Would reviewing be best for a beginner instead of indexing?

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Michaelene Buczak said: I think it would be a good idea to have new indexers do the reviewing first (using the Beginner status). This would be a great way to read the handwriting easily and how to index the batch also. I've been reviewing awhile now, and nearly every time I learn something about the batch I'm reviewing, even though I read the Project Instructions and the Field Instructions. And it would also answer questions an indexer would have as well! It's an interesting concept to be debated, I think.

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A van Helsdingen said: I strongly disagree. Once Reviewing is complete, the data in each field is final. It will eventually be searchable on the FS site, and may be shared with partners of FS. Obviously this data ought to be accurate. Beginners should index, since any mistakes they make can be corrected by the Reviewer.

In my opinion, Reviewers should not only have to have indexed 1000 records in total, but also have indexed 10 batches of the project they wish to review to an acceptable level of accuracy.

And once again, I repeat, FS needs to allow indexers to see the results of reviewing, so that they can see where their mistakes are.

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Christina Sachs Wagner said: Obituaries were a great beginner project but they are now indexed by a computer, with lots of errors, I might add. I was sad to see them go away and am annoyed by all the errors.

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Slotbuddy said: Do not agree with you Christina. Agree with A van Helsdingen; if anythiing, I think reviewers requirements might need to be a bit more stringent and possibly have to pass a test before being allowed to review a particular type of project in addition to having indexed 10 batches of them.

Wholeheartedly agree support has to allow indexers to see results of the reviews. We all make errors and we are not looking to criticize anyone, but if no one shows us the errors, how will we know when we make them?

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MaureenE said: Other posts have said for indexing matters you need to post on the Indexing Chat Group in the "Community.FamilySearch" Forum, see a link provided by Brett on
https://getsatisfaction.com/familysea...

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Juli said: Michaelene does have a point: reviewing can resemble a "walkthrough", a demonstration of how a particular indexing project works. The problem is the chicken-and-egg temporal one: reviewing sets the fields in stone and sends the batch on to post-processing. If there were another step after it, by an experienced indexer who would recognize the errors, then it'd make sense to start beginners on the review step, but the whole point of the review step is that there isn't a step after it.

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Christine said: I love the idea that an indexer should go through a training of the individual project BEFORE indexing, but that is already available in the Project Instructions. What we really need are indexers who will look at the project instructions, reading ALL the info, and clicking on all the examples. Would love a "Yes, I have reviewed the Project Instructions, including looking at all the examples" button that an indexer must check before indexing. Much the same as the new "I have verified every field" button a reviewer has to check.

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Slotbuddy said: That sounds like a good idea to me, however, Maureen does not like us discussing indexing at all on this site. Funny, though, she doesn't object to anyone complaining about the errors indexers make.

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MaureenE said: I have absolutely no objection to people discussing indexing on this site if they want to.

I was merely under the impression that employees from the indexing team do not look much at this forum. I have seen a statement to this effect by a FS employee some time ago which implied to me if you want changes to be actually made, they will not happen if you post here.

It seems to me pointless if people with good ideas post here, if the FS employees who can make changes are not monitoring this Forum.

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Juli said: Combining Michaelene's idea with Christine's, would it work to have a full example batch from the project as part of the instructions? Instead of the sample images that show just the image, have a click-through series of screen captures showing the indexing fields and what goes in them based on the image.

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Erika Campbell said: I agree, new indexers need to index first. The reviewer will carefully check each item and make sure that the information indexed is correct. I am a reviewer and am careful in my attempt to get accurate records to the public. Sometimes an indexer doesn't know and leaves the requested information blank, the reviewer will hopefully be able to read the information and complete the record. I am so grateful for the indexers, they are doing a great job.
Erika

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Christine said: would be fabulous for reviewers too! Some projects just have rather vague instructions so this would be really great!

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Slotbuddy said: Going back a few years, there was a woman who used to put a short video on each new project type explaining how to to index that particular project. It was very helpful to actually see it it being done as opposed to reading instructions. Wish support would consider doing this when a new type of project starts. This woman did it on her own so it cannot be something this is difficult to do or something that is very expensive to implement.

I apologize to you, Maureen, if I sounded critical. I didn't mean it the way it may have come across when I wrote it.