Today I received an email from FamilySearch that I am entitled to free memberships at Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com, FindMyPast.com. I knew this was coming. It was announced at RootsTech 2014 that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would be eligible for free memberships because of collaboration and sharing of the resources of the church with these organizations.
I did not expect it would happen so soon. I surmised that maybe by the end of the summer I would be able to get my free memberships. I already had current memberships with Ancestry and My Heritage and I have had a membership with Find My Past before. It was very easy to make the transition to an LDS membership at all three sites. All three are now linked to my FamilySearch account.
I also paid my tuition for my next Genealogy course, Introduction to Genealogical Research, at Salt Lake Community College today.
Yesterday I started an online course at The National Institute of Genealogical Studies which is entitled Google for the Wise Genealogist.
Tomorrow I am going to start a 4-week class on Roots Magic software at the Riverton FamilySearch Library taught by Ron Ray.
It is full steam ahead for genealogy and family history in my life.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
RootsTech 2014 Information Overload: Managing Online Searches and Their Results
D. Joshua Taylor taught the class on Information Overload: Managing Online Searches and Their Results GS1375. He is the lead genealogist for findmypast.com. He is also the current president of the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS), I have seen him on the NBC TV show "Who Do You Think You Are?" And I have heard him lecture at other conferences. He is very organized and his presentations are always wonderful. He has very helpful syllabuses also.
I attended only part of this session. I was really overloaded with information by Saturday February 8, 2014 at 1:00 PM. I was doing something in the RootsTech Exhibit Hall and got to class late and it was packed. It is usual for D. Joshua Taylor's classes to be packed. But later I watched the entire session online at the rootstech 2014 web site. I gained many good insights to researching online.
I had never heard of Yippy.com before. But I think I will enjoy the expand and cluster approach to searching once I learn how to do it. It should be a helpful search engine to use.
Here are the five main points of the presentation:
1. Keep a family history "golden rule." This means that for every one hour spent researching you will spend approximately two hours planning the research and two hours following through. That seems like a long time, but it is probably worth it in order to save time in the long run.
2. Keep an updated research plan for websites. Mr. Taylor recommends electronic lists so they are always handy for whenever you have some time to research.
3. Organize your digital life. I really need to do this. I have a messy desktop on my computer and though I have started organizing my genealogy files, I have a lot more I can do.
4. Develop an "after research" system. This reminds me of David Dilts and his "Nine before You Recline" list, except Dilts wrote his system for paper research. Taylor recommends that you develop your own system to name, store and organize your files. It is critical to do the organizing right after each research session.
5. Prioritize your research. Taylor uses As, Bs, Cs, Ds. I think he must have read Alan Lakein's book on time management. He also suggested only working on researching two or three families at a time. Since everything you discover in research typically leads to two or three more places to search, it is important to limit the number of families you are working on or things can really get out of hand.
This was a very informative class. I would like to go back and view it again after about a year of genealogical research. I am sure that as I do more research the suggestions will make more sense and be even more valuable. I am glad that it is available online.
I attended only part of this session. I was really overloaded with information by Saturday February 8, 2014 at 1:00 PM. I was doing something in the RootsTech Exhibit Hall and got to class late and it was packed. It is usual for D. Joshua Taylor's classes to be packed. But later I watched the entire session online at the rootstech 2014 web site. I gained many good insights to researching online.
I had never heard of Yippy.com before. But I think I will enjoy the expand and cluster approach to searching once I learn how to do it. It should be a helpful search engine to use.
Here are the five main points of the presentation:
1. Keep a family history "golden rule." This means that for every one hour spent researching you will spend approximately two hours planning the research and two hours following through. That seems like a long time, but it is probably worth it in order to save time in the long run.
2. Keep an updated research plan for websites. Mr. Taylor recommends electronic lists so they are always handy for whenever you have some time to research.
3. Organize your digital life. I really need to do this. I have a messy desktop on my computer and though I have started organizing my genealogy files, I have a lot more I can do.
4. Develop an "after research" system. This reminds me of David Dilts and his "Nine before You Recline" list, except Dilts wrote his system for paper research. Taylor recommends that you develop your own system to name, store and organize your files. It is critical to do the organizing right after each research session.
5. Prioritize your research. Taylor uses As, Bs, Cs, Ds. I think he must have read Alan Lakein's book on time management. He also suggested only working on researching two or three families at a time. Since everything you discover in research typically leads to two or three more places to search, it is important to limit the number of families you are working on or things can really get out of hand.
This was a very informative class. I would like to go back and view it again after about a year of genealogical research. I am sure that as I do more research the suggestions will make more sense and be even more valuable. I am glad that it is available online.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
RootsTech 2014 The New FamilySearch Indexing Program
On Friday February 7, 2014 I attended class RT1193 taught by Scott Flinders about the new FamilySearch Indexing Program. Scott Flinders is the product manager for FamilySearch Indexing. This was very interesting. There are some exciting changes coming. Some of the things that I remember that were exciting were:
- The new program will be browser-based. It will not be necessary to download the indexing program to your computer. This will be great for a few people I know who use their employer's computers and are allowed to use these computers for personal use but are not allowed to download programs. At least that is the excuse they give me when I invite them to do indexing.
- There will be an indexer and a reviewer and this should save a lot of time. If the indexer and reviewer have different opinions, both opinions will be saved and be searchable. I am not sure if the arbitrator role will disappear entirely.
- Researchers who find information because it was indexed will be able to send a thank-you email to the person who indexed the record.
- Volunteers will be able to perform other roles such as setting up projects. This should reduce those images with "no extractable data" and "duplicate images." And the images should be easier to read if someone can adjust the readability of the images as they are being set up.
- Indexers will be able to see a series of images in a project which will give more context to what they are working on.
- The program will suggest projects for the indexers to work on, based on their previous experiences and interests.
- There will be gradual changes in colors, fonts, layout, etc. Some of these have happened since I attended RootsTech.
- We do not know exactly when the new program will be fully operational. It will be later in the year, probably in August 2014 or after August 2014.
The Ancestry Insider blog has done a far better job than I have done of reviewing this class. Here is the link to the Ancestry Insider Review.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Every Family Has a Story, Discover Yours
I really enjoyed this short little video shown at RootsTech 2014.
Every Family Has a Story, Discover Yours
I shared it in my ward with the Relief Society and with my family.
Every Family Has a Story, Discover Yours
I shared it in my ward with the Relief Society and with my family.
RootsTech 2014 Keynote Speaker Judy Russell
Judy Russell is a lawyer and a certified genealogist. Her blog is called The Legal Genealogist. She teaches at several genealogy institutes and many conferences.
She was the first keynote speaker on Friday February 7, 2014. Her topic was something like Every Family Has a Story, What's Yours? She emphasized that pieces of oral family history can be lost in just three generations. It must be "purposely and accurately passed down from generation to generation." She used examples from her own family history.
I was so impressed with her presentation that I volunteered to give a lesson on this topic in our ward Relief Society on Tuesday March 4, 2014. I showed part of her presentation which was online at the RootsTech web site to the sisters and led a discussion about how to preserve our family history. Some of the sisters brought scrapbooks and journals and books that they had prepared and they told about them.
Judy Russell is very active in using and promoting DNA testing in genealogical research.
I really liked her story of how she discovered that her family was not descended from Alexander Baker of Massachusetts and how she broke the news at a family reunion. See The Cousin Who Isn't.
She was the first keynote speaker on Friday February 7, 2014. Her topic was something like Every Family Has a Story, What's Yours? She emphasized that pieces of oral family history can be lost in just three generations. It must be "purposely and accurately passed down from generation to generation." She used examples from her own family history.
I was so impressed with her presentation that I volunteered to give a lesson on this topic in our ward Relief Society on Tuesday March 4, 2014. I showed part of her presentation which was online at the RootsTech web site to the sisters and led a discussion about how to preserve our family history. Some of the sisters brought scrapbooks and journals and books that they had prepared and they told about them.
Judy Russell is very active in using and promoting DNA testing in genealogical research.
I really liked her story of how she discovered that her family was not descended from Alexander Baker of Massachusetts and how she broke the news at a family reunion. See The Cousin Who Isn't.
RootsTech 2014 Old World, New Records: findmypast.com as Key Resource for Tracing British Ancestry presented by Elaine Collins
Elaine Collins is Director of Global Partnerships and head of content acquisition for DC Thompson Family History. She talked about the core records that are part of the Find My Past collections and also about some new records that are becoming available. Some of the core records are census and BMD (birth, marriage and death) records as well as international passenger lists. Some new records are 19 million British rate books which predate census records.
There is a section of Find My Past called My Records which can serve as a research log. There are places for timelines, facts and events, included LDS ordinances. There is a Find My Past capture app for iPhone which will record interviews and take photos.
Parish register collections are being linked to the IGI or the International Genealogical Index.
More military records are being added, especially with the Imperial War Museums being established.
Actually they have more U.S. records than U.K. records just because there are more Americans than Britains. They have a very good Civil War collection.
Find My Past has partnered with Allen County Public Library to enhance PERSI or Periodical Source Index and make more original sources available digitally. See the news at Persi Finds New Home at Find My Past.
I do not know a lot about using Find My Past. I would like to spend four days at a conference or workshop just learning about it.
There is a section of Find My Past called My Records which can serve as a research log. There are places for timelines, facts and events, included LDS ordinances. There is a Find My Past capture app for iPhone which will record interviews and take photos.
Parish register collections are being linked to the IGI or the International Genealogical Index.
More military records are being added, especially with the Imperial War Museums being established.
Actually they have more U.S. records than U.K. records just because there are more Americans than Britains. They have a very good Civil War collection.
Find My Past has partnered with Allen County Public Library to enhance PERSI or Periodical Source Index and make more original sources available digitally. See the news at Persi Finds New Home at Find My Past.
I do not know a lot about using Find My Past. I would like to spend four days at a conference or workshop just learning about it.
RootsTech 2014 What I Learned about DNA Testing and Family History Research
The second class that I attended on Thursday February 6, 2014 was RT1374 Advanced Techniques for Use of Autosomal DNA Tests to Break through Genealogical Brick Walls presented by Tim Janzen, M.D. Tim Janzen is a family practice doctor in Portland, Oregon. He has been interested in genealogy for many years. He is the co-administrator of the Mennonite DNA project and an advisor to the company 23andMe.
This was a very technical class. Dr. Janzen prepared a detailed syllabus for both of his presentations at RootsTech. (I only attended this one.) He gave urls to more online information including a link to the Power Point presentation that he used. The Power Point presentation covered a lot more information than he was able to present in the hour class.
I had not intended going to any of the presentations about DNA testing, but then my sister got her results from her testing at 23andMe just one week before RootsTech and she shared her results with me.
I was fascinated! I knew that genetics is a rather complicated discipline and had decided to focus on RootsTech classes that would be immediately helpful in my research. But after seeing her results I wanted to learn more. This is a subject that I could really delve into. It would be fun to go to the Institute for Genetic Genealogy First Annual Conference http://i4gg.org/ next August 16 and 17 at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center in Washington D.C. This is going to be one geeky conference! If I were a younger person I might consider making a career of being a genetic genealogy researcher and learning how to do chromosome mapping and triangulation. I think there is a great future for DNA testing in genealogy.
I did not attend any of the other DNA classes, but I did visit all the related booths in the exhibit hall.
At the very last minute I purchased an Ancestry DNA test kit for the conference special price of $89. I collected a saliva sample from my mother and submitted it. Her genealogy paper trail has been completed for 5-6 generations back, so we did not find any new information yet. But there are at least a dozen family trees in ancestry.com that relate to her family tree. There are connections on the Rollins, Whitaker, Robinson and Bybee lines.
This was a very technical class. Dr. Janzen prepared a detailed syllabus for both of his presentations at RootsTech. (I only attended this one.) He gave urls to more online information including a link to the Power Point presentation that he used. The Power Point presentation covered a lot more information than he was able to present in the hour class.
I had not intended going to any of the presentations about DNA testing, but then my sister got her results from her testing at 23andMe just one week before RootsTech and she shared her results with me.
I was fascinated! I knew that genetics is a rather complicated discipline and had decided to focus on RootsTech classes that would be immediately helpful in my research. But after seeing her results I wanted to learn more. This is a subject that I could really delve into. It would be fun to go to the Institute for Genetic Genealogy First Annual Conference http://i4gg.org/ next August 16 and 17 at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center in Washington D.C. This is going to be one geeky conference! If I were a younger person I might consider making a career of being a genetic genealogy researcher and learning how to do chromosome mapping and triangulation. I think there is a great future for DNA testing in genealogy.
I did not attend any of the other DNA classes, but I did visit all the related booths in the exhibit hall.
At the very last minute I purchased an Ancestry DNA test kit for the conference special price of $89. I collected a saliva sample from my mother and submitted it. Her genealogy paper trail has been completed for 5-6 generations back, so we did not find any new information yet. But there are at least a dozen family trees in ancestry.com that relate to her family tree. There are connections on the Rollins, Whitaker, Robinson and Bybee lines.
Monday, April 7, 2014
RootsTech 2014 Will Your Family History Have Lasting Value? presented by Thomas Jones
On Friday February 7, 2014 I attended the second class taught by Tom Jones. It was RT1933 Will Your Family History Have Lasting Value?
This was a very motivating class with great personal application for me. I think that all genealogists want to create a family history that their descendants will cherish and that has irreplaceable value. That is our goal.
Tom Jones began the class with a very specific challenge: "Consistently make your first genealogical priority to do today what future generations cannot do tomorrow." He elaborated saying that because of advances in technology and availability of records and DNA results that future generations will be able do some research much easier and more quickly than we can do today. But they will not have access to older members of our families. So our first genealogical priority needs to be to get information from these older family members and from our own memories before it is gone. He advised us to gather our family's oral history systematically and then to share it widely. He said not to interpret it. Do not present it as fact or fiction. Collect photographs and artifacts and share them on paper and electronically. Collect as many DNA samples as you can afford.
After this challenge, he urged us to acquire skills. He shared his personal history with us. He became interested in genealogy as a teenager in Lubbock, Texas. He learned by subscribing to genealogy magazines and getting books from the New England Genealogy Historical Society on loan. He said that he believes that his first twenty years of research was almost a total waste. It took him a long time to become a competent genealogist. He said genealogy research is hard, complex and requires an advanced skill set. Some of his suggestions were:
Plan your research.
Learn state by state and country by country about the records available.
Use FamilySearch Wiki.
Read the original handwriting and language.
Interpret the records.
Learn to follow a trail of records.
Use the information you have to get more information.
Use an evidence approach rather than an information approach.
Read a lot and write a lot. (Hmm, this is another reason for me to keep up with this blog.)
Study Elements of Style by Strunk and White.
Take courses.
Read genealogy periodicals and study the case histories.
The next section of his presentation was about creating a genealogy of enduring value. There are four essentials. (BEAD)
A is accuracy. Accuracy is invisible.
B is biography. This is the meaning or the uniqueness of a person.
D is documentation.
E is explanation.
There is very little online that meets these standards, unless it was first in print.
After this class I went to the Exhibit Hall and purchased Genealogy Standards: 50th Anniversary Edition by the Board for Certification of Genealogists edited by Thomas Jones.
This was a very motivating class with great personal application for me. I think that all genealogists want to create a family history that their descendants will cherish and that has irreplaceable value. That is our goal.
Tom Jones began the class with a very specific challenge: "Consistently make your first genealogical priority to do today what future generations cannot do tomorrow." He elaborated saying that because of advances in technology and availability of records and DNA results that future generations will be able do some research much easier and more quickly than we can do today. But they will not have access to older members of our families. So our first genealogical priority needs to be to get information from these older family members and from our own memories before it is gone. He advised us to gather our family's oral history systematically and then to share it widely. He said not to interpret it. Do not present it as fact or fiction. Collect photographs and artifacts and share them on paper and electronically. Collect as many DNA samples as you can afford.
After this challenge, he urged us to acquire skills. He shared his personal history with us. He became interested in genealogy as a teenager in Lubbock, Texas. He learned by subscribing to genealogy magazines and getting books from the New England Genealogy Historical Society on loan. He said that he believes that his first twenty years of research was almost a total waste. It took him a long time to become a competent genealogist. He said genealogy research is hard, complex and requires an advanced skill set. Some of his suggestions were:
Plan your research.
Learn state by state and country by country about the records available.
Use FamilySearch Wiki.
Read the original handwriting and language.
Interpret the records.
Learn to follow a trail of records.
Use the information you have to get more information.
Use an evidence approach rather than an information approach.
Read a lot and write a lot. (Hmm, this is another reason for me to keep up with this blog.)
Study Elements of Style by Strunk and White.
Take courses.
Read genealogy periodicals and study the case histories.
The next section of his presentation was about creating a genealogy of enduring value. There are four essentials. (BEAD)
A is accuracy. Accuracy is invisible.
B is biography. This is the meaning or the uniqueness of a person.
D is documentation.
E is explanation.
There is very little online that meets these standards, unless it was first in print.
After this class I went to the Exhibit Hall and purchased Genealogy Standards: 50th Anniversary Edition by the Board for Certification of Genealogists edited by Thomas Jones.
RootsTech 2014 Can a Complex Research Problem be Solved Solely Online? presented by Tom Jones
My first class RT1911 for Thursday February 6, 2014 was taught by Thomas Jones entitled Can a Complex Research Problem be Solved Solely Online? The short answer was "Yes, but...."
This class was an interactive case study of one George W. Edison 1860-1940. Tom Jones took suggestions from the group and then showed what he had done step-by-step. (The room was completely full and I am sure that there were some who were not able to attend.) He led us through the sources and the evidence for the life of George W. Edison. Eventually he resolved all the conflicts. George had four wives and five marriages and lived in three or four states, so it really was a complex research problem. Most of the evidence was available online, but Jones did some on site research as well. In one case, he had hired two different researchers to do a search at a court house and neither had found any results. He visited the court house himself and within 40 minutes he had the information he needed. He advised us to not trust what someone tells you, do your own research.
I was very impressed with Tom Jones's scholarship. I have heard him speak before. This is one class that I was not going to miss.
This class was an interactive case study of one George W. Edison 1860-1940. Tom Jones took suggestions from the group and then showed what he had done step-by-step. (The room was completely full and I am sure that there were some who were not able to attend.) He led us through the sources and the evidence for the life of George W. Edison. Eventually he resolved all the conflicts. George had four wives and five marriages and lived in three or four states, so it really was a complex research problem. Most of the evidence was available online, but Jones did some on site research as well. In one case, he had hired two different researchers to do a search at a court house and neither had found any results. He visited the court house himself and within 40 minutes he had the information he needed. He advised us to not trust what someone tells you, do your own research.
I was very impressed with Tom Jones's scholarship. I have heard him speak before. This is one class that I was not going to miss.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
RootsTech 2014 Keynote Speaker Ree Drummond Thursday February 6, 2014
Ree Drummond is famous for her blog The Pioneer Woman. I had never heard of her, but when I heard that she was going to be a keynote speaker I looked her up online. I liked her on Facebook and have really enjoyed her posts. However I really wanted to win a pair of cowgirl boots. :( I entered the contest every day, but did not win. It was fun to see all the designer boots though
I didn't take any notes during her presentation. I just sat there being fascinated by her story. She is not really a genealogist, but she is an example of someone who is connecting with the rest of the world. She can teach us "genealogists" how to be more interesting and how to involve our families. I got some ideas of how photos can be used to build self-esteem and a sense of belonging in children.
I was amazed that Ree Drummond lives on a ranch in Oklahoma in a remote location and yet she can have a hugely popular blog, a fantastic Facebook page and a cooking show on the Food Network.
I didn't take any notes during her presentation. I just sat there being fascinated by her story. She is not really a genealogist, but she is an example of someone who is connecting with the rest of the world. She can teach us "genealogists" how to be more interesting and how to involve our families. I got some ideas of how photos can be used to build self-esteem and a sense of belonging in children.
I was amazed that Ree Drummond lives on a ranch in Oklahoma in a remote location and yet she can have a hugely popular blog, a fantastic Facebook page and a cooking show on the Food Network.
RootsTech 2014 Keynote Speaker Annelies van den Belt Thursday February 6, 2014
Annilies van den Belt is the head of DC Thomson Family History (formerly BrightSolid). DC Thomson Family History is a family of online companies with collections of 1.8 billion genealogical records. Find My Past is part of DC Thomson Family History.
Ms. van den Belt is a native of the Netherlands but she has worldwide administrative experience in media broadcasting and digital publishing.
I was very impressed with her knowledge and with her sincere belief in the value of preserving and sharing history.
She told about an extensive project in the United Kingdom, the Imperial War Memorial, which is dedicated to documenting and sharing the lives of those involved in World War I. Here is the link to the Imperial War Museum. It has been one hundred years since World War I began.
Ms. van den Belt is a native of the Netherlands but she has worldwide administrative experience in media broadcasting and digital publishing.
I was very impressed with her knowledge and with her sincere belief in the value of preserving and sharing history.
She told about an extensive project in the United Kingdom, the Imperial War Memorial, which is dedicated to documenting and sharing the lives of those involved in World War I. Here is the link to the Imperial War Museum. It has been one hundred years since World War I began.
RootsTech 2014 Keynote Speaker Dennis Brimhall Thursday February 6, 2014
Dennis Brimhall is the current President and CEO of FamilySearch International, the family history arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since FamilySearch International is the main sponsor of RootsTech it was very natural that Elder Brimhall would be the first keynote speaker and introduce all the events and speakers to follow.
Elder Brimhall covered many significant changes and coming events in the world of family history. He spoke about how stories are very significant. It is stories that attract more people to the field of family history. Specifically he talked about the new feature to FamilySearch Family Tree where photos, documents and stories can be uploaded to Family Tree. It is called Memories. He said that 150,000 patrons have uploaded 2 million memories and 12 million sources to Family Tree. There are 500 stories being added every day and some of them are even true. (This was a joke and a disclaimer, I think.)
He told about the new LDS church booklet (1.7 million copies) about families which is for those who are doing family history without access to a computer. He said that a cell phone app is being developed and told about many teenagers in South America who do not have computers, but they do have cell phones.
Captain Jack Starling (a FamilySearch employee dressed up as a pirate) joined Elder Brimhall on stage to talk about indexing and specifically about the new obituary indexing project. See some previous posts I have made about Captain Jack.
Probably the most exciting announcement was of a partnership with Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com and FindMyPast.com which will get the contents of the Granite Mountain Vaults online within a generation instead of within 200 years. I was excited to learn that eventually members of the LDS Church will have free access to these other websites. But I didn't learn this from Elder Brimhall's talk, it was in the Deseret News for that day.
Elder Brimhall also told us about the Puzzilla feature of FamilySearch and what a great aid it is to performing descendancy research. Elder Brimhall introduced the next two speakers for Thursday morning, Annelies van den Belt and Ree Drummond.
Elder Brimhall covered many significant changes and coming events in the world of family history. He spoke about how stories are very significant. It is stories that attract more people to the field of family history. Specifically he talked about the new feature to FamilySearch Family Tree where photos, documents and stories can be uploaded to Family Tree. It is called Memories. He said that 150,000 patrons have uploaded 2 million memories and 12 million sources to Family Tree. There are 500 stories being added every day and some of them are even true. (This was a joke and a disclaimer, I think.)
He told about the new LDS church booklet (1.7 million copies) about families which is for those who are doing family history without access to a computer. He said that a cell phone app is being developed and told about many teenagers in South America who do not have computers, but they do have cell phones.
Captain Jack Starling (a FamilySearch employee dressed up as a pirate) joined Elder Brimhall on stage to talk about indexing and specifically about the new obituary indexing project. See some previous posts I have made about Captain Jack.
Probably the most exciting announcement was of a partnership with Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com and FindMyPast.com which will get the contents of the Granite Mountain Vaults online within a generation instead of within 200 years. I was excited to learn that eventually members of the LDS Church will have free access to these other websites. But I didn't learn this from Elder Brimhall's talk, it was in the Deseret News for that day.
Elder Brimhall also told us about the Puzzilla feature of FamilySearch and what a great aid it is to performing descendancy research. Elder Brimhall introduced the next two speakers for Thursday morning, Annelies van den Belt and Ree Drummond.
Saturday, April 5, 2014
RootsTech 2014 Innovator Summit Day February 5, 2014
When I first registered for RootsTech 2014 I thought that I would not attend "Developer Day" because after all I am not a computer programmer and I thought it was just for those who are creating software products to help with family history. But I did purchase a full access pass. Then I got an email advertising this pre-conference event that sold me on going. It would not cost me extra, so I looked at the class options and registered for the ones that looked interesting. RootsTech renamed this day "Innovator Summit" Day.
The keynote speaker was Chris Dancy, "the most quantified human." I attended a funeral that morning, so I was not able to hear Mr. Dancy. But I heard reports that it was a very interesting presentation. It is supposedly online at the RootsTech website, but I have not been able to access it. Maybe I will write another blog post when I finally get to view it.
The first class that I chose was DEV1130 Getting Started with FamilySearch API taught by David Hale and Vaughn Hepworth. These gentlemen are employees of FamilySearch and I was very impressed with their knowledge and expertise and their sincere desire to share with all the RootsTech attendees. In fact, I could write this about all the presenters at RootsTech. There were no presenters that I did not like!
The first thing that I learned from the class was that API stands for application program interface. So the class was about writing programs or applications that will interface with FamilySearch. I do not see myself ever doing this, but it was interesting to learn a few things about the process and about authentication, access, certification levels, SCOE (source centric open edit), etc.
My second class for this day was DEV1283 Tap into Billions of Historical Records and Family Tree Profiles with the MyHeritage Matching API taught by Richard Stauffer, the lead software architect at My Heritage.com. He talked about smart matches and record matches and the way that MyHeritage software can find matches for individuals in your online family tree. I resolved to look more closely at the record matches for the individuals in the GEDCOM file that I uploaded to My Heritage.com last year.
My third class was DEV1981 Customer and Mobile First taught by Andrew Fox of Find My Past.com. He emphasized that it is important for developers to understand their users. He gave impressive statistics showing that more and more Internet users are using from mobile devices. So it is imperative that applications be optimized for mobile devices. One of his themes was "Utility beats Aesthetics."
He also talked about coming developments in gaming and visual realities in family history applications. He believes that family history is closer to a game than traditional web service.
While I was riding Trax back home I chatted with another RootsTech attendee who works for Kinpoint, Inc. a Utah-based company that is developing video games related to family history.
It was a "mind-blowing" day, just filled with new ideas and glimpses of technology advances for the future. A lot of the classes were really over my head though. I am not sure if anything I learned will have direct application for me, at least not direct application for my immediate goals.
The keynote speaker was Chris Dancy, "the most quantified human." I attended a funeral that morning, so I was not able to hear Mr. Dancy. But I heard reports that it was a very interesting presentation. It is supposedly online at the RootsTech website, but I have not been able to access it. Maybe I will write another blog post when I finally get to view it.
The first class that I chose was DEV1130 Getting Started with FamilySearch API taught by David Hale and Vaughn Hepworth. These gentlemen are employees of FamilySearch and I was very impressed with their knowledge and expertise and their sincere desire to share with all the RootsTech attendees. In fact, I could write this about all the presenters at RootsTech. There were no presenters that I did not like!
The first thing that I learned from the class was that API stands for application program interface. So the class was about writing programs or applications that will interface with FamilySearch. I do not see myself ever doing this, but it was interesting to learn a few things about the process and about authentication, access, certification levels, SCOE (source centric open edit), etc.
My second class for this day was DEV1283 Tap into Billions of Historical Records and Family Tree Profiles with the MyHeritage Matching API taught by Richard Stauffer, the lead software architect at My Heritage.com. He talked about smart matches and record matches and the way that MyHeritage software can find matches for individuals in your online family tree. I resolved to look more closely at the record matches for the individuals in the GEDCOM file that I uploaded to My Heritage.com last year.
My third class was DEV1981 Customer and Mobile First taught by Andrew Fox of Find My Past.com. He emphasized that it is important for developers to understand their users. He gave impressive statistics showing that more and more Internet users are using from mobile devices. So it is imperative that applications be optimized for mobile devices. One of his themes was "Utility beats Aesthetics."
He also talked about coming developments in gaming and visual realities in family history applications. He believes that family history is closer to a game than traditional web service.
While I was riding Trax back home I chatted with another RootsTech attendee who works for Kinpoint, Inc. a Utah-based company that is developing video games related to family history.
It was a "mind-blowing" day, just filled with new ideas and glimpses of technology advances for the future. A lot of the classes were really over my head though. I am not sure if anything I learned will have direct application for me, at least not direct application for my immediate goals.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
SLCC Genealogy Course -- Blogging Project
Tonight I started on my Blogging Project. First I went to the Utah Genealogical Society web site. I logged in, because I am a member, and went to the archives of the virtual chapter meetings. I watched the February virtual chapter meeting (webinar) called Using Tools and Organization for Creating a Valuable Family History Blog presented by James L. Tanner, author of the Genealogy's Star blog. He gave this same presentation at RootsTech 2014 a few weeks before the UGA Virtual Chapter meeting on Thursday February 6, 2014. I attended the RootsTech presentation and was very impressed. I wanted to hear it again and I am glad that I did. It "used up" 1 1/2 hours of my 6 hours. :) There was an excellent syllabus for the RootsTech presentation which I downloaded and printed from the RootsTech 2014 web site. The presentation was number RT 1061.
Here are some things I considered as I watched the presentation tonight.
Why do I want to have a blog? It is a rather major time commitment, so I need to know why. What are my goals? I want to share my research and information. I want to preserve my family history. I want to preserve my research methodology and sources and citations for those who will come after me. I want to create a valuable resource that I can use. All these things are important to me, so that is why I want to create a better blog.
I considered adding more ways to share my blog and several add-ins and gadgets that I can implement on my blog. I definitely want to have a Google search function. And I definitely want to have the index function. I want to look for a newer more attractive template.
Before I heard James Tanner's presentation I was considering switching to WordPress and a paid site. I thought it would be more professional. But now I can see that he is doing a wonderful job with Blogger and so are several other top 40 Genealogy blogs. Blogger is quite a bit easier for me to use, because I am familiar with it. I have also used WordPress, but I have much more to learn about it. And Blogger is free!
James Tanner also made the point that if you write your blog posts in Microsoft Word there is a lot more formatting. Writing in the blog itself is simpler and even easier to make into a book. In fact, James Tanner recommends a blog as a good first step to writing a book.
Here are some things I considered as I watched the presentation tonight.
Why do I want to have a blog? It is a rather major time commitment, so I need to know why. What are my goals? I want to share my research and information. I want to preserve my family history. I want to preserve my research methodology and sources and citations for those who will come after me. I want to create a valuable resource that I can use. All these things are important to me, so that is why I want to create a better blog.
I considered adding more ways to share my blog and several add-ins and gadgets that I can implement on my blog. I definitely want to have a Google search function. And I definitely want to have the index function. I want to look for a newer more attractive template.
Before I heard James Tanner's presentation I was considering switching to WordPress and a paid site. I thought it would be more professional. But now I can see that he is doing a wonderful job with Blogger and so are several other top 40 Genealogy blogs. Blogger is quite a bit easier for me to use, because I am familiar with it. I have also used WordPress, but I have much more to learn about it. And Blogger is free!
James Tanner also made the point that if you write your blog posts in Microsoft Word there is a lot more formatting. Writing in the blog itself is simpler and even easier to make into a book. In fact, James Tanner recommends a blog as a good first step to writing a book.
SLCC Genealogy 1000 Course: Preserving the Past and Present Project Approval
For my Midterm Project for the Preserving the Past and Present Module I was required to submit a proposal for a six-hour(at least) project that will be something I really want to do for my family.
Here is what I wrote for the proposal. Ihave identified three things that I could do for this six-hour project that I am going to do any way. The unit Preserving the Past and Present has been very stimulating!
Here is what I wrote for the proposal. Ihave identified three things that I could do for this six-hour project that I am going to do any way. The unit Preserving the Past and Present has been very stimulating!
- Interview my 92-year-old mother. However, she has been in the hospital the last week , so I need to take interviewing her more slowly than I could do for an assignment for this class. But I have already approached her and started an outline of what we need to do to help her write her personal history.
- Organize my photographs. I purchased a guide book for Picasa from Geeks on Tour and am going to learn how to use the program. The author Chris Guld has lots of online videos about using Picasa that I want to study.
- This is the one that I want to do first for this class. I want to work on my family history blog. I created the blog http://jhdfamilyhistory.blogspot.com in 2008. Ironically I started it (and then backed off of it) when I was called to be ward family history consultant. I thought it would be a good place to share family history information and instruction with ward members. But when I advertised it, I was instructed by the bishopric that we were to have no blogs or websites other than official church websites. (In the meantime members of the church have been encouraged to establish an online presence in multiple ways. That is the ironic part.)
When I attended RootsTech 2014 I went to the session about blogs by James
Tanner and was motivated to start writing more. I have been following his blog Genealogy Star and am amazed by how
prolific a writer he is. I plan on watching the UGA video of his presentation
on the same subject for more ideas on blogging. (I am a UGA member, so I have
access to the archives.) He stressed that if you insist on perfection, you will
not be writing very much. So I need to lower my standards and write more
frequently. I am also impressed with ReNee Zamora’s blog and how she writes
about her genealogy class assignments. I am thinking that if I do the same, my
research processes will be well-documented for those researchers in my family
who come after me.
I also like the idea of a blog just because I can save the instructional
things I learn from classes, from books, from webinars and from Internet
sources in a place where I can find them. So, this is my proposal. Spend at least six hours
writing posts for http://jhdfamilyhistory.blogspot.com. Use my notes from RootsTech 2014
and share what I learned, include links to online resources for many of these
classes. I think I can write at least 12 posts on the subject of RootsTech.
Then I want to start writing about class assignments, like Renee. I am probably
not going to write about past assignments. I will just start where I am.
My Instructor approved my project proposal. One of her comments was "It will become kind of a "notebook" of sorts for you to keep track of genealogy resources. Make sure you add the box that makes it searchable." What a good suggestion! I am thinking of lots of improvements that I can make to this blog. I am excited to get started on this project.
Ancestry Insider Writes about Migration of Sources from New Family Search to Family Tree
Yesterday on the Ancestry Insider blog there was more information about the migration of sources from New Family Search to Family Tree. This is another perspective on what the The Ancestor Files blog reported about this. Apparently the sources data is "corrupted" because there are ten fields for sources in New Family Search and three fields in Family Tree. Also, the sources are being placed in user source boxes. I will have to check my source box and see if there is any thing there that I need to attach to my people in Family Tree.
I was encouraged to read that this is a new round of migration which started in February and was expected to last about six weeks. So maybe it is almost over now. Regardless of what FamilySearch is doing it is incumbent upon me to add sources to my people in Family Tree and to have good citations for these sources.
I was encouraged to read that this is a new round of migration which started in February and was expected to last about six weeks. So maybe it is almost over now. Regardless of what FamilySearch is doing it is incumbent upon me to add sources to my people in Family Tree and to have good citations for these sources.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Is this what has been happening in my Family Tree at FamilySearch?
It seems like when I check my "watch list" at FamilySearch's Family Tree every week that there are a lot of changes being made by FamilySearch. I was horrified to read in the blog The Ancestor Files that "information" is being migrated from New Family Search to Family Tree and that the source information is being corrupted.
I agree with Amy Tanner Thiriot that unless this stops, FamilySearch Family Tree will not be a place for serious genealogists. This will be very sad, since so many of us have trusted FamilySearch as a place for us to preserve our hard work and our family history forever. My resolve to keep my own records in ever more detail and to back it up in multiple locations is strengthened even more.
I agree with Amy Tanner Thiriot that unless this stops, FamilySearch Family Tree will not be a place for serious genealogists. This will be very sad, since so many of us have trusted FamilySearch as a place for us to preserve our hard work and our family history forever. My resolve to keep my own records in ever more detail and to back it up in multiple locations is strengthened even more.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Family Stories and Oral Histories
I greatly enjoyed this segment from the BYU show Ancestors about how one person learned so much about her family. Fabiana Chiu told her story about visiting Peru with her Chinese parents and showed many photographs and heirlooms.
Bill Zimmerman author of How to Tape Instant Oral Biographies: Recording Your Family's Life Story Using Sound and Sight was also interviewed and shared information of how to conduct oral interviews. Living family members are our greatest genealogical resource.
The episodes of the KBYU TV PBS show Ancestors are available at http://www.byub.org/ancestors/.
Bill Zimmerman author of How to Tape Instant Oral Biographies: Recording Your Family's Life Story Using Sound and Sight was also interviewed and shared information of how to conduct oral interviews. Living family members are our greatest genealogical resource.
The episodes of the KBYU TV PBS show Ancestors are available at http://www.byub.org/ancestors/.
Friday, March 7, 2014
Does Genealogy Research Need to Change to Make it "Fun" for Youth?
Today I read James Tanner's post in his excellent Genealogy Star blog titled
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I highly recommend this blog post and all of James Tanner's posts. I agree with his sentiments in this post. I like this statement found in his last paragraph:
"What we do need is a realization by those who would fix the genealogical community that they cannot throw away the old product. Doing historical research is mostly a very solitary, demanding, intellectually stimulating, intensive, engrossing, overwhelmingly difficult and very academic discipline. It cannot be sugar-coated for broad public consumption."
The more I learn about research the more I realize how demanding it can be. I am trying hard to focus on what I need to learn and to do my research systematically, step by step.
I do hope that some of my children and grandchildren will eventually show an interest in continuing my efforts. I do not expect that they all will. What I do hope for all my children and grandchildren is that they will feel connected to our family and that being part of our family will be important to them. And I hope that they will have critical thinking skills and a desire to seek for the truth in everything in life. I don't think that they need to be "a genealogist" for this to happen.
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Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Online Family Trees Versus Personal Software Family Trees -- Lesson # 8 Assignment Genealogy 1000 Salt Lake Community College
Discuss the benefits
and the drawbacks of Online Family Trees like Family Tree and Ancestry Tree and
Personal Family Tree Software like Roots Magic, Ancestral Quest or Legacy. Can
we use just one or the other? Why or why not?
Re: Online
Family Trees. I have
quite a bit of experience with FamilySearch Family Tree and its predecessor New
Family Search. I have IOUS’s in my ancestry, individuals of unusual size, and
this has been very frustrating. There have been some “pedigree wars” with one
branch of my family, where someone would change Henry Rollins to John Porter
Rollins and then someone else would change it back and then the other person or
persons would reverse the change and back and forth. It has been actually kind
of funny, like the good fairies in Sleeping
Beauty changing Aurora’s dress from pink to blue and back again. Even with
all the frustration I have experienced with these FamilySearch products I am
thankful that we have them available. They are constantly getting better and
are great for collaborating with others.
I also have limited experience with family
trees on Ancestry.com and MyHeritage.com. I think I would like to discuss
MyHeritage.com for this assignment.
A year ago I attended
RootsTech and we were offered a free six-month membership My Heritage in
exchange for submitting a GEDCOM file. So I submitted my father’s large GEDCOM
file and got my free membership. I renewed the subscription after the
six-months, so I have had it about a year. The motto of My Heritage is “Do your
genealogy while you sleep” because the program is constantly comparing your
tree to other trees and advising you when there are record matches or new
information. I get frequent emails advising of new matches. My father had over
400 first cousins (because of polygamy) and this generation has mostly died
off. Many of the matches are advising me of obituaries or Find a Grave or
Billion Grave records matching the names in my father’s GEDCOM. So My Heritage
has essentially updated the GEDCOM file. I still need to enter the information,
the sources and citations into my own record, however.
I think that online
trees are wonderful for preliminary research. They are a good first place to
look. The family trees are particularly valuable if they have sources. Just
last Sunday my daughter-in-law asked me how to research one of her
ancestors. All she knew was the name. So
we looked online. Searches on both FamilySearch Family Tree and in Ancestry.com
Family Tree led us to several census records, a civil war record and a
photograph. So now she knows a lot more about this individual and she has leads
to research and to verify in Iowa, Ohio, Illinois and Virginia
Re:
Personal Family Tree Software. I have had the most experience with Legacy because I won the software
a few years ago on a radio show. I recently purchased the updated version
Legacy 8.0. It has many nice features. When I was doing the assignment about
using census records as sources I went to Legacy to print out blank census
forms and used them to complete the assignment. It was very handy. However,
Legacy is probably more complicated to use than some of the others. I have had
some experience with Ancestral Quest and probably it is the best for those
people who are transitioning from using PAF (Personal Ancestral File). And I
have been learning RootsMagic in this class, of course.
I definitely believe
that we need to use both online family
trees and personal software. I cringed when I heard about someone who threw
away all their personal family records because “now it is all on New Family
Search!” Things do not stay the same at
the FamilySearch family trees. Others can and do make changes and sometimes
things are lost. Never put any information or photos or stories or documents on
FamilySearch without keeping your own files. The other online trees are not
subject to being changed as much by others, but these other web sites might not
be permanent and data could also be lost. Another drawback to online trees
might be the loss of privacy. And someone could copy your information and
publish it as their own work. Do not put anything on the Internet if you do not
want to give away the rights to it. You will have to weigh the benefits of
sharing against the possibility of plagiarism. And in the interest of accuracy
you might not want to “publish” information on the Internet until you are sure
it is reasonably correct information. It is very valuable to keep your records
in personal software on your computer, so you can work with it and use it to
help you as you make discoveries and develop conclusions.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Puzzilla - a Great Software Program
I learned about Puzzilla at RootsTech. It works with FamilySearch Family Tree. It is awesome for descendancy research. It is completely free. I tried it out today.
You can try it too at https://puzzilla.org/.
For more information in video form go to Introduction to Puzzilla
and Finding Ancestors on Collateral Lines in FamilySearch
You can try it too at https://puzzilla.org/.
For more information in video form go to Introduction to Puzzilla
and Finding Ancestors on Collateral Lines in FamilySearch
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Attendance Statistics from RootsTech
This is my fourth year of attending RootsTech, 2011, 2012, 2013 and now 2014. It has certainly grown during these four years. The first year I thought it was the largest genealogy conference I had ever known. According to statistics on the Ancestry Insider Blog there were 3200 registered in 2011. In 2012 there were 4000. In 2013 there were 6700. This year the conference was moved to the main part of the Salt Palace where the rooms were larger and there were 8000 registered for a four-day event. A Youth Event was added on the Saturday of the Conference last year and this year in 2014 there were 4000 who attended! Some of the RootsTech sessions were also streamed live online. Last year there was a total of 20,800 comprised of registrants, youth and those who viewed some sessions online. This year the total was about 30,000.
It is a privilege for me to be able to attend these wonderful sessions and to gain so much knowledge about family history. Therefore, I want to blog about my adventures at RootsTech and share what I have learned. I hope it is interesting to my readers.
Friday, February 7, 2014
RootsTech 2014 Set your Indexing Sails
I enjoyed this segment from the Thursday morning general session of Roots Tech February 6, 2014. Captain Jack Starling teaches about indexing obituaries. Click on the link to view the video.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Salt Lake Community College Genealogy 1000 Computer & Internet Tools for Genealogy
This semester (Spring 2014) I am taking the course Genealogy 1000 Computer & Internet Tools for Genealogy at Salt Lake Community College. It is an online class and I am auditing the class as a senior. I am doing the assignments and being graded, but I will not receive any college credit. (I already have my B.S. degree from Utah State University.) The instructor is Janet Hovorka who is well qualified.
Here is my first assignment a post to the discussion "Getting to Know You."
I took the Genealogy 1000 class Fall semester 2011. I wanted to continue with the next genealogy class in the series and registered for Genealogy 1010. Unfortunately the class was cancelled because not enough students were registered. Then my life got very busy and now I want to continue my genealogy education. Since the SLCC Genealogy courses have changed and many things on the Internet and with software have changed I am choosing to repeat Genealogy 1000. My immediate family history goals are to organize and digitize my files and to update four generations of my family history. I am a senior auditing this class, but I am not retired. My family owns a goat dairy Drake Family Farms in West Jordan Utah. We sell goat milk, yogurt, cheese and goat milk soap. My husband and I have eight children, 21 grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Here is my first assignment a post to the discussion "Getting to Know You."
I took the Genealogy 1000 class Fall semester 2011. I wanted to continue with the next genealogy class in the series and registered for Genealogy 1010. Unfortunately the class was cancelled because not enough students were registered. Then my life got very busy and now I want to continue my genealogy education. Since the SLCC Genealogy courses have changed and many things on the Internet and with software have changed I am choosing to repeat Genealogy 1000. My immediate family history goals are to organize and digitize my files and to update four generations of my family history. I am a senior auditing this class, but I am not retired. My family owns a goat dairy Drake Family Farms in West Jordan Utah. We sell goat milk, yogurt, cheese and goat milk soap. My husband and I have eight children, 21 grandchildren and one great grandchild.
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