We're making 2022 our Year of Family Connections

+109 votes
3.2k views

Hi WikiTreers,

In 2021 we had a "Year of Accuracy" theme. We're planning to call 2022 our "Year of Family Connections" and emphasize broad/collateral relationships.

Here is some of what we're working on for this:

  1. We are updating the WikiTree logo with some connection imagery. Watch for it soon!
  2. We will continue the WikiTree Challenge but change its focus. For the Year of Accuracy our guests were professional and leading genealogists. Our challenge was to make their ancestry here more accurate and complete than it is anywhere else. For 2022, our guests won't be genealogists and they won't already have extensive family trees. Our challenge will be to connect them to our global tree and give them wide and richly intertwined branches that connect them to new family members.
  3. We're adjusting our marathon weekend schedule to have two extra Connect-a-Thons. We'll still have our ever-popular Fall Source-a-Thon. But we'll have a Winter Connect-a-Thon and a Spring Connect-a-Thon in addition to our normal Summer Connect-a-Thon. (We won't do a Scan-a-Thon or Clean-a-Thon.)
  4. We'll highlight and explore new uses for MyConnections, MyCousins and other recent advances made possible by Ales's ultra-efficient connections database.

I'm sure there will be more. We'll coordinate with the Connectors Project and bring extra attention to their monthly challenge event. This will fit nicely with the US Black Heritage Project's Connecting Challenge. There is talk in the Arborists Project, France Project, and US Presidents Project about coordinating new activities.

If none of the above interests you, don't worry. WikiTree is big and if you want to ignore the Year of Family Connections and treat it just like any other year, you can. :-) But, we'd love to have you involved in the challenges and maybe you'd even consider leading your own special project or event. If you do, post about it here on G2G and we'll help you tell others about it.

Please post here is you have ideas or suggestions. Please post an answer instead of a comment. Comments at the top will be hidden after they are read once. Thanks!

Onward and upward, for our global family tree,

Chris and the Team

in The Tree House by Chris Whitten G2G Astronaut (1.5m points)

Sharp eyes may have already noticed the new WikiTree logo as it appears in the 2022 WikiTree Challenge promotions:

Sharp!

33 Answers

+22 votes
This is a suggestion for the dataviz folks: it would be cool to see a map of our connections that showed us who our super-connectors are - profiles through which a lot of our connections link up.  Those are points in the tree that I would like to spend time sourcing thoroughly, even if they are not direct-line ancestors or otherwise particularly notable.

Does such a tool already exist?  If not, does anybody else think a tool like that would point them to new research avenues?
by E. Compton G2G6 Pilot (193k points)
I think Bernard Vatant and the Circles group has looked at the super-connectors.  Try this page (it has lots of links listed too):  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:100_Circles
+20 votes
I really like the emphasis on connections next year.  I have a couple of suggestions for next years challenge.
First, have you considered guests who have been on Finding Your Roots or Who Do You Think You Are? They will have a tree with the ancestors but I doubt that it is very full as you move out from the ancestors.
Second, I think you should adjust the point structure.  Something like 3 points for a direct ancestor, 2 points for a sibling or second spouse of an ancestor and 1 point for the spouses and children of siblings. I have found that spouses of siblings are where the connections really come from.
by Donald Lindgren G2G6 Mach 2 (27.1k points)
+17 votes
Of course every year is a year of accuracy. I hope that the points system includes rewards for correcting inaccurate connections in someway…because an inaccurate connection isn’t really a connection.
by M Cole G2G6 Mach 8 (88.4k points)
+19 votes
I love this idea! It will be kind of like the WikiTree version of those celebrity genealogy shows. I enjoy the Connectors monthly challenge, but I've gotten distracted lately because I keep making connections for side branches that are already connected, just for the sheer joy of connecting. That adrenaline rush never gets old!
by Katherine Chapman G2G6 Mach 6 (69.5k points)
+17 votes
I love finding connections!  Sounds great!
by Lynnette Hettrick G2G6 Mach 5 (55.4k points)
+19 votes
Well ... my year of Family Connections is off to a running start ...

Just located my grandfather's sister's find a grave memorial (linked her up with her parents), processed her Ancestry hints, found her obituary on Newspapers.com, figured/sorted out her deceased husbands (located their find a grave memorials and linked her to them), tracked down her living and deceased children (located their find a grave memorials and linked their parents to them), tracked down the grandchildren, checked my Ancestry DNA matches for hits, discovered a second cousin DNA match (the DNA match had a linked tree on Ancestry showing my grandaunt) and have sent a hello message via the Ancestry message system to my DNA match. I'm now waiting a response.

That's one done.
by Tommy Buch G2G Astronaut (1.9m points)
I hope you have luck with the response! May 2022 bring many more connections for you.
+13 votes

"Year of Family Connections" ! "Broad/Collateral Family Relationships" !  C'est Bon Magnifique Monsieur Chris Whitten ! 

 

by Stanley Baraboo G2G Astronaut (1.4m points)
edited by Stanley Baraboo
+12 votes
I initially joined Wikitree as a place to park my family tree, but I came to love Wikitree for the variety of projects and opportunities it has provided me not only to grow my tree, but to expand my research skills, learn about other places and cultures, help others, get help from others, and to make friends from around the world. I love the projects, the thons, and the G2G forum with its vibrant conversations on nearly every imaginable topic. Now I hear more is comming...I'm overjoyed!

Now entering my Sophomore year on Wikitree, my only significant frustration remains the same as day one. It can sometimes be quite difficult to locate all the opportunities available to us. My suggestion for 2022 would be to add a prominent link such as "Current Opportunities" that would show me what's happening on WikiTree right now (and only right now - eliminating thons that have ended, projects which are no longer active, etc.) Put simply, let's boost participation by making these opportunities easier to find.
by David Randall G2G6 Pilot (337k points)
Great comments, David. Thank you!
+13 votes
Sounds like fun. Count me in! Dig the new logo. Though, it looks kinda like an atom. Still cool! =D
by Chris Ferraiolo G2G6 Pilot (756k points)
+12 votes
Well done, team.  Already shared this to the cousins on our reunion Facebook Group, and to the cousin I'm trying to encourage to join WikiTree.  Love the new Logo!
by Willodene Adams G2G6 Mach 8 (86.8k points)
+13 votes
This will fit perfectly with my goal of getting my personal research uploaded to WikiTree! I've been using the connect-a-thons to help me to focus on that goal, and now with three of them it will go even faster. I'm excited about this year!
by Joyce Rivette G2G6 Pilot (178k points)
+6 votes
As it happens, I've been working on a number of families, and have begun free space pages to address those families and records that relate o them.
by Mark Weinheimer G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
+5 votes
Thank you again Chris and WikiTree Team for everything you do and congratulations on 29,000,000 profiles!

I am really looking forward to our first Challenge with Jimbo Wales. I wouldn't be editing wikis if it wasn't for him and a few others. I also have my emphasis with Germany Project that I need to reinvigorate. Working on a few friends' branches has really excited me again and what perfect timing. Cheers!
by Steven Greenwood G2G6 Pilot (118k points)

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