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DNA was a HOT Topic at RootsTech 2015!
Navigating the exhibit hall at RootsTech 2015 was often quite a feat! It was especially crowded around the booths for the two DNA testing companies represented, Family Tree DNA and Ancestry.com. There were people standing around swabbing their mouths, ready to see what their DNA can tell them about their family history.
This is exciting news for us. The more people that test, the more we can learn: collectively, as a genetic genealogy community, and personally, as we make connections with genetic cousins.
Further evidence that the genetic and genealogy communities are forming a tight bond is the announcement of a partnership by Family Tree DNA and FindMyPast. Currently the agreement is for discounted testing, but hopefully that will blossom into some badly needed genealogical tools for Family Tree DNA customers.
Ancestry was not about to be left out of the excitement! Among their other product updates announced this week that they will be enhancing their DNA Circles experience. Soon you will be a part of DNA circles that center around an ancestor that is not currently found in your pedigree chart (but maybe should be!).
Add that to the news a few months ago that MyHeritage will provide pedigree assistance to customers at testing company 23andMe, and we can surmise that genetics is now a permanent resident in genealogy. The 23andMe/My Heritage partnership will rely on pedigree data being added to MyHeritage by 23andMe customers, which will hopefully ultimately lead more people to post their genealogy online, which is very much lacking in the current offering by 23andMe.
Exciting times are ahead! Get tested–and learn to how use your results meaningfully in your genealogy research. If you need help, check out my DNA quick guides.
For some personal coaching, contact me through my website: YourDNAGuide.com.
New Interactive Exhibit Brings Family History to the Public: FamilySearch Discovery Center
Now you can! A “prototype” FamilySearch Discovery Center was unveiled yesterday in downtown Salt Lake City in conjunction with RootsTech 2015. Visitors are handed a tablet computer and sent around to seven stations. At each they dock their tablet, which has their FamilySearch login programmed, and experience different aspects of history with their own family history data.
You can see your family’s international migration through the generations; superimpose yourself in historical costumes from several nations; check out the history and popularity of your first and last names; and enter a “time machine” with 3D historical re-creations of ancestral kitchens throughout the years. One of my favorite stations was one I almost skipped: the personal history interview in a private booth. You choose your life season, from child to senior, and a virtual interviewer appears on the screen and asks you a series of questions, which are recorded. All the data is later buy medication canada sent to you through your FamilySearch/email accounts.
For now you can only experience this in Salt Lake City. But this exhibit is meant to be replicated in major venues, and indeed has been booked for at least two so far in Seattle and Philadelphia, says FamilySearch CEO Dennis Brimhall. He chatted with me as I toured and confirmed that they are experimenting with this exhibit in different sizes and scales. He hopes to see versions of the FamilySearch Discovery Center one day in museums, libraries, archives, and heritage centers around the world. “We haven’t done a really good job of bridging the general public into family history,” he admitted. This exhibit concept is a big step toward changing that.
As for myself, I love what they’re doing. I would love even more to see them customized for regional audiences, which it sounds like is part of the plan. If you’re in Salt Lake, it’s absolutely worth checking out. Just bring your relatives–preferably the ones who are now the LEAST interested in family history!
Action-Packed WWII Maps Helped Homefront Families Follow the War
Canada at War by Stanley Turner, 1944. Online at the David Rumsey Map Collection. Click on image for full citation and to access image.
During World War II, millions of people anxiously followed the progress of battles and troop movements that affected their loved ones. Artists and map-makers stepped up to provide colorful, action-packed maps.
Toronto artist Stanley Turner was one of these. He created a series of maps between 1942 and 1945 that were printed and licensed as promotional giveaways to businesses in Canada and the U.S. Today you can find Turner’s maps digitized at the David Rumsey Map Collection.
Stanley wasn’t the only one making these beautiful maps. Read about Richard Eddes Harrison and the big changes in popular cartography during the war in my blog post, “World War II: A Revolution in Map-Making.”
Fast-forward 60 years in time, and the latest revolution in map-making and information-sharing is where? On Google Earth! Google Earth is packed with topography, but also shows us man-made features like roads and bridges, geographic boundaries, historical maps and photographs and so much more. These help us understand things like movements of our ancestors–whether they were troops in World War II or settlers in distant places.
Want to learn more about using Google Earth for genealogy (or the Google Earth Pro version that was just released FREE to the public)? Become a Genealogy Gems Premium member. You’ll have access to video classes like these:
- Time Travel with Google Earth
- 5 Ways to Enhance Your Research with Old Maps (this class’ retail value alone is $39.95)
Premium Membership is a bargain at only $29.95 for an entire year’s access, plus right now you get the free bonus ebook Lisa Louise Cooke’s 84 Best Tips, Tricks & Tools from Family Tree Magazine. Click here to learn more about Premium Membership.
