I went to the temple today. Just before the session started, I was sitting in the chapel reading out of the Pearl of Great Price. In Moses chapter 6, which talks about Adam and his posterity keeping a book of remembrance, I read the following verses:
5 And a
abook of
bremembrance was kept, in the which was recorded, in the
clanguage of Adam, for it was given unto as many as called upon God to write by the spirit of
dinspiration;
6 And by them their
achildren were taught to read and write, having a
blanguage which was
cpure and undefiled.
When I read this, I immediately thought of how we have the same obligation...to teach our children and grandchildren about where they came from and how their lives were made possible. The Wilson-Bingham family history anthology will help fulfill this purpose for us.
I realized that in order to publish this book correctly, everyone has to have a chance to review the pages, make corrections and additions, and comment on what has been written.
We live in a world and time where not only is that possible, it's extremely simple.
Question: Sounds great! How can I help?
Answer: You will soon be seeing at least 12 separate emails arriving in your inbox. Please do not set these emails aside or lose track of them. They each contain a link to one of the 12 book chapters for you to review and edit.
- In the first email you receive, which will have the subject line "Google Docs & Spreadsheets Invitation", click on the link in the email and you will be taken to a page where you can sign up for an account to help us edit pages.
- Once you have an account, then you will be taken to the editing page on the Web where you can read and edit the contents of that chapter.
- Chapter emails will have the subject line "Wilson-Bingham-Family-History_chapter_". Just click the link in the email.
Ignore the signup e-mails in step 1 after you've registered. There is no need to sign up for a new account again once you've already done so.
Question: I have a hard time with the signing up for stuff on the Web. Can't you just e-mail me the whole chapter so I can make my changes in the e-mail itself?
Answer: It's easier than you think. Click here to read a quick tutorial. If you still don't want to use the editor, the text of the chapter is also included in the e-mail itself, so you can just reply to the email, type your changes wherever you want, and then click the "Send" button.
Question: When do you need me to be finished?
Answer: I'd like to have everyone's changes and additions done by March 31st, 2007 so that I will have sufficient time to merge them back into the master document for printing.
The final book will be ready by June 2007, just in time for the
once-in-a-lifetime 100th anniversary of Alfred and Emma Wilson's marriage.
If you have any questions or problems accessing the documents, don't hesitate to reply via email or call me. My phone number is [removed from blog for privacy...see email]. The best time to reach me is Sunday evenings.Question: What if a chapter isn't about me and my family? Should I just ignore it?
Answer: Some chapters will be all about your ancestors and descendants. Others won't. But, you are welcome to make changes to ALL chapters. This is because you may be reading along and will have a memory of participating in an event, or talking to a person, or hearing a related story and will want to include it. Please do!
Question: What else can I do to help?
Answer: We also need help with several research items that you will see noted as comments in the footnotes section of each chapter.Question: How do I keep from messing up other people's changes?
Answer: Don't worry about overwriting each other's changes. The simple word processing editor you'll be using keeps track of each person's changes in different colors so it'll be easy to merge it all together when we're done.
Question: I want my other family members to help! Who else have you sent this to?
Answer: Below is a list of names and email addresses for all individuals currently subscribed to receive this email.
If you have descendants or relatives who are not on this email list, please reply with their e-mail addresses so I can include them in this group editing process.[removed from blog for privacy...see email]
Thank you for your help and cooperation!
Rob Watson