WikiTree Community Blog

I’ve been having fun this week blasting off into WikiTree’s new frontier known as WikiSpace. As Chris mentioned in a previous post, “a WikiSpace Page is for a significant place in your family history, or a meaningful event, or a family heirloom, or a special pet, or … whatever.” Exactly. It’s that last part that lets you get creative and have some fun, while building on the history of something or someone. For example, I spent some time last week setting up a WikiSpace for my blog on small business. The page links from my Person Page, as does the WikiSpace that I created on German Shepherds (GSDs). We are the proud parents of two wonderful GSDs and our family history would not be complete without a special tribute to the twins – Lady and Luger. But since I chose to make this page public, I wanted to do more than share just our story. So I added links to German Shepherd rescues around the nation and links to special organizations like the Humane Society of the United States and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or ASPCA. It was exciting and fulfilling to see this WikiSpace come to life, and I invite you to add to it. A German Shepherd somewhere needs your help.

Aside from these personal projects, I also added WikiSpaces for the American Flag, which links from Betsy Ross, Guinness Beer from Arthur Guinness’ Person Page and Romeo and Juliet which pays tribute to the forever revered William Shakespeare. Again, these are public pages and I encourage you to add to them. Or…

Create your own WikiSpace! Simply add [[Space:Sample WikiSpace Page|sample page]] to the bio on any Person Page. This can be on your own Person Page, someone on your family tree or even a historical figure. You’ll need to replace Sample WikiSpace Page and sample page with whatever you want to call your new WikiSpace. To create the pipe (”|”) character, press (SHIFT + BACKSLASH) on your keyboard. Once saved, go back to the Person Page, click on the “sample page” link and have fun creating your new WikiSpace!

Hello Pioneer WikiTreers,

I have something exciting to report. Well, exciting to me. And four or five of you guys.

WikiTree has a great, new open frontier: WikiSpace.

Up until now the entire site has been focused around people. Obvious, right? This is a family history site. But I mean this in a deeper way. The entire organizational structure of the site has been centered on Person Pages. Every person has a page. One Person Page links to another. All the content, photos, and links go on these pages.

We now have a new type of page that parallels the WikiTree Person Pages. I’m calling them WikiSpace Pages. Where a Person Page is for a member of your family, a WikiSpace Page is for a significant place in your family history, or a meaningful event, or a family heirloom, or a special pet, or … whatever.

You could create a page called “Christmas 1976″ for that year when the snow was piled three feet deep. Or the “House on Maple Street” where three generations of your family grew up. Or maybe a page for “The Battle of Port Huron” where your great-great grandfather died. The possibilities are limitless.

I must admit that this new space is still very rough. As of today you can’t even add images to WikiSpace pages. I’m expecting that to be ready in the next couple days.

Also, there’s no easy form for creating a new WikiSpace Page. You have to know about the secret wiki shortcut. Here it is: in a person’s biography write something like “Here is a [[Space:Sample WikiSpace Page|sample page]] to try out.”

The double brackets create a link. The title of the new webpage comes first, prefixed with “Space:”. Then you put in a “|” pipe and the link name as you want it displayed. When you save it and go back to the Person Page you can click on your new “sample page” link to create the WikiSpace Page.

I admit, this isn’t for casual browsers yet. You have to want to explore.

Keep me posted about what you find. I’m expecting some unexpected bugs, so if you trip over anything odd please, please, please let me know ASAP. E-mail me at chris -at- wikitree.com or post a comment response below.

Onward and upward!

Chris

I realized something very important this past week while attempting to reconstruct the family history of one celebrated individual here on WikiTree…Tutankhamun or King Tut for short. While excited to learn about his life and times, I can tell you with certainty that we would be a society in complete and total confusion if we had to carry around names like those bestowed upon ancient Egyptians. Take King Tut for example. Being an Egyptian Pharaoh he was subject to the royal titulary – a hierarchy of names used to symbolize elements of importance including worldly power and holy might. As such, he was given five names. Five names! And these were not easy names like Tom, Mary or Penelope. They were confusing, nearly impossible to pronounce and filled with much mystery and debate.

To understand the complexity, King Tut’s titulary included a Prenomen or his throne name; a Horus used to symbolize his earthly embodiment of the God Horus; a Nebti which literally means “two ladies” and was used to show the king in relation to two goddesses; the Golden Horus or the name that represented the triumph of Horus over his uncle Seth; and the Nomen or the king’s birth name. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, this was Tut’s Golden Horus: Wetjeskhausehetepnetjeru Heqa-maat-sehetep-netjeru Wetjes-khau-itef-Re Wetjes-khau-Tjestawy-Im. Say that ten times fast.

And it doesn’t get any easier when you start to travel along King Tut’s tree. His wife was born Ankhesenpaaten and later renamed, Ankhesenamen. Her sisters were Meritaten and Meketaten. It is speculated that Meritaten may have served as a Pharaoh under the name, Ankhkheperure Neferneferuaten and I could go on and on. But I won’t, because I’m asking for your help. If you’re a King Tut fanatic, professor or student of ancient history or just someone who loves a great challenge, please help grow Tutankhamun’s family tree here on WikiTree. I need all the assistance I can get!