Notes is just for additional information

What am I missing above? Am I looking at this right? What are other ways you find out how "big" each of these projects/maintenance responsibilities are? VasquezJL 22:47, 11 November 2010 (UTC)


 * I moved this discussion from my personal talk page to this newly created Support project page for Tier 2 support. -Fran 20:48, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

Media links
Today I got a phone call from a staff member here in the department about creating a link to a pdf file. I should have sent her to Tier 2 support or to the help page if there is one. Training: when people add a pdf file or a powerpoint file to the wiki, the best type of link to create is the Media link. I explained how to do that, but I really think there's a help article that explains it. The media link will automatically open the file whereas the image or file link will only take the user the page in the wiki where the file is stored. Understanding the different types of internal wiki links that can be created is critical for tier 2 and 3 to know. -Fran 19:46, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

Categories on this page
Why was the "Help" and "Beginners" category added to this page? With the possibility of all the help content contained in the Help namespace, I don't think it's advisable to include this project page in the Help category &amp; namespace. The Support project in-and-of-itself is not a Help content page that would benefit the end users in their use of the wiki. Neither is this project a "Beginners" project or help content for beginners in research or beginners in wiki usage. Please help me understand why the two categories should remain on this page. Thanks in advance for your thoughts... -Fran 23:46, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

Wiki Newbies - Potential agendas

 * Agendas would be helpful to people who would benefit -- which may be many people.
 * Some meetings could be recorded or repeated periodically. Recordings and meetings could be mentioned in the welcoming process.

Webinars


 * Register
 * Create User Page
 * Edit something

Short training


 * Create a link
 * One or two of the "Keys to Success in using the Wiki"
 * Using a discussion page

Items from the community


 * As found through contacting Support
 * As added/requested by attendees

Enhancing Support


 * Adding mentors?
 * Enhancements made in the last [month? year?]
 * Where they make requests (forum thread? Wiki discussion page?)

Genealogist Meeting - Suggested agendas

 * Best practices


 * Making informative links


 * Ideas of what to add


 * Highlight projects
 * Show idea pages


 * Links to pertinent Forum threads, Wiki pages, and discussion pages
 * Review a "Keys to Success" item

AdkinsWH 19:30, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

Community Meetings - an alternate option
I've been thinking about these community meetings for a while now, and I think that we may want to look at restructuring them to better fit who our current audiences are that may need the most help at the moment. Six months down the road we may need something completely different, so this can be constantly re-evaluated.

There are a few guiding principles that have been on my mind, mostly what I've learned from everyone else but just want to get written down, feel free to edit this list if you feel anything is out of place:


 * Let people know ahead of time what topic will be covered - have rotating topics (30 mins?)
 * Allow a Q&amp;A part of the call (30 mins?)
 * Give people the resources for where they go to learn more - don't try to cover everything in the call
 * In every call, remind attendees about some of the basic organizational structure of items in the wiki so that they don't feel like they need to wait for a meeting to discuss or ask questions:
 * How to communicate with others when you have questions
 * How to find out what needs there are in the wiki
 * (This would be something different for each type of call - for example, the "using the wiki" webinar below would talk about say the navigation on the right in every call)

These are all great ideas. The agenda can be set or attendees can request future topics. These should not be considered webinars, in my opinion. A webinar is a training that is frequently needed, whereas meetings to me are more responsive to the needs and trends. AdkinsWH 19:02, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Regarding the meetings themselves, I think there are 3 main audiences we want to meet with on a regular basis so that as we talk to and bring new users in, they will have a place to go to give them guidance as they get started:


 * Using the Wiki in Research (monthly - this could actually be just a webinar to teach "users" of the wiki how to find what they are looking for. Not for contributors, though there could be a "plug" for those users at the end to know where to go for more information.)
 * Wiki Contributors (weekly - but could alternate classes between beginning contributors and experienced contributors)
 * Wiki Support and Maintenance (weekly - and there's got to be a better name for all of that - Wiki Polishing? Don't want to be too clever, but don't want it to sound bland and boring either)      '     What about WikiCare or simply Wiki Support ?   .... Jane
 * Technically a 4th one could be Moderators and Adopters (monthly) - though this may not be a "Support" responsibility, it would be good to talk about it in conjunction with the others

Thoughts? Should we call them Webinars rather than Meetings? That seems to be the new buzzword these days. :) But Webinar really gets across the idea of teaching, whereas meetings get across an idea of "getting things done." I guess all but the Support one could be considered a Webinar; the support one may be more of a meeting than the others.

janellv 20:00, 17 December 2010 (UTC)     ''What about calling them Webinar and Discussion? ..... Jane''

I like that distinction, Jane. Good terms. AdkinsWH 19:02, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Another comment: Webinars should be done consistently and usually by invitation. AdkinsWH 19:02, 27 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Example 1: a once-or twice- a-month webinar for new contributors. First one for basics, second one for a little more advanced. In the basic one, leave time for people to do it themselves during the webinar. Perhaps for two hours per webinar. Learn to edit, learn about Discussion pages, attend meetings, experience Forums, etc. The welcoming info should include notice of this, as well as pointing to the pages in the Wiki that tell them how to do stuff, too. If these were set times (but not at meeting/discussion times), anyone could also attend if they wish. Some of these could be eventually done more formally by Travis Jordan's group as an online class.
 * Example 2: a once-a-month webinar on using (not contributing) to the Wiki. (The "Key" article is a great foundation for this one.) Or the "Key" article could be done in 4 classes, one each week, to cover it all every month.AdkinsWH 19:02, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

To me we need both webinars and discussions (meetings). Webinars may spawn online classes, while discussions spawn best practices, enthusiasm, ideas, and Forum threads. AdkinsWH 19:02, 27 December 2010 (UTC)