The Members’ Websites Program (MWP) A safe haven for members’ one-name study websites The Members’ Websites Program is designed to provide a safe haven for members’ one-name study websites. Members can upload a one-name study website to the Program’s webserver provided the site is concerned with a surname which they have registered with the Guild. The website will then be accessible via an address like http://smith.one-name.net where Smith is the subject of the one-name study. They can include their research data, their trees, their images, their histories, hypotheses and conclusions – everything in their one-name study. The member can edit the website just as if it were on a commercial hosting company’s server. All the material uploaded can be viewed world-wide and will be available to future generations. The Guild recognizes that most Guild Registered Studies are based on a Bearer of that registered surname that is part of the Member’s personal family history. Your Website may include any of your personal family history and genealogy that connects to a bearer, no matter how distant. By displaying excellence in one-name study websites the Members’ Websites Program specifically addresses the Guild Vision that the Guild should “strengthen its position as the centre of excellence for surname studies and empowering members to preserve their knowledge It also increases the visibility of members’ websites since the Guild’s main website is a portal to the program. Members’ websites that have been uploaded can be viewed via the Members’ Websites Full List. The Program encourages new members to join the Guild and existing members to make effective use of current technology whatever their computer skill level. If you need help or advice before you get started, please contact the MWP team. Members’ research preserved – indefinitely After a member has uploaded their website, they can still edit, delete and add to its pages. After the member passes away or ceases membership however, the Guild will preserve it convert the site into a Legacy site, and make it available to public view indefinitely as long as it is able. Types of website Most types of website can be accepted for hosting on the Members’ Websites Program. They include free-standing HTML websites; websites using Content Management Systems, especially WordPress and Media Wiki; and websites where genealogy data is imported from GEDCOM files and stored in a common database using The Next Generation genealogy software (TNG). The three different type of sites that are available within the preservation project are defined as: Type 1 these are basically html sites Type 2 use a package or packages that are installed for you but you are in charge of updates and such. Packages can be WordPress, TNG, Joomla, etc. Type 3 are in a combined single installation of TNG and the updates are done by the TNG team. Examples of One-Name Study websites which have been uploaded by this project include: 1. Websites consisting of freestanding HTML pages 2. Websites created using a Content Management System such as MediaWiki (left) and WordPress (right) 3. Websites created using an online database created from a GEDCOM file using The Next Generation software More details about the types of website that can be hosted on the Program website are on the Types of Website page. Save (For Guild Members only, there is a set of web pages in the Guild Wiki giving detailed guidance and support to help you create a website on the Members’ Websites Program or to transfer an existing website to the Program.)