The document discusses a watershed event in genealogy - the digitization of many historical records, which has led to lots of records being available online. This creates new needs for genealogists around determining which records to search, and where to find them. FamilySearch addresses these needs through three tools - Research Courses which provide how-to videos, a Research Wiki with over 59,000 articles about records and research guidance, and Forums for asking and answering questions. The document encourages participants to leverage the collective knowledge of the genealogy community and contribute back through these resources.

1. Leveraging the Power of We A Watershed Event in Discovering Where to Find Your Ancestors

2. What we’ll do today Note the watershed genealogical event of this era & another event it is sparking Introduce three tools: Research Courses Research Wiki Forums Learn about ways to give back and leave a legacy

3. Note today’s watershed event …and the new watershed event it is sparking

4. Today’s Watershed Event: Digitization (Lots of Records Online) Census Religious Newspapers Death Birth School Tax Obituary Emigration Local Histories Cemetery Court Marriage Insurance Immigration Occupational Funeral Home Land Biographies Diaries Military Family Bibles Family Histories

5. Today’s Watershed Event: Digitization (Lots of Records Online) Challenge: Which records should I search first? Census Religious Newspapers Death Birth School Tax Obituary Emigration Local Histories Cemetery Court Marriage Insurance Immigration Occupational Funeral Home Land Biographies Diaries Military Family Bibles Family Histories

6. Mass Digitization =Lots of Places to Look American Ancestors FamilySearch RootsWeb Google National Archives Ancestry Libraries VitalRec Chronicling America Cyndi’s List GenealogyBank BLM Accessible Archives Footnote American Battle Monuments Comission ProQuest DAR Interment.net INS FindAGrave OneGreatFamily GenWeb

7. Mass Digitization =Lots of Places to Look Challenge: Where do I look for the records I need? American Ancestors FamilySearch RootsWeb Google National Archives Ancestry Libraries VitalRec Chronicling America Cyndi’s List GenealogyBank BLM Accessible Archives Footnote American Battle Monuments Comission ProQuest DAR Interment.net INS FindAGrave OneGreatFamily GenWeb

8. Sifting Now it can be so easy to gather lots of names that the real challenge lies in sifting the names into cohesive family groups. [Image: lots of coins being sorted and rolled. Then another image of one of those automatic banks that sorts coins for you.

9. Watershed Events Yield New Needs Event Needs: Find out… Lots of records available Lots of record providers Which records to search Where those records are How to sift the data into family groups

10. Needs Spark New Solutions Needs Know which records to search Know where those records are Solutions Find people who know (Everybody knows something that can help someone else) Compile everyone’s knowledge Put it in a place everybody can find

11. The Power of We We used to have to rely on Web and book publishers for most research guidance. Now we can band together to leverage our collective knowledge.

12. Solutions from FamilySearch Three “We” solutions Research Courses: Cool how-to videos on many topics. Wiki: 59,000 articles on how to find, use, and analyze records in your ancestor’s area. Forums: A place to ask/answer questions. All are free and community-built All leverage the Power of We: collective knowledge & rapid growth

13. Research Courses an introduction

14. Research Courses Over 160 lessons

15. Research Courses Over 160 lessons Most by regional experts

16. Research Courses Over 160 lessons Most by regional experts Topic range: Beginner to expert

17. Research Courses Over 160 lessons Most by regional experts Topic range: Beginner to expert 5-60 mins.

18. Research courses examples

25. finding research Courses on FamilySearch.org

28. The Research Wiki an introduction

29. What’s a Wiki? Wiki: Hawaiian for “quick” A place to collect community knowledge Anyone can contribute Writing: Easy as MS Word Write an idea now; add more later

30. FamilySearch Wiki Research guidance Where to find records Record contents How to use various records How to sort findings into family groups 59,000 articles. Growing by 50/day. 100+ countries. Not about specific ancestors.

32. New York Census

46. Finding the wiki at FamilySearch.org

51. FamilySearch Forums Asking questions & getting answers

52. FamilySearch Forums Purpose: Ask questions & share expertise Scope: worldwide Ten languages coming Most questions get multiple answers Mostly advice, but sometimes lookups Topics: Research, software, contributing to the wiki

55. FamilySearch Forums Live demo

56. What do you need to know? Learn from the research courses Search the wiki Ask in the forums Leverage the Power of We

57. Give BackLeave a Legacy Contribute a research courseContribute to the wiki Answer questions in the forums Build the Power of We

58. What we did today Noted the watershed genealogical event of this era & another event it is sparking Introduced three tools: Research Courses Research Wiki Forums Learn about ways you can give back and leave a legacy

59. Come join us! Michael Ritchey: ritcheymt@familysearch.org