In this episode, co-hosts Elizabeth and Tami talk about their experiences at 2025 RootsTech Conference, from the Expo Hall to the Forums, what’s new at FamilySearch, and what other industry leaders are up to. 

The show begins with a follow-up to Tami’s Ancestry Pet DNA testing and Elizabeth’s FOIA BIRLS request.

Next up are highlights from RootsTech, followed by a visit with Gena Philibert-Ortega, who shares her enthusiasm about GRIP and her passion for reading.

What's Happening includes news about upcoming events, changes, and scholarship deadlines.

During Tea Time, Elizabeth provides an update on NY Vital Records, and Tami discusses genealogy in the virtual world of Second Life.

TIMESTAMPS

2:23 Tami shares results of her pound pup’s DNA test, which included a close shared match.

7:00 Elizabeth talks about receiving one of her FOIA BIRLS files.

RootsTech Wrap Up

14:06 RootsTech online

14:47 Relatives at RootsTech

17:58 FamilySearch's Global Tech Forum

19:21 FamilySearch Family Group Trees

20:23 FamilySearch Tree Integrity

23:26 FamilySearch New Change Log

24:00 Full Text Search Updates

25:01 FamilySearch AI Help ChatBot

26:44 Industry Highlight Forum

28:50 MyHeritage: New Cousin Finder, phone app update

29:57 Storied: Memory books; creating a new census index

31:50 SOAR

32:18 Remento

34:38 Ancestry’s phone scanner and AI tools

35:38 MyHeritage Ancient Origins

39:29 Gena Philibert-Ortega's RootsTech Experience

40:54  Her role at NGS

41:55 GRIP

46:05 Gena’s courses at SLIG

47:47 How Gena fits it into her schedule & reading goals

52:20 What Gena’s currently reading

WHAT'S HAPPENING

56:30 The National Genealogical Society 2025 Family History Conference “Tales & Trails” May 2025.

59:20 BCG adoption of two-part portfolio for CG application process

1:00:50  APG scholarships for the Professional Management Conference

1:02:27  NYG&B seeking volunteers and interns for their digitization team

1:03:21  Scholarship and awards deadlines on Conference Keeper

TEA TIME

1:04:00 New York vital records availability update.

1:06:18  Second Life chapter APG reorganization

RESOURCES

Ancestry Pet DNA - https://petdna.ancestry.com

BIRLS - https://www.birls.org/

RootsTech  https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/

Elizabeth's Blog about Relatives at RootsTech  - https://www.thefamilyheart.com/relatives-at-rootstech/

Imagetotext.io - https://www.imagetotext.io/

FamilySearch Labs - https://www.familysearch.org/en/labs/

FamilySearch Group Trees - https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/family-group-trees-learning-center

FamilySearch New Change Log - https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/using-the-improved-person-changelog-experiment

FamilySearch AI Help ChatBot - https://www.familysearch.org/en/labs/

Content Authenticity Initiative - https://contentauthenticity.org

MyHeritage Cousin Finder - https://blog.myheritage.com/2025/03/introducing-cousin-finder-gain-dna-level-insights-without-a-dna-test/

Storied - https://storied.com

SOAR - https://try.soar.com/team

Remento - https://www.remento.co

Ancestry Scanner - https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/Scanning-Images-with-the-Ancestry-App?language=en_US

Vivid Pix - https://www.vivid-pix.com

GRIP - https://grip.ngsgenealogy.org

SLIG - https://slig.ugagenealogy.org

GoodReads - https://www.goodreads.com

The Quest for Annie Moore of Ellis Island - https://www.amazon.com/Quest-Annie-Moore-Ellis-Island/dp/0996599312

NGS 2025 Family History Conference - https://conference.ngsgenealogy.org

BCG Springboard - https://bcgcertification.org/springboard

APG Scholarships - https://www.apgen.org/apg_awards_and_scholarships.php

NYG&B Internships -   https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/content/internships

NYG&B Volunteers - https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/volunteer 

ConferenceKeeper Awards/Grants/Scholarships - https://conferencekeeper.org/grants-scholarships

SL-APG https://slapg.wordpress.com

SLVGS https://slvirtualgenealogy.org