These general guidelines apply to PacificGenWeb projects at all levels.

The purpose of PacificGenWeb's Archives is to provide access to genealogical transcripts relating to all Island nations and dominions within the region as designated by the WorldGebWeb project, of which this project is a part. We encourage genealogists to proactively transcribe or donate source documents and inscriptions relating to their local area and to make these documents available to genealogists through our various regional networks. Or, if you have a site with transcripts, please let us know and we will post your URL on the country pages specific to your information.

These links provide further information about how you can participate in this worthwhile project:

Making File Submissions
What Are Acceptable Transcripts?
File Naming Conventions
How Can I Volunteer?

Making File Submissions

Please contact the coordinator of your area before sending transcriptions. They will discuss the requirements with you and guide you in the right direction. Then, send transcriptions after the following checks:

1. Scan all files for viruses before submitting.
2. No executable files can be accepted.
3. No copyright material can be accepted without the express permission of the copyright owner and the coordinator for the area concerned having sighted that authorisation.
4. ASCII text (*.txt) files are preferred; ie. files created in a text editor such as Notepad or BB Edit. Please convert your non-text files to ASCII text before submitting. If you have created a file in another format, please save it as text in your software program and assign a *.txt extension to the file name. Hard returns or tabs are not encouraged, as they do not translate the same on all browsers. Please use five hard spaces in place of tabs.
5. Portable Document Format (*.pdf) files are acceptable, but please notify your coordinator so that access to an Adobe Acrobat Reader download can be arranged from the site concerned. Please make sure that you have rigorously spell-checked your files before submitting in this format.
6. Please compress or split any files over 100 Kb in size.
7. Data may be lost in transit and we may need to request the transfer again to ensure we have the full file.
8. Once submitted, the data cannot be retracted by the submitter. We spend many hours preparing the files in the proper format for viewing and also proofread submitted files. We have to discourage retractions due to the volume of data and the effort we place into creating a quality archive.
9. Use your own discretion in including data on living people.
10. Do not send copyright material, unless it is your own and you include a statement of permission to use in the document. Note that public domain records do not have copyright restrictions.
11. PacificGenWeb and all related projects reserve the right to refuse any submission and we may, at our discretion, store the same data in several formats.

What Are Acceptable Transcripts?

File Naming Conventions

The naming conventions currently acceptable are: country code; provincial code; file name.

• au-tr : Australia transcriptions
• fij-tr : Fiji transcriptions - where a country has its own site rather than being part of one of the four areas within the Pacific - Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia
• mel-sol-tr : Solomon Islands, Melanesia transcriptions - where the country forms part of one of the four areas within the Pacific - Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia
• auvic-tr : Victoria, Australia transcriptions - this applies to state-level projects within a country

All ASCII text (*.txt) files start with the country or provincial code and file name.

• vcmlbsym.txt : Melbourne, Victoria Symphony Orchestra
• tongaroyal.txt : Members of the Tongan Royal Family

NOTE: You may submit your transcription file with any name you like, but we will rename it to meet the above conventions.

How Can I Volunteer?

The Project requires several types of volunteers. These links will take you to information about the various ways in which you can volunteer to help.

Country / Area Coordinator

Transcript Donor

Transcriber

Look Up Volunteer

Coordinators record archive locations, transcribe records, or seek donors and volunteers to transcribe records. You need to know basic HTML and FTP procedures to maintain a Web site. Most of the major sections of the country / area sites have now been set up. On-going maintenance will be, for the most part, your primary responsibility. Assistance is always available from the regional coordinator, PacificGenWeb.

Coordinators who choose some of the country sites which fall inside the boundaries of other areas, or ones which are dependencies of larger countries, will work alongside the country coordinator for that country.

If you would like to coordinate an area project, please contact me with the following information:

• your name
• the name of the area you have chosen to coordinate and any relevant details.

You should refer to the schedule of Represented Countries for area projects requiring coordinators.

If you would like to coordinate a country project, please contact me with the following information:

• your name
• the name of the area you have chosen to coordinate and any relevant details.

You should refer to the schedule of Represented Countries for country projects requiring coordinators. You will work with the appropriate area coordinator for your country project and, in some cases, with the coordinators for other WorldGenWeb projects.

Volunteers may donate existing transcribed documents to be placed on the Internet for free access. If you have any such items and wish to donate your transcriptions, please refer to the file submissions information on this page. Then, simply contact me with your name and contact information and details on the resource, including file name, location or source of original documents, a description of the file contents, date of transcription and the area, country, provincial or geographical location to which the file relates. If the material is copyright, please include a copy of your written authorisation.

Volunteers may commit to transcribing data, such as census records, wills, cemetery headstones, military records, etc. This is probably the easiest part of the project and one which you may choose to start with. Please contact me with your name and contact information, a description of the transcription, location or source of original documents and the area, country, provincial or geographical location to which it relates. If the material is copyright, please include a copy of your written authorisation. Please also include the names of all transcribers and the dates of transcription.

If you would like to volunteer as a transcriber for more than one type of document or more than one source, then please list all items in the one message.

Look up volunteers are the actual authors or copyright owners of a publication, or they are people who use primary source documentation, with permission from the author or copyright holder. If you fit into this category and are able to do voluntary look ups for other people from the resources available to you, then please contact me with your name and contact information and details on the resource, including full reference information: publisher and year of publication, author's name and any relevant details about the reference. If the material is copyright, please include a copy of your written authorisation. If you have a preference for how someone should contact you regarding look ups, please also specify.