Animal Finder Data Entry Tips

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       Work-In-Progress, for review and comment only


Table of contents
1 In General
2 Suggested workflow
3 FAQ
4 Form Field Guide

4.1 If You Are Transcribing a Post Updating a Missing Person's Status
4.2 Copy the following information from the source post in all cases

5 Animal Finder Directory

In General

Enter as much data as you can glean from the data source on the web – this will vary wildy depending on the posting and in many cases you will have very little information to go on. Read through replies and comments to get the most current information on the post. Don’t spend too much time looking up states etc. but use your best judgment about how to fill out the form.

Here's a diagram of the sorts of info you can extract from a sample entry:

Image:Labeledsample_s.png

(A larger version of this image is available here (http://192.122.183.218/wiki/images/f/fa/Labeledsample.png))

See this Example Walkthrough Movie (http://homepage.mac.com/whump/katrinaHowTo2.mov) of converting a post to an form entry (QuickTime).

Suggested workflow

Go to (Pending) in a new window and complete the form.


When you have completed and submitted an entry, the page will reload with a blank form.

  • On some browsers you can use the back button and change only the pertinent fields (First Name, Last Name) for multiple from the same post records to keep the data consistent and resubmit.
  • Once an entry is saved it cannot be edited. If you make a significant mistake, then make a new entry to correct it; when people search the final database, both the mistake and the correction will appear.
  • Using the brower's back button will bring up the last entry. When you click save, the entry will will saved as an additional entry.

Auto-complete your entries in Internet Explorer

Go to:

Tools
Internet Options
Content
Personal Information

Within this section, click on Auto Complete, then check the Forms Box. This will then give you a choice of previously entered data on the forms when you do your data entry. You can always go back and choose to Clear your Auto Complete forms, once you move on to a new date, locale or data list.

Auto-complete your entries in Firefox

Go to:

Tools
Options
Privacy

Within this section, click on the + sign next to Saved Form Information to expand this section. Place a check in the box next to Save Information I enter in web page forms and the Search Bar. You can always go back and choose Clear once you move on to a new date, locale or data list.

FAQ

How much data do I need to make a record?

  • Pending

There are several names in this posting – do I create a separate record for each of them?
Yes – please create a new record for each full name you are able to gather information about and try to be consistent for the rest of the form so that their records can be easily grouped.

What if I find links to another database of found/missing pet information?

Tag it in del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us/doc/about) with the "PetFinder" and "unstructured" tags. We'll see it and make sure we get it included. If you're not sure how to do this, just send the information about the new database to (Pending)

What if I make a mistake? How can I edit my entry?

You can't. The system was designed with a specific decision not to accommodate edits or error correction. If you make a mistake that feels significant, please just re-enter with the correct data.

Form Field Guide

Note: These field names need to be revised for PetFinder use. Missing person information could be used for pet owner.

Entry Date

The date at which you are filing your report. The date of the original post goes in the 'source date' field.
Note: enter dates in the following format. Time is also required.
mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm AM|PM.
For example, 9/21/2005 2:35 AM is legal.

First Name

The first name of the missing person.
If the source post supplies multiple first names for family members that share a last name, create separate posts for each family member (remember that families can be separated during things like this.) - This is incorrect. If you enter additional names in the "Description" section, a search will find bring up the record. Create a separate record only if both firstname and lasntame are different.
If the source post supplies names for multiple people who do not share the same last name, create an individual entry for each person listed.
If there is no first name supplied in the source post (i.e., the posting is looking for "the Smith Family"), enter "Unknown" in the first name field.

Last Name

The last name of the missing person.
If there is no last name supplied in the source post, enter "Unknown" in the last name field and please enter as much supporting information as possible in the rest of the form.

Phone

The phone number belonging to the missing person.
If there is no phone number supplied in the source post, leave this field blank.

Address

The address that the missing person was known/believed to reside.
If there is no address supplied in the source post, leave this field blank.

City

The name of the city where the missing person is known/believed to be from.
If there is no city supplied in the source post, leave this field blank.

State

The state in which the missing person is known/believed to be from. Please use standard postal abbreviations: ie: LA - Louisiana, MS - Mississippi.
If there is no state supplied in the source post, enter "LA." You can also use the city name as a clue (i.e., New Orleans is in LA).

Home Neighborhood

The neighborhood (i.e., French Quarter, 9th Ward) that the missing person is known/believed to be from.
If there is no home neighborhood supplied in the source post, leave this field blank.

Email

The email address of the missing person.
If no email address is supplied in the source post, leave this field blank.

Company

The missing person's company or place of employment.
If no company is supplied in the source post, leave this field blank.

URL to Photo

A URL to a photograph of the missing person.
If no URL or photograph is supplied in the source post, leave this field blank.
To get the URL, Windows users should right click on the photo and select Properties. The URL is beside the word "Location."

Other Any other information supplied in the source post that may help identify the missing person. If no other information is supplied in the source post, leave this field blank.

If You Are Transcribing a Post Updating a Missing Person's Status

Note Entry Date

The date on which the source post was made.

Found

Check the box if the missing person has been found.

Email of Found Person

The email address that the found person can currently be reached at.
If no email address is supplied in the source post, leave this field blank.

Phone of Found Person

The phone number that the found person can currently be reached at.
If no phone number is supplied in the source post, leave this field blank.

Last Known Location

The last known location of the person at the time the source post was made.
If no location is supplied in the source post, leave this field blank.

Text

Any other information in the source post about the person's location and status.

Copy the following information from the source post in all cases

Author Name

The name of the person who created the source post.
If no name is supplied in the source post, enter the username or other identifier of the person who created the source post.

Author Email

The email of the person who created the source post. At craigslist, an "anon" email address may be the only author information available. Email addresses in the "anon" form point to the author, so it's fine to enter those.
If there is no email address supplied in the source post, enter "Reply to Site."

Author Phone

The phone number of the person who created the source post.
If there is no phone number supplied in the source post, enter "Reply to Site."

Source Name

The name of the source (i.e., Craigslist, NOLA).

Source Date

The date that the source post appeared.

Source URL

The URL of the source post.
Remember that the "URL" is the address of the web page you are viewing to get the information. It will start with "http://" and is found in the little box at the top of your browser.


Animal Finder Directory

  1. Animal Rescue Resources Wiki in use by the public
  2. Animal Finder Project Wiki in development
    1. Animal Finder Assignments ++
    2. Animal Finder Contributors Pages ++
    3. Animal Finder Coordination ++ Provides a high-level view of the status and activities for the various projects under the Animal Finder Project umbrella
    4. Animal Finder Data Entry Tips ++
    5. Animal Finder Funding Plan ++ A plan to explain the value of this project and pursue funding to build out these tools and services.
    6. Animal Finder Future Developments
    7. Animal Finder Future Users Page
    8. Animal Finder Interchange Format or AFIF
    9. Animal Finder Mission ++
    10. Animal Finder Outreach ++ Outreach/marketing and press information about the project
    11. Animal Finder Outreach Lists ++
    12. Animal Finder Privacy Statement ++
    13. Animal Finder Task List ++
    14. Animal Finder Tech ++ automate data interchange between animal shelter databases
    15. Animal Finder Tech Structured Data Sets
    16. Animal Finder Volunteer ++ volunteer effort to input unstructured data by hand
    17. Animal Finder Volunteer Instructions ++
    18. Animal Shelter Finder ++ project gathering shelters and shelter contact info
    19. Animal Shelter Finder Usability Issues ++
    20. Animal Shelter Local Coordination ++
  3. Animal Finder Database Project Application in development
    1. Animal Finder Database ProjectMain Wiki Page
      1. Animal Finder Database Project Charter
    2. Animal Finder Database Project Forums
      1. Technical Forum (http://groups.google.com/group/katrinadev-petfinder)
      2. General Forum (http://groups.google.com/group/DataTrackers-AF) - for community involvement
  4. Animal Finder Templates:
    1. Animal Finder Directory (this template)
    2. Animal Finder Menu ++
    3. AnimalFinder-stub
    4. Animal Finder Project Participation

Notes:

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