A proposal for effective genealogy using Internet

Background
Genealogy mailing lists are great tools to share information - quick replies - many people can chip in etc. There are, however, also a few drawbacks. It very rapidly becomes quite hard to follow a research line or thread since other topics are mixed in the bag. Browsing the archives of the list is one way to overcome this - reading in "threaded mode". Unfortunately too few people do this (it takes time !) so the list often suffers from duplicate info and misunderstandings since not all are looking at the same picture.
Another problem is queries with too little information which leads to irrelevant -or even wrong - replies and wasting time on researching items already known to the one who asked. We all want to help without wasting time on irrelevant research.

Proposal
That is - to me - the clue and in order to have everyone see the same picture I propose the following technique named "CoGenRes" CO-operative GENealogical RESearch.

The tools for this are

1. SweGGate web portal - publishing summaries and overviews
2. SWEGGATE mailing list - for discussions and queries

This is how I hope it will work

1. For any question that is part of a larger project - such as researching emigrant families - I can create a research project page in the Research Forum section on the SweGGate portal. This is the centre where all relevant background info is published as well as current research tasks and questions.
2. Queries and discussions are done on the SweGGate mailing list without repeating old info and background info but rather referring to the project page.

Since the background facts for the query / family / emigrant are always available on SweGGate several great advantages are gained:

1. All contributors have the same info

2. You do not have to repeat the background / context for your query for every new question - just refer to your page in the Research Forum

3. a reply can ref to that page too

4. I can put research results there directly - in the proper context

5. No need to search the list archives for previous queries or old facts

6. The endless duplications of old mail contents will disappear making the list much less time consuming to read and the archives much easier to search - if you do need to search.

7. It will increase the chance to find unexpected links

8. It will improve the chances that someone will go back and provide new facts even without a new query to the list.

9. All researchers will have a web page for their current research without having to create one themselves

10. All new facts can directly be put into context on the Research page

11. The family data and current research focus will be linked from the appropriate other sections on SweGGate so non-list members will find the facts too - increasing the chance to get new valuable contacts

12. References from the research page(s) to relevant info already on SweGGate will be through links saving you the trouble to search for them.

There are probably more benefits that I haven't thought of but that is up to those who join to find and use.

To make the list work efficiently for all of us please read and follow the simple
 guidelines

I welcome your views - SweGGate - portal and list - is there to serve you !

To subscribe to the list go here
and follow the simple instructions.

See you on the list !

• If you have comments or suggestions on this - please drop me a line:

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Last updated by

F Hae

2005-06-05 18:45

© Fredrik Haeffner, 2003-5