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A digital work space

Ronald

Entry posted by Ronald

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      I have been working on my family tree for a number of years now.  During that time I also worked on the trees of others, the brick walls of others, and those other aspects of life that are not genealogically related.  I still work outside the home.  I would find different clues while researching, and each of them would open a new door to possibilities.  Many times I would have to chose ONE of them and pursue that option for what seemed like weeks.  Then upon a successful or unsuccessful outcome I had another sliver of truth to attach to my tree.  Along the way, those paths that were left un-taken were somehow forgotten.  There always seem to be more possibilities than answers. A few months later I would find a new reference to one of those long forgotten paths, get excited, and then wonder..... "what did I do with those notes?"  Seems I could never really find the notes in question.  I mean, they are there somewhere, just not sure where that somewhere is. 

       This is where our website came into question. I have been tinkering with the internet since the 1990's.  I have always had an enjoyment dabbling in computer code and website building.  Sometime around 2002 I found the message board software to be interesting and used it to create 2 websites for other non-profit uses.  Building a website is similar to my genealogy work.  It is a journey, it is challenging, and it is rewarding when it comes together.  That is when I thought that this software would be able to help me organize my notes, those notes somehow left in a pile somewhere.  Those notes that I could no longer find.  Those notes that are in an email folder, computer folder, folded up and put away somewhere safe for later.  Isn't it strange that those safe places designed for later can never be found again?  Strange I said, not pleasurable.

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     This I when I began to use this forum, or message board software to create a digital work space for my genealogy work and that of my beautiful wife. We have only just begun to work through all of the issues and get the site into a position to be more helpful, but that is for next time.

 

 

 

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Ronald

        Over the last week we have been very fortunate to have time away from work to experience the Holiday time period.  This has provided a fair amount of time for doing things we WANTED to do.  I took that time to build more of the basics into the web presentation.  I hope this will pay dividends in the future as I get back to more of my own research and helping others with theirs.

        Presently I have completed the basics for some states in the USA.  What does that mean? Well each completed state has:

  1. A state page with functioning links and resources
  2. A table that includes links to each county or designated area within the state
  3. Each county page has a basic presentation that enables our team to build out content from the comfort of their own homes, no matter where they live, this enables the team concept.
  4. A few images are in the State Gallery
  5. A county Wake up posting that asks for volunteers and just information from those willing to provide it.

        Though this type of effort isn't really very rewarding for me; it is very tedious and time consuming, just kidding.  It does enable others to do more meaningful work on the site.  As an example, take a look at the state of Ohio.  Our team has been working to get more quality information placed on those county pages in the hopes it will help others.  In time, with others also providing information, we hope this will be a useful work space to assist in research or to present findings. 

        My ultimate goal is to provide this common level of information focusing on each county within America, and also to those states within foreign countries, such as the Westerwald region of the Rhineland.  There, that is the dream.

It may take a while..... 

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Ronald

I began working on Texas a few days ago, BOY is it BIG!  I am not sure how long it will take to get the Texas foundation built, but it just needs to be done.  

Having the most counties of any state in America it presents a challenge, but once completed Texas will provide 254 places to organize research.  Since the USA has 3142 counties or equivalents, Texas does get quite a bit done.

Anyway, if you stop by to take a look, know we are working on it.  If you notice only partial completion, remember we plan to get it all done.  If you are wanting of a specific county, it will be here, soon.

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Ronald

I feel like the site has matured over the last years and is in a structrurally good state.  Sure we need more data, sure we have a long way to go, but it is really beginning to meet it's purpose of a workspace to share and collaborate with others about our passion for genealogy research and the hobby.

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