Wales Categorisation Explanation Part 1 - Introduction

Profile manager: Steve Bartlett [send private message]

Categorisation Tree

• Some people find working with the Categorisation Tree difficult to understand within context of the Wales Project. This is an attempt to make it easier to understand and then endorse.

• We use Categorisation within Wikitree as the keystone to the overarching database of Profiles.

• In the Wales Project our Top Level is unsurprisingly Wales. Then next in the tree could be Anglesey, and after that, for example, Amlwch. That's where you find the profiles for people living in Amlwch. Margaret Allman is the first.

• On this training page, whenever you see something highlighted like that with a line under it you can click on it and it will take you to that page. (Just by way of ease of use, if you right click you can open in a new Tab, or, for Tablets, "Hold" to open in a new tab). If you do get round to looking at Wales you will see a whole load of subcategories relating to different aspects of Wales, but for us, to begin with, the things we are interested in are further down where you will see the 13 traditional, or historic Counties.

• The Categorisation structure and terminology is agreed centrally in Wikitree. So even though in some of our minds a Location is the same as an Address, this is not the case in Wikitree.

• People much cleverer than us have come with a system of Categorisation that produces a Category Information Box, abbreviated to CIB. These are different for Cemeteries, places of worship, and just Places, which we call Locations.

• By adding various codes into the CIBs, clever links take us to different internet sites. For instance by adding the Lat/Long it links to a Map program showing the precise place. But as you might imagine the Lat/Long has to be in a precise, pre-agreed standard form. By finding a weird number starting with the letter Q called the Wikidata ID number, it links to both the Wikipedia and Wikidata sites.

• Starting to get difficult already? Quite understandable. That's why we have a group within the Wales Project which is proficient at creating the CIBs.

• Why bother? This can be answered only with an example. The Mostyn family were land-owners and minor aristocrats in North Wales. However there were other families with that surname. The Mostyns who were grocers in Anglesey, the Mostyns who were butchers in Abergele. This was only established by adding the Categories to all Mostyns that this could be found. These artisan families in Anglesey had nothing to do with their aristocratic Mostyns namesakes who founded Llandudno as we know it today.

• Most of you will want to go no further than locations so in Part 1 we'll start with that.

Locations

• You shouldn't need to create these because over a period of a few months these were created for all the Counties, but let's have a look anyway. From Wales first county we come to is Anglesey. This is where you will see a CIB. A little map in the top, and then within the box, little green text, which are direct links to other parts of the internet.

• The first line says Wikipedia/Wikidata. Click on Wikipedia and it takes you to the Wikipedia page for Anglesey. (It says "English Wikipedia" because this is the language used). If you look down the list on the left hand side of the Wikipedia page, under Tools you will see Wikidata item. Click on this and it will take you to the Wikidata page.

• At the top of this you will see the mysterious Qcode. For Anglesey this is Q168159. By putting this into the Edit field for the CIB, the clever people have come up with the words Wikipedia/Q168159 in the CIB. Clicking on Qcode takes you straight to the Wikdata page for Anglesey, this links to all sorts of other stuff on Anglesey.

• Back to the Anglesey page

• Scroll down until you come to Amlwch, the second of the As. Alongside, it says 7, 55(or more),0. & subcategories, probably churches or chapels, and 55 Profiles of individuals. One click on this takes you to the page for Amlwch

• Sticking with the CIB to begin with we see the familiar Wikipedia but alongside we now have Qnumber, in this case Q472667. Try clicking on this. It will take you to the Wikidata page for Amlwch. Scroll down to bottom and you will see that the Wikitree Category is available for all to see. This a very new feature that we are slowly implementing.

• Also within the CIB is a line that says "Map:" and if you click on Google you will open Google Maps with your Location in the centre. By clicking on the + button in the right hand bottom corner you will zoom in with each click.

• Back to the Amlwch page

• You will see all the Churches and Chapels listed. Forget about these for the time being. That is for lesson 2.

• Look at the Profiles which are in surname alphabetical order.

• Remember the Mostyns. Pick the second one, Elizabeth Jane Mostyn (1885-). Here you will find that her father William was born in Liverpool and was in Amlwch as a Tobacconist. Not an Aristocrat, then.

Things to remember

1. Wikitree is database of Profiles. Profiles of people are the most important.
2. Categories are there to help manage this database.
3. By Categorising your Profiles you are helping others probably more than you are helping yourself.
4. Adding Location Categories for Birth, Marriage, and Deaths is obvious. Adding a Census place, if you know it, could help others too.
5. Quick way to Categorise:- Above the Edit Text Field of a Profile there are a number of icons. Second from the right is the one you want. Click on that and start typing. By the time you get to the w of Amlwch you will have a selection. Choose, click and it's done.
6. Remember to use the traditional Counties.
7. A database without criteria is nothing more than a list.