Web based family history software

Important Discussing a couple of ideas for new module(s)

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13 years 4 months ago #1 by norwegian_sardines
Discussing a couple of ideas for new module(s) was created by norwegian_sardines
Based on some discussions I've noted in the forums two (or three) small modules come to mind that I want to throw out to the wolves for your comment!! I'm not a PHP/Web Programmer so I can't do it but maybe those that are smarter than me can.


1) In some small rural towns everyone is related to everyone else in some way. In many cases going to these towns is a once in a lifetime opportunity to gather information about the people. Also I've noted that some genealogists look at "Place" as being the thing that links individuals together rather than family/blood ties. Place being a town/farm/valley etc. In most cases people of a place stay in that place from birth to death and are buried in the town cemetery.

An idea for a simple (admin only?) module would tie the functions of "add stand alone individual" and "add stand alone source" to create an "add cemetery data". This module idea would use the construct that: a) REPO is the Cemetery, b) SOUR is the Tombstone, c) INDI is the person(s) identified on the stone, d) SOUR_CITATION is the relationship information connecting the INDI<=>SOUR (Individual<=>Tombstone) for birth and death information. The screen would allow with one "save" the entering of tombstone data and the addition of the 1) SOUR/Tombstone, 2) INDIvidual(s), 3) SOUR_Citation records to the DB.


2) Some individuals have indicated that they want to source the names of the people that provide information such as authors, story tellers, interviewee/interviewer, and other individuals as part of a contact DB. These individuals would probably not be family members and therefore would not be displayed to anyone except admins. Some people already add INDIviduals to the database and connect them to the SOUR.AUTH tag via an XREF value. I have access to a genealogy library that contains 100's of volumes of books, stories, papers and biographies etc. That would be nice to "source" first with INDI records created for the authors before adding the individuals fro my genealogical past.

An interesting module combining the "add stand alone individual" and "add stand alone source" could be build where on a single page display the source and author could be added together before the data about family is added. Currently a "stand alone" individual would first be added as the author/story teller/interviewee (write down the ID number) then a "stand alone" source would be added linking to that author to the source typing in the full XREF number as the SOUR.AUTH value.


I realize these ideas are out of the norm for this application and they will probably cause me to be "cast out" but I'm think out of the box and how people may use this wonderful application. As this "app" matures and the DB get normalized similar other process could be added for PLAC<=>INDI data or expanding Census intake as a series of "Add Source, Add Individual, Add Source-Citation" loops.

Thanks for listening and be kind in your flames.

Ken

Ken

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13 years 4 months ago #2 by fisharebest
Replied by fisharebest on topic Re: Discussing a couple of ideas for new module(s)
@Ken - If I understand you correctly, all these features are currently available in webtrees. However, the workflow / user-interface for doing this is not particularly efficient or intuitive.

So, rather than add modules, would it be better to look at how the existing user interface may be improved to facility this particular workflow?

Greg Roach - greg@subaqua.co.uk - @fisharebest@phpc.social - fisharebest.webtrees.net

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13 years 4 months ago #3 by norwegian_sardines
Replied by norwegian_sardines on topic Re: Discussing a couple of ideas for new module(s)
Greg,

Yes it is very much a work flow issue. Thank you for correcting/understanding my terminology. I was at a loss for find the correct words.

My thoughts (including the ASSOciated individual) is all about getting information into the system from the angle of how it may be present to the user vs. how it is saved in the DB. The current entry and display scheme is storage based, i.e. creating families, adding people, then adding the supporting information for those additions. In some cases people have supporting documents/cemeteries/census/stuff in front of them and want to add it that way and worry about the family connections second.

Thanks

Ken

Ken

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13 years 4 months ago - 13 years 4 months ago #4 by kiwi

getting information into the system from the angle of how it may be present to the user

This is exactly the logic behind the development of the Census Assistant. It is designed to allow data entry in almost the identical format as the census pages it comes from. The next development of that feature will be to allow the automatic creation of INDI references (where they don't already exist) at the same time. For many of us (speaking primarily as a UK-centric researcher) census is the most used data source.

Greg is right, this sort of thing is not about new modules, just about a new way to enter the same data. There are many things already discussed along these lines by the dev. team.
Last edit: 13 years 4 months ago by kiwi.

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13 years 4 months ago #5 by norwegian_sardines
Replied by norwegian_sardines on topic Re: Discussing a couple of ideas for new module(s)
Please forgive me for using the wrong term "module". It is the only word I could think of at the time.

Ken

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