Editing Dolben Family Graph

Notes for Dolben Family Graph Editors

So, you want to be an editor? Great! The idea is to share genealogical information.

First, it helps to understand that making changes to the database is a two phase process. The source of the information is a GEDCOM (a genealogical file standard) file, which gets changed by editing operations. Then, an administrator (me, for example) imports the GEDCOM into the database, which drives the presentation of information in a web browser. This means that when you edit, you won't see the effect of your changes on the web site until I import the modified GEDCOM.

Choices

There are three ways for you to make changes to the family tree data.

You may email your changes to me and I will edit the GEDCOM. The advantage to this is that you don't have to learn the details of the editing tools yourself. On the other hand, you might prefer to become more directly involved and do the editing yourself. Also, there is obviously duplication of effort this way, and the added potential source of error in my entering the information by hand from your email. And it might take me a while to make the changes you want.
You may edit the GEDCOM yourself, once I have enabled your account to do so. Let me know if that's what you want. Then, there are two ways to do the editing.
- You can use your web browser to make some changes, for example, editing a date or place of birth. You'll see links on individuals' and families' pages when editing is enabled for you. Also, you can add some individuals this way: a child to a family, or a spouse to an individual. However, you can't go very far with adding people, since the changes you've just made will not show up in the web pages you see until after the modified GEDCOM has been imported.
- You can run the GDBI Client, a Java application (here for download). In Windows XP and Mac OS X, open the ".jar" file as you would anything else, for example, by double-clicking it. (If the Java Runtime Environment, version ≥ 1.5, is not installed on your computer go to the Java web site and get it.) Then, fill in the "Open Database" dialog with your (Dolben Family) username, password, and the following:
  
  URL:
  http://dolben.org/family/client.php
  
  GEDCOM:
  dolben.ged
  
  Then, click "OK". If all went well you'll see a window with some familiar names, and some buttons with rather self-evident titles, for navigating and editing the GEDCOM. Besides having more complete editing capability, the GDBI client allows you to see your changes as soon as they're made, since what it shows comes from the GEDCOM. On the downside, it's not always obvious how to do what you want and it has a number of unimplemented features cluttering the interface. See the GDBI web site for details about the GEDCOM editor.
There is at least one thing, an individual's name (given, nick, suffix, etc.), that can be edited with a web browser, but not with the GDBI Client. In either case, when you're done with a chunk of editing you may let me know by sending email, or you may wait for me to notice. Then, I'll import the modified GEDCOM and your changes will appear in the web pages. (You may also wish to read PhpGedView's page about online editing.)

Guidelines

The basic guideline is add only individuals who are children, parents, or spouses of people who are already in the GEDCOM.
It's OK (with me) to add information that you're not completely sure about. There's some there now based on my own and others' fuzzy memories (for example, notes of birth dates from Gramma Dolben's address book). But don't go overboard and put in wild guesses. If you see some information that you know to be wrong, go ahead and correct it. (I have a very few birth and death certificates, supposedly the gold standard, but have not added citations of these sources, though the GEDCOM supports that. <shrug>)
Use all upper case for surnames. (It's just a convention.)
Use unmarried surnames.
Add a "Death" fact, for an individual you know to be dead, even if you don't know the date or place of death. This will make the person's details public, and make it clear what information is (and is not) in the database.
For places in the U.S., city and state are sufficient. Sometimes, city, county, and state are entered (another convention), but I don't think it adds much value. Given a city and state, one can always look up the county. Birth, death, and marriage certificates are often kept by the city and town anyway. (Note that this is not the opinion of a professional, or even an amateur, genealogist.)