FamilySearch Wiki:Contributors Meeting 29 Jan 2015

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Welcome
Soap Box The focus for these meetings is on the Wiki. Not on Family Tree or other FHD directives. Some of that will happen, but I will work to keep it to a minimum.

Business/Announcements
Wiki edit fest : Wednesday, Feb 11th 1 - 3 pm Library 2nd floor lobby Also a booth : FamilySearch volunteers might be a place for wiki people to congregate

Guest Speaker

 * Continue review of learnings from Jan 15 meeting. Jan 22

Find a way to get people to sources faster; has to be easy; they will it when they have a testimony doing research
 * Make it easier to find and more prominent, for people to get to a resource that has names
 * Basic ID for a person
 * If I have to read a lot, history, etc. I want to go directly to a good source
 * How to use the source, pick the best source.
 * Help them select the best source, and know why
 * Don't confuse them, don't overwhelm them.
 * Just enough, just in time
 * Concept of a wiki WAS more foreign a few years back
 * 2 different focus needs? Give them the best path for their need -- let's develop Wiki content around the needs of the user
 * Are they finding their ancestor in the Wiki
 * We seem to have a need to justify the Wiki's existence
 * Are we asking the right questions to get people to what they need? It is a vast library of info.
 * When people go to wikipedia, they find the answer they need; however, our wiki points them to where find their answer
 * What are the clues about the resource, that are beyond just the content of the resource? Such as a city directory.
 * We have both wikipedia type info, and pointing to where to look

from Van Celaya to Everyone: fyi, Riverton is a Family "Search" Library, and is under the same restrictions that the church is under for our handouts... we have to be restricted by church guidelines
 * I tell patrons what the wiki is, but I "show" them how to use it quickly... I ask them to type in "london cemeteries"... then search on that page for the "st thomas parrish" ... then go to that page, and on the "st mary aldermary.. st thomas page" I show them then the wiki will "give" them links where to go to find information.... it is a quick "visual" way to see how to use the wiki... basically it is a place to go to "find a link" to find their information...
 * If Wiki would put in a very basic course -- about Family Tree simple and basic on how to solve problems. Their courses (Layton) are 15 minutes so people can find these. Or at least point to those courses
 * There are all kinds of courses on the Learning Center
 * A mistake to point outside FamilySearch? Perhaps true with a formal project.
 * Community resource -- we would not restrict
 * we might have continuing webinars about the uses and benefits of using the wiki... for instance at 2pm MST there will be a webinar on how to do British Research that is being shown in many FHC's all over the world

if you were to convince Family Tree to put links to wiki, into the "descendency" page of Family Tree, under the tourquoise square (or one of the boxes) which is from the right side of the "person page", then the patrons who are using Family Tree would have "leads" that would take them into the wiki. They would have an introduction to the wiki, and hopefully they would be more apt to use the wiki in the future.
 * That may be coming, not necessarily from the descendancy view
 * It should not point to a country that doesn't have any content

They will have a barn raisings: It is also a place to get people together to build things.
 * Do we learn about knowledgeable people from that area and invite them"
 * A form to help them contribute or for an interviewer to ask relevant questions for more consistency?
 * Some have different ways, they have all the knowledge, yet were not invited to participate
 * Getting people contributing is easier than keeping contributors
 * Discussed the "Submit Wiki Content" : point to this from the help wanted pages; Jane said this came from Lise and Thomas McEntee. Let's make it more prominent

build links from the Wiki to blog pages - perhaps to unstable a target. Use the perma link if you can it. Some blogs have a "permaLink" at Blog Spot.com which will link to a page. It is a URL that will never change edit area of BlogSpot.com
 * Idea is OK, not all blogs are the same
 * Need to discern which blog article is a good one, which is less so
 * just my opinion, but blogs are more opinions, and are not usually a wiki format, where inaccuracies could be corrected... more of a discussion, than a resource (to me any way)
 * If we used a page of blog posts, have the disclaimer clause


 * suggestions

Summary of Yammer
FS Wiki Contributors group.

Governance Council Report

 * Items to pose to Governance Council

Community Council Report

 * Items to pose to Community Council

Discussions and Proposals Follow-up
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News to be publicized
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Meeting Notes/Minutes

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