FYI,
_____________________________________________________________________
Subject: USGW-CC-L: Important Announcement!
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1999 20:36:03 -0700
From: "Patrick Hays" <gsdownr(a)geocities.com>
Hello,
I never claim to be the most effective writer or speaker. I simply
meander too much, but if you can follow along, I do have a point.
Please read to the end of this message to figure out just what it is!
It seems to me that in the "History of the USGenWeb Project" (being
discussed on USGW-CC list right now) there needs to be at least some
mention of THE original USGenWeb County page, which was created in about
December 1995 and is still available online (with a lot of additional
information) at
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/4708/.
Jeff Murphy still maintains his Muhlenburg Co., KY page and has provided
his version of a partial history of the beginnings of the Project. As
you look at this page, keep in mind that if every county page in the US
was like this and was properly linked together as they are supposed to
have been according to the "About the USGenWeb Project" statement on
most of our pages, that we would have a mighty database and would be
necessary research material for even those who researchers who are not
online. Let's learn from our past mistakes and use them to build on.
However, it's not necessary to share our mistakes with the public
(referring to USGenWeb Announcements page). That just tears us down.
Unfortunately, we have strayed from our original purpose, primarily
because of egos. Some people are role players and some need to always
be the superstars (if in name only) of whatever team they are on. You
can only have so many superstars and still be an effective team.
Sometimes even one superstar will kill a team. A prime example of an
effective team of stars, minor stars and role players would be the 1998
New York Yankees. I would be willing to bet that there are not many
casual baseball fans (not sports fanatics) who can name even
half of that team. But they won more games last year than any other
major league baseball team in history. Almost everybody has heard of
Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. They are superstars and a wonder to watch
in person. However, what they want most (a World Series ring), they'll
probably never have, their teams suffer for their superstardom.
In my eyes, our team (USGenWeb) is suffering through the (self
perceived) superstardom of many of the people at or near the perceived
top. The people that we need to depend on for this Project to flourish
and grow are the small county coordinators that work their fingers to
the bone to bring information to the online researcher. Do we thank
them for their work?
Maybe. Do we really appreciate them and praise them in front of their
colleagues? No, not really. There are of course exceptions to every
rule, but I personally would like to see an award created in each state
or region (in the case of small states) recognizing the best county
sites available in our Project. These are awards for people who set the
example by their own work, not by hosting 40 counties in 15 states and
having several transcribers, although that too is helpful to our cause.
These awards are for county sites that best exemplify the goals of the
Project. Every time one of these awards is announced it should be
posted on every list we can find (and a special award website) that this
person and their site is special and we should congratulate them for
their hard work. THAT folks is what a team does.
I would like to take the opportunity to nominate Judi Muphy for her
work in Perry Co.,
IN(http://members.aol.com:/murphyjudi/perry/perry.htm). Betty Sellers
for her work in Trigg Co., KY
(
http://www.usroots.com/~kyseeker/trigg/trigg.html). And Vickie Miranda
for her work in Jefferson Co., CO
(
http://www.rootsweb.com/~cojeffer/index.html). Congratulations! You
are the Cream of the Crop! I will post the award winners at
http://pweb.netcom.com/~gsdownr/jmaward.html. I will be taking
nominations the first of every month starting October 1, one per state
per month. I'll pick and choose so that no one person or group is
overemphasized. Since I don't have a clue about most of the CC's in
most of the states, it should be easy to remain neutral. If the site is
not loaded with information, don't bother to submit it. I will weed it
out! The ones that I have nominated above and any received before
September 1 will remain posted until October 1. Please send nominations
to gsdownr(a)cybermail.net (to keep this separate from my regular mail).
In the subject, please put which state and JMAward (example Texas,
JMAward). My request to all State Coordinators and/or people with
access in each state to forward and spread the word about our best
County sites, among the project and the public. Instead of airing our
ugly history, let's put our best foot forward and show it to the world!
Patrick Hays
CC Hancock Co., KY
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/3456/hancock1.html
CC Custer Co., CO
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/3456/custer1.html
ACC Blackford Co., IN
http://users.rootsweb.com/~inblackf/index.htm
Coordinator Colorado Migration Project
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/3456/comig.html
Coordinator Kentucky Migration Project
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/3456/kymig.html