WikiTree Challenge #11: Growing Gideon Greenspan's Connections

 Companion post to Episode 11 of A Country Girl Rambles, "WikiTree Challenge #11: Growing Gideon Greenspan's Connections." Our next WikiTree Challenge guest, plus news, events, and what I've been working on. You can also watch the episode on YouTube.

Tomorrow we kick off WikiTree Challenge #11, and I'm so excited about this one! Our guest is Gideon Greenspan, and if you've ever posted a question on G2G, you've already used something he built. Gideon is the developer behind Question2Answer, the software our G2G forum runs on. So now we get to give a little something back and help grow his family tree!

What is the WikiTree Challenge?

Every month, the WikiTree Challenge features a guest, and for one week, volunteers work together to grow their CC7. That's everyone within seven degrees of connection, so it's not just parents and grandparents. Siblings, their spouses and children, cousins, and in-laws all count! You don't need any special skills to help. Add a source, find a sibling, or work out a little puzzle, and you're part of the team.

Gideon's challenge

• When: Thursday, 12 November, through Thursday, 19 November, starting at noon ET
• Team captain: BJ Jamieson. Thank you, BJ!
• Starting point: his CC7 starts out at just 13 profiles, so there's lots of room to grow
• Where his family takes us: Belarus, Croatia, England, Israel, Poland, and Scotland

To join in, register on G2G, and you'll get all the details. Then come to our Zoom chats: the kickoff on Thursday, 12 November, the weekend chat on Saturday, 14 November, and the wrap-up on Thursday, 19 November, all at noon ET. During the week, you can also chat with the team in real time in the challenge channel on Discord, where you'll get answers right away. The reveal is on Wednesday, 25 November, at 3pm ET, live on YouTube, where we'll share everything the team found with Gideon!

Catch up on WikiTree Days

WikiTree Days was a resounding success! Thank you so much to everyone who came out. It was so great to see all of us connecting. If you missed my Branching Out into Blogging session, it's now up on the WikiTree Days playlist on YouTube, along with the Zoom sessions for App'y Hour and Historical Time Travelers. Everything on the playlist will always be available, so you can catch up whenever you like.

What I've been working on

• Notable Relatives: a new view in the Dynamic Tree that finds the notable people in your family, including ancestors, descendants, and cousins, grouped by how close they are to you. The idea came from a member who answered one of the WikiTree Days daily questions on G2G and asked for an app like this! It's a test version, so I'd love for you to try it and let me know if anything needs improving.
• WikiTree Sourcer and FamilyTreeDNA: I'm working on Sourcer support for FamilyTreeDNA, so a WikiTree icon shows up next to your matches who have a WikiTree link. It's working on Family Finder and mtDNA matches, and it's still being tested.
• Cemetery Map: big cemeteries like Fairmont now open as a list of people first, instead of monuments.

You can find all my tools on my WT Apps by Azure page.

News from around WikiTree

Registration is open for the December WikiTree Challenge! Our guest is Andrea Bentschneider, the Hamburg-based professional genealogist behind Beyond History and the German Genealogy Collective. It runs 3 to 10 December, and you can register on G2G.

Upcoming events & challenges

Thursday, 12 November: The WikiTree Challenge #11 kickoff at noon ET, German Stammtisch at 2pm ET, and Member Q&A at 8pm ET.

Friday, 13 November: Ask Aleš at 9am ET.

Saturday, 14 November: Saturday Roundup at 10am ET, the Challenge weekend chat at noon ET, the Alabama Challenge at 1pm ET, and the Genealogy Collaboration Hour at 5pm ET.

Wednesday, 18 November: Azure & Eowyn Answer Everything at 11am ET, live on YouTube.

And don't forget the Weekend Chat on G2G every weekend! For everything else coming up, check out Help:Calendar.

Have you ever joined a WikiTree Challenge? WikiTree is a great place to collaborate, and even an hour makes a difference. I'd love to see you there!

Hope to see you around the branches!

Check out all I'm working on here: WT Apps by Azure