Rootstech reviews!

I had the opportunity to attend the Roots tech conference in Utah a few months ago and got the chance to attend some of the presentations. I will do my best to recall what I learned considering it was a while ago.

Some of the classes I attended(it was so many going on at the same time I couldn’t  attend all of them at the same time!)

FS8326- RECLAIMING OUR AFRICAN ROOTS(R.O.A.R) EXPLAINED:

This was an one hour presentation detailing the efforts of Familysearch.org to collect the oral histories and genealogies of multiple ethnic groups from different countries on the continent of Africa and make it available on Familysearch.org for genealogists to access. The presenter, Tom Reed, emphasized the importance of collecting genealogies from cultures without written genealogies. Another goal of R.O.A.R is to create (with the help of African-American genealogical societies and historical organizations at Universities across the country) a one-stop shop(so to speak) on familysearch.org where all genealogical resources relevant to African-Americans(whether its the the Freedmen Bureau records, Slavevoyages.org or the International African American museum(IAAM ) could be linked in one place for African-American genealogists. I enjoyed the presentation and thought the speaker did an excellent job in explaining their initiative and the process of how their team was collecting oral histories as well as collaborating with multiple organizations from across the United States.


RT8005- FAMILY HISTORY EBOOKS: YOUR BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS:

This was an hour-long presentation taught by Lisa Alzo. The class dealt with the topic of how to publish your family genealogy- a subject popular among many family historians looking to share and compile their genealogy into a book. The class was a full house and was very fortunate to get a seat. Instead of spending all your money trying to publish your genealogy in physical book form and looking for a publisher, I learned that eBooks was an economical way to publish your research that has also incorporated the use of modern technology. The presenter also provided a basic step-by-step process of the book writing process. Questions like who do you want your book to be about? What do you want to want your book to be about? Do you want to focus on the history of a specific ancestor? Or do you want to write a book placing your ancestors within a historical context (i.e. the history of a Civil war regiment told from sources relating to the experience of your great-great grandfather).  She also provided several self-publishing guides as well as writing platforms to properly create and format your eBooks. A handout summarizing and given more detail on publishing your family history book in electronic book form was included with the presentation.

RT3837- REMIXING YOUR DNA:

Remixing your DNA was a presentation by Rosilyn Rayborn. It was non-traditional and unique approach to connecting with family using DNA matches on Ancestry.com by incorporating their personal interests. The presenter wasn’t a genealogist and had little interest in family history. She wanted to connect to her DNA cousins by asking them about their life and what were their favorite songs(The presenter was a native of Memphis and grew up in a musical family) hoping to find a common tie that united them all.  What she was contact each DNA match and ask them their names, genetic relationship, where they were from, what was their favorite genre of music and their all-time favorite recording artist. She also said that you can create your own lists of questions. In my case, I would ask about favorite films, books and music. I thought was an interesting presentation despite it not being genealogically relevant.

RT8402- POLYNESIAN FAMILY HISTORY AND GENEALOGY: A BEGINNER’S GUIDE:

I attended this course more so out of curiosity about how other cultures record their family history than actual personal application to my own research. The speaker was Miyamoto Jensen and one the many things she highlighted I felt was most important in doing genealogy regardless of your ethnic background was understanding the culture and history of the people. Polynesian genealogy was traditionally oral and past down for generations in families before written records were introduced during colonialism by the Europeans. She also talked about a FamilySearch project that collected and recorded the oral histories of Pacific islanders along with traditional government records like census and birth records on Polynesians. One of the most poignant yet informative records she mentioned was land claims made by indigenous Polynesians as their territory was gradually taken by European colonists.
The handout she created provided genealogical sources for people with ancestors from Hawaii, Togo and even places like Papa New Guinea.

There were also vendors galore in the Exhibit halls offering everything from DNA testing, opportunities to self publish your family histories to even a software company that allowed users to upload their family pictures into a virtual museum!


RS