Talk:United States Vital Records

Vital Record State Pages
I did the main United States Vital Record page and also Iowa's and Ohio's pages. Is anyone working on the style of the State pages while the content is being added? If you would like I could work on the style of each of the individual state pages. This makes them easy to read and navigate while the content remains the same. Just let me know FamilyJournals 19:07, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

FamilyJournals - We would love to include you in our team!

A template has been developed by the Vital Records team over the past 6 weeks. Joan is nearly finished putting the templates in all 50 states and has been moving the existing content to the appropriate headings. Alabama is close to being finished. It needs some polishing - images added and charts cleaned up but we think Beth and Heather will have it finished by next week. They are editors and have experience in printing, publishing etc.

For this sprint three teams have developed and are working together - you can see from the notes at the meeting. Would you like to join one of these groups in their efforts? I would love to have you on the research and content group. Also, if you would like, we could add Iowa or Ohio as the third state that we finish this sprint. Each team does their part, then we have some patrons in the library try it out and give some feed back. When we are finished, we will leave a list of tasks on the page that we see would improve the page, but we don't have the time to complete.

We are going to put the tasks for each state on the discussion page for that state - soon! Then team members off site will be on the same page with us. It would be nice to talk with you on the telephone.

6 Aug 2009 Meeting 9:30 - 10:30
Team Members On Site: Joan, Heather, Beth, Kara, Offsite: Wally, Maurene, FamilyJournals

The team started a new "sprint" today. We are working in an assembly line fashion.

TEAM GOAL - Finish Alabama and complete Alaska, Arkansas &amp; one other state by Aug 31.

Joan


 * 1) Enters the outlined categories and structure for all 50 states - 13 remain.
 * 2) Sorts existing information into categories in each state - 1st edit. 13 remain as of today.
 * 3) Adds initial Lost and Missing record information for Southern States
 * 4) Adds general tips applicable to all states

Wally, Linda &amp; Kara


 * 1) Add research to each of the categories in one state at a time
 * 2) Customize Online Quick Links &amp; Explanation of Quick Links for the state
 * 3) Add rough charts as needed
 * 4) Add many internal and external links
 * 5) Add sources

Beth &amp; Heather


 * 1) Edit content
 * 2) Add images
 * 3) Create and/or polish charts
 * 4) Add additional internal/external links if found

ATTENTION: When linking to a book in the FHL, first link to world cat, then the FHL.

If additional tasks arise, put them on the board on the discussion page of the state.

Tomorrow: Discuss


 * Hours available on this sprint
 * Claim task to work on until Tues.

Next meeting 10 a.m. tomorrow, Friday, 7 Aug 2009

Naming of state vital records pages
All state vital records pages are not titled the same way. Do the state vital records pages need to be titled consistency? If the pages are named the same way, will that increase the ability to search for and find the pages? Please add your comments about the four different ways state pages are titled and your opinion about the need to rename the pages for consistency:


 * 1) (State) Vital Records - Civil Registration
 * 2) (State) Vital Records- Civil Registration
 * 3) (State) Vital Records-Civil Registration
 * 4) (State) Vital Records

Thank you! Franjensen

United States doesn't have Civil Registration, we believe it would cause confustion. The term is incorrect for the United States. We vote for Number 4 and we will proceed to that end. The record offices are still called Vital Records.

Marilyn Markham, Joan Healey, and Pat Hardesty

You are right about the term being incorrect for the United States. Why do you suppose that it was used in the first place on those pages? Are you three going to rename the pages? If you need any help, just let me know and I'd be glad to help with that. Familyjournals 15:27, 4 June 2009 (UTC)


 * I agree with Marilyn, Joan, Pay, and Familyjournals. The 4th option would be the best choice. Knowing why the term, "Civil Registration" was added to the title is something we will probably never know for sure. What we do know is that the use of the Discussion page is the procedure we need to use to resolve issues like this with the community of active FamilySearch Wiki users. So, thank you to those who have voiced their concerns and opinions on this Discussion page! Steps to accomplish the name change for states with the "Civil Registration" in the title for Vital Records includes:


 * "Move" the page, or
 * Create a new page with the desired title name, followed by
 * Change all pages that link to the old page so that they link to the new page
 * Request the old page be deleted by adding at the top of the old page.
 * Franjensen 14:58, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

I was unaware of the foregoing information when Jeff, Joan, Marilyn, Kara and Michael voted on a standardized title for the vital records pages for each state. The choices were: Alabama Vital Records Alabama Birth, Marriage, and Death Records Finding Alabama Vital Records Finding Alabama Birth, Marriage, and Death Records Find Alabama Vital Records Find Alabama Birth, Marriage, and Death Records The vote was one shy of unanimous for 1st choice: Alabama Birth, Marriage, and Death Records and 2nd choice was Alabama Vital Records. We appreciate input from the community and would listen to any other comments and/or votes for naming the State pages. (this comment was by CK Whipple on July 7 2009)


 * I cannot find this "vote" or discussion on this talk page. Was the decision made outside of the Wiki discussion pages? Franjensen 16:07, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

CK Whipple has brought up a great point. Using the discussion page allows us all to be at the same meeting at the same time no matter where we are physically. This way we can discuss a topic, make a decision, and implement it while in cyberspace. It shows the need that one has to always check the discussion page before beginning the edit of a page.

I was unaware that there was any other discussion about the naming of Vital record pages besides what was previously written here. In June I asked if anyone was going to change the name of the state pages and didn't get a reply. I went ahead and got it done, that is all but Alabama. If the afore mentioned vote had a link to it from here, I would have known that it was being discussed elsewhere. So as it stands, I followed Fran's suggestion and changed the names of all states that included the phrase "civil registration".

FamilyJournals 16:02, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Tips
There are pages made for each topic, birth, deaths and marriage that are connected with the United States Vital Record Page. Do you think that the tips (in the middle of the page) could be moved to those pages? Let me know what you think and I'll be glad to move over the information. FamilyJournals 01:01, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

There hasn't been a reply to the forgoing message. So I moved the tips section of this page to the page on births and the page on marriages. Please let me know if you think it should still remain on the main page. FamilyJournals 02:49, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Links for individual states
This link should probably go on a page about the individual states divorces rather than the main page for vital records. I didn't want to lose it, so I put it here for safe keeping until that page could be made.


 * Genlookups.com for Texas divorces Familyjournals 18:06, 31 May 2009 (UTC)