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| start:why_a_wiki [2024/12/13 18:14] – Wiki Admin | start:why_a_wiki [2026/10/21 19:15] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1 |
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| The Internet has various sites for sharing research on family history, but most of these are based on the concept of a hierarchical tree. While this kind of tree works well for documenting genetic relationships, it often does not work well for documenting and understanding other kinds of relationships. This wiki views "family" as a term encompassing relationships of caring and sharing rather than genetic connections per se -- though discovering and understanding genetic links can be fascinating and may become important, e.g. for medical reasons. | The Internet has various sites for sharing research on family history, but most of these are based on the concept of a hierarchical tree. While this kind of tree works well for documenting genetic relationships, it often does not work well for documenting and understanding other kinds of relationships. This wiki views "family" as a term encompassing relationships of caring and sharing rather than genetic connections per se -- though discovering and understanding genetic links can be fascinating and may become important, e.g. for medical reasons. |
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| Using a wiki provides a way to explore connections that are not based on genetic or legal ties, but may nevertheless be important: friends, neighbors, preachers, teachers, schoolmates, business partners, etc. It gives the user an easy way to see links to explore the connection between cousins who were like sisters as well as brothers who never met. It allows stories, documents and images to be linked to multiple people, and also allows a single page telling the story of an individual person to include multiple links to related information, including reference materials and websites outside the wiki. | Using a wiki provides a way to explore connections that are not based on genetic or legal ties, but may nevertheless be important: friends, neighbors, preachers, teachers, schoolmates, business partners, etc. It gives the user an easy way to see links to explore the connection between cousins who were like sisters as well as brothers who never met. It allows stories and documents to be linked to multiple people, and also allows a single page telling the story of an individual person to include multiple links to related information, including reference materials and websites outside the wiki. |
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| Finally, there´s this: Once you've learned some rules and conventions, it's very easy to add and edit wiki pages. This makes wikis a great tool for sharing information, but it also can result in a wiki becoming a hot mess of disorganized information. So, another reason for limiting access to parts of this wiki is to allow for some of the messiness that often comes with collaborative projects without letting it get out of control. | Finally, there´s this: Once you've learned some rules and conventions, it's relatively easy to add and edit wiki pages. Wikis also can have both public areas viewable by anyone and private areas with restricted access to allow experimentation and informal communication between multiple authors or members of a group. This makes wikis a great tool for collaboration. |