One thing about going to a library conference these days is that there is alot of technology under discussion. Wikis are probably not technology in the classic sense but I wonder why they aren’t being used deeply in genealogy. It seems to me that they would be a great vehicle for collaborative research projects. Many times in my years as an Internet oriented genealogist I’ve developed groups of “cousins” who are researching the same family. We may even be stuck on the same generation. It seems like a no brainer that we could set up a semi-private wiki – or even a public wiki and use it as a place to post research findings, discussed possible conclusions and so forth. We could even use it to “publish” a report that might help others who haven’t found us yet. But when I use wiki search engines I don’t find much of this type of wiki use. Maybe its because you need a specialized search engine to find some wikis. Maybe its because, like me, your average genealogist is a bit older than your average “social network user.” Maybe I’ll have to do this myself. Asher family folks – care to learn a new technology?
Relay – A Family History Blog
The Human Race is a Relay not a Sprint – Who Passed You the Baton
Have you visited WeRelate yet? This is a fabulous site showing just how useful a wiki can be for collaborative family research. It’s a work in progress so you also have influence on how it develops.
Because it is so different from any genealogy system we’ve used before, it does have a learning curve. It is well worth the effort.
I’ve tried WeRelate but ultimately I think I’ll end up with a private wiki on the Ning platform. As a collaborative tool I prefer to to the messy stuff off the public Internet. Ning allows you to invite others to work with you and has an awesome toolkit for forums, slideshows etc. Not designed for genealogists but worth investigating. WeRelate and Geni are both interesting but not as customizable or perhaps as private as I would like – yet.