The Ruby One-Name Study
This successful project proves just how much researchers can accomplish when they work together
The Ruby One-Name Study provides an excellent example of collaborative working. It was a one-year project running from 2018 to 2019 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the guild, and to showcase best practices for one-name studies. Thirty-five guild members collaborated on the research, and by the end had accumulated a database of more than
16,000 people in many countries around the world. The focus of the study was on family reconstruction, which they thought would be the most visible output of interest to outsiders.
One of the challenges of collaborative working was finding a method of standardising the way that the members of the team worked together. They produced a style guide, and decided to focus on a few core datasets for each country to make sure that they weren’t duplicating their work and in order to provide a measure of progress.
The study published a blog with regular articles about interesting findings. The members also set up a website, taking advantage of the guild’s Members’ Websites Project.
When the project came to an end a real-life Ruby – Michael Ruby in the USA – fortunately stepped forward to take over the registration of the surname and continue the good work.