1.  As a Look Up Volunteer.   If you have Dorchester County research materials, such as histories, census records, cemetery books, etc., you could offer to do "look-ups" for fellow researchers.  We have a look-up page already established and we sure can use more willing volunteers for this area!

2.  "Adopt" a Town or Topic.    Our goal is to expand the available online history and genealogy of Dorchester County.
 
You would be credited as the contributor or "coordinator" of that particular project. Here are some ideas for special projects, but you may have an idea of your own:
 

Town/Community History African American History/Genealogy Native American History/Genealogy Other Ethnic or Religious Group Industry or Business Church History Historic Site Other Ideas?

3.  History or Family Association Web Page.  If you have your own genealogy web page, especially one with historical information or a single surname site, please be sure to let me know!   History pages and Family Associations or Single Name sites will also be listed on the Research page as well as in the Surname Registry.  If you find a Dorchester County site that should be listed, please let me know!

4.  Take Photographs.  If you live in the area or will be visiting soon, please consider taking photographs for upload to the Dorchester County site (you may want to check to see what's already been done).   Please email me before sending any large files. 

5.  Transcribe Cemetery Records.   Help us get free information on the Internet by transcribing cemetery records.  This can be from actual tombstone transcriptions or from church records.  Be sure to call the church in advance.   If you visit in person, be sure to take a couple of photographs!

6.  Transcribe newspaper articles, portions of books, diaries, letters, or town records.
If you have possession of anything like this, or if you'd be willing to visit the public research library or LDS center, anything of general interest would be most welcome!   Generally, if material was published prior to 1924 it is in the public domain (you still must quote your source).  If it was published after 1924, you must have written consent from the copyright holder (usually the author or the author's estate, but sometimes a historical society or town).
If it is an original document that you own, such as a diary, you generally have the right to publish it, but please be sensitive to family privacy issues.

7.  Post your deeds, wills, obituaries, etc., on the Dorchester County SCGenWeb, If you have slave information on any of these documents, please send me a note and I'll copy them to a separate page for African American research.  Please transcribe your document as a text (Word or Notepad) document and copy it to me as an e-mail attachment...or type or cut and paste it directly in an e-mail and send it to me.
 

8.  Post your GEDCOM to RootsWeb's World Connect .   If you have your family tree in any genealogy software program, you should be able to convert it to a GEDCOM and upload it to the internet.    Be careful to record your sources and please don't ever publish information on living persons- it is a serious breach of privacy and security.    I only know Family Tree Maker software, but maybe this will help you convert your family tree into a gedcom file.  Open your family file.  Click on "file" "copy/export".   A window should open, showing your family file(s).  Highlight the file you want to copy to a gedcom.  In FTW, there is a smaller window at the bottom that gives you the option of how you want to save the file.  Use the drop down menu and save as GEDCOM (*.GED).  Your gedcom file will show as a little tree.  Go to WorldConnect and create a user name and password for yourself.  You'll select the options you want to use.  When choosing the source of the gedcom file, browse to your saved gedcom file and click on it.  If you have trouble with your particular genealogy software, a posting to the mailing list should elicit a volunteer to talk you through the process.
 
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/

9.  Old Photographs of Places and Towns.    Do you have a scanner?   If you have access to any old photographs or postcards depicting town or county scenes, please consider scanning and contributing the images.  

You do NOT have to know HTML to transcribe documents!  If you would like to transcribe vital records, cemetery transcriptions, old diaries or letters, or old histories of Dorchester or Colleton County, as long as it is not under copyright, GO FOR IT! The easiest way for me to convert to an html document is if you transcribe it to a plain text document and attach it to an e-mail message, or if you type it directly onto an e-mail.  If you have access to WPA cemetery records (a government subsidized project and therefore in Public Domain), any book or document predating 1924, or any material for which you hold copyright, please consider making a permanent contribution to the Dorchester County SCGenWeb.  Your fellow researchers will greatly appreciate it and so will I!  Thanks !
Pat Sabin, Dorchester County SCGenWeb coordinator.

If you have any transcribed deeds or other records relating to your family on your personal web page, we would like to link to them from this page. Contact Pat Sabin to supply a link for this page.

         More information about Copyright Law:
 

• Mike Goad's Copyright Fundamentals for Genealogy

• US GenWeb Volunteer Information-Copyright