RootsTech 2015

RootsMapper uses your Family Search Tree to map Ancestral locations.

I enjoyed watching the live feed from RootsTech 2015, as usual, this year. I appreciate Family Search making this available to us for free. The keynote speeches this year didn't appeal to me as much as in previous years. I would like to hear more about tech or genetic genealogy during the keynote presentations. I enjoyed Donny Osmond's presentation. I know he, and his family, have been actively involved in researching their family history. I'm sorry an episode of a Welsh show called "Coming Home" is no longer available at Youtube. Donny Osmond was featured in a show episode where his family history in Wales was presented to him. They unrolled a long family history pedigree chart for him at one point; he seemed genuinely moved. I enjoyed his upbeat, energetic presentation at RootsTech.

The "Innovator Summit Challenge Event" was interesting. The second place winner was my favorite. It allows searches on handwritten pages even in foreign languages. This would allow searching without indexing, it's called "ArgusSearch". I personally have zero interest in the event winner "Story Worth". I might use the 3rd place winner sometime? It's called "GenMarketplace". You post a problem and researchers bid to solve it.

Any technology that helps me  Systematize and Analyze my research is what I want to know more about. The streamed sessions, at RootsTech, which appealed to me the most were:

1. 30 Pieces of Tech I Can't Live Without Favorite website shared in this presentation ArchiveGrid which allows you to search archives for family information.
2. Building a Genealogy Research Toolbox The best link from this presentation was Wolfram Alpha helps calculate relationships and provides other kinds of data computation. Good for nicknames.
3. Getting Started in Genetic Genealogy Great for those starting out in Genetic Genealogy, I enjoyed it also.
4. What's New at FamilySearch I thought this was an interesting presentation. I will continue to attach information to their tree but I'm hoping it's not a complete waste of time? Their are so many duplicates that need fixing I'm hoping my attached info doesn't get thrown out when merging occurs. The ability to search all of the trees for photos and other special content is nice. The best links to come out of the presentation were: "RootsMapper" my favorite toy from this year's RootsTech. "Find-A-Record" is another partner of Family Search with an app. for finding possible documentation for your family tree. It also spots problems on your Family Search tree. The problems found are so massive it would be a full time job for months to fix them (it's about as massive as tearing my house down and rebuilding in my case).

You can watch some of the previously streamed sessions here.

My dream app. would be a page like the old iGoogle which would display messages from all sites, with messaging, including Ancestry.com. It would also display all of my DNA matches as they come in, and allow me to click to view their surnames. I would also like to see blogs like GeneaWebinars display their content directly on the same page. A list of new record content from all of the research sites would be great to see on the same page too. Genetic Genealogy is the future and RootsTech needs to focus on this area even more. We need help understanding how to use our results and integrate them with our traditional research. We need more apps. for genetic genealogy and I hope future innovators address our needs.

I personally need an app. that cuts my internet connection after a certain number of hours, or at a certain time in the evening. Time to cut myself off and do come grocery shopping. Bye for now.