Categorization Project-What are you working on?

Question

Hi Categorization Project Members and WikiTree community,

We're working on updating how the Categorization project flows and functions. Just this morning it became clear we needed to track what updates and changes are happening or need to happen, so we started a table to keep track of things. It has only the most recent discussions, so it would be great to hear what you all have been working on so we can add to it.

What are you working on? What structure questions have you seen that need addressed? 

Categories are constantly being added and used across the site, and it's great. We want to make sure we're keeping up with helping discuss structure so everyone is building the same way, which helps others find the information they need as unnecessary duplication is minimized. 

Let's talk and catch up!

Comments

This is wonderful, Abby!  I would love some help with the Canadian categories if anyone is willing and able :)

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Answer 1

Abby,

I have been lucky enough to obtain about 120 old family photos from four albums, 1840 - 1910, are the approximate dates.  I have been adding them to several new Free Space pages and will be using a category page to organize the photos albums.  At the same time I will be reviewing the categories for those individuals that are identified in the photos, almost all of the photos were labeled by the original owner, my gr-gr-grandmother.  While almost all of the individuals have profiles, I will need to add a few with their new categories.  I expect the categories to be town names and cemeteries.

This is the first free space.  Mary Jane (Griffin) Smith's Photographic Album - Smith  The categories and three more albums are a work in progress as are adding photos to the individuals profiles.

Comments

Cool project Philip!

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Thanks, Phil! I need to follow suit. I have so many photos from my and my husband's family to work on. I nibble at it when things aren't too chaotic, which isn't very often :-D

Answer 2

Hi Abby,

I'm leading the Freemasonry Free Space Project:

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Freemasonry

Which uses the category of Freemasonry, anything under that, and related topics.

I don't have any questions at the moment.

Comments

Great, Eric. Can we put you down as the person to talk to if we need to discuss Freemasonry project related categories? That is on our list yet.

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Yes, absolutely, Thanks.

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This is great, Eric. I was thinking there needed to be a Freemason project or free space page. Didn't realize you already had one.  My father was a 33rd degree mason, and a number of people in my family were Freemasons. I also do cemetery documentation and have come across a lot of Freemasons.  I'll go back and add the template.  Please add me to your group.

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Hi Carolyn,

I've added you to the group. Welcome aboard!

We just have a Category set up. No easy-to-use, snazzy template yet. I think that we would have to become an "official" project first.

Let me know how I can help.

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Sorry, I meant category.

Answer 3

Hi! I check Wanted Cats on a recurring basis (at least weekly) & if the intended category exists, I correct the category name on an open profile or leave a note on a private profile. (I don't create categories based on the Wanted Cats - I have a hard enough getting categories right for areas I know well!)

May and June won't be quite so bad (time-wise) for me as March and April have been, so you can delete the "Limited Availability" note for me on the New Netherland Settlers, Louisiana, and Magna Carta projects.

Thanks, Liz

Comments

Thanks, Liz!

Answer 4

I usually roam through profiles that are located in Devon (and sometimes Cornwall) UK, and add the relevant location categories of villages.  As part of my sponsorship of Devon, I am doing a review of its town/village categories (to make sure they exist!).

I have also just started up the DISTIN One Name Study, so I am busy adding its category to the relevant profiles.

Comments

Thanks, Ros!

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That's a great idea, Ros !

Answer 5

Well, I'm working on a one-place category for Monroe Twp. Licking County, Ohio.  So far I'm just collecting names of people who lived there.  I've got 115 so far, but have hundreds more to go, maybe thousands.  I asked a question the other day about who should get such a category and one answer said it's usually only people who were born or died in the category place, but that he didn't think it would hurt to add additional people.  My feeling is that I want anyone who lived a large amount of time in Monroe Township.  So should I break things down into sub-categories like, born, died, lived, study, etc.?  Or is it OK to keep them lumped together,, at least for now?

Comments

I think most OPS lump them all together. Thanks for weighing in, Dave.

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Abby

I think too many books are onty limiting them to those still living there or died there. My family moved as needed and contributed to the community they were in. In short keep all until you feel a split is necessary.

It will be harder finding those who moved away. I think they will find you. Have fun.

Jon P Czarowitz

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We should have a better way of telling that a person lived in a place between 1850 and moved away1862 apr 20.

If we had that it would be easy to ask the database 

1. please give me all people who died in Monroe Twp. Licking County
2. please give people born in Monroe but died in xxx
3. please display on a map how this person has moved during his life..... 

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Well, I do have one nice document for #1, a copy of the Emerson Mortuary records for 1884 - 1930.  Emerson was one of the two Mortuaries in Johnstown, Monroe Twp.  My brother Bob and I were at the Green Hill Cemetery and they mentioned that they had a copy of this document which had been copied from the originals by the now defunct Johnstown Historical Society. (I think that's the name)  it's 95 pages plus an 18 page index both single spaced.  Anyway since my brother was a teacher and Football coach in Johnstown they let us make a copy.  It has a ton of relatives and even some ancestors.  And I'd be happy to do look-ups if anyone wants them.  I know some other mortuary material for Monroe Twp is available on line but I haven't printed it out.  Of course the big source of residents of the are are the US Censuses.  They can often give you a close indication of where a family was if they moved from or to another state.  Often there are children born between censuses and looking at the birth state may narrow the move date to a year or so.

Answer 6

What structure questions have you seen that need addressed? 

A) Use of templates or not for external links

B) Start using Infoboxes or not on category pages

C) Define a standard telling if a project is responsible for a Category and how to contact them....
Today if you have a question about a category you have to guess?!?!?

D) Have text on category pages or not - for me one important use of a category is to add context to a Wiki profile....

E) Will Wikitree upgrade? If we upgrade to version 1.16 of Wikimedia we could start include pictures from Wikimedia commons ==> e.g. easy get useful maps that would be useful for location categories and also historical maps would be great help for doing genealogy

F) What is the status with using disambiguation pages? Is it ok to use or do we have a better solution... or is it not a problem....
Do we think language code will solve all problems? Should we have the disambiguation on every category... see Monroe_Township, Adams, Allen, Ashtabula.... 

or is it up to the people doing the categories.... do what they want...

Comments

Thanks, Magnus. I'll try to bring those up one at time over the next couple weeks (a lot going on off line so things have to move slowly for me on!). I can't help with some of them. :-)

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No problem most of them has been open since december.....so I assume its a no/no answer on most of them until I hear a go ;-)

We tested activate the parameter to use Wikimedia Common on the Family Search wiki yesterday and that is cool see link

Answer 7

Very cool Abby.  I'm still working on US regional cats, A few more counties in WI and then WY and all incorporated places (and many unincorporated) in the US will have categories. Then I plan on going back to AL and review, applying what I've learned along the way.

Comments

Thanks, Dan. I always enjoy seeing what you're working on.

Answer 8

Once I finish bio and gedcom cleanup in my watchlist (next month) I will go back to US orphaned profiles and add county + state, and attempt to source if needed.

Comments

Thanks, Mary!

Answer 9

I'm cleaning up categories as I find them but I've been mostly working on trying to attach my people to the global tree. So far, the only connection is through my marriage.
Also, I'm working on a Jones YDNA project with a FaceBook Group and a Group on FTDNA doing the same thing. Between the 3 sites we are slowly heading back to Wales.

Comments

Thanks, Rosemary!

Answer 10

Hi Abby,  I haven't been doing much recently due to life occurring.  I do check the wanted cats, But I do set them up, if appropriate.  As I had to resign from the Google+ feed due to my hacked email, will you please sent me an invitation? Thanks.

Answer 11

Hi Abby,

I just finished adding all the top level categories for the United States and each county for the One Name Studies Project. I see that it is an action item on your graph, so wanted to give you an update. Canada and Ireland, with major help from Leigh, have also been completed at the county/province level.

We are encouraging our project members to start adding the name study category with location to individual profiles to help with ONS project organization. I'm also available to help anyone set up their project categories.

I also completed the categories for the public land states yesterday for the Homesteaders Project at the state and county level. ;-)

Answer 12

I would like to clean up US Schools but need help figuring out the best way to categorize. Some are established and others are sort of haphazard.

Comments

That can be a hard one as there were those which were a live on site or not and those which were just small community schools. All before the so called Public school. Also those still in use and those gone Bye Bye.

One such that has gone would have been rich had they stayed is Grassyville, Bastrop County,  Texas. The school location is now in the middle of an oil field.

Jon P Czarowitz

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Exactly.  And some schools began as one room and are now something else.

Still, I was looking at MA schools, and there is a category for College, one for Universities, and one for Colleges and Universities. Also, there is one for MA High Schools and one for each of several counties school systems. And that's only one state.

It could be sorted out more uniformly.