RootsTech 2011

About[edit | edit source]

The first annual RootsTech conference was held February 10-12, 2011 in Salt Lake City. The conference is designed to bring together both genealogists and technologists to shape the future of Family History. RootsTech is sponsored by FamilySearch and several genealogy & technology partners. The official conference page is at http://rootstech.familysearch.org/.

KeyNote Speakers[edit | edit source]

RootsTech 2011 featured 4 keynote speakers. Their presentations were broadcast via live streaming.

Shane Robison - Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Technology Officer,
Hewlett–Packard Company
Brewster Kahle - Founder of the Internet Archive
Curt B. Witcher - Historical Genealogy Department Manager at the Allen County Public Library
Jay Verkler - CEO, FamilySearch International

To learn more about each of the keynote speakers, visit the Keynote Speakers page on the Rootstech website.

Lunch Events[edit | edit source]

Thursday, February 10th[edit | edit source]

LE001 Mobile Applications: the Hows, Whys and Future presented by Kendall Hulet and sponsored by Ancestry.com
LE006 Family History in the Age of the Cloud presented by Chris van der Kuyl and sponsored by BrightSolid

Friday, February 11th[edit | edit source]

LE003 FamilySearch Developers Network presented by Gordon Clarke and sponsored by the FamilySearch Developer Network and SharingTime.com.
LE004 Family History Technology: Where have we been and where are we going? presented by Professor William Barrett and sponsored by the BYU Computer Science Department.
LE002 Leveraging Tradition and Technology: Building a National Website with Four People presented by Ryan J. Woods and sponsored by the New England Historic Genealogy Society

Saturday, February 12th[edit | edit source]

LE005 High Touch and High Tech: Being a Successful 21st Century Genealogical Society presented by Curt Witcher and sponsored by the Federation of Genealogical Societies

Luxegen Genealogy and Family History Blog - Rootstech Takeaways: High Tech High Touch

Conference Courses[edit | edit source]

Classes at Rootstech 2011 were organized into two tracks: Tech Users (TU) and Tech Creators (TC). In addition, there were multiple luncheon events and unconference sessions. Courses are listed at http://rootstech.familysearch.org/sessions.php.

More detailed information is available for each of the following courses.

Thursday, February 10th[edit | edit source]

TC112:360 Degree Virtual Panorama Photos/Photo Imaging for Producing Authentic On-Site Family History Root Experiences with Multimedia - class taught by John Kuzmich, Jr & Ivan Majc.

Friday, February 11th[edit | edit source]

TU037: Easy Digital Newsletters - class taught by Pat Richley-Ericson (aka DearMyrtle). Read Joan Miller's blog post about her experience as a participant.