Where are the fireworks?
Way back in January of this year, I set a goal to index 25,000 names this year. At the time it seemed reasonable, but a bit of a stretch.
At the time I was mostly indexing obituaries, which usually have at least 30 names, and sometimes have more than a hundred.
I calculated that if I did 100 names per week day, that made 500 names per week.
I figured there would be holidays and vacations when I wouldn't have time or opportunity to index, so I estimated about two weeks of "vacation" time.
500 names x 50 weeks = 25,000 names.
Simple, right?
Over the course of the year, I have plugged away at my goal. Some days I got a record to index that had more than 100 names. I would go ahead and finish the entire record that day. It never hurts to be ahead of my goal, I thought. As the days when I did more than I needed to added up, the number of names I had to do each day to complete my goal decreased. The indexing program would tell me that I have to do x names a day in order to complete my goal. I multiplied that number by 7/5 (because I only index on week days) and would make sure I indexed at least that many names. I usually tried to still complete 100 names, but if I was pressed for time, I might only do as many as I had to in order to complete my goal.
As the year has passed, the obituary projects have been completed, and it has become harder to get 100 names. Occasionally I will spend an hour indexing and only get 30 names - but a lot more information on each one.
Sometimes I will return batches because the handwriting is too difficult to decipher. Occasionally I will open up several batches before I find one that has information that I can index, and that can be frustrating.
At the time I was mostly indexing obituaries, which usually have at least 30 names, and sometimes have more than a hundred.
I calculated that if I did 100 names per week day, that made 500 names per week.
I figured there would be holidays and vacations when I wouldn't have time or opportunity to index, so I estimated about two weeks of "vacation" time.
500 names x 50 weeks = 25,000 names.
Simple, right?
Over the course of the year, I have plugged away at my goal. Some days I got a record to index that had more than 100 names. I would go ahead and finish the entire record that day. It never hurts to be ahead of my goal, I thought. As the days when I did more than I needed to added up, the number of names I had to do each day to complete my goal decreased. The indexing program would tell me that I have to do x names a day in order to complete my goal. I multiplied that number by 7/5 (because I only index on week days) and would make sure I indexed at least that many names. I usually tried to still complete 100 names, but if I was pressed for time, I might only do as many as I had to in order to complete my goal.
As the year has passed, the obituary projects have been completed, and it has become harder to get 100 names. Occasionally I will spend an hour indexing and only get 30 names - but a lot more information on each one.
Sometimes I will return batches because the handwriting is too difficult to decipher. Occasionally I will open up several batches before I find one that has information that I can index, and that can be frustrating.
Anyway, I reached my goal today. As of this moment, I have indexed 25,026 names this year. And there were no fireworks. There are, however, over 25,000 more names available for people who are trying to find records of their ancestors. I'm glad I've been able to help, and I plan to continue helping.
That is awesome.
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