The following press release was written by MyHerigae:

One of the most important benefits of taking a DNA test is the matches that you receive. DNA Matches reveal many relatives you never knew about before, based on shared DNA inherited from common ancestors. However, the relationships to your DNA Matches can be confusing. This results in many users not understanding how they are related to most of their DNA Matches, which holds them back from using the matches to advance their family history research and make new discoveries.

Today we’re excited to announce the release of cM Explainer™, an innovative, free new feature on MyHeritage that estimates familial relationships between DNA Matches with high accuracy. This helps overcome the challenge of understanding relationships to DNA Matches. For every DNA Match, cM Explainer™ predicts the possible relationships between the two people and the respective probabilities of each relationship, estimates who their most recent common ancestor(s) could be, and displays a diagram showing their relationship path.

DNA Matches are characterized by the amount of DNA shared between two individuals, measured using a unit of genetic distance called centimorgans (cM). cM Explainer™ is unique in the way it uses both the centimorgan value as well as the ages of the two individuals (if known) to fine-tune its predictions, making MyHeritage the only major genealogy company to offer relationship prediction at this level of granularity and accuracy.

cM Explainer™ is fully integrated into the MyHeritage platform to shed light on any DNA Match found on MyHeritage, and is also available as a free standalone tool to benefit individuals who have tested with other DNA services.

How cM Explainer™ works

cM Explainer™ was developed by MyHeritage in collaboration with Larry Jones, developer of the cM Solver technology. We exclusively licensed this technology from Jones, and our Science team enhanced it further over a period of five months to create an industry-leading solution for genetic genealogy that is exclusive to MyHeritage. Among the enhancements are an age algorithm developed by MyHeritage’s Science team that greatly enhances the prediction by adjusting the probability of each possible relationship, and a slick user interface that displays possible relationships and their probabilities. cM Explainer™ includes useful features such as the ability to filter the predictions by full and half relationships, and to display the probable most recent common ancestor(s) (MRCA) of a match.

The ages of the two people who match each other are instrumental in predicting their relationship. They help rule out impossible relationships and adjust probabilities when multiple relationships are possible. For example, half siblings typically share the same amount of DNA as a grandparent and grandchild. But if the two people are of a similar age, they are probably half siblings. If they are 60 years apart, they are more likely to be a grandparent and grandchild. Other relationships may be possible for the same amount of shared DNA, such as an uncle and nephew, and knowing the ages can help determine which one is more likely. In many cases, the ages don’t make a selection clear-cut, but they affect the probability of each possible relationship, providing useful predictions you can apply to your research.

To maximize the accuracy of the relationship predictions, MyHeritage’s Science team developed an age algorithm by first examining age difference distributions among parents and children, and siblings (calculated separately for full and half siblings), based on extensive research using empirical aggregated data from family trees.

We further derived age difference distributions for all other relationships by combining those for parents, siblings, and children along a standard genealogical path. For example, the distribution of the age difference between an uncle and his nephew (see bottom graph below) is estimated by considering all potential ages of the nephew’s parent, and then adding the age difference between the nephew and his parent (see middle graph) and the age difference between the parent and the uncle (see top graph). On the graphs below, you can see that the average age difference for Parent, Uncle/Aunt, and Parent’s Cousin are similar, but the distribution is more widespread for Uncle/Aunt, and even more so for Parent’s Cousin because of the additional age differences between siblings. More generally, using the age difference allows us to rule out some relationships and assign more accurate probabilities to the remaining possible relationships. Since shared DNA and age difference complement one another, this method provides better results than those provided by shared DNA alone, and is useful even when only one individual’s age is known.

You can read more at: https://tinyurl.com/49dvjkjf.

The following press release was written by the folks at MyHeritage. You can also view a video about the same topic at: https://www.youtube.com/embed/N1Rx4sO5qpE:

Adding color coding to your family tree can make it easier to navigate. At MyHeritage, we previously implemented color coding in Fan view of the family tree, as well as in the Family Tree Timeline. Today, we’re happy to announce the addition of color coding for family trees across the two main views of the tree: Family view and Pedigree view. This addition is both visually appealing and makes it incredibly easy to understand your family tree at a glance.

We’ve also made several new product enhancements to help you better understand the relationships in a family tree. These include the addition of an icon indicating a blood relationship in the left profile panel, and the ability to view the relationship and the relationship diagram in family trees where you aren’t a member. We’ve also added color coding when viewing the family tree of a Smart Match or DNA Match, so you can better understand how you might be related to the site manager or DNA Match.

How color coding works

Color coding displays each branch of the family tree in a different color by painting all direct ancestors in a given branch in a particular color. Direct ancestors on your paternal grandfather’s side are colored blue, your paternal grandmother’s side is green, your maternal grandfather’s side is red, and your maternal grandmother’s side is yellow. Your descendants, if you have any, appear in purple. As part of this product update, we’ve switched the order of the colors in Fan view and the Family Tree Timeline to follow the same pattern of blue-green-red-yellow, making the use of color coding consistent across the website and aligned with the industry convention.

Once color coding is enabled for Family view or Pedigree view, it’s applied across all family trees and family sites in your MyHeritage account. Color coding is automatic — there’s no manual work involved to color code the branches of a family tree (but the colors cannot be customized). Color coding is available on the MyHeritage website when you visit it using a desktop browser or a mobile web browser. It will be added to the family tree on the MyHeritage mobile app later on.

You can read much, much more in the MyHeritage Blog at: https://blog.myheritage.com/2023/03/introducing-color-coding-for-family-trees/

Are you afraid that you won't know anyone at RootsTech?  The organizers have a tool for you!

There is a "Relatives at RootsTech" feature that lets you see how you're related to the other 650,000+ RootsTech attendees. Just use RootsMagic to update FamilySearch Family Tree to see how you connect to interested genealogists worldwide.

Amongst the announcements:

• Magic Eraser for iPhones and Androids
• Emoji Kitchen now supports more emojis
• Superzoom in Chrome
• Google Keep widget and shortcuts
• Annotate PDFs in Google Drive (I consider that to be a "biggie")
• Google Meet sounds better than ever
• Chromebooks now support Fast Pair
• Google Pay’s new payment animations

Details may be found at: https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2023/02/all-the-new-android-features-google-announced-today/.

The annual RootsTech conference is opening this morning in Salt Lake City. (Well, technically it opens a couple of hours from now. It is 6:00 AM local time as I write this.) However, as with any major conference, activities really started the day before with “sessions before the opening.” I see lots of people I know in the local restaurants and elsewhere so it is obviously a good-sized crowd gathering for this conference.

I am going to make one important point this early in the morning: if you cannot be here in person, you can still attend (FREE of charge) virtually. Simply open your computer, smartphone, or tablet computer and watch many activities from your living room or any other location of your choice.

Multiple activities are being broadcast worldwide on the Internet and the conference organizers are expecting thousands of people around the world to attend “virtually.” Some of them probably will lose sleep because of timezone differences.

In countries where English is not the dominant language, many viewers will listen to the events spoken in local languages being spoken by native speakers located near them in their local countries or nearby.

Yes, this is a major production involving thousands of people (both producing the conference as well as attendees) from around the world.

To attend the conference virtually with your computer, open a web browser and go to: https://www.familysearch.org/rootstech/.

To attend from your smartphone, tablet computer, or other mobile device, go to the Apple App Store or to the Google App Store as appropriate, and search for RootsTech. Once you find it, click on INSTALL or DOWNLOAD to download a special app created for this conference and within a minute or two, you can be watching the events live from Salt Lake City. The apps and the web site also provide all sorts of information about schedule times, speakers, and much, much more

.NOTE: Many, of the events are also being recorded on videotape and will be available “on demand” on your computer, smartphone, or tablet at a later date and time after being edited a bit. The dates of the rebroadcasts have not yet been announced but will be announced as the videos become available.

OK, I am going to shut down and go participate in today’s activities live.

See you at RootsTech (either in person or virtually!)

The following press release was written by  Vivid-Pix:

Public interest in genealogy is at an all-time high. At the same time, many genealogy organizations are challenged to expand public outreach. With millions of DNA testers and even more people interested in family history, there is an imbalance between the public’s interest in genealogy and its understanding. The Family Matters program is designed to help the genealogy community and society.

“Family Matters provides organizations with the tools needed to connect with the public, combining the Vivid-Pix Memory Station™ scanning, image improvement and story-capturing software; education on photo organization, family history, storytelling and photo reminiscence; and turnkey marketing to attract new audiences to the wonderful work that these organizations do,” said Rick Voight, CEO of Vivid-Pix.

“We are particularly excited that the toolkit includes a focus on memory care,” said Matt Menashes, Executive Director of the National Genealogical Society. “Many of us, Rick and myself included, have cared for loved ones, aging parents and grandparents with cognitive decline. Family history and photo-reminiscence help capture the stories of loved ones and improve cognition. With programming for caregivers and family members, the genealogy community can have a big impact on society and an even bigger impact on an individual’s quality of life.”

Genealogy organizations now have access to a turnkey solution for public programming. The program assists organizations to reach new audiences, including caregivers, that can help more people do their family history. In doing so, organizations gain opportunities to increase membership and develop new volunteers and leaders.

Video about the program is available at: https://www.vivid-pix.com/familymatters/

About Vivid-Pix
Vivid-Pix helps individuals, families, friends and organizations with their most treasured memories by inventing and harnessing technologies. Vivid-Pix Solutions (https://www.vivid-pix.com/solutions/) assists family historians, as well as paid and unpaid caregivers, to assist with cognitive decline and dementia through Photo Reminiscence Therapy. Vivid-Pix patented software has been sold in over 120 countries, improving old, faded photos and documents.

About NGS
Founded in 1903, the National Genealogical Society (NGS) inspires, connects, and leads the family history community by fostering collaboration and best practices in advocacy, education, preservation, and research. We enable people, cultures, and organizations to discover the past and create a lasting legacy. The Falls Church, Virginia, based nonprofit is the premier national society for everyone, from the beginner to the most advanced family historian.

Black History Month is coming to a close, but there are more resources than ever to learn about African American legacies in Atlantic City.

The Atlantic City Free Public Library marked Black History Month by touting its newly digitized repository “The City of Dreams: The Atlantic City Experience.” The repository, the digitization of which was facilitated by a federal grant, features about 14,000 items from 25 collections that tell the story of the Black community in Atlantic City and the impacts it has made in South Jersey and across the country.

Atlantic City Library Director Robert Rynkiewicz said he and his colleagues chose to prioritize digitizing its Black history collection. He cited the depth of the collection itself, calling it “robust”, and cited its widespread popularity.

“We all felt there was a lot of interest in that history, in that community,” Rynkiewicz said. “The Black community built this city in a lot of ways.”

Atlantic City Library Archivist Jacqueline Silver-Morillo was the director for the City of Dreams digitization project. She said she frequently receives requests from people to view the collection and was excited to expand access to the storied photographs and readings.

“Instead them having to come into the library to view the collection, they can now view it from their homes,” Silver-Morillo said.

The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded the Atlantic City Library a grant for more than $122,000 in 2021 in support of the digitization project.

The NEH grant funded the purchase of the needed equipment for the project, including a scanner that could digitize books, maps, photographs and scrapbooks, as well as three-dimensional items, in the collection. It also helped the library hire assistance, including Digital Archives Assistant Kate Rowland, of Stockton University, and Special Collections Librarian Heather Perez from the university’s Richard E. Bjork Library. Rynkiewicz said the importance of the project became clear at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when public-health shutdowns demonstrated how critical it was for modern libraries to have their collections available virtually.

You can read more in an article by Christopher Doyle at: https://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/black-history-month-at-atlantic-city-library-strengthened-by-digitized-collection/article_07c4cb8c-b68b-11ed-95b6-df52bdb93a92.html

Starting tomorrow, I will leave home and fly to Salt Lake City. I plan to attend RootsTech, the big genealogy conference. 

RootsTech has been noted in the past as being the largest genealogy gathering in the world. I suspect the same will be true this year, despite the fact that the world is recuperating from the covid pandemic. While the attendance may not be as large as past years, I suspect it will still be the largest genealogy conference of 2023.

I'll be traveling with a MacBook laptop computer and I'll also be carrying an audio recorder, and a camera. I hope to capture some of the show's highlights digitally and will provide them in this newsletter's web site in the following days.

I expect to spend most all day Wednesday in the air and will be rather busy at the conference on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Sunday will again be spent in the air as I fly home. 

Since I will be busy, I expect to post fewer articles to the newsletter during the next few days. Most of the articles I do post will probably be about the RootsTech conference. 

If you are planning to be at the RootsTech conference, I'll see you there! If you see me walking through the hallways, flag me down and say “Hello!” (I’ll be wearing “the hat.”) If you are not at the conference, you can read about it at http://www.eogn.com.

Economics professor Joseph Price said he believes it is possible to love a billion people. He grows that love one day, one handwritten to-do list and one census record at a time.

Price and his team of more than 50 students work at the BYU Record Linking Lab to grow FamilySearch’s genealogical tree through record attachment, the development of auto-indexing technology and other projects.

Price’s passion for family history began several years ago as a hobby. “I was at BYU Education Week, gave it a try and just fell completely in love,” he said.

Before long, he was spending 10 to 15 hours per week working on family history, he said. It was not until a conversation with a colleague at an economics conference that he said he realized the potential of technology to accelerate family history work.

“This little light went on in my head. I just wondered what would happen if we brought the two approaches together,” he said.

Price said he created the Record Linking Lab in response to this perceived gap at the intersection of economic research, machine learning and genealogy. 

The RLL partners with FamilySearch, a genealogical database operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to grow the site’s family tree.

One of the lab’s earliest projects was focused on linking records of families with children in the 1910 census, which Price said is “getting really close to complete coverage.”

Since then, the lab has expanded its reach to other censuses and other continents. One of Price’s recent and fast-growing efforts has been with BYU-Pathway students in Papua New Guinea and nine African countries. 

You can read more in an article by Emma Everett published in the BYU web site at: https://universe.byu.edu/2023/02/27/byu-professor-connects-the-human-family-with-research-lab/.