The following was posted in the Geni Forum at http://forum.geni.com/topic.php?id=58161
Your ideas and input are invited, either through the Forum or here. This is the culmination of an initial discussion between Private User, Erin Ishimoticha, Flemming Allan Funch, Angus Wood-Salomon, Pam Wilson (on hiatus), David Lee Kaleita, Shmuel-Aharon Kam (Kahn / שמואל-אהרן קם (קאן and Private User. We would like broader input!
Many of us who have been active in trying to create a common, shared family tree of ancestors who lived prior to about 1600 (often nicknamed "the Big Tree") are feeling the need to develop a new system to help turn this into a collaborative knowledge database that is historically accurate and can be of educational value, like a genealogical encyclopedia. To do this, we feel that we need a slightly different system to help rein in some of the chaos that ensues with dozens (or hundreds) of duplicate versions of historical profiles floating about. We've begun this process informally through our merging efforts, but what we need now is the ability to create designated "master profiles" for each historical persona to which new users who are descendants can link.
To maintain and ensure the informational accuracy of these profiles, and to logistically handle the tasks, we propose the development of a team of "Curators of Historical Profiles." These would be volunteers, not paid Geni staff, and the team would share responsibility for gathering input and solidifying the Historical Profiles (HP's) and for approving any new changes once a profile has been published as an HP.
Those of us who are active in the Big Tree see a lot of the same problems that are obstacles for Geni to be the perfect genealogy site and tool we want:
* There is too much chaos in the “old parts” Big Tree
* There is a need to lock old (historical) profiles for new information/editing
* Most newly added profiles for people born before 1600 offer nothing new
* We need an incentive for people to connect to the Big tree/common parts instead of adding their own (minimal) version
For some ideas about how this might work, based upon discussions among a dozen or so of us over the months, see below. We welcome further input into this proposal.
Curators should be responsible for all profiles of Historical People in the Big Tree. There should be a special category of such profiles:
A: We need to define which profiles have Curators:
HP = Historical Profiles for Historical People
HPs should be:
1. without Managers and owned by Geni, to get over that whole thing of it being MY profile or YOURS
2. maintained by Curators, who would be volunteers for the collective good
3. in conflict situations, Geni should be the final authority
4. the Historical Tree consisting of HPs should be an incentive for everybody to join with Historical Profiles, rather than protecting their own versions
5. the HPs should be obviously "better", so that one doesn't give up something (control) by joining with the historical tree, but rather gains a lot
6. HPs should include things like
a) full formatting tools (BBCode, textile or similar)
b) integration with YouTube (instead of Upload Videos - imagine some great film clips accessible from the profile)
c) Flickr/Photobucket integration (to not have to download then upload internet photos)
d) auto-integration of the Wikipedia-text in one section of the profile - a separate tab perhaps
7. The Completed Historical Tree could be packaged as an educational resource for non-Geni members
8. Historical Profiles (HPs) should be defined as
a) all People born before 1600
b) those born between 1600-1800 having reached 15 managers or more
c) approved as HP by special group of Curators and Geni staff
(These may be special profiles that are not technically 'Historical', like modern royalty and celebrities, and on rare occasions also minors like the children of royalty - must for each case be approved by Geni staff or a number of Curators)
9. HP categories:
a) Published HP
- designated with distinctive graphic style and format (see above)
- content except Basic Fields (Names, Dates, Places) editable by any Geni user, but will be monitored by the curators and reversed if necessary
- a few of these profiles will be marked as "Locked" and will have
-- the content is only editable by a Curator
-- any Geni user can suggest edits or additions to the profile, and these suggestions will be sent to the curators for approval ("Suggest edit" instead of "Save"-button possible)
- all users can suggest changes etc on the profile Discussion page
b) Provisional HP Geni Profiles
- fall into the criteria for HP profiles because of their dates and/or their relationships to other HP Profiles
- information has not yet been adequately posted and they are still "under construction"
- editable by all Users, open to collaborative input until a Curator determines that the profile is ready to become publishable
- a Curator may click a "Publish this HP" link to submit it to the Geni staff to be converted into a Category a) Published HP
Most profiles will this way be open for edits and suggestions by all Geni Users, while at the same time the (few) very vulnerable ones will be locked for edits.
B: Tools we need in either case:
1. reversible edits (Wikipedia-style): All changes can be reversed to previous edition through a one-click Undo
2. Curator/moderator approval for some changes/edits
3. ability to block users who abuse the system (maybe two Curators should be "needed") from editing
C: Who could be a Curator?
1. Nominations/recommendations by other Curators and Users
2. Active Users who are approved by Geni – ID verified, having no serious complaints etc
3. Having special skills and interests in a particular branch or area of the Historical Tree with Historical Profiles (HP)
4. Must have been an Active User for a year, be very active and spend a minimum time on Geni every month (average of some sort, people will be on and off at times, breaks must be allowed)
5. Independent of Pro or not, but needs a secure way of identification for the non-Pros
6. Should be given all tools Pro Users have
7. Should keep maintaining certain HPs in areas according to their interests and skills, but no real limitation
Other points about how it should work:
9. Curators should/could have a special tab on their profile or a Curator page with list of "Areas of skills, knowledge and interests"
10. Curators should be given authority to edit/delete improper posts in Discussions linked to HPs
D: What is a Curator?
Qualifications and "job description" could be:
1. critical thinking, research and problem-solving skills; ability to organize, structure and critically analyze genealogical and historical information within its larger historical context
2. research skills: willingness and ability to seek out the most definitive sources and to be open to various interpretations of sometimes-conflicting data
3. ability and willingness to represent Geni and to communicate diplomatically and respectfully with Geni users
4. ability and willingness to work collaboratively, to negotiate through controversies, and to work for the good of the whole rather than serving individual interests