Talk:Explanation of Tapestry Pages

I am enjoying watching this page evolve. Am especially interested in your GeoGroups because I would like to do something similar in the future for Jacksons in Colonial Carolina. But it will be several months before I can even start. I hope you don't mind copy-cats. You seem to be laying ground work for what may be a lot of similar projects. I don't think I'm up to doing a whole project like yours; I'll be happy if I can just do part of a GeoGroup study focusing on my Jackson line and others in the area that I happen onto. Thanks for letting me watch over your sholder.--Janiejac 23:40, 9 May 2009 (EDT)

Hi Janijac. Thanks for noticing! Yes, I'm trying out different things to see how they work---what works, what doesn't work, and what's too much trouble to sustain over the long haul. While I do have in mind other "projects", I don't know that I can spend the time on any but the SWVP---But if I lay out a workable format, my hope is others will follow suit, and focus on specific areas. DeliJim is in fact doing something like this with "Old Augusta County". There are any number of places that this could be done for--Old Augusta was one I had in mind and I'm glad to see Jim taking it up. I've also considered looking at one for "Old Germanna" and "Old Chester", both of which areas fed into SW VA. Then there's the "Cumberland Gap" or perhaps "The Dark and Bloody Ground" of Kentucky, not to mention the "Cumberland Settlement"---entirely too many neat projects for one person to do.---and that's not even scratching the surface.

The GeoGroup concept is, of course, and outgrowth of the SWVP. Untangling their lines often is helped by looking at the data for the areas from which they came. So there was a need to systematically collect data for those areas---helping to sort out who was, and who wasn't of interest for SWVP. If you do follow up with a Geogroup for "Colonial Carolina", let me know, as I may be able to help you get started. Q 09:26, 10 May 2009 (EDT)

How different from Surname-in-place pages? [19 February 2010]

Bill,

Found my way here through a recent email exchange.

While I love the imagery of a tapestry, I'm concerned that adding new terminology will confuse users.

Similarly, you're also using "Registry" differently than most people familiar with genealogy terms use it. In fact, I'm not sure I can distinguish your registry pages from disambiguation pages or standard surname-in-place pages. See for example Register:Houston.

While I love the intent behind what you're doing, I worry that if I'm confused by how you're doing it, newbies won't have a clue.

-- Jillaine Jillaine 14:05, 19 February 2010 (EST)

Hi Jillaine

At different times I've tried different things. The concepts are evolving. The disambiguation pages have their uses, but are entirely too difficult to create manually, so that approach has been jettisoned, though some Disambig's, that have been done will probably be allowed to remain--mostly because they have their uses, and the effort that went into them is worth preserving (now that they are there).

The "register" initially started out as a simple list of persons in an area---or rather in SW VA. That still has its uses and will eventually be tightened up, with a register for each major component of the Tapestry. The Surname Registers, are slightly different, though that term is usually abbreviated to simply "register", mostly because I want to keep the length down so that it fits into the menu for the Surname tapestry.

Your usage of the term seems to be that its something descriptive of a family unit. I'm not sure how many folks actually use that term. Its certainly not embedded in the usage on WeRelate....if for no other reason than that there's nothing like that on WeRelate. I'm not sure I've seen that term used that much in genealogy for that meaning; in fact, you are the only person I've heard use it that way. In anycase, the classical definition of a register is simply a listing of person in a given "community"---as a ministers register of his congregation. Might also be called a roster I supposed. A quick search of google turned up hits for "register" "genealogy", but interestingly enough, the usage seem to be quite similar to the way I use the term.

If WeRelate had in fact adopted the concept of a "register" to display this kind of information there might indeed be some confusion. WeRelated didn't, and I see no conflict.

I'm always tinkering with these concepts, looking for the combination of devices and terms to describe them, that facilitates navigation on the Tapestry. The ultimate reason for that is in fact to make things easier for others to understand what's going on, and to thread their way through the Tapestry. The surname Tapestries, and their menus are designed with that purpose in mind. Over time I've sought to simplify termininatology t make things more accessible. That's the reason underlying jettisoning of the terms Disambiguation (though its a perfectly fine Wiki concept---its not understood by most---so disambig's are being phased out.). Ditto "geogoups" which preceeded "Surname Tapestries". Geogroups was descriptive, but also sort of weird to users unfamiliar with my work....so its gone. The concept of surname tapestries is, I suspect, different from what most are used to, but its also fairly obvious and intuitive as to what its about. I really don't see the term "register" being a point of confusion.

In anycase, I'm always looking for better terms---terms more obvious as to their meaning, more intuitive, more accessible. If you have a specific suggestion I would be most happy to have your input. I always value your input, and appreciate your viewpoint. I don't, however, agree that there's a confusion over the term "register", as I don't see it being much used in the way you mean the term, and certainly it has no overlap with any standard term on WeRelate. Q 18:06, 19 February 2010 (EST)

Time for an update? [23 June 2013]

I note that you have said the concepts for some of the tapestry pages have evolved over time. I'm wondering if you might have time to bring your current thinking to this page. I surely am not the only person having a hard time keeping the pages I create organized! Your Tapestry templates or something similar may be the answer. --janiejac 23:06, 19 June 2013 (EDT)

Good idea. This is long overview. Most of the core concepts have stopped evolving, though new things keep popping up that I think are worthwhile to explore...but the explanation needs to be revised considerably. No where near where we are now with it. Q 11:37, 23 June 2013 (EDT)

I'll be watching for it! More of my Carolina Jacksons are being uploaded now, so perhaps I can put our Carolina Cradle concepts to use. --janiejac 11:59, 23 June 2013 (EDT)