Working Together
Since the BillionGraves Index is now available on FamilySearch.org, a large group from FamilySearch employees decided to learn more about what BillionGraves is all about. So they headed to the Murray Cemetery in Utah to give the app a try.
Some people took pictures, and some people contributed by cleaning off headstones ahead of the picture-takers. This job is an important one: taking pictures goes much more quickly if the headstones are ready with all the information visible.
Dan Shellman, one of the participants, shared a bit about the great experience he had. “The activity that we held in which we took pictures of grave stones to be uploaded to BillionGraves was a great one. As I was taking pictures, it was humbling to see the names of families and wonder at the lives they must have lead. It felt great to know that the information about these families could be used to help others better understand their family history.”
Getting a rubbing of a favorite headstone for personal records.
Transcribing records together after the trip to the cemetery.
120 different contributors—88 of them first time picture-takers—participated, and about 12,000 new images were added to the Murray Cemetery in one day.
The group even started transcribing the images together after the event.
Thanks to those who participated. Remember, getting a group together makes picture taking a faster and even more enjoyable experience. And check out the BillionGraves Index on FamilySearch.org.
Some headstones are hard to reach, but with a little effort, you can still capture them.
RootsTech 2012
RootsTech 2012 is this weekend! BillionGraves will be there—you are invited to attend our session at 1:45 on Saturday, February 4. You can also visit our booth throughout the conference.
We’re holding a contest in honor of RootsTech. The contest encourages you to recruit your family and friends, and then you’ll earn points for THEIR hard work! For every family member or friend that joins your team, you receive one point. And for every photo that your teammates upload, you get one point. So the more people you refer to BillionGraves, the faster your point total will grow. The contest ends on February 29, 2012, at 5 PM PST. If your team earns 10,000 points, you, as team leader, will win a $10 Subway gift card. Then we will hold a drawing to select our Grand Prize winner. The more points you earn, the more entries you get in the drawing. We will make a grand announcement about our Grand Prize during RootsTech this weekend!
Visit our RootsTech Contest page to learn more about the contest. From this page, it is easy to tell your friends by sending an email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Start growing your BillionGraves Team and help us build to a billion.
Information about our session:
Rob Moncur and Curtis Tirrell will present on using smartphones and GPS to crowdsource cemetery data collection. The session will be held in room 255B at the Salt Palace Convention Center on February 4. Again, the session starts at 1:45. We can’t wait to see you at RootsTech!
Teamwork in Action
This weekend, a few of us here at BillionGraves were able to participate in an Eagle Scout Project hosted at a local cemetery.
The project was a huge success. Each volunteer had a great time providing service to their community. With everyone involved, the whole cemetery was recorded in less than an hour. Kind of inspires you to get a team going in your area, doesn’t it. (It should!)
This beautifully manicured cemetery was easy to navigate, and the volunteers worked diligently to collect headstone images.
The group was sure dedicated to their smartphones. It’s fun to come across unique headstones like these while taking pictures.
This young man put together a team of volunteers and organized an event all on his own, and the team knocked out an entire cemetery in a day. Like I said, you should feel inspired!
Recruit your friends and family and get your community involved in recording family history for others around the world. Teams can help each member feel motivated, share the burden of recording an entire cemetery, and make an afternoon at the cemetery more fun. Organize an event to record a cemetery together. You can refer your friends to our site to help them get registered and oriented.
We have an Eagle Scout reference packet as well as other reference guides on our site. Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have with regards to Eagle Scout Projects or organizing events—we would love to help you out.
BillionGraves Team Achievements
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