RootsTech Interview with CeCe Moore - Food for Thought for Genetic Genealogists

At RootsTech 2017, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to interview CeCe Moore of DNA Detectives. So many people are taking DNA tests now, I wanted to ask an expert for tips on a couple of challenging DNA testing issues.

We wrapped up with a couple of CeCe's favorite cases.

Disclaimer: I (Michelle Goodrum) am a RootsTech 2017 Ambassador and received complimentary registration to RootsTech along with other perks. Any opinions expressed are my own.

© 2017, copyright Michelle Goodrum

RootsTech 2017 Exhibit Hall Wanderings

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.

Coming soon is the RootsTech 2017 wrap-up and my interview with CeCe Moore.

 © 2017, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Saturday at RootsTech 2017

The final day of RootsTech was a day for wrapping up loose ends for this GeneaBlogger. One of the highlights was the annual GeneaBloggers photo. We can never get all of the bloggers in one place at the same time so this is just a large sample of the GeneaBloggers at Roots Tech in 2017.

The general session started out with a big announcement from AncestryDNA. Tim Sullivan, President and CEO of Ancestry announced new tools related to ethnicity results being readied for release from AncestryDNA next month. Keep your eyes peeled for more details.

CeCe Moore dazzled everyone with futuristic applications for genetic genealogy before moving into some of the fascinating DNA cases she has worked on. She also talked about genetic memory. These are memories that are passed through the generations. Have you ever been to a place and felt you've been there before? Some scientists believe you may carry the memories of your ancestors with you. I've experienced it. Have you?

 

Earlier in the week, I was fortunate enough to do an interview with CeCe. Watch for it in the next few days.

I spent most of my time in the exhibit hall talking to a few exhibitors. Watch for a separate post on that in the coming days.

The one session I attended was Amy Johnson Crow's, Uncover Hidden Gems With DPLA and WorldCat. The Digital Public Library of America [insert link to dp.la] is a catalog composed of a partnership of libraries, museums, and archives from across the U.S. All of the items on this site are digitized and free. WorldCat [ insert link ] is a huge library catalog of about 10,000 libraries from around the world. It is also free. I use WorldCat regularly but am embarrassed to admit that I don't use DPLA that often. That will be changing!

There are more posts coming in the next couple of weeks to highlight my exhibit hall wanderings, the interview with CeCe Moore, and a summary or two.

For now just be sure you put RootsTech 2018 on your calendar. The dates are February 28 - March 3rd.

Disclaimer:  I (Michelle Goodrum) am a RootsTech 2017 Ambassador and received complimentary registration to RootsTech along with other perks.

Any opinions expressed are my own.

 © 2017, copyright Michelle Goodrum