RootsTech Day 1

RootsTech has started and day 1 is in the bag. What a whirlwind day! I always try to fit in a few classes between events but am usually not able to do that successfully. However, now with the hybrid format of RootsTech I will be able to watch many of the talks online when I return home. So, expect to see posts about RootsTech over the next few weeks as I get time to view many of the talks I missed.

Storied sponsored breakfast

What does my day at RootsTech look like? Well, first of all, since I am still on Eastern Time I wake up at 4:00am (6:00am my time) to write in my blog. Then off to start my day at the event. At 7:00am I attended a breakfast sponsored by Storied. Storied talked about the four challenges they see in furthering family history to a wider audience. Those are 1) Storytelling, 2) Relationship Building, 3) Collaboration, and 4) Affordability. One of the focuses of the Storied platform is to make it easier to tell the stories of our ancestors. They do this through generative AI. The stories use the records and information that you attach to the individual in a more engaging way. Storied also allows you to add non-familial relationships to your tree. You can add pets, neighbors, co-workers, friends, classmates or anyone that may have had an influence on your ancestor's life. Their collaborative platform lets you invite others to participate in the gathering of information for your ancestors. This means that a wider variety of pictures, records, and events can be included in their stories. Storied also is capable of adding information directly from FamilySearch or you can upload your GEDCOM file to build your tree faster. During RootsTech they are offering a $99/year subscription. That is $60 off the regular annual price and it includes access to their newspaper collection and a free StoriedBook which you can create with up to 200 pages. Just go to their website and click the "Get the RootsTech Deal" button at the top of their page to take advantage of this offer.

At 8:00 I had my first presentation. I presented Using Censuses, Maps and Newspapers to Enhance Your Research in Ballroom G. This presentation starts with what you can learn in the census records and uses three case studies to show how incomplete that information is and how you can enhance your knowledge about your ancestors by adding information from newspapers and maps. The talk went well, and I had between 200-300 people in attendance.

FamilySearch Tech Forum

At 9:30 I attended the FamilySearch Tech Forum. This forum highlighted developments from seven FamilySearch programs. FamilySearch has over 16.8 billion searchable records and over 1.4 billion names in its FamilyTree. The use of generative AI and computer assisted indexing has accelerated the number of records they can make available. AI has allowed for the production of full text search in multiple languages and the creation of computer generated trees. 

One of the new products released during RootsTech is the FamilySearch Helper. The FamilySearch Helper is an AI assisted search tool. It accesses the variety of sources on FamilySearch including the Wiki, blogs, RootsTech presentations and others to answer your questions. You can now explore how an AI-assisted search might provide better guidance for your research and using the FamilySearch website. 

Another newly released product is Full Text Search. Full Text Search uses AI to interpret handwriting and search for keywords in records. There are now over 100 million records available to search across several languages. These records include US Land and Probate records, Mexican Notarial records, and Plantation records. Each one is fully searchable. Eventually, every unindexed record will be processed through this technology. This process pairs human indexers with the AI to proofread and edit the AI indexing.

FamilySearch finally released their Family Group Trees project. They have been talking about this project for several years. Family group trees help everyone find and gather all their family, living and deceased, together as a family, not just as individuals. It allows family members to work together on the tree including access to living individuals. It is connected to the larger FamilyTree and still keeps information on living people private to the rest of the world but viewable to the group members. Members can share items within the Memories and like and comment in a way similar to social media platforms. FamilySearch is also working on an app called Together by FamilySearch which integrates into the Groups function. Both products were released on Wednesday.

All of these items can be found in the FamilySearch Labs page and more products will be added as they are developed. The developers want people to test these products and provide constructive feedback which they can use to improve them.

I also attended the Innovation Forum. This forum featured seven products that utilize generative AI to assist family history research. The first speaker was Jared Spatero from Microsoft. He talked about how quickly AI has become a common feature in our lives, from the first release of ChatGPT in November 2022 to the recent release of Microsoft's Copilot. ChatGPT is limited in its knowledge to events that occurred prior January 2022, but Copilot is continually learning through searching the internet for new information. One of the cool features in Copilot is the ability to upload pictures and ask Copilot what is in the picture. For example, you could upload a picture of a car and it would tell you the make and model. Or you could upload a picture of a person in Victorian dress, and it could identify the timeframe. Copilot can also convert its responses into a Word document and then in Microsoft 365 you can open PowerPoint and import the document as slides. There are many uses for Copilot. I have been using it to create graphics for slides, create outlines for presentation, and draft handouts for my presentations. It is an incredible time saver.

Jon Morrey from FamilySearch discussed how AI will change family history. He said that AI can help develop more intuitive user interfaces, make the records more accessible, help speed up the development of applications, and index records more quickly than ever before. He demonstrated an application that AI helped him build which would ask the user questions about a picture they uploaded. The questions would build upon the previous answers until a complete story about the picture was developed. 

Jonathan Gibson from LivingHistory.ai and TheAfterlife.ai discussed the use of AI in creating interactive virtual worlds. Both of these products can interface with data in FamilySearch and build a virtual world where you can interact with historical figures as well as your own ancestors. LivingHistory.ai has a set of historical figures preloaded for you to interact with. But you can also use the information in FamilySearch Memories to build your own virtual ancestor. You can explore the items and pictures as well as use the stories and articles to add detail. The interaction is based on asking questions and having them respond. I had talked to these developers last year and their product continues to advance as new technology develops.

Laryn Brown from Storied discussed their Biography Extraction Technology which can extract data from any printed source, identify individuals and key events, and then link people by their relationships. It can even build relationships outside the normal family lines.

EmulateMe talked about their platform that enables you to create virtual ancestors and converse with them. They import data from FamilySearch or you can upload your own content to build the profile. They demonstrated the ability to call your deceased ancestor on your phone and have a conversation with them using the app. 

Cameron Graham from Storii talked about their product which helps to record the stories of your living family members. The application calls your relative over the year, prompts them with questions, and records the responses. They have over 1,000 questions which can be asked. The responses are put together as an audio book recording the story of their lives and also creates a transcript which can be searched. AI is able to create and analyze the content of the responses. 

And finally, Hunter Cameron from Ancestry talked about how they are using AI to add records and capabilities to their website. AI has assisted in increasing the number of records available. They now have over 18.6 billion records. AI also helps to process the DAN data to build the matches and relationship calculations. They also have some new products coming soon including narration of records and recognizing ancestors in photos outside your tree along with their new Research Assistant.

That was one information packed hour.

As part of the Media Team I also get the opportunity to interview VIPs during RootsTech. I had two interviews scheduled on Wednesday. The first was with Steve Rockwood (CEO of FamilySearch) and Elder Hamilton. We discussed RootsTech and FamilySearch. You can see the raw video footage here. I also had the opportunity to interview Jenn and JD Barnes, Team Black, from Relative Race Season 6. You can see that video here. The audio isn't always the best in these videos since we are in the open Expo Hall.

I also had a photo shoot with the Geneabloggers and attended a quick meeting with MyHeritage to meet some of the others who contributed to their new Wiki. Then I worked for a couple hours at The Family History Guide booth. And I also explored the Expo Hall and talked to some of the exhibitors during my free time.

There is so much happening at RootsTech that it is hard to get it all in but there is always something new and interesting to explore and the opportunities to learn are endless.