Each year, the Computer Science Department hosts the Family History Technology Conference, a venue designed to bring computer scientists and genealogists together to discuss emergent technology aimed at aiding the family history.  This year’s conference brought together experts in each field from around the world—participants arrived in Provo from as far away as Sweden and the United Kingdom.  The keynote address was given by Josh Coates, CEO and founder of Mozy, an online backup company.  Josh introduced the concept of a “digital footprint,” discussed the history of data storage, and spoke of its future, encouraging everyone to take the necessary measures to protect their data.  Following Mr. Coates’ address, the conference was divided into three sessions, each with a topic pertinent to family history and technology, interspersed with demos and panel presentations.  Topics ranged from interactive fan-charts to data extraction and record linkage. 

One of the most compelling presentations was given by Mitchell Harris, a sophomore in computer science at BYU.  Mitchell and his advisor, Dr. Dan Olsen, introduced an innovative and efficient way to conduct family history research in their paper, “Contextual Note-Taking for Family History.”

As Mitchell asserts, despite the many hours we spend conducting family history research, our efforts are only as good as the data we collect.  Traditional family history research involves scrolling through countless rolls of microfilm in family history libraries, taking copious notes with paper and pen on data which seems relevant, and then returning home to sort it all out and attempt to fit it in with data from past searches. 

Unfortunately, this traditional paper and pen method holds a number of limitations.  Not only are attempts to distill the data from microfilm tedious and time-intensive, but the result, handwritten notes are hard to organize; they are unsearchable, unscalable, and difficult to edit.  Furthermore, taking notes by hand is an error-prone process and results in a loss of context—obviously we lose any information that we decide not to copy, but we also lose more intangible data—the style of the record maker’s penmanship, other interpretations from difficult handwriting, and the look of the record itself. 

Mitchell, however, has hit upon a straightforward solution using a camera and a computer.  The researcher uses a simple clamp to attach an inexpensive digital camera to the microfilm reader in conjunction with an application developed my Mitchell which will aid in organization and annotation of the gathered data.   

With Mitchell’s ingenious solution, note taking is as easy as clicking a button.  The camera takes a picture and it is downloaded immediately to the computer, appearing on screen.  Transcription errors are thus eliminated, and the researcher can then analyze the information to decide what is useful, annotate the images with Mitchell’s application, and organize the information.  When viewing the gathered data, users see both the original document and their notes side-by-side on the screen.  Another feature of the program allows researchers to isolate the most pertinent information with a red-bounding box.  Thus, the most important data is emphasized, but the surrounding information is still accessible as necessary. 

Extending the application is simple.  Searchability is easily added to the program, the information can be quickly exported to GEDCOM, and it can be integrated with other family history applications. 

Mitchell’s ingenious approach to information extraction turns family historians into true researchers, rather than scribes, making the process of family history research faster, more efficient, and more accessible for a wide variety of people. 

For more information about the Family History Technology Conference, sponsored by the Computer Science Department and held each year at BYU, please visit FHT.byu.edu.