Ancestry.com RootsTech 2012 Keynote

Here are some notes I took from the Saturday, February 4, 2012 keynote speakers.  I hope that you find my notes as interesting as I found the speakers.  See also the full keynote at: http://rootstech.org/#

Ancestry.com. 
Moderator:  Tim Sullivan, CEO, &
Panelists:  Eric Shoup, SVP of Product, Scott Sorensen, VP of Development, Johnathan Young, SVP of Technology and Ken Chahine, SVP of DNA.

Ancestry.com has 1.7 million subscribers
The data content is the foundation of their business.

Ancestry.com accommodates various needs of researcher; from beginner to experienced.  Since various groups of researchers use Ancestry.com the site must must need the needs of a vast range of users.

What is happening in DNA?  
It is in the "mist of a revolution."  There have been great improvements.  However, so far, the use has been modest.  Hopefully in the future, DNA will be able to narrow down the place where they, ancestors, were from.  The DNA community is dealing with massive amounts of data.

Mobile Genealogy:
  • There were over 2 million downloads of the mobile application Ancestry.com.
  • There have been over 2 million "hints accepted"
  • Mobile browsing on the site is up 12 percent
  • Mobile capabilities allows users to have a digital hub
  • New products will be built for mobile customers first, because it is growing so fast
  • Mobile is the future of family history

Social Websites:
  • Facebook is important to family history
  • There are over 800 million users over the world
  • It is massive and global
  • Facebook can be used as a sharing mechanism for family history

The Future:
  • Genealogy has usually been an individual pursuit, but Ancestry.com is hoping to include more family members sharing their discoveries.
  • Technology is the key to making the company better.  There are currently 300 technology specialists at Ancestry.com, and this next year they are hoping to add about 80 more.
  • Competition keeps Ancestry.com energized and focused to come up with their own ideas.

Note:  Full disclosure:  These are from my IPad notes taken from the live meeting.  I have no personal interest in Ancestry, and as of current am not a subscriber, and have received not compensation from them.  I do use Ancestry.com for my research at the FHL and at the Riverton FHL.  For individual quotes and accurate numbers and statistics, please go to http://rootstech.org/# and watch the recording for Saturday, February 2, 2012.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Walking Where They Walked: Park Hotel

Image
Park Hotel, Rock Springs, Wyoming, September 2013, RR&B 19 Elk Street, Rock Springs, Sweetwater, Wyoming The Park Hotel opened in 1914 and was the hub of Western Wyoming until the late 1950’s. It was the largest and most modern hotel in the city. Advertisements boasted of hot and cold water in each of its 38 rooms, twenty of which had private baths and toilets. The fourth floor was added in the 1920’s. The Park Hotel catered to commercial men and automobile tourists traveling the Lincoln Highway. The hotel had a boisterous barroom and a sedate restaurant with sparking white table cloths. Rock Springs Miner, 30 January 1914, page 1, Wyoming Newspaper Project online. One memory of the Park Hotel, is related by Thomas P. Cullen, “One summer afternoon while walking up Elk Street toward the C Street Crossing, my attention was drawn to the small crowd assembled near the north end of the Park Hotel. A slight man, of short stature, stood rolling up his pantlegs
Read more

What is a mortcloth?

A mortcloth, or pall, is a funeral cloth used to cover a coffin in the funeral ceremony or the deceased prior to burial.   The deceased’s family usually rented a mortcloth from the local church and after each use, the fabric was washed and readied for use again.   The word comes from the Latin word “pallium” meaning cloak. The Mortcloth case of 1792 begins:   “ For many centuries, and probably up to the 20th, the Church of Scotland was the sole supplier of mortcloths.   As the name would suggest, they were cloths used to cover the dead prior to burial, and after use, were washed ready for rehire. The Church hired these for a few pence, or in some cases loaned out these cloths, until the time of the funeral. The revenue raised by this service, typically around £40 pa, was distributed to the poor of the parish at frequent intervals.”   In the late 1780’s a local Society of Colliers decided to purchase and rent out their own mortcloths preventing the local church from making re
Read more

Bagillt, Flintshire, Wales

Image
Bagillt, Flintshire, Wales (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagillt) The parish of Bagillt was gazetted on 23 May 1844, having been created from the townships of Bagillt Fawr, Bagillt Fechan, Coleshill Fawr and Coleshill Fechan, which were formerly in the parish of Holywell. It is located in the Northern part of Wales. (Genuki, http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/FLN/Bagillt/index.html)   The 1841 British Census finds Margaret(2) Roberts, aged four years living with her parents and siblings in Bagillt, Flintshire, Wales. In 1831, J. Poole penned: "Bagillt is a bustling place, and will continue so, as long as her smelting and coal works go on in their present prosperous state. Well conducted boats go from this place to Chester every day; with a favorable wind, these little barks make the 17 or 18 miles in little more than two hours."   (J. Poole, Gleanings of the histories of Holywell, Flint, St. Asaph and Rhuddlan, 1831 as qtd.  in http://www.genuki.org.uk/
Read more