Collaborative Genealogy

I wonder whether people have had the opportunity to work on their family genealogy in a collaborative environment before?

If not, try it - it's a hoot! Then again - it's a lot of work and CAN be frustrating.

With the lovely new opportunity provided by Google's Documents and Spreadsheets facility, it is possible to create documentation that can then be shared among many different people and enable them to view, comment on and even edit the content.

Each person can contribute his/her own version of reality, hopefully with as much referential data as possible. Then, through off line discussions or indeed on line discussions through other processes including the use of Skype, or similar VOIP tools or perhaps through discussion groups provided by Yahoo, Google or other service providers, actually reach some consensus on who was related to whom and how and when and where and at the same time enable people to place their own personal stories and/or memories into a space that is then shared among many.

What I have been learning through the process of attempting the feat of helping to coordinate such work using these sorts of 'free' facilities is that there are days when everything is simply wonderful and days when it all seems to be too hard!

I guess I am reaching out to those who may well have trod this or a similar path and asking for comments or lessons learned so that I can benefit from the views of others and so not waste time and effort repeating mistakes and gain time by learning from lessons others have learned on how to do things better and/or more quickly and usefully. As well - since this is a public blog any who read the content may be able to learn how to do things or how to avoid doing things that can result in a disaster.

I would be particularly delighted if some of my readers would share with me and with others how they have made such cooperative ventures work well for them.