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| Type of business | Privately held company |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2008 |
| Headquarters | New York, New York, USA |
| Founder(s) | Chris Whitten |
| President | Chris Whitten |
| Industry | Genealogy, Social media |
| URL | www.wikitree.com |
WikiTree is a free, shared genealogy website that allows users to individually research and contribute to their own personal family trees, while building and collaborating on a singular worldwide family tree within the same system. The site was created in 2008 by Chris Whitten, developer of the WikiAnswers website, and is owned and hosted by Interesting.com, Inc.[2] The site uses a “wiki”-based markup language that offers both beginning and advanced users the ability to create and edit personal profiles, categories and “free space” pages to document their family’s history. As of August 15, 2014, the WikiTree website has over 194,000 registered members and maintains over 7.8 million ancestral profiles.[3]
The stated mission of WikiTree is “to grow a single worldwide family tree that will make genealogy free and accessible for everyone.”[4] The website operates with minimal expenses and covers those costs with modest advertising displayed on public pages of the site.[2] Members who are logged in do not see the advertising. Accessibility is ensured by allowing members to contribute basic facts, personally-generated content and non-copyrighted information without limitations.
Users requesting membership in the WikiTree community are asked to commit to a nine-point Honor Code[5] that encourages collaboration, accuracy, and the use of sources and citations. Courtesy in dealing with other members, consideration of copyrights, and respect for the privacy of others are also among the hallmarks of the Honor Code.
WikiTree seeks to balance their users’ desire to protect their online privacy, and that of their more recent ancestors and descendants, with the ability to publicly share and collaborate on information related to their more distant forebearers. Each profile is managed by one or more profile managers, and other members who may be related or willing to share information about that person can be added to the profile's "Trusted List"[6]. Members of a profile's Trusted List have full access to view and edit details on the page, regardless of the privacy level, and all changes are tracked for future reference. WikiTree maintains seven different profile privacy levels, as outlined below.
The "Unlisted" option hides the entire profile from everyone except those on the Trusted List, and is the default privacy level for the profiles of living children under the age of 13.
The "Private" option allows all members access to a selection of public information, including the person's first and last name, prefix and/or suffix, and any public comments posted on the profile. Limited public information, including the person's middle initial, the decade of their birth, and a thumbnail version of the profile's primary photo, are made available to assist users in finding their correct ancestors. Personal information that is hidden on private profiles includes the person's gender, formal first name, nicknames, relationships to spouses, siblings and children, and personal memories posted by members of the profile's Trusted List.
This privacy option is similar to the "Private" setting, with the exception that the "Biography" and "Sources" sections of the profile are publicly viewable, but editable only by members of the Trusted List.
Similar to the "Private" setting, this option allows public viewing of the person's family tree, gender and DNA testing information.
This option offers public viewing of the person's biography, sources, family tree, gender and DNA testing information.
On a "Public" profile, anyone can view the profile, but only members of the profile's Trusted List are able to add or make changes. The "Public" option cannot be selected for persons who are still living.
Information on an "Open" profile is publicly viewable, and WikiTree members who have signed the Honor Code can add or make changes to it. All changes are tracked, credited to the contributor, and can be further edited or replaced with previously entered information. This setting cannot be used on the profiles of living persons, however, the profiles for persons with birth dates that are more than 200 years old are locked on the "Open" option.
The site maintains a page of “frequently asked questions” (FAQs) and a “genealogist to genealogist” (G2G) forum that allows users to get answers and help with both genealogical and technical questions. Points and badges are awarded to members who answer questions and contribute information to the site. Additionally, the site is managed by a team of experienced volunteer leaders and mentors that serve the community in a variety of capacities, the most important being to help users gain proficiency in using the system.[7]
Leaders also manage numerous projects within the site that further organize researchers by specific interests. Among the most popular current projects are the 1776, Acadians, Australian Convicts and First Settlers, European Aristocrats, Puritan Great Migration, Scottish Clans, U.S. Civil War, and U.S. Presidents projects. Many of the projects maintain social communities on Google+ to keep members informed of current happenings and topics for discussion.
Two new projects that are gaining in popularity on the site are the Global Cemeteries Project and the Global Family Reunion (GFR) Project, a tie-in to a worldwide family genealogy event by the same name that is being planned by best-selling author A.J. Jacobs[8]. The GFR is scheduled to be held in New York City on June 6, 2015. The site also maintains a blog that includes two other popular features: the “Profile of the Week” and the “Photo of the Week”. Active members are asked to view and vote on the best submissions for each category.
Users can upload their computer-generated "GEDCOM" files with digital genealogical data gathered from personal research and recollections, as well as from other non-copyrighted sources available elsewhere on the internet. Once a user's GEDCOM file is uploaded, WikiTree’s "GEDMatch"[9] tool compares data contained in the file and identifies matches with existing profiles, allowing the user to quickly find details about their ancestors that have already been entered by others, and eliminating the creation of duplicated profiles.
WikiTree recently announced the implementation of their DNA Ancestor Confirmation Aid (ACA),[10] a tool that allows members to upload the results of their Y-chromosome (Y-DNA) and mitochondrial (mtDNA) tests for purposes of scientifically confirming paternal (male) and maternal (female) relationships within their family tree. The ACA is designed to:
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Category:Genealogy websites Category:Companies based in New York City Category:Internet properties established in 2008
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