Thursday, December 16, 2010

I'm an Official RootsTech 2011 Blogger, but can't attend

My thanks to FamilySearch for naming me as an Official RootsTech 2011 Blogger. 


You can see all of the details at http://rootstech.familysearch.org/.


The first annual RootsTech Conference will be a gathering of both family history enthusiasts and technologists from around the world. Genealogy hobbyists and professionals alike will discover new and emerging technologies that will improve and simplify their activities. At the same time, technology providers will enjoy a rare, face‐to‐face opportunity to interact with family history enthusiasts to better understand their needs.

Combining the Conference on Computerized Family History, the Technology Workshop, and the FamilySearch Developers Conference, RootsTech will foster innovation for years to come as genealogists looking for solutions share their challenges with high‐tech innovators eager to develop new applications for their technologies.

Dozens of classes, workshops, lectures and discussion will be held over the three days of RootsTech. A selection of the topics covered:
  • Applying social networking techniques and technologies to collaborate as families and societies
  • Cameras, scanners, and preservation devices
  • How to use cloud computing to deploy highly reliable, scalable systems
  • Using standards and authorities to enhance applications and search techniques
  • Handwriting recognition and automated transcription
  • Search engines and finding tools
  • GPS mapping
  • Tricks and travails in embedding external components
  • Leveraging records digitization and preservation
  • Media capture and conversion
  • Available APIs and Web services
  • Understanding new markets
  • Mobile devices and smartphone applications
  • Much, much more!
The scheduled sessions for each day are listed for each day at the bottom of this page.  click on a specific day and see the list.  wow!

Who Should Attend?  Is that you?  It certainly is me.

See the Accommodations page for information about hotel space.

BUT, I cannot attend due to a schedule conflict.  I committed several months ago to do a presentation on Saturday morning, 12 February to my local San Diego Genealogical Society and don't want to break that commitment.  I considered going for the Thursday and Friday sessions and flying home on Friday night, but I'll miss half the conference, and if the weather is bad in SLC and my flight is cancelled, then I would miss the SDGS meeting.  So, I decided to not attend RootsTech.

Apparently, There are some sessions for remote access, and I will try to attend some of them. 

I will have more information on RootsTech in the two months until the event.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Chris in ABQ suggests that you present your SDGS program from RootsTech -- Skype perhaps?

Jay said...

Bummer, Randy, that you have to miss this one. Can you not trade dates with someone, or is this too short notice? Or surely someone could set you up with a GoToMeeting connection. I'll bet Geoff Rasmussen at Legacy would be willing to help you set it up as a webinar.