Research Process Map
Where are all the Genealogy Wikis?
This is a call out to all bloggers and blog readers. In the last few years, wikis have become popular as a way for many people to collaborate and share information. Particularly interesting to the genealogy community are genealogy wikis. Two of the most well known are Dick Eastman’s Encyclopedia of Genealogy and FamilySearch’s Research Wiki.
There are three main uses for wiki’s in genealogy:
- Articles about genealogy and family history (ex: Encyclopedia of Genealogy & FamilySearch Research Wiki)
- Personal genealogy (ex: Genealogy Wikia, WeRelate)
- Links to genealogy sites but no articles
I have done a search on Google for the keywords “genealogy” and “wiki” but I am interested in the sites being used by the genealogy community. That is where you come in. If you use a genealogy wiki, please provide the following:
- Wiki Name
- Link
- Type (article, personal, link, or other)
- What you like
- What feature would you like to see added
- How frequently do you use it (occasionally, monthly, weekly, daily)
Thank you.
Comments(6)
I’ve got two wiki’s: one is password protected and I use it as a notebook to store misc. information I haven’t been able to place yet. I use a wiki because it’s convenient and I can give researchers who I work with access so we can share notes and complement each other.
The other one is a civil reconstruction of who lived where in the Dutch town of Sint Anna ter Muiden (in Dutch) at http://www.sintannatermuiden.nl. Each house has its own article which describes the owners and the current state of the house. I’ve also included a Google Map (using a plugin) that shows the location.
What I miss is GEDCOM import so I can easily create articles about the people in my genealogy database to link to.
Comment by Yvette Hoitink — 29 Sep 2008 @ 9:20 am
Right now I’m not using any Wiki. Why? Because I am hesitant to put all of my primary documentation and information where someone else can change it. I’ve seen enough errors in my lines to last a lifetime!
I like the idea of Yvette’s in using a password protected Wiki (she didn’t say where it is). At least that way, the person who changes the article has been approved by the original author. That might stop some of the misinformation going around.
Comment by Merryann Palmer — 29 Sep 2008 @ 11:35 am
I am working on a project similar to Yvonne’s second one which is a resconstruction of Lowville, NY around the turn of the 20the century. This is still a work in progress but I’d appreciate any feedback you may have:
http://www.lowvillelongago.com
Thomas MacEntee
Facebook: http://profile.to/totallythomas/
Website: http://www.thomas20.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas20
E-mail: tmacentee@gmail.com
Comment by Thomas MacEntee — 29 Sep 2008 @ 11:43 am
JLiki
http://www.jgen.ws/jliki.html
Creating Your Own Genealogy Wiki
Not intended for online collaboration, but using TiddlyWiki to create a genealogy wiki for sharing with friends and family offline. Instructions and optional plug-ins included.
Comment by JL — 10 Nov 2008 @ 11:27 am
There is one that is being worked on now, and it is for research help, largely localities, since there are others that will take care of the biographical and surname data part of it. (for surnames and biographies, visit the Wikia one or http://www.biographicalwiki.com/
This one is at http;//wiki.familysearch.org/
Has been up a year or so now. At the main page, type in a locality or a research topic, and you will go to whatever exists there now. You need to register to contribute, but you will do a great service when you do because if you have ever used an LDS research outline, then you know those don’t get updated at all. In fact, this wiki will replace all of that, and they have used those outlines as ‘seed’ material to get much of this off the ground. If you have new information, just add it.
They will also be able to cover more of the world than ever before. So if you kinow something about India, China, African nations, South American nations, etc., your knowledge of where to find records online and elsewhere will be invaluable.
There is an active user group, and you can attend that online via Adobe Connect as well, it meets every Tuesday and there is a link from just about every page over to it.
Comment by Jim Anderson — 19 Jan 2009 @ 1:26 pm
The link in my last comment didn’t come up as clickable so I am re-entering it on a separate line to this paragraph.
http://wiki.familysearch.org/
Comment by Jim Anderson — 19 Jan 2009 @ 1:28 pm