Join the Cemetery Project's January 2016 Free For All Challenge!

Question

Last year's Free For All Challenge was the Global Cemeteries Project's most popular challenge ever, and it's almost time for the second one! This challenge is extra fun because ALL contributions count. That means you can go out and photograph tombstones, transcribe photos of tombstones, create profiles, upload tombstone photos to profiles, connect those profiles to the global tree, or any combination of those things.

If you'd like to join, click here! Then just scroll down to the Participants section and add a section for yourself. You can copy mine and just change the name and location. That's where you'll keep track of your points during the challenge.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions and I'll answer them here!

Comments

Love to do it but most of the cemeteries have been deep under snow since our first snow Nov 7... but love to try when I can get my truck out of the icy driveway  LOL...

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In past challenges, we've had people participate entirely by creating profiles from someone else's transcriptions. There are lots of opportunities to work collaboratively if that interests you! :)

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In my minds eye - the first vision to pop into my head...WikiTreers running through Cemeteries with cardboard swords and terry cloth towel capes bounding over tombstones. Mags

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I'm in.

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I'm in too!

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I am a little late on reading this.  I am willing to help .   Except I cannot go out to take the photographs.  Is there another way to help with it and be of value???

I am from Texas 

I also know how poor the photos are of the Greene Alabama cemeteries after going through the entire cemeteries that it has. (Don't take offense WikiTree,,,,   the cemetery photos are not on wikiTree.).

Mary Richardson-7161

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Yay!  Finally a challenge that won't interfere with my Cemeteriest duties on Wikitree.. I'm in :)

Answer 1

Yay! This is right up my alley. It's what I do almost every day.  I'm in.

Comments

Great! It looks like most of the Florida Cemeteries Project could end up participating in this one! :)

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Hi Lianne,

What part of Florida are you photographing?

I just posted asking if it was too late to join.  I live right outside of Orlando in the Kissimmee zipcode.

Taylor Fritz

Answer 2

Sounds great, Lianne! I have been wanting to get involved and this sounds like a fun way to learn!  It sounds like a great opportunity to collaborate!

Comments

Great! I just awarded you the Cemeterist badge. I also added you to the list of participants on the challenge page. The only thing I didn't fill out was the "Participating in" part because I wasn't sure of that. (That's the location of the cemeteries you're working on for the challenge. In the US it's broken down by state.)

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I'll take South Carolina, please!

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Hi Paula,

What part of South Carolina will you be working in?  I am also a South Carolina Native, and will be working in the Lowcountry, Hampton, Allendale, Beaufort, Jasper, Colleton, etc.  Also have some photos from a few Georgia Cemeteries I hope I get a chance to add!

Answer 3

Lianne, The contest rules say "Transcriptions must be done from the photos taken by you or another project member ...."  How do you find photos take by others that you can transcribe?  And can I take photos anytime, or do I need to wait until January?

Comments

You'd have to work that out with someone who has photos for you to transcribe, since often they aren't uploaded yet. Someone could upload them to the cemetery's free-space page for you to transcribe.

For photos to count for the challenge they have to be taken in January. But you can certainly use photos taken before then to transcribe, etc. All that matters is that what you're getting points for is done in January.

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Hi Vic,

I have a lot of photos I haven't gotten around to making profiles for. I already transcribed them, and I could send you the excel spreadsheet of transcriptions for the cemetery and you could make the profiles. Would you like to do that? My email is mriley@purdue.edu.

Martha

Answer 4

Just over 3 weeks left before the challenge! :) (Just answering to bump this question up so more people see it.)

Answer 5

I started to skip this challenge, because life seems to have slowed down my searching!  But what better way to get back into the swing of things than with a good Cemetery Challenge!
With this challenge, I hope to get back on that Genealogy Horse!  Good luck to everyone!  Watch out cemeteries in the Lowcountry of South Carolina!

When I was adding myself to the challenge, i noticed there is another South Carolinian in the challenge!  Great to know there is another cemeterist in South Carolina!
Liz Parker

Comments

Liz,

Love your sense of humor!

Taylor

Answer 6

Just a reminder that this challenge starts the day after tomorrow! Though how quick of a start it has depends on how hard the Cemeterists party on New Year's Eve. :)

Happy New Year everyone!

Answer 7

I am so excited to get started on this challenge!  I  have been trying to get back into the swing of things, but it has been kind of hard with the Christmas season and family gatherings!  But Santa, aka my wonderful husband! gave me a camera for Christmas and I am itching to get out to some cemeteries and try it out!  Although our New Year is bring rain to the forecast in my area :(  Hope all have a wonderful and safe New Year!

Answer 8

Lianne, I need clarification.  I added two profiles - a husband and wife.  I have a photo with the two markers joined, then I took photos of the individual marker for each (sometimes it's just a close-up of the individual's info).  I added both photos to each person's profile.  I know I can only count one photo when it is taken (this is one previously taken so it doesn't count as new), but when I attach them to a profile can I count both shots?

Comments

Does anyone know the answer to my question (above)?

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Hmm, never thought of that one before! I'd say that if each of the photos contributes something to the profile you could count both. I have no problem with that.

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OK, good.  When I take a far shot of a double marker, it is often hard to read the info on each person, so I also take a close-up for each.  Or if there is a lengthy saying or family information, I may need to take 2 or 3 photos so it is all readable.

Answer 9

Hi,

Is it to late to join the Cemetery Project? I see that a number of members are signed up in Florida.  I live in Poinciana, which is in Osceola County outside of Orlando.  Poinciana is technically included in the zipcode with Kissimmee.  Do I need to check to see if these cemeteries have been photographed by Find A Grave?

I was so excited when I saw there was a "contest" I didn't realize we had competitions!  I hope I am eligible to join as I love competitions!

Taylor

Comments

It's not too late to join! I just awarded you the Cemeterist badge, so welcome to the project! :)

You don't need to check anything on Find a Grave, as our project is not connected to them. We take our own photos (primarily for copyright reasons), do our own transcriptions, etc.

It would be a good idea to join up with the Florida Cemeteries Project, though, and track the cemeteries you work on on the project's progress page, just so that multiple people aren't duplicating the same work.

To join the challenge, all you have to do is add yourself to the Participants list on the challenge page and start earning points! Don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions. :)

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Lianne,

Thanks so much!

Taylor