Thursday, October 2, 2008

Happy 2nd Birthday, RootsTelevision!

One of my favorite genealogy web sites is Roots Television at www.RootsTelevision.com. Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak worked with several others to set this site up two years ago. More details about the site and the people who make it work are on Megan's post RootsTelevision.com is Two Years Old.

There are many 24 "channels" at Roots TV - including Conferences, How-to, DNA, African Roots, British research, Cemetery Research, DNA Research, Irish family history, Hispanic roots, Jewish Genealogy, Kids and genealogy, Libraries, Archives, Reunions, Photo Restoration and more. The Program Guide is here.

Some videos are short and some are very long. My experience is that most are in the 10 to 15 minute range, which is optimum for me because I'm easily distracted after about 15 minutes.

I especially enjoy the interviews that have become a staple of RootsTV - the recent NGS Conference, Southern California Jamboree and FGS Conference provided many interview videos on RootsTV. These videos put a face and a voice to the name and subject. For instance, Dick Eastman interviewed Leland Meitzler, David Lambert, Mark Halpern and David Mink, Blaine Bettinger, Judith Lucey, Paul Nauta, Tim Sullivan, Diane Haddad and Allison Stacy, Feargall O'Donnell, Maureen Taylor, Brian Donovan, Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, and Melinde Lutz Sanborn at the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference in Philadelphia in early September.

The all-time highlight of RootsTelevision for me was the videos of the presentation In Search of Annie Moore - the story of Megan Smolenyak's research to identify the real Annie Moore, and what happened to her after she stepped of the boat in 1892 and was the first person processed at Ellis Island. There is also a video of the play Making Up History: Searching for Annie Moore based on Megan's research.

I wish Roots Television many more happy birthdays, and I thank Megan and her staff for their hard work to bring genealogy to life through videos on RootsTelevision. If we are to bring younger people into our genealogy community, online video will be one of the major means that will be used to attract and enthuse new genealogists.

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