How do I read the dates accurately?
This is my first attempt at indexing. In the US we generally write our dates as Month, Day, Year. How do I read dates correctly so that I can enter them correctly. If I see a date regardless of the country i.e. 6-8-1919 how do I know if it's July 8th 1919 or August 6th 1919?
Answers
-
Hello Kimberly Dawn. Welcome to Indexing! It is a broad question, but, I think after you index for a while you will see that the contextual clues on an image or the reference images, and information in the the project instructions will be helpful. The batch code which Peter referred to is the series of letters/numbers in brackets following the project title. Example: [M3H2-WZ4]
While on your main indexing page, you can click on the gear next to the words MY BATCHES and insert that code. People are then able to see the "shared batch" and see what you are seeing, read the project instructions and field helps, and provide better assistance. Try it and you will see a batch that I am going to review. Each index is reviewed at least once, and up to 4 times, for accuracy. Reviewers are simply indexers who have completed 1000 entries in web-indexing.
The most important thing in indexing is to read the project instructions (PI) and Field Helps in full. They can always be pulled up by clicking on the link at the bottom of the entry form, or the last icon in the toolbar, or the Help tab and Project Instructions. Within the PI, click on the examples and see what and how they indexed the various forms that you may find in the project. The field helps also provide further instructions for each individual field. They are accessed by clicking on the purple question mark that appears when you enter a field. The General Indexing Guidelines should also be clicked on and read individually. They are vitally important to knowing how to index!
Dates can be tricky, but, usually they are going to be indexed in the standard form (M/D/Y). We cannot search on Months or Days in FamilySearch, so it probably isn't as important that we get those correct. The researcher will find the image, look at it and be able to determine the correctness of the index.
Since you are new to indexing, I always like to recommend two videos that will help you on your quest!
The first one was a facebook live with Jason Pierson who helped to create web-indexing. The actual lesson begins at the 8 minute mark, but, the first 8 minutes with him and Wendy Smedley of FamilySearch are good too! Indexing Discussion (Jason Pierson Live)
The secon is one of the first videos produced about web-indexing. It is in greater detail, and a few things were changed over the years, but, it is very good (a little longer)... Getting Started with FamilySearch Web Indexing - Kathryn Grant
Good luck and keep asking great questions! But, do share a batch that you are questioning to get the most accurate answer. Happy Indexing!!
Melissa
2