Genealogy from the perspective of a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon, LDS)

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Beta Release of The Family History Guide: A valuable free resource


While I was a graduate student at the University of Utah, I worked on a structured, patterned, instructional program for teaching poetry to students. This was pre-personal computer days, so the who program was structured to work from branching, step-by-step instructions. Since that intensive experience in developing a way to to teach a difficult subject such as poetry, I have appreciated the power of a structured and branching learning program. In viewing The Family History Guide, I see one of the few attempts to apply structured learning techniques to teaching family history.

I understand that this program is still in the Beta stage and may change before the final version is released, but it already looks like a very professional approach to teaching family history. It is basically a front-end, organized way to view existing online resources. The linked resources include FamilySearch.org and its Partner Websites, Ancestry.com, Findmypast.com and MyHeritage.com.

This website is not an ad hoc attempt to remake the wheel. It is a finely tuned and valuable tool that leads both beginners and more advanced users to resources they otherwise would not have considered using. The links are valuable and well organized. This is definitely a website to watch. Let's hope that it lives up to its potential. The website has a Facebook page, The Family History Guide and a blog, The Family History Guide. Please take some time to explore this valuable resource.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks, James - that sums up our new site well. Here are a few points in addition that may be helpful:

    * The release date is July 25, 2015. I would say that about 98% of the site is locked down now and won't change before the release.
    * The Family History Guide will grow and evolve as genealogy on the web does so. We plan on staying highly relevant so our site visitors get access to new tools and resources as they become available.

    Best wishes and success for your all you do -

    Bob Taylor
    CEO, The Family History Guide, LLC

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for those additional clarifications. I really appreciate your effort in making a structured website for FamilySearch. I hope FamilySearch appreciates the effort and end product.

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  2. This site is completely amazing. What wonderful new app. It will no doubt catch the attention of anyone wanting to go forward in an organized manner. Training, and learning and becoming more efficient in this marvelous work just got a big hand up.

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