|
Trails to the Past FAQ
We at Trails to the Past are a very laid back, great
group of people who's only goal is to provide free genealogy
and history to researchers; to help, assist and aid
researchers in their journeys to acquire the information
they need to find their long lost ancestors. We do have a
lot of fun together and helping each other, but our greatest
goal is providing as much information as possible on our
sites for you our researchers.
Trails to the Past is all about putting data and
historical information online for free access, and enjoying
each others company while we're doing it - that's it. We're
just trying to do our jobs the best way we know how, with
the least bit of conflict possible.
How do I contribute to Trails?
If you can't be a volunteer, but would like to contribute
data or information, see our
States Table page to find the county or state your data
pertains to, and contact the county or state administrator.
If there is no state or county administrator yet, see our
Districts page and contact the District Administrator
for the county or state your information pertains to.
What's involved with being a volunteer?
Trails to the Past has District Administrator's, State
Administrator's, County Administrator's, Special Project
Administrator's, plus a host of aids and contributors to
help.
To be a volunteer host you need to be able to type.
Whether you learned in school or use the hunt and peck
method, accuracy is more important than speed. You must be
able to make a basic webpage and upload it; or use a
service such as the free Google or RootsWeb sites to create
your pages (below).
You need to have access to, or know how to find, data and
information to transcribe or copy for your site(s). Data and
information might be found in books you have, at libraries,
or found online by using a search such as
Google. Obtain and post
data and information on a regular basis. The good news is
there are no schedules. Many of our hosts try to make weekly
updates, some monthly, others every two or three months.
Some folks work in spurts as their schedules allow and that
is fine too.
Just make the effort to keep the website updated and
everyone will be happy. Websites that sit without any new
data added to them for extended periods of time quickly lose
their appeal to researchers who visit your site often. And
the more you put online, the more likely your website
visitors will be inspired to contribute data to your site.
Data to be included may be are items such as Books,
Census, Cemeteries, Marriages, Deaths, Histories,
Biographies, Obituaries, etc. following all copyright laws.
A good place to begin is with the documents you already have
gathered from your own family research. Putting your own
data online will also increase the chances you will meet up
with somebody researching your families. If you find
information on other websites, put it into your own format
before adding or contributing it to your Trails site.
You may add whatever copyright-free or public domain data
or information you can find, or if copyrighted can obtain
permission from the author to use on your site. Accept data
contributions and place them online. If researchers donate
their records to your site, it's your job to place that data
online, giving a copyright to the person who submitted the
material.
Good sources for basic copyright information are
Who Owns Genealogy? Cousins and Copyrights;
Project Gutenberg's Copyright How-To; and
Copy Right, Copy Sense. Cornell University Law
School maintains in-depth
U.S. Copyright Laws Title 17 information.
What should your website look like?
Our files are mostly in html format, trying to keep the
webpage's as simple as possible for the fastest loading
possible. You can be as creative as you'd like with your
pages in the style and color of your choice, making sure to
include the following webpage elements:
Links: Required ones are to the Trails to the Past
home page from your county, state or special project home
page; to your state's home page from your county home
page if you are a County Administrator or the administrator
of a state-specific special project; and on your
sub-pages at least a link to your county, state or special
project home page. You may use Trails to the Past National,
State, or Special Project logos for these links.
Logos: Your home page must include an official
Trails to the Past Logo of your choice, and it needs to be
displayed near the top of your home page. Once you join us,
you can visit our
Graphics Page to pick up one of the official Trails to
the Past Logos. If you are a County or state-specific
Special Project Administrator, you must also include a logo
for your state on your home page if your state has a logo.
If you are a Special Project Administrator, you must also
have the logo of your special project on your home page.
If you are artistic you may design logos and ask about
getting them approved for National, State, or Special
Project alternate logos.
Current email address: Displayed in an obvious
place on the home page of your website, or on a separate
page linked to from a "contact me" link on your home page,
so researchers can contact you with questions or data
contributions. You may use the HTML "mailto" tag to link
your name to an email addressed to you.
Lists: All members are subscribed to our
TTTP-Announce list, a read-only list for important
announcements only. You will also be subscribed to our main
TTTP list for general discussion of TTTP business, but it is
an optional list and you may un-subscribe from it. TTTP-Chat
is an optional list for general chat about non-business
stuff. For TTTP and TTTP-Chat you may receive messages
individually, in a daily digest, or opt not to receive
messages but read them via the Web at your leisure.
Your site should include a brief history of your State or
County, to let visitors know what your State/County was all
about. You could write your own, or have a link to the
appropriate section of Wikipedia State, County, or other
online sources of history.
Visitors appreciate being able to find information on
your site, so please include a search engine such as
FreeFind.
If you have problems putting FreeFind on you site, let your
State or District Administrator know.
How do I join Trails to the Past?
See our
States Table page to find the state or county you are
interested in adopting, and contact the State Administrator.
If there is no State Administrator yet, see our
Districts page and contact the District Administrator
for the state or county you are interested in.
Where do I place my site?
You may host your site where ever you want.
RootsWeb offers free hosting for Trails to the Past
members. RootsWeb was one of the original genealogy
communities on the Internet and we recommend them. You don't
need to know anything about HTML or uploading files,
RootsWeb has a full-featured
File Manager which includes text, HTML, and WYSIWYG
editors for creating pages, as well as tools for managing
your pages, and uploading and downloading pages/files.
Instructions for requesting RootsWeb sites are below.
Google
Sites is also free and offers easy-to-use pre-built
templates; text, HTML and WYSIWYG editors, and other tools.
If you've never seen a Google Site, here's a basic
example.
How do I request a RootsWeb site?
After you have joined Trails, go to
Free Webpage Accounts and click on "County, State, World
Project Accounts - USGenWeb, WorldGenWeb, ALHN, AHGP, other
locality-based projects, etc."
Read the stuff, then at the bottom of the page click on
"I Agree"
Fill in your name and email address. Check "Other
County/Country/Misc. Project Site (Please explain use for
this account in comments box.)"
Fill in:
"Country:"
"State, Province or Region:"
Next, where it says "For USGenWeb, ALHN, or AHGP
Accounts" there is a box to check in front of "State
Coordinator has been notified of this request", followed by
a box to enter "State Coordinator's Email address" (District
Administrator if there is no State Administrator).
And there is a "Please describe what this account will be
used for" box. That's where you put "Trails to the Past,
(and the state or county name)" to make sure RootsWeb gives
you a special Trails URL.
Finally, check the box in front of "I/we have read and
agree to abide by the terms of the RootsWeb Free
Geographical Web Space Agreement" and click the "Submit"
button. You should hear back from RootsWeb within 3-5 days,
but usually sooner.
We're all here to help you if you have any questions.
Either contact your administrator, or feel free to post
questions on our main TTTP list.
Who's running the show?
County Administrator's manage their county sites. State
Administrator's manage their state sites. Special Projects
Administrator's manage their special projects. District
Administrator's help State Administrator's and State
Administrator's help County Administrator's. Anyone may help
with a Special Project.
You may have assistants to help you, or to take over
temporarily if you are out of action for an extended period
of time. It is highly recommended that you do this, because
if we don't hear from you or can't get a hold of you for an
extended period of time, a State or District Administrator
may need to manage your site(s).
If you have any problems, the District Administrator's
are here to help address any problem issues as they arise.
Ready to host a county or state or special project?
Contact Gerry Hubacka
for more information |
|
