My Experiences at RootsTech 2012 http://semanticommunity.info/David_Furnish-My_Personal_Family_History_Dashboard

1. RootsTech 2012:
My Experiences
Dr. Brand Niemann
Director and Senior Enterprise Architect – Data Scientist
Semantic Community
http://semanticommunity.info/
AOL Government Blogger
http://gov.aol.com/bloggers/brand-niemann/
February 4, 2012
http://semanticommunity.info/David_Furnish-My_Personal_Family_History_Dashboard
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2. What Is RootsTech?
• RootsTech is a leading edge conference designed to
bring technologists together with genealogists, so they
can learn from each other and find solutions to the
challenges they face in family history research today. At
RootsTech, genealogists and family historians will
discover emerging technologies to improve their family
history research experience. Technology developers
will learn the skills to deliver innovative applications
and systems. They will also have the opportunity to
receive instant feedback from peers and users on their
ideas and creations. Attendees will learn from hands-
on workshops and interactive presentations at the
beginner, intermediate, and advanced level.
http://rootstech.org/about
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3. What is RootsTech?
• RootsTech is a new conference (2nd year)
designed to bring technologists together with
genealogists to learn from each other and find
solutions to the challenges faced in family history
research today. The conference’s activities and
offerings are focused on content that will help
genealogists and family historians discover
exciting new research tools while enabling
technology creators to learn the latest
development techniques from industry leaders
and pioneers.
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4. RootsTech is live!
http://rootstech.org/ 4

5. Important People I Met at RootsTech
• Elder Dennis Brimhall, New CEO of Family
Search
• Jay Verkler, Former CEO of Family Search
• Professor William Barrett, Brigham Young
University Computer Science Department
• David Burggraaf, Senior Vice-President
Product Engineering, Family Search
• Josh Coates, Utah Entrepreneur of the Year
and CEO of Instructure
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6. FamilySearch
• FamilySearch has helped make the world's historic
records easier to access online, publishing more than
2.4 billion names in historic records
at familysearch.org, including 870 collections from
more than 50 countries indexed by more than 250,000
volunteers. During this period, FamilySearch has also
created an unprecedented, free global service
organization that engages more than 70,000 volunteers
who provide needed local and online support to
research patrons and the genealogical community.
FamilySearch has pioneered genealogical search,
record linkage, imaging, crowd-sourcing and digital
preservation technologies.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700198575/New-FamilySearch-CEO-announced.html
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7. Important Announcements at
RootsTech
• Winners of the Developers Challenge (50 apply, 29 submit,
17 demo, and 4 winners)
• Brightsolid Launches CensusRecords.com at RootsTech
• Funium Launches FamilyVillageGame.com on Facebook
• New FamilySearch and FamilySearch Wiki
– Beta for 20 Minute Genealogist: https://twenty.byu.edu/
• Google Toolbar and Genealogy (Many tools and Extensions
for Chrome Browser)
– Microdata: http://historical-data.org/
• 1940 US Census
– See My Blog at Conference – Slide 11
• New Things at Ancestry.com
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8. My Goals for RootsTech
• Besides Meet the Important People 
• My Entry Submission
• My Friday Demo
• My Blog for the Conference
• Free Family History Book Scanning for Sharing
• Teaching Family History with New Cloud Technologies
(right after this conference)!
• Beyond My Goals:
– Comment to Elder Brimhall and David Burggraaf
– Find New Czechoslovakian Digital Records at the Family
History Center
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9. My Entry Submission
http://semanticommunity.info/David_Furnish-My_Personal_Family_History_Dashboard#Spotfire_Dashboard
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10. My Friday Demo
DavidFurnishFamilyHistory.xlsx 10

11. My Blog for the Conference
http://semanticommunity.info/David_Furnish-My_Personal_Family_History_Dashboard/
RootsTech2012_Conference#Help_Index_the_1940_U.S._Census
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12. Free Family History Book Scanning
for Sharing
Editable PDF will be posted at
FamilySearch soon and can be
used to build a Semantic
Knowledgebase that can be
indexed, search, and linked
to the new Family Search Wiki
http://semanticommunity.info/@api/deki/files/17134/=RT0157.pdf
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13. Teaching Family History with New
Cloud Technologies
• Keynote Speaker Josh Coates, Exabyte Social Clouds and
Other Monstrosites
– The On-Demand, Self-service Cloud is the way to get a “data
river”, but how do we apply it to family history? See my demo!
• New FamilySearch can be done with distributed (under
your control), scalable (can become bigger as needed),
affordable (cheaper than current approach) cloud
technologies.
– “The security for reputable cloud service providers is better
than for legacy systems” – Josh Coates.
• New FamilySearch Wiki can work with your Wiki.
– Connect their geography to your names and stories!
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14. Teaching Family History with New
Cloud Technologies
• Church Members should get a few (4) generations
into FamilySearch and Temple Ready with
minimum technology distractions.
• Non-members and Church Members can use
spreadsheet, wiki, and dashboard cloud
technologies to store, document, and display
their family history data from many sources
without being overwhelmed by the large number
of Web sites, tools, and publications that are
available.
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15. Comment to Elder Brimhall
and David Burggraaf
• I was pleased to see FamilySearch starting to use
Semantic and Wiki Technologies because in my
experience with these technologies, they will
reduce the current efforts to write and revise
software code while delivering improved cloud-
based services.
• I next want to show you a pilot one of the most
advanced semantic technologies you could
use, namely Dynamic Case Management from Be
Informed for New Family Search.
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16. My Visit to the Family History Center
• First see the floor directory – 5 levels.
• Level B1 is International.
• Asked who is the Specialist for Czechoslovakia?
• Referred to a Sister from Austria at the Main Desk.
• Asked where to I find those archive records that I had
heard had been digitized recently?
– Went to Czechoslovakia about 40 years ago and was told I
could not have access to the records in the Archiff!
• Told first I need the place in Czechoslovakia where my
relatives lived, use the FamilySearch Wiki, then go to
http://GenTeam.at (Gazetter) to find that Archive for
the digital records of my ancestors!
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17. FamilySearch Wiki
https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Czechoslovakia
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18. GenTeam.at
http://genteam.at/ 18