Notes from keynote presentation by D. Joshua Tayor at the BYU FH Conference 2011. (Sorry – these are very raw notes as I took them during the conference)
(note: Joshua works at the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS). He was born in Idaho – and now works in New England. He was born in 1985!)
Started in microfilm at university – now does TV shows and researching using an ipad – which he uses to take pictures of documents
There have been several generations of genealogy:
Gen 0.5 to 1920s
original records
compiled sources
Institutions
Elite genealogy – for descendants of the Mayflower – then DAR came and women started doing genealogy
Women often left out of records
Lineage became important
Gen 1.0 – 1930s to 1990s
microfilm – made records available
era of collaboration
new genealogists
printed resources
genealogical societies and their publications
Alex Haley’s Roots – attracted new generation of genealogists
Handbooks and books on how to cite sources
Gen 2.0 – where we are now
digital records – billions of records online
social networking – twitter opened access to many potential genealogists – can get answers to genealogical brick walls via twitter. Facebook to communicate. “WeRelate” is another tool. Debates over dates. Remember that we know he existed and the debate is healthy. Bloggers can change the way you keep a research log. Geneabloggers gathers the bloggers together. FamilySearch wiki. Now there is Google plus – which will change things e.g circles, hangouts.
traditional genealogists still have a role
potential large audiences – through television shows in prime time. London Who Do You Think You Are (WDYTYA) conference 15000 people over 3 days with classrooms without walls where attendees came and went. First US episode of WDYTYA created 2000 new NEHGS members. e.g. Ashley Judd episode in which Joshua participated – showed behind the scenes pictures
White gloves concerns from early TV episodes – lots of complaints
WDYTYA goes from 1860 to 1600 in 3 seconds – they do that all the time – rather than spending 15 years and still not finding the person
Why not do normal people ? – no one would tune in
Getting people involved without revealing the truth about FH! Expensive, obsessive, time consuming
Had to block participants from accessing Google so they didn’t find out answers ahead of time
WDYTYA is more popular outside USA – all over the world
Gen 3.0 – the next generation
1. new resources – e.g. central meta data set for every single online image – images becoming central record – want citation attached, so can drag and drop image into genealogy program which would then fill in all the information automatically! Already happened in medical profession. Interactive diagrams on web sites – click on pew to find out about person who sat there – more than just the name – whole FH ( see Tories, Timid or True Blue website for sample)
End of paper? Maybe – in Sweden they have invented digital paper
FH is more about people than just names
QR codes – scan blocks – growing use
Devices and tools are changing – using ipad to take pictures of documents. Went 3 days without turning on laptop
2. blending communities – helping each other deal with data – historians, librarians/archivists, medical professionals, genealogists – same data sets used for more than one purpose
Change in how we search – move from name centric to location based or record set
JSTOR – articles online – how do you access if you don’t know if it’s there
Ask people through Twitter and Facebook to do lookups for you – new approach might be to scan documents and let people build their own story. Boston University students projects require records from all over the world – within 3 generations in 20 countries – 85% immigrants by 1900 – ancestry.com didn’t work – so first let them create their own records – identifying living relatives – developed questions to ask them – put together books or blogs – and then went back
traditional genealogists – who still know what microfilm is – can still help
new records – email, wikipedia, we relate, Facebook, twitter – new records will be generated – but some of these sites do not archive! – so need to be careful or your information may disappear
Need traditional records and new help to deal with them
What does his mean for me?
Future impact is a lot about experience – more than names on pedigree chart – concerned about each person in their ancestry
Interactions will change – students drop in for 15 minute interactions between classes – can look up one record on a census online in less than 15 minutes
Need to share what we know with others
Changing definitions
Interactive results
Individuals and families and connections focus
Digitally represented
Global resources required – e.g. India and China record access will be essential in the future
Require methodology – e.g. source citations – and resources to teach people how to do FH
No longer an old activity – family history become undefined by age, gender or nationality
Finding ancestors and future genealogists!
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Genealogy in Primetime: Family History’s Next Generation
Posted in Editorial comment, Family History General on August 7, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Notes from keynote presentation by D. Joshua Tayor at the BYU FH Conference 2011. (Sorry – these are very raw notes as I took them during the conference)
(note: Joshua works at the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS). He was born in Idaho – and now works in New England. He was born in 1985!)
Started in microfilm at university – now does TV shows and researching using an ipad – which he uses to take pictures of documents
There have been several generations of genealogy:
Gen 0.5 to 1920s
original records
compiled sources
Institutions
Elite genealogy – for descendants of the Mayflower – then DAR came and women started doing genealogy
Women often left out of records
Lineage became important
Gen 1.0 – 1930s to 1990s
microfilm – made records available
era of collaboration
new genealogists
printed resources
genealogical societies and their publications
Alex Haley’s Roots – attracted new generation of genealogists
Handbooks and books on how to cite sources
Gen 2.0 – where we are now
digital records – billions of records online
social networking – twitter opened access to many potential genealogists – can get answers to genealogical brick walls via twitter. Facebook to communicate. “WeRelate” is another tool. Debates over dates. Remember that we know he existed and the debate is healthy. Bloggers can change the way you keep a research log. Geneabloggers gathers the bloggers together. FamilySearch wiki. Now there is Google plus – which will change things e.g circles, hangouts.
traditional genealogists still have a role
potential large audiences – through television shows in prime time. London Who Do You Think You Are (WDYTYA) conference 15000 people over 3 days with classrooms without walls where attendees came and went. First US episode of WDYTYA created 2000 new NEHGS members. e.g. Ashley Judd episode in which Joshua participated – showed behind the scenes pictures
White gloves concerns from early TV episodes – lots of complaints
WDYTYA goes from 1860 to 1600 in 3 seconds – they do that all the time – rather than spending 15 years and still not finding the person
Why not do normal people ? – no one would tune in
Getting people involved without revealing the truth about FH! Expensive, obsessive, time consuming
Had to block participants from accessing Google so they didn’t find out answers ahead of time
WDYTYA is more popular outside USA – all over the world
Gen 3.0 – the next generation
1. new resources – e.g. central meta data set for every single online image – images becoming central record – want citation attached, so can drag and drop image into genealogy program which would then fill in all the information automatically! Already happened in medical profession. Interactive diagrams on web sites – click on pew to find out about person who sat there – more than just the name – whole FH ( see Tories, Timid or True Blue website for sample)
End of paper? Maybe – in Sweden they have invented digital paper
FH is more about people than just names
QR codes – scan blocks – growing use
Devices and tools are changing – using ipad to take pictures of documents. Went 3 days without turning on laptop
2. blending communities – helping each other deal with data – historians, librarians/archivists, medical professionals, genealogists – same data sets used for more than one purpose
Change in how we search – move from name centric to location based or record set
JSTOR – articles online – how do you access if you don’t know if it’s there
Ask people through Twitter and Facebook to do lookups for you – new approach might be to scan documents and let people build their own story. Boston University students projects require records from all over the world – within 3 generations in 20 countries – 85% immigrants by 1900 – ancestry.com didn’t work – so first let them create their own records – identifying living relatives – developed questions to ask them – put together books or blogs – and then went back
traditional genealogists – who still know what microfilm is – can still help
new records – email, wikipedia, we relate, Facebook, twitter – new records will be generated – but some of these sites do not archive! – so need to be careful or your information may disappear
Need traditional records and new help to deal with them
What does his mean for me?
Future impact is a lot about experience – more than names on pedigree chart – concerned about each person in their ancestry
Interactions will change – students drop in for 15 minute interactions between classes – can look up one record on a census online in less than 15 minutes
Need to share what we know with others
Changing definitions
Interactive results
Individuals and families and connections focus
Digitally represented
Global resources required – e.g. India and China record access will be essential in the future
Require methodology – e.g. source citations – and resources to teach people how to do FH
No longer an old activity – family history become undefined by age, gender or nationality
Finding ancestors and future genealogists!
Share this: Print article
Like this:
Read Full Post »