FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Utah Community Meeting 2012 October 17

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The Wiki currently has Special:Statistics articles in English

Agenda
Meeting Participants:

Wiki News
 * Problem with the CSS - bullets fixed last week but lines in tables still don't show. Engineers are aware, but feedback never hurts.

News and Events

 * October 18 The Secret Lives of Women: Research Female Ancestors.... by Gena Philibert-Ortega. UGA (Virtual) 7 p.m. Mountain
 * October 19-20, 2013 ICAPGen Conference
 * January 14-18, 2013 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG).
 * March 21-23, 2013 RootsTech

Review of last meeting

 * Wednesday, 10 Oct

Purpose and life of the Wiki 15 minutes

 * How does interactive teaching (see Ancestry.com/death) affect the effort and the content we put into the wiki? How long will this wiki be useful?
 * Beginners: teaching has changed in schools - to the lowest common denominator - chop off the top, the best, don't provide the deepest. Courses get people through a class, but no production after. Answering specific questions. Videos don't answer the specifics
 * More advanced tools: don't just give them a start with no place to go
 * Every ward in their stake has called 2 youth consultants: it has to become a tool they will use or it is going to die. They do training exercises to do real research, clean up the Family Tree, etc. They want to learn, but don't have the patience to read read read in the Wiki.
 * Wiki is not a video game, low graphics.
 * Perhaps it will become a support to supporters?
 * Not easy to recognize the value: SEO is an option
 * HRC's don't tout their value well -- providing the "back story" of the record
 * Don Anderson -- more for intermediate, advanced. They will keep it.
 * Ref counter: people introduced to it have appreciated it. Youth? In the meantime - help adults
 * How do I best allocate time: beginners need direction, but they are explorers. But it has to solve more than the "simple, typical"
 * We should get people there are quickly as possible, but cannot sacrifice citations, professionalism
 * Wiki can get detailed -- but presented not in an overwhelming way
 * Support for areas where we don't know much
 * Some things are simple. Some of it is NOT simple. After the beginner videos, then they will need someone live.
 * Cartoon: What are you looking for? My quarter. Why are you looking here? Because there is more light.
 * Takes understanding and effort to get past some issues.
 * Decision: Well-chosen graphics, but let's focus on data. Some soft teaching.


 * Then the typical agenda: 1) Progress reports; 2) Church Records and Libraries tweaks; 3) Strategies: how to find birth information (US/Utah).

Progress reports Balance of meeting

 * Birth task: 1898-present segment:
 * Neighboring counties clickable maps: Weber County example
 * SEO (Search Engine Optimizer) -- 5 minutes
 * The practice paragraph for Beaver County moved it from page 14 to page 2.
 * The paragraph was NOT part of the Google description. (Show it)
 * Needs tweaking so still effective, yet more subtle
 * From last week: "Expect to finish task descriptions for these areas of the counties: Libraries, History, Church" -- 10 minutes
 * Results - not completed, progress. Tweaks needed.
 * Tried an SEO paragraph in the Church records pages
 * Names of Church records pages: are they good for SEO?
 * Heading title Churches, Religions, and their records Decision: churches and religious groups
 * Quick look at Libraries area
 * Name of the obtaining access page in tip
 * What to have on the county page, what to have on a separate page, linked from every county
 * How to Find Birth Information in the United States: See email from James -- 15 minutes

From previous meetings (no progress):
 * Get documentation of Delayed Birth Registration - dates started, etc. (Says 1941 on state page, but no citation.) - Pat
 * Do the county newspaper pages - Wilma
 * Value and frequency of FS Catalog links - topic of a near future meeting.
 * Utah Record Selection Table needs updating. (Just keeping on the list until done)

Idea share
In progress reports this week

Ideas we won't forget

 * Tip Bank