---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 09 Jun 1999 21:14:13 -0700
From: Dr. Brian Leverich <leverich(a)rootsweb.com>
To: STATE-COORD-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: [STATE-COORD-L] Improving Our Ability to Serve the Public
Resent-Date: Wed, 9 Jun 1999 20:46:27 -0700 (PDT)
Resent-From: STATE-COORD-L(a)rootsweb.com
One of the things about life is you either keep improving or you
become a corpse standing on your feet.
That's true for RootsWeb, and it's equally true for USGenWeb. Since
USGenWeb was founded, many other organizations have sprung up that
partially or wholly attempt to clone USGenWeb's content: ALHN,
GenExchange, Broderbund's GenForum, Ancestry, Randall Haight's
genweb.net, ...
If USGenWeb is going to stay the premier geographically-oriented
genealogy project, one of the things it's going to need to do is
continuously improve the range and quality of services it provides
to the genealogical community.
In tonight's RootsWeb Review, RootsWeb is announcing "County
Resource" pages for every county in America. The pages include or
will include links to USGenWeb sites on RootsWeb, a mailing list, a
GenConnect suite, a link registry, search engines for the USGenWeb
Archives and the RSL, an event calendar, a guestbook, and various
other tools.
You can see the County Resources at:
http://resources.rootsweb.com/USA/
We expect to be adding tools to the Resource pages as rapidly as we
can. There will surely be a Social Security Death Index search and
some other nice features coming on line in the not-to-distant future.
###
So isn't this just another competitor for USGenWeb?
==> Not at all. <==
While we're still working out the details, RootsWeb's intent is to
put each County Resource page and all the resources on them at the
disposal of the appropriate USGenWeb County Coordinator. CCs can
link to the pages, or they can borrow the HTML from the pages and
incorporate the tools directly into their own pages. How (or even
if) you administer those resources is largely your own choice.
That's your own choice. The tools are there if you want them. And
there will be more and better tools available to you as time goes on.
Speaking personally, I hope most folks choose to use the tools.
USGenWeb is one of the two most impressive projects I've ever seen
unfold on the Internet (the development of Linux is the other ... ),
and I would very much like to see USGenWeb stay on the cutting edge
of technology and provide better services to genealogists than any
of its imitators. Cheers, B.
--
Dr. Brian Leverich Co-moderator, soc.genealogy.methods/GENMTD-L
RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative
http://www.rootsweb.com/
P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798 leverich(a)rootsweb.com