ThinkGenealogy

Here is a collection of my tweets from the BYU Conference on Family History and Genealogy:

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The 2009 BYU Conference on Family History and Genealogy will be held July 28-31 in Provo, Utah. The deadline for syllabus material is June 22.

My presentation is one I have done before: “Navigating Research with the Genealogical Proof Standard.” We are allotted 4 pages for the syllabus material and so far I have used 3. Here is a preview of the syllabus material. Please provide constructive feedback.

P.S.  I will be presenting on Friday, July 31 from 1:30-2:30 p.m.  My presentation is part of the Methodology track.  I love to meet my blog readers, so attend the presentation or stop by afterwards and introduce yourself.

In March 2008, I presented at the BYU Family History Technology Workshop.  The topic was: 10 Things Genealogy Software Should Do.  The presentation slides are now also available on SlideShare.

May was the second month for the ProGen Study Group.  You can read about April’s report at ProGen Study Group #1.

This month we continued our study of Professional Genealogy by reading the following:

•  Chapter 2 – Educational Preparation by Claire Mire Bettag, CGRS
•  Chapter 8 – Alternative Careers by Elizabeth Kelly Kerstens, CGRS

Chapter 2 provided details on academic degrees or credit programs in genealogy. For example, BYU offers a BA in Family History – Genealogy as well as a Family History Certificate. Another certificate program is the Home Study Course provided by the National Genealogical Society. This chapter also talks about major conferences such as NGS, FGS, and those held at BYU. There are also numerous self-study options discussed. If I were to list all the educational opportunities, it would take pages. One newer series of conferences that is not mentioned in the chapter are those provided by My Ancestors Found. The chapter included mostly US programs but did mention some international ones.

Particularly helpful are pages 19-21 that provides questions in the areas of presenters, programs, sponsors, and other concerns that can be used to evaluate educational opportunities to determine which are right for you.

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Each year in California a conference is held where the world’s greatest thinkers and doers present “ideas worth spreading.” The conference is called TED which stands for technology, entertainment, and design. What started in 1984 as a gathering place to explore these three converging fields has expanded its content to include science, business, the arts, and the global issues facing our world. Over four days, each of the 50 presenters gets 18 minutes to give the talk or performance of their lives. The results are fascinating, inspirational, ingenious, or just plain beautiful. Many of these talks are made available for free online at www.ted.com.

Does genealogy have anything like a TED conference?

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For those who are interested in the technology side of genealogy and family history, check out the archived content from BYU’s 2008 Family History Technology Workshop.  The workshop was divided into three sections:

1. Human Interface
2. FamilySearch Projects
3. Automated Record Extraction & Linkage

Within each section were 3-4 presentations by both students and professionals that lasted about 20 minutes each.  The archived content contains a paper for each topic and optionally the presentation slides.  Twenty minutes is not a lot of time to present all the information that was contained in the paper so think of the presentation slides as a quick overview whereas the papers are more in depth. 

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