Is the Profile Improvement Project still closed?

Question

Tomorrow is my first anniversary on Wikitree and I have hit a wall in my growth. I need a mentor to learn how to use inline citations and to format the diverse undigitized sources I 've gleaned from historical societies and other repositories scattered about New England. My activity hasn't generated too many suggestions, but I would like to learn to deal with them effectively.
I want to become a solid citizen here on Wikitree. I haven't had the opportunity to have as much formal education as I would like so I lack experience with the technical bits of scholarly writing.

Answer 1

Hello! In direct answer, I don’t believe the Profile Improvement Project is closed. Its PIP Voyager page has 2023 graduates, at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:PIP_Voyagers_Improved_Profiles#2023_Graduates . And the Project’s Welcome page at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Project:Profile_Improvement is still active.

The https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Sources page has a short intro to inline citations in its “Embed them as references (footnotes)” section, with more in a later section called “Advanced Sourcing” near the bottom of the page.

These are starting points, of course. The Sources page mentions a book by Elizabeth Shown Mills (“Evidence Explained”), which I have found very useful, but there are lots of references and how-to guides on the topic of citations. WikiTree’s G2G is a good place to ask, too, which you just did!

By the way, happy anniversary on WikiTree!

Comments

I have the manual be Elizabeth Shown Mills but I feel very intimidated. I'm afraid I will make so many mistakes that I will annoy people. Being from a small town in central Massachusetts, I feel awash in a sea of people with advanced degrees. I've been very sick with complicated autoimmune disorders. Though I am an independent learner, I've a lot of catching up to do.

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Don't worry about writing Elizabeth Shown Mills-perfect citations.  That large manual by her can be intimidating.  Read the first chapter-- it's the best and explains the reasoning and principles underlying the citation format she recommends.

The primary point of citing sources is to help the reader understand and find (if they want to) the source for the specifics about a person-- their vitals, information about their life.

Someone recently posted here in G2G a link to an article that they found really helpful for understanding the why and how of citing sources. Maybe someone else can help find that post. You might find it helpful, too.

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https://familytreemagazine.com/research/beginner-genealogy-source-citation/

this is the link given in a post earlier this week. I found this very helpful too. 

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Thanks Laurie, I saw your earlier post and have saved that article. It is worth linking in multiple chats threads - I hope more people see it who will find it useful!

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Thanks for finding and posting it, Laurie. Much appreciated.

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A Murphy, I have taken another look at the Help:Sources page you linked to and I have to admit that it looks far less intimidating today than it did a year ago. The Sourcer app has been a very helpful bridge over troubled waters, enabling me to get started with fairly organized bulleted lists of primary soures found on Family Search and Ancestry - kudos to Rob Pavey for a much needed set of training wheels for us NEWTs! From here, I think I am ready now to start using the help section, videos, and, yes, Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence Explained, to begin to build my own citations. 
Early on, my explorations of G2G lead me into some deep waters in the policy and style sections. I very nearly bolted from Wikitree, convinced I was completely unequipped to function here and risked being chastised for my ignorance. This is a common terror among people who have been discouraged from pursuing a college or graduate level education. 
Thankfully, I persisted. I've made friends and know better how the community works and how sometimes it becomes a little dysfunctional around the edges due to inevitable dynamic tension between the goals of accuracy and egalitarian community building. I've certainly felt that tension and have reflected on it, sometimes taking notes for later so that in the future, I can contribute to welcoming new users by steering them towards specific tools that I feel are best to encourage and empower people who are new to genealogical research, or maybe just new to Wikitree more specifically.

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"We don't want to be afraid to make [mistakes] ..." It's part of our honor code. {{smile}} --GeneJ

Answer 2

I went through my Voyage in December, and I highly recommend it!. Sign up now because there is usually a waiting list. Good luck!

Comments

How can I get on this waiting list, John? I have only found an older thread here https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1346881/profile-improvement-project-help-your-managed-profiles-shine 
which says it is not accepting new members at this time. 

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Let me see what I can find out and get back to you,

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Thanks John! This and the Orphan Trails are the best parts of Wikitree. I wish the dedicated volunteers in these projects were not spread so thin. I hope the people who've been trained through these programs continue to pay it forward.

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Glad you got your answer, AR!

Answer 3

Hello all,

The Voyage is "closed" right now while we reduce our long waiting list. We do hope to reopen it soon and will announce that here on G2G.

Thanks all for your interest and patience. We look forward to working with all of you.

Comments

Thanks the the update Robin! Personally, I find it very promising that the Profile Improvement and Orphan Trail projects have waiting lists. These are great investments which will improve the accuracy and interest of Wikitree profiles and strengthen relationships in the community. I think it is the ability to promote collaborative partnerships with effective communication that powers success of any organization.

Answer 4

There is a section in this page that explains how to use the 'Cite your sources' link in the icon list at the top of the biography that will create an inline citation.  

There are also some links to some inline references videos.  They were created a while ago, but I am sure they are still useful.

Have you installed the Sourcer app?  If not, that can also help since it can create an inline citation for you. Family Search has a Citation that can be easily copied, but many of the other sites that have been added to the app do not have citations created, so it is helpful.  You should always verify the generated citation to make sure that it matches the information, since it is difficult to capture all the changes seen on the sites. 

Comments

Linda, Yes, I've been using Sourcer for at least 10 months. Thanks for your tip on checking Sourcer generated citations. That is an important point! While reading your response, I just realized that I could use the Sourcer app as a trainer by trying to create my own citations for records found on Family Search and seeing how they compare to what Sourcer generates.

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Family Search has their own, so you don't really need to use Sourcer for theirs necessarily.  It really helps with Ancestry and Scotlands People which don't have easy citations to just copy and paste.  But, yes, using them as an example, can help.

Make sure to check the linked space page that some of us created a while ago.  It has links to a lot of Help pages, as well as for sourcing tips and videos.

Answer 5

Thanks to all of you for the information- I welcome every bit!
It is very hard to choose a "best answer" but I went with the one which gave the most potential idease for next steps while I wait to get to the head of the PIP Voyager line.