Guidelines for Coordinators & Volunteers of the HIGenWeb

Ways you can volunteer to help!

There are many ways to volunteer to help on the HIGenWeb Project. 
Some of them are listed below: 

Adopt a county 

Co-Host a county 
Co-hosting a county with someone else is the best way to learn to adopt a county. While co-hosting, you would receive the email queries and surnames, etc., that people want posted to the county pages. You would need to make sure all the pertinent information was included with the request: email address, contact person, and that the query was written in good format. If it needs to be reworded, you could do that. Also, you would acknowledge the receipt of the query to the county, etc., then forward the query to the coordinator of that county for posting. While co-hosting, the host, or another host, can work with you on learning html and ftp coding and instructions. Some counties are using an automatic system to receive their queries and surnames, so they would not need someone to help with the county. 

Information Gathering 
You can volunteer to gather information from your county, or counties close to you. If you do not have internet access, you can get copies and mail them to the county coordinator via snail mail. Just contact the county coordinator for that particular county. 

Do lookups from local sources or from written material 

Volunteer to do research in public records that are available in the area where you live, or from books, etc, that you have available. 

Special Projects 

We have several Special Projects in the works that can use some help. 

We have need of volunteers to obtain census records from different areas, old photographs of places and/or people of Hawaii. And we have the need for people that can do translations, regardless of the languages they are able to work in. 

There are other projects as well. Transcribers 

The Census Project, Tombstone Project, and the Digital Archives Project can always use transcribers. 

Typing 
County Coordinators are constantly finding new material to post to their county pages, but find they could use some help in getting the material typed up and onto the computer for coding and posting to their pages. You could volunteer to type the material into the computer (at your home, and email the file to the coordinator, that way it is already on the computer, then the coordinator can code it and upload it to the web). 

Walk a cemetery 

County Coordinators are always interested in receiving information for their county. You could walk your local cemetery(ies) obtaining the names and dates from the headstones, recording the location of the headstone (plot/gravesite) and submit them to the coordinator for posting. 

These can also be used in the Tombstone Project. 

A suggestion: Some people use their local Girl Scout or Boy Scout troops to do this. 

USGenWeb Volunteers in HIGenWeb

Definitions & Requirements 
The word Volunteer means many thing to many people, and is used in many different cases to mean something other than the standard definition found in the dictionary. In this case, within the USGenWeb and HIGenWeb Projects, it means we "agree" to coordinate information for the County we have opted to host, with the only gratuity being the satisfaction of helping others. 

Many of us are coordinating Counties we have connections to with our own family searches. Which is fine! I started out that way, and I'm sure many others have too, and many more to come will also. 

When you Volunteer to coordinate a County for any of the State Projects within the USGenWeb, you do so knowing it is for the USGenWeb Projects, and the many visitors to that County. The USGenWeb does have certain requirements that have to be on your County Pages. States can, and do, impose additional requirements and guidelines. To Volunteer to coordinate a County in the HIGenWeb, it must be with the understanding that you adhere to these Requirements and guidelines. 

You must follow the USGenWeb CC requirements: http://www.usgenweb.org/volunteers/scccguidelines.html

HIGenWeb CC requirements and requirements for County Pages

Graphics will have to be in the standard formats, .gif, .jpg (.jpeg), that all browsers can view them. 

County Site Content 
Many of us came to these pages, this State, or the USGenWeb, looking for our ancestors. Sometimes we are lucky enough to be able to adopt the very County we are/were searching in. 

We welcome members of the Historical and/or Genealogical Societies that wish to host a County in the HIGenWeb Project. We have no objections to the Societies being noted on the pages, and even your Societies Logo (if you have one) being placed on the main page, just not as the predominant Logo. This is the HIGenWeb Project, which is part of the USGenWeb Project, and that must be first and foremost.

If you need help with getting a site on HIGenWeb or formatting please advise the SC or the HIGenWeb Mail list.  We are here to help.

Main Page Requirements

HiGenWeb Logo and USGenWeb Logo.

The HIGenWeb Logo must be at the top of the main page of your County, at least. Optional Logos can be found on the HIGenWeb Logo page.

        USGenWeb Logo must be located on your main page. Optional Logos for this (2 different sizes, and the pillow Logo) are also found on the Official USGenWeb Logos page. 

County Coordinators Email
You should be courteous, quick to respond and assist your visitors to the best of your ability. You aren't required to do research for your visitors but you do need to point them in the direction of finding answers. No money requests posted.

No unnecessary advertisements—

Hosting of your website.  Your website can be hosted anywhere as long as it is not offline more than 3 days.  If it is off line any longer than that you will need to seek alternative hosting.

Required Links

HIGenWeb Index page   http://www.usgenwebsites.org/HIGenWeb/

USGenWeb   http://www.usgenweb.org

Strongly Suggested Links

USGenWeb Archives   http://www.usgwarchives.net
HIGenWeb Archives   http://www.usgwarchives.net/hi/hifiles.htm
Hawaii Cemetery Project   http://www.usgwarchives.net/hi/hicem.htm
WorldGenWeb Project   http://www.worldgenweb.org/

Link all pages in your site to your index page.

Updates:  Your County pages need to be updated at least every 3 months, and noted so at the bottom of your pages (this page last updated). Though it would be very acceptable if they were updated weekly. 

Communication: You will be added to the HIGenWeb mail list by the SC, and will be expected to respond to the monthly roll call in a timely manner. Any CCs that do not respond within 6 months to roll call will be removed and their county will be put up for adoption. 

Non-Profit

The USGenWeb Projects, of which the HIGenWeb Project is a part of, is a Non-Profit entity. In other words we put this information up for FREE access by all, 24 hrs. a day, and 7 days a week. No one will be charged for any of the efforts by the Coordinators, as hosts to a county in the HIGenWeb Project. If you should come across one that is charging for access to page, I would like to know about it.

Copyright Infringement 

Our goal is to provide free information but we must do it legally. No matter how tempting it is to upload useful data to our county pages, we must avoid copyright infringement. Copyright is ownership of the author, creator or publisher of a given work. Copyright gives the owner the right to benefit from his/her labor. 

To avoid copyright infringement, follow these four basic rules: 

Anything dated 1923 and after is protected by copyright. There are no exceptions. 

Only facts can be shared 

Any use of a work that diminishes its market value constitutes copyright infringement. 

Obtain written authorization from the copyright holder to avoid committing copyright infringement. 

Copyright Policy http://usgenweb.org/volunteers/copyright.html