Rodovid
From Meta, a Wikimedia project coordination wiki
|
Rodovid is an attempt to create a free familly tree site, using MediaWiki software, which has been customised to make working with genealogical data more convenient (see features below).
[edit] History
Rodovid was originally set up as a project independent of the Wikimedia Foundation, but its main contributors realised that becoming a Wikimedia project would be a great thing for the Rodovid community itself and, we believe, also for the general Wikimedia community.
[edit] Goals
The aim of Rodovid is to provide a place in the genealogical community where data can be shared freely.
[edit] Why do we need a family tree wiki?
There have been several different attempts at creating genealogical wikis, which shows that the demand is definately out there. Family trees are a thing that anyone can get involved in, you don't need specialised knowledge like you might to write certain articles for Wikipedia or Wikibooks. It will appeal to a wide range of people, from occasional hobbyists, to professional genealogists.
Unfortunately, most previous genealogy wikis have failed or simply become more or less static. Hopefully, if Rodovid was to get the backing of the Wikimedia foundation, it would be able to reach out to more people and become a widely recognised genealogy site, in the same way that Wikipedia has become a globally recognised encyclopedia.
[edit] Naming
The word Rodovid is the English version of the Ukranian word родовід which means Ancestry/Pedigree. If a more English name, possibly with the wiki prefix was wanted, it can possibly be changed.
For discussion of and suggestions for the naming of such a project see Rodovid.org/name.
[edit] Other Genealogy wikis
There are/have been several other family tree wikis/proposals.
[edit] Proposals for Wikimedia Family tree wikis
There have been several other Wikimedia proposals for family tree wikis. Unfortunately, none of these have gone any further than the proposal stage and most of the working demos have been abandoned.
[edit] Wikitree
One of the highest traffic genealogy wikis is Wikitree. Unfortunately, the site started off with a non commercial license, so discussions with the Wikimedia foundation didn't come to fruition. Also, the site has not as many of the features of Rodovid (GEDCOM import etc.)
To prevent there being two competing projects discussions are currently underway between the two projects about a possible merger.
[edit] On Wikicities
There is a genealogy wiki on wikicities, and there is also a Norweigian genealogy wikicity. A comment has been added to the community portals of both wikicties. These two wikis will almost definitely not be in direct competition with Rodovid, as neither are specialised for work with genealogical data and were originally designed for sufi chains.
[edit] WeRelate.org
There are also discussions with another genealogy site, WeRelate, about the possibility of merging the two projects.
[edit] License
Currently, Rodovid is under the Creative Commons Attribution License, rather than the GFDL as genealogical data is mainly facts, so most can not be copyrighted anyway. If there is any great reason to change to the GFDL, then this could happen in future.
[edit] Internationality
At the current time, Rodovid.org supports 17 languages: Deutsch, English, Español, Suomi, Français, עברית, Indonesian, Italiano, 日本語, Nederlands, Polski, Português/pt-br, Română, Русский, Српски (Srpski), Українська, O'zbek
All these languages use the same database, so records added to one will appear in the other (see features below). This is made possible because of the fact that family trees are mostly facts: dates, names etc. This means that all that must be translated is the headings (name, age, place of birth etc.), which can be done by computer.
It is also possible to add a page which contains biographical information about a person. These pages are separate, from the tree pages, so must be translated by hand (as pages on normal wikis such as Wikipedia are).
[edit] Testing
There is also a special stand-alone database designed for testing - Rodovid engine. This is also the area used for comments, reporting bugs and requesting new features.
[edit] Features
[edit] Easy to use
To add a person all you need to is click Add Person to the left and fill in the fields (see records, description for what to put in each). To add relations you just type in their name and search for them. If they're already in the database they will be shown and you need only click on them. Otherwise you can create new records for them.
[edit] Automatic Tree Generation
A graphical tree is automatically generated showing two generations of ancestors and two generations of descendants, with their siblings and spouses as well. You can also view a version of this tree showing all generations. It is possible to create a version optimised for printing]. Finally, you can just click on sex (♂, ♀) mark near any person - you will see ALL their ancestors and descendants.
[edit] GEDCOM Import
Rodovid originally allowed you to import people into the database using GEDCOM files, the internationally recognised standard. Nearly all family tree programs allow saving in this format, which opens up Rodovid to a wide group of people. However since June 2007 GEDCOM import has been disabled.
[edit] Interlinked Databases
Most genealogical data are simply names, numbers and places, so if you add a person in one language, they will appear in all the other languages (with the words 'name', 'birth' etc. translated). So [1] which was created in Ukranian is also viewable in English [2].
[edit] Special Pages
There are several special pages, created for usefulness in Genealogy:
[edit] Examples
There are several different examples of the way family trees can be created:
- Ancestors: en, uk, William Windsor (68 generations)
- Descendants Ryurik (43 generations), Pippin III the Short
[edit] Interested in the project?
If you are interested in this project, add a comment to the talk page or add yourself to the list of people interested in joining.
