Collaboration tools

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury on January 11, 2010 at 11:23pm

I haven't done any collaborating online, but I have been part of a family wiki that has worked quite well for organizing family activities. I'd be interested in trying a family history wiki.

I understand that eventually newFamilySearch will be opened up to people who aren't LDS. I suspect they are hoping that LDS members will get as much of the "family tree" sorted out and all the duplicates combined as much as possible first.

I'm still learning how to use Ancestral Quest, so haven't tried the collaboration tools. (Mainly I need someone to collaborate with.)

Permalink Reply by Candy Kammerman on January 13, 2010 at 12:05pm

As I have found cousins, I have invited them to join a family website created at MyFamily.com. This is free (of course you can pay a fee for enhancement options such as customized templates and expanded memory). So far the free portion has worked for me. I have opted to keep the site private so cousins would feel somewhat more comfortable sharing living family member information and photos.

I am just beginning to locate distant cousins, but it seems to be working fairly well. I just wish I could get my closer cousins to participant.

Once you sign-up, you can create an unlimited number of family websites, so you could create one for each of your major lines or expand as you find information on a specific branch. The only downside so far was with a recent MyFamily upgrade that deleted the email addresses and list of cousins I had invited but had not yet responded. This limited follow-up and tracking which I submitted as feedback hoping it might be reinstated with a future upgrade.

Permalink Reply by Paula Faccio on January 14, 2010 at 11:17am

For me works wonderfully: www.genoom.com It's free, private and you can download there documents, photos and videos. The web site can be read in 17 different languages and the Family Tree view is fabulous!. After you open the web site click on "View Tour" to have an idea about the site.

Permalink Reply by Peg A Ivanyo on January 18, 2010 at 11:12am

I have used two different tools--not extensively, but enough to be familiar.

The first being Ancestral Quest's collaboration tool. Pretty nifty....it puts your database out into a central storage location, and then those you invite can "sign it out" so to speak, like a library loan, put it back when finished, and then next person can do the same. It thus prevents errors that would naturally occur from more than one person trying to make changes at a time. Note, that you can also assign levels of access--so some can view only, while others can modify.

The second one is Family Pursuit. They started as and still offer a community online tree, but also offer a private online tree for a yearly fee. We originally purchased this to use for a family research project with representatives from each family of my great-grandfather. We ended up purchasing a separate line to work on a surname project and in doing so are attempting to collaborate with others working on that surname in England and others who may potentially link in. You upload your gedcom of the people you are working on; they upload theirs; it matches the ones that match, and it tracks the changes to your information. You are able to set up research goals and make assignments to anyone you have invited to participate, so you can therefore work together, each taking a piece of the project and report your progress and new data right there. I just checked their website and it appears they have recently added connection to newfamilysearch for those that want it.

Permalink Reply by Eileen Hacking Lentz on February 5, 2010 at 2:48pm

I want to connect to family in a variety of venues since it is my goal to connect with all the descendants of my immigrant ancestors.

I have several trees on Ancestry.com, which allows me to invite family members to view and contribute to those trees for free. I have had the most success collaborating in this format. Other subscribers have also contacted me for more information, to share what they have, or to correct errors I might have on my trees.

Other ways of collaborating include Google Groups we established for three of my family organizations, which also has links for family members' web sites, blogs, or online trees. The Google Groups allow you to create Pages and Discussions and broadcast to members as needed.

Another online resource that has been very helpful to me is Find A Grave. I have had several cousins contact me because of the memorials I created on their web site, or photos or vertual flowers I left on memorials others have created. I am working on Find A Grave indexes for family members, which are posted on the Google Group Pages. An example is http://groups.google.com/group/jamesnjanehackingfo/web/hacking-find.... While you are there you could take a look at the other Pages of the group to see how it works.

The James Hacking Google Group can mostly be seen by the public but not membership information, which can only be seen by other members. Only members can post so no spam is allowed. Only those who can give their relationship to the family are allowed membership. When you set up Google Groups you can control what is seen or accessable to others.

Eventually, the plan is to create family organization web sites for each of my main lines that will have all of our family history resources and other applications found in one place and allow full control over access and privacy options. The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding (TNG) is an excellant software for building such a site. http://www.lythgoes.net/genealogy/software.php

I also use newFamilySearch, and other resources to find and communicate with family members. However, it is very time consuming to do all of this alone. This is why it is so important to organize our families and assign different tasks to other family members so we don't keep plowing over the same ground and make our efforts more less efficient.

Permalink Reply by Pamela Rae Harris Averett on February 9, 2010 at 11:36pm

Unless you're the only one doing it.

Permalink Reply by Deanna Hebert on February 26, 2010 at 9:22am

I have found several distant cousins on Ancestry.com and I can say that FamilySearch will be open for others than LDS members. I don't imagine it will be too much longer before that happens. Luckily my closer cousins are more than happy to help out and my new found family appreciate the input on Ancestry.com.