Umbrella Projects

Thanks for encouragement, Hatte! :-)
I think the Golden Fleece project could qualify as an unbrella project as well. I started some other umbrellas around 'Migration' and 'Golden Ages' - but those are quite 'underdeveloped'.
So, I catch your drift. More thinking about umbrella projects would be an excellent thing, because they give us better integration of projects and, ultimately, trees (indirectly, because of the research done around projects).
For instance, whereas the Golden Fleece is an umbrella project, Jennie Schouten started with a parallel project on the Order of Saint Michael. Together, they could move under another umbrella project. Doug Robinson is working heavily on the Wars in Europe. The orders of the Golden Fleece and Saint Michael are both pivotal in all wars in Europe. So, you get another picture by pulling together another umbrella arouind that.
Interestingly, all this ties in incredibly well with significant population shifts, as wars and economics are very linked, and the shift of the Golden Ages and the parallel exploration and migration towards the Americas and elsewhere do, again, perfectly tie in into that.
This is where Geni becomes an interesting crossroads of genealogy with history research. A unique spot in between Wikipedia and typical genealogy sites. Wikipedia doesn't really give the genealogical experience. Genealogy sites never give the historical perspective.
Through umbrella projects, we may create something unique here.

I am not sure how we would rank the umbrella projects. There are so many good ones out there. Don't forget http://www.geni.com/projects/Holocaust-The-Final-Solution/10996

What concerns me more is how do we get ordinary users to find the projects? What is the best way to get to the people who should be involved in these projects? Right now, it seems to be a bit random -- someone sees a newsfeed from a family group member. Is there another way?

All I can say, George, is an emphatic "yes"! We American curators did some similar things with the "early settlers of" / "original proprieters of" projects, which should really be united in an umbrella project. Ditto the King Philip's War and related projects around early wars, which link to people, early American towns, and regions.

Personally I find that the patterns around migration, immigration, and marriage fascinating and provides a lot of insight that pure genealogy does not do, as well as ties to historical events and geography. I have tried to do this for my Lithuanian ancestors since they married those in the same village or same district or in a district that they had belonged to previously and they married only certain families and then they emigrated together and settled together and for some time continued their marriage patterns. The same was true of the early American settlements where people came from the same region often, following a religious leader, and then would get up and leave that settlement and found a new one together.

I think some doing genealogy do not understand how small a circle people married in in small, closed populations. Once you realize this, you can start narrowing down hypotheses where you have brick walls.

I was thinking this morning that Geni Top 10 may help make people aware of projects Randy. That's why I'd like to see a number of "Best Of" categories for projects. Top 10 is too limiting and when we cut off at 10 based on quantity with so many projects, we fail to highlight some very interesting projects.

For instance - Top 10 family-related projects where Fay Elizabeth Dyer's phenomenal work on the Baldwin families of America could be highlighted and also engage more Baldwin descendants -- and there must be thousands on Geni.

At least with the quantifiable ones, we avoid upsetting people. I am worried about adding subjective lists. And I think we should keep this to just lists of 10 or else it will get unwieldy. You could start another project for Curator Picks for Best of Geni, if you think that won't get too contentious.

The challenge we have is that there is no way of classifying projects. Every project has the same status as the other ones. But, with umbrella projects, we're giving a historical dimension.
Let me give an example. Under the Golden Fleece, I started with a list of "dynasties" - families that have been directly or indirectly been involved with the knights of the Golden Fleece. Essentially, all these families are pivotal to European history.
My 'silent objective' is that we'd have tons of 'family pages'. We obviously have those of our own families (usually around 'name bearers'). When we touch upon our 'indirect', 'extended' families - the historical 'dynasties', we probably have to do the work as well. I'm coming across some direct descendants of the 'noble dynasties' on Geni, but it's hard to get them involved.
However, we probably should have a discussion about projects like "House of XYZ". There are a few initiatives already, perhaps they need more discussion. These "House of..." projects are probably the first step above the profiles as such. Next, the "House of..." projects are probably related to many other topics, and can be referred to from umbrella projects.
Another example. I have a dormant project on Milan, where two families are referenced - the Visconti and the Sforza. Each should have have their own "House of" project. Together, they play into the Duchy of Milan history. This is key to a perspective of Milan's Golden Age. But, it's also critical to the history of Europe, where both France and the Spanish/Austrian house of Habsburg were fighting over Milan for one hundred years. Here again, you see the parallel projects of the Order of Saint Michael and the Golden Fleece as parallel projects that epitomize the shaping of these events.
Sorry for my rambling LOL
I think I just mean to say, we need some discussion about how to approach all this in a logical way. This definitely goes beyond pure genealogy. But, it gives genealogy an incredible historical dimension. And, it gives history and incredible genealogical dimension, too :-)

Today's discussion reminds me of what I was trying to do a few months ago in attempting to promote projects in the discussion boards

http://www.geni.com/discussions/104612