Genealogists as Lifelong Learners -- Part 1

All serious genealogists are lifelong learners. There is always more to learn about our families. You have probably learned by now that there is no such thing as a done genealogy. If you are successful in breaking through a brick wall, your reward is that your previously blocked line has now split into two lines to be followed.

There is also always more to learn about the craft of genealogy. None of us can be experts in all areas. Have you made any New Year resolutions about adding to your genealogy tool kit in 2017? If not there is no time like the present to make a short list of new skills you would like to acquire. Fortunately there are a wide and growing array of opportunities for learning that can be tailored to any learning style, budget or locale. These include from books, blogs, cruises, conferences, institutes, research tours, social media and webinars. The list seems to grow longer every month. Below are a few examples. Let's see who I can offend by leaving their favorite off the list.

Big conferences include:

1. RootsTech which has grown to more than 10,000 in person attendees from every state and numerous other countries. FamilySearch is the organizing force behind this relatively new conference. Usually held in February and always in Salt Lake City. The aim of this conference is to bring technologists and genealogists together. Many of the sessions are streamed around the world.
2. National Genealogical Society (NGS) Usually held in May and often in the Eastern part of the US.
3. Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS). Usually held in the late summer. Although it is technically aimed at helping strengthen local and regional societies, there is a rich array of programing aimed at individual researchers.
4. Genealogy Jamboree of the Southern California Genealogy Society. Usually held about the 2nd week of June in Burbank. The last five years there has been a separate DNA Day at the same location the day before Jamboree begins. 

Home schooling options:

While these large conferences provide a rich array of opportunities in one location as a sort of shock treatment of simultaneous sessions and opportunities to consult with vendors, these sponsoring organizations also provide a rich array of other learning opportunities throughout the year. Some examples include:

1. FamilySearch offers a wide array of opportunities each month.
2. The SCGS Webinar Series that was introduced in a previous blog post offers two webinars each month plus some streaming from Jamboree in June.  

Personal learning objectives

I stayed up all night thinking about and writing this post and it is dawning on me that if I try to make it too comprehensive, nothing will ever get published. Tell me what your favorite learning opportunities are and I'll try to include them in my next post on this subject. 

Please share what you would like to learn in 2017.

NGS 2016, Fort Lauderdale, May 4-7

National Genealogical Society Conference registration begins tomorrow. The theme will be "Exploring the Centuries: Footprints in Time." 

Although the packed program begins at 8:00 AM on May 4th, the DNA track begins at 11:00 AM on May 6th. Three DNA presentations are scheduled for Friday and five for Saturday. 

Sessions for DNA:  

  ·   Should We DNA Test? Balancing Technological Possibilities and Human Values. Who decides?
  ·   Who were Robert King’s Parents?   
  ·   Sex, DNA, and Family History
  ·   ’Cuz We’reCousins – Using Autosomal DNA Testing to Break Down Brick Walls
  ·   Your Pedigree Can Benefit from YDNA and mtDNA Testing   
  ·   DNA Testing and Your Ethnic Origins
  ·   Autosomal DNATesting – Using Excel Spreadsheets to Organize and Track Results
  ·   How to Use GEDmatch.com to Optimize Your DNA Testing Experience


I will be one of the presenters and I hope to see you there.

Ethical Quagmire of DNA Testing

In an editorial entitled “DNA Standards” in the December 2013 issue of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly Melinde Lutz Byrne and Thomas W. Jones lament:

When genealogists began to apply DNA test results to family history, they had the opportunity and responsibility to set standards—not for laboratory procedures, but for acceptable linkages to individual documentation, ethics, and interpretations. It was an opportunity missed. Had they been established, such standards would have set boundaries to embrace the power of genetic testing and, the same time, to avoid abuse. As difficult as it is to cite, describe, explain, or utilize this rapidly evolving tool, the real DNA-test quagmire is ethical.

Byrne and Jones raise important questions: 

With no established standards, editors face a conundrum when considering articles from DNA-test participants. Do they publish results that might affect relatives who have not released rights? When a DNA profile becomes as easily recognizable as a cursive signature, who has what rights?

However their implication that genealogists, by being more proactive, could have influenced the practice of DNA identification in the criminal justice system seems far fetched. 

The editors acknowledge that "widespread understanding of the capabilities and limitations of DNA testing lags behind technological advances." This pattern has been repeated over and over again with all technologies probably going back to the appropriate use of clubs in the age of the cave clans. Was it OK to use it on game? Was it OK to use it for self defense? To control others?

In more recent times the Internet developed far faster than our abilities to anticipate and understand how it should be used. In the last quarter century, no areas of science and technology have expanded faster than the Internet with the possible exceptions of astronomy and genetics. It is not in our ability or interest to try to stop these developments while we figure it all out. None of us have the ability to anticipate all the possible implications of developments in these fields. If we were that clairvoyant, we would be frozen into inaction by all the possibilities. But I suppose that inaction has occurred anyway.

Ethical behavior in the application of genetics to family history research and to health related endeavors is no simple undertaking. It involves balancing the:

1. right to know;
2. right to privacy;
3. right to own and benefit from intellectual property; and
4. right to protect our communities.

Should NGS have a role is discussing and providing guidance in appropriate practice? Should ISOGG? You bet!