The RootsTech exhibit
hall is an event in and of itself. One could spend the entire conference
visiting the booths and the presentations being made by the vendors in their
booths. Every year I vow to spend more time exploring the hall. This year I was
pretty successful. Here are some highlights in no particular order.
MyHeritage
Their new DNA offerings are the big
topic with MyHeritage. If you've previously tested with another
company you can upload your results to MyHeritage. The only catch is that you
won't be able to view the ethnicity results or use MyHeritage's ethnicity
related tools without purchasing their DNA kit and taking their test. To read
more see my post, "RootsTech 2017 - A Look Back at Thursday."
I purchased 3 kits for myself and
family members to try out their tools so you'll hear more about that when the
results come back.
Pedigree Map was one of the
presentations I sat through in the MyHeritage both. This feature on MyHeritage plots events from your
family tree on an interactive map. I'm looking forward to digging into this
feature more. The first time I used it I was reminded of a number of events
that had slipped my mind. It also shows clusters of events and the geographical
proximity of various people and their events in my tree.
Your
DNA Guide - Diahan Southard is
Your DNA Guide. She is the author of the quick guides of which I own every
single one. They are excellent. Her website has tutorials and you can schedule
consultations with her.
Diahan's presentation, DNA: The Glue that Holds Families Together was both educational and moving. It's available online at the RootsTech website for a limited time. I highly recommend it. I also recommend having a box of Kleenex handy.
Champollion
2.0 was one of the Innovator Summit semi-finalists. Champollion 2.0 is a PC based
program that has tools for managing old documents that have been digitized. It
allows the user to transcribe a document and
directly annotate an image, number the lines on an image and adjust an
image to make it more readable among many other things. I was fascinated with
this product!
ExcelsiorCollege is now
offering two online courses for researchers.
1.
Practicum
in Genealogical Research taught by Melinda Lutz Byrne, CG, FASG. This is an
advanced problem solving class using real genealogical cases. Students also
have the opportunity to apply the skills they learn to a case of their own
choice.
2.
Genetic
Genealogy taught by Blaine Bettinger, PhD, JD. This is a pretty all
encompassing class using DNA. The flier I picked up says the intended audience
is beginner through advanced. Students learn how to interpret results and use
the many tools available today.
They both
look like excellent classes and I've heard great things about them. I'm taking
a hard look at the Practicum because that's what I need right now!
Living
DNA - offers a DNA test that will help
you understand more about where your ancestors come from. Living DNA claims to be especially
strong with British Isles ancestry. They are testing populations that have
lived in an area for centuries. The downside is that they don't yet tell you
who your matches are. At this point they are more focused on determining deeper
ancestry. It will be interesting to see how this product develops.
Utah
Genealogical Association - Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy
In 2018 the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy is January 22-27 at the Hilton in downtown Salt Lake City just a
couple of blocks from the Family History Library. I've attended for the past
six years and can't recommend the institute enough.
Disclaimer: I am a SLIG Ambassador
because I love SLIG so much. I may get some small benefits for being a SLIG
Ambassador but don't know what they will be yet. All opinions are my own.
Association
of Professional Genealogists - I stopped by the APG booth to
pick up a flier for the 2017 Professional Management Conference. It's in
Washington, D.C. this year September 20th through October 1st.
Geni
- The collaborative World Family Tree.
Through a partnership with Family Tree DNA, Geni members can pull their DNA
results over from FtDNA and attach them to their family tree. This allow you to
locate additional DNA matches. MyHeritage bought Geni a few years ago so they
also integrate MyHeritage's matching features.
© 2017, copyright Michelle Goodrum
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