User:Luccagenes/Sandbox/ResearchWikiMainPage

Help Central
This page provides access to the Help Central Research Wiki knowledge base. It is designed to quickly direct users toward finding the answers to their questions and to finding information resources that will aid in their research. This page is for evaluation purposes ONLY.

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Could a function like Help Central be beneficial to all the aspects of the Research Wiki or would it be better to just concentrate on the "wiki help files" aspect or are there no advantages to using it whatsoever?

Note: This is all just going through a thought process to try to find advantages and disadvantages to see if Help Central would be useful in this application.

Phase 1: Starting a project
"Research methods" can cover how to get started in genealogy from collecting family info, getting organized, choosing and using software, checking on-line sources, to collecting information in the field.

Notes: Possible configuration

(3 posible initial pages which would branch off to existing pages) Simple and straight forward.

What is genealogy? (Why do it)

1. Are you just getting started with your family history? (Where to start)

2. Expanding your project into new locations? (Where to start looking)

3. Are you comfortable with your expertise? ( Groups and Certification )

Phase 2: Learning from others
Help Central could not add to the existing knowledge base currently available and the navigational aspects are readily accessible and work quite well as they are now. Help Central would be an alternative means in a centralized location for navigating through the system. It may be able to reduce a few "clicks" to get to where you want to be; for instance, a single scroll table listing all countries, sub-groups of regions, sub-groups of states/provinces, and sub-groups of countiesand their equivalents in other countries, and possibly sub-group of cities (the break down by cities may be more useful on the counties pages). A large indexed scroll table could be manually searched using a navbar or searched using the browser "find" function to quickly look up specific locations.Once found the user could then find the closest link to more information by scrolling up the table until a link is found.

Notes:possible configuration

A single index table as a centralized point for links to existing pages (List of world cities)

A full (everything there) list for all the world's cities would provide a quickly searchable index to get pointed in the right direction. After finding the city one is looking for then they could scroll upward through the table to find the closest parent group that has a link.

This might be workable since no keyword pages would be involved as existing pages could be linked where appropriate (e.g., the state of MN, the county of Isanti, the country of Italy, the region of Toscanna or Tuscany, Italy, the city of Lucca, Italy). The only thing that would have to be done is the construction of the actual list (a working scroll table is already made) and then over time attach the links. This could easily be constructed using copy/paste from Internet sites; it could even include towns that no longer exist (ghost towns), previous names as countries are newly formed or change  their names, and so on and so on. Multiple language forms of the names (Toscanna, Tuscany) could be included as well (and therefore would be searchable). You would need a different index list for each language (due to the size of a co-mingled list) but that too is not impossible.

Using a scroll table in combination with the "find" function would also eliminate the click - scroll page -find link - click - scroll page - find link - click maneuvers currently necessary to navigate several pages. A minor time saver but may be appreciated since the table could be scrolled with the mouse wheel, the navbar, or the scroll slider.

See if there is a wikitext searchable table or if the "find" function would have to be used. Would probably need Java or some such programming language to create a dedicated search function. Also check on adding a sort button to alphabetize the list (why, purpose?) although that might mess up the header cells.

Remember this is just a thought process.

Miscellaneous thought.

"Research assit" could become the workhorse for the wiki site as the entry point for visitors (new and seasoned) wishing to quickly identify available resources and information during their search. It could provide a series of scroll tables (and interactive maps) for pinpointing the area where the user's interests are currently focused in their research. Scroll tables would include a "world countries" then a "state or regions" scroll table ultimately leading to a specific information (keyword) page.

Each page would provide another scroll table for "counties and cities" which could link to the appropriate resources page already contained within the Research Wiki. Related article links for the selected areas would also be available from said information (keyword) page in addition to the scroll table index list. The objective of Help Central would be to get the user to that specific page in less than five clicks from when they entered the system.

Design Note : Due to the enormous amount of data that could potentially be addressed in a project of this magnitude, the initial idea of 3 consecutive scroll tables would result in tens of thousands of keyword pages. By incorporating the third scroll table (counties and cities) into each of the final keyword pages that are the outcome from two consecutive indexed lists (scroll tables) the resulting system would be significantly easier to construct and maintain but would still maintain its advantages (5 click rule) and its ease of navigation for the new users. Currently existing pages within wiki could be used as the link to the final scroll table (such as a counties project).

Better yet, the initial index list could be countries with a subdivision by regions (states) for each country which would eliminate one scroll table. The second scroll table could be the province or county with subdivisions of villiages and townships and cities. Stil thinking about this.

Phase 3: Giving back
"Research input" would include links to help the contributors access the wiki help files and coursework related to using the wiki and creating and editing articles  It would also be designed as an aid if the user is looking for a specific quick answer (similar to the Family Tree section of Help Central) or if following regimented learning courses is the prefered method by the new contributor. Areas of training could include Manual of Style type training for page and article formats, contributor use of the rich editor and wikitext coding, and finally, beginner to advanced HTML and wikitext coursework.

It could also highlight the purpose and role of the Research Wiki, its communities, and its goals toward the continuation of the collection and organizing of genealogical information and resources.

Notes: possible configuration  Dual page (contents and index) for the more proficient user.

A keyword index list similar to the one for Family Tree but would only need "The Index" and "The contents" pages because the proficiency level will be greater and a topic list (contents) would be the main page of use for the general question "where to find it" but include the keyword list (Index) if one is looking for a specific answer quickly (find an example of displaying a transcluded revision date). 

The keyword list could include all of the attribute list shown on the HTML lessons pages in addition to more general keywords. 

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Misc.
Scroll index # 1

Countries &gt; ?keyword page? &gt; links to country pages

--&gt; history pages?

&gt; external (population, ethnicity, etc)?

Regions &gt;

Provinces/States  &gt; links to state pages

counties  ---&gt;links to county pages

cities

Once the keyword had been located and if it did not have a link, it would be an easy matter to move upward in the table to find the next level up that has a link (the keyword should be a part of that upper level).

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