FamilySearch Wiki:Contributors Meeting 16 May 2013

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Introduce new members

• Updating the discussions and proposals page
  

Kudos go to ...

Jane Colmenares for creating the form and concept of Submit Wiki Content

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Community Council Report

• Discussed the council minutes
• David talked about the Wiki in 2 presentation - immigration topics where Wiki was used.

Tom Jones thinks the Wiki will become one of the most important tools genealogists will use.

Business/Announcements

• New design for US state & country pages? -- janellv (talk| contribs) 18:16, 16 May 2013 (UTC)
  • Balsamig was used to mock up the page.
  • Premise: When people come to state/country pages, they don't pay attention to the topics column: redesign so it is organized differently -- the entire page becomes more of a table of contents. Result of personal experience in teaching people to use the Wiki.
    • It was questioned whether the premise was accurate. Others on the call have not experienced the problem
    • People who are used to the Wiki use the topics list; what about first-time users; eye tracking?
  • User testing suggested. Play with it. Mock up and test various ways
  • What about putting a navigation box at the top of state pages? so much on it is intimidating. Horizontal layout seems to be more intimidating.
  • Screen space (above the fold) is precious.
  • Concerned that we sacrifice the usefulness for wiki users for the new wiki users.
  • Wiki is not for a beginner to genealogy, but a Wiki beginner
    • Beginners in genealogy would look for birth, marriage, and death (and parents)
    • Most-used and useful records above the fold. Really useful ones first is helpful.
    • Be careful with "most usable records." Most success comes under other topics. Researchers probably have already exhausted the commonly-used. It's the records that are not common and the explanations for them that makes the Wiki so valuable.
• Citation coding removed from Historical Records pages. Coverage tables added to HR pages. Dorothy Horan, User Guidance Supervisor 18:54, 16 May 2013 (UTC)
  • Citation bibdesc coding has been removed for automated citations. Now they are created by Dorothy's group, and loaded manually. There is a generic default that appears until one better one is created. The Wiki and the Historical Collection citations are "divorced" so the citation in the Wiki does not always agree. They are working on it.
  • When click copy, it starts right out with the url -- which is not the most important thing to the genealogist
  • 21 coverage tables have been added to indexed collections. Seeking feedback on layout.
    • Have heard more comments about content of the table than the look of it. How generated? data that collection ops sent to Dorothy's team which they upload to the Wiki; Nathan did his manually. Gaps discovered. Give feedback through FS or email HoranDM@FamilySearch.org
• The new link on the right Submit Wiki Content. Allows people to type content in, and someone will submit it.
  • Kudos to Jane for the idea - finally it is on. Volunteers have been submitting. When Janell is ready with enough volunteers, have Nathan do a blog to advertise this.

New Agenda Items

Priority items for this meeting:

Be bold, post your agenda items! Feel free to post on the agenda any items you wish to discuss during the meeting. If your item requires details or feedback, post them on the discussion page and link to them from the agenda. Possible topics include: Moderator and Adopters Style Guide Discussions Project Help Requests Training Requests Improve the Wiki

Purpose of the meeting Improve the Wiki Forge solutions with other community contributors. Share best practices, ideas, and content. Discuss current issues, community matters, and strategies. Move issues to decision.