RootsTech 2022 Through the Year

Though the anticipation and excitement of our first view of RootsTech 2022 is over, there's still more to come:  our second, third, and ongoing views and reviews of the sessions.  Certainly not everyone who attended RootsTech this year has already watched every session offered?  For me, the conference continues.  I'm thrilled that all the sessions will  be available throughout the year.  I was just as pleased last year and yet I watched few of them after RootsTech 2021 was over.  This year I'm determined to watch more of the sessions.  To make this easier, I created a "My Playlist" (from the dropdown Menu in the upper right corner of the RootsTech website) and I added a bookmark at the top of my web browser as a reminder and to make it easier to get to my playlist.

How about you?  Are you finished with RootsTech 2022 or will you continue to watch more sessions?  These are the ones I watched during the conference.

General Session with Steve Rockwood and Apollonia Poilane
I liked Steve Rockwood's list of principles -- trust, love, faith, honesty, and compassion -- for choosing connection, the theme of this year's conference.

FamilySearch is always making improvements!
▸ What's New on FamilySearch, presented by Ron Tanner
▸ What's Coming to FamilySearch, presented by Ron Tanner

Get Involved and Reviewing the 1950 Census, presented by John Alexander and Ian James, both of FamilySearch
The presenters of this session were low-key, almost as if some of the information they were sharing was just your every-day stuff at FamilySearch.  Perhaps for them that's true, but for we are are not behind the scenes, I though this was pretty exciting.  Because the 1950 U.S. Census was computer-indexed they want to have eyes looking at the records to confirm the accuracy.  We won't have to type the information in the fields as we did for the 1940 census, just confirm its correctness.  The for me, the exciting part is that we can request family names to review. 
Ian James, one of the presenters, said, "We don't want to ask people to work on anything they don't care about, or that doesn't have some sort of impact on them."  This is part of FamilySearch's new "Get Involved" initiative. 

Keynote with Maysoon Zayid and Matthew Modine
I did not know either of these people before watching this presentation.  I was glad to learn about and from them.

Turning the Pages of British Newspapers, with Simon Fowler  (I think this is a 3-part series.)
This presenter was also low-key.   One of the most interesting things I learned is that Australian newspapers often republished articles from British newspapers.  This is of interest to me because I have ancestors who lived in England in the 1800s (and before).  Australian newspapers are searchable at no cost at Trove.  I don't hold out much hope of finding my common ancestors in Australian newspapers, or even British newspapers, but it's worth a shot.

Guided Research:  Make Finding Your Ancestor Easier, presented by Amber Larsen
Maybe I have been living under a rock because FamilySearch's Guided Research Wiki is new to me.  I think it could be especially helpful for beginners though more advanced genealogists might find it helpful, too.  When using it to search for online birth, marriage, and death documents it will help you find them and you can learn what materials for a location are not available, whether the courthouse was burned, or the records didn't begin until a later date, etc.  I also learned that FS offers 20 minute virtual genealogy consultations and that a researcher may sometimes be able to find more information at "Ask the FamilySearch Community."

Damnatio memoriae - condemnation of a person's memory, presented by Dr. Penny Walters
She introduced the presentation by discussing the demolition or removal of historical statues in recent years, and likened that to our refusing to research an ancestor whose behavior we find contemptible, or ignoring some ancestors for various reasons.  I don't think I'm so mean-spirited as that (though I haven't researched my father's "wicked" step-mother's family.  There's just no interest or need.)

If you attended RootsTech 2022 I hope it was, and will continue to be, a great resource for you.

-–Nancy.

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