Mailing List:2006-04-14 02, New WRG Website - Status, by Tim Doyle
Mailing List Archives > 2006-04-14 02, New WRG Website - Status, by Tim Doyle
From: "Tim Doyle" <tim -at- greenscourt.com> Subject: New WRG Website - Status Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 07:16:50 -0500 In-Reply-To: Importance: Normal Hello everyone! In the two months since the new WRG Website was launched, we've managed to make a lot of progress! Robert and I have managed to import 2,027 pages in the Archives (mainly copied from the old WRG website), and Robert, Andaleen, and I have added over 800 family outlines. Special thanks to Andaleen for all of her efforts at migrating Robert's 6-generation study to the new format! We've also been adding links between various source documents in the archives and the family outlines, allowing us to see who has been accounted for - and who hasn't. This is very powerful! If you haven't visited the new website, I encourage you to take a look, log in, and help us build our new website! Over 120 users have signed up on the site - have you? <a href="http://wiki.whitneygen.org">http://wiki.whitneygen.org</a> Tim Doyle and Robert Ward -----Original Message----- From: Tim Doyle -at- greenscourt.com Sent: Sunday, February 05, 2006 12:06 PM To: 'WHITNEY-L -at- rootsweb.com' Subject: New WRG Website Announcement! *** Summary *** * We have a new website! It is located at <a href="http://wiki.whitneygen.org/">http://wiki.whitneygen.org/</a> * Anyone can add new pages or edit any page on the site! * Everyone has a user page where they can describe themselves, their research, and add their Whitney lineage. * We encourage everyone to visit the site, walk through the Quick Start Guide, and join in on this latest WRG collaboration! *** Details *** A year and a half ago, Robert Ward spoke at the Whitney Reunion and gave his vision of the future of the WRG website. In that presentation, he spoke of his desire to link original source materials with family group records, and those family records back to the source materials. A terrific idea, but no one at the time knew how we might be able to make it happen. Making manual edits to all of the various HTML files that we have on the existing website and then uploading them seemed like a nightmare, especially if more than one person got involved. And yet, it was a task far too large for one person. About nine months ago, I got involved with a new project at work. It was a website based upon technology called "wiki". I didn't know anything about a wiki at the time, but the more I learned, the more excited I became about the possibilities. The word wiki means 'quick' or 'fast' in the Hawaiian language, and it was picked because changes to be made very quickly - creating almost dynamic websites. A wiki is based upon a software framework, and once set up, users can edit any page on the site themselves. No longer do changes need to wait for one or two people to make them. It also allows for links to be created between pages - for example, between family group records and pages containing source materials. All changes are logged and can easily be reverted - a concern that many people initially have when they hear that anyone can make changes. As I worked on this wiki at work and saw the great benefit of the collaboration that was happening, and thought that this might also benefit the WRG. I contacted Robert, described it to him, and he instantly realized that this could very well be the solution to his idea that had been waiting for technology to catch up with. We have now created a wiki for the WRG where I, Robert, and a few others have been working for the last month. We've imported quite a bit of material from the old website, but there's still plenty that remains to be done. Please join us in this new adventure! * Go to <a href="http://wiki.whitneygen.org/">http://wiki.whitneygen.org/</a> * Select the link to the Quick Start Guide at the top of the box on the right side of the page. That will walk you through how to get set up on the site. * Please use those instructions to sign in to the site. Once you do this, you will be taken to your user page. Select the edit link at the top of this page to change it - tell us who you are. * When you sign up for the first time, please do not use your email address as your user name. Doing so will mean that your email address will be exposed on the site. It is ok to add your email address in the email field, however. * We have no plans to take down the old website, located at <a href="http://www.whitneygen.org">http://www.whitneygen.org</a>, though it will not be kept current with newly added or updated information. Thank you! Tim Doyle and Robert Ward
Copyright © 2010, the Whitney Research Group
