HelPeR - BYU Idaho Special Collections and Family History

Net Family History 010 01 0
101
01010100
Online Genealogy for Beginners
and Pros on Dynastree
By Ch r i s t i a n Ric h t s c h e i d
Genealogy has been our passion for a long time. Recently
however, genealogy has become a popular leisure
activity even for those who have not yet been fascinated
by tracing family roots. One reason for this is the fact
that the search for ancestors has become a lot easier and
more fun than before through the Internet.
Those people who had been deterred by the required
efforts can now easily type in their last name in search
engines on the Internet and find out a lot about their
ancestry. Adding their knowledge to the family tree or
the genealogical database is now easier than ever.
The completely cost-free website Dynastree (www.
dynastree.com, formerly known as ht t p://itsourtree.
com) lets people create their family tree online, invite
relatives and add genealogical information. The easyto-use
interface conceals a powerful genealogical tool
that can be used by both professional and hobby genealogists.
For those who already have collected and
stored genealogical data, the website offers the family
tree import in GEDCOM format. GEDCOM (GEnealogical
Data COMmunication) is the standard format
for genealogical data (file ending .ged).
To start a family tree, the user begins by adding his
relatives, entering all the known information in the
persons’ profiles. The relatives’ email addresses can be
entered directly into the persons’ profiles and everyone
is invited automatically. When the relative logs onto the
family tree, he can add additional family information,
invite further relatives, and so on and so forth. Thus,
the family network grows virally and the genealogical
knowledge of possibly hundreds of more or less distant
relatives is collected playfully and easily.
The viral growth factor is the key advantage of
online genealogy tools. No other type of genealogical
research offers the same amount of knowledge
combined with the speed and data quality. Sharing
genealogical data with relatives, friends, and other
genealogists means fast-paced first-hand expansion
of the genealogical research results. There are several
websites on the Internet that offer genealogical
services with varying qualities and prizes. While
other genealogy sites can cost up to $30 per month,
the Dynastree services are offered completely for free
and the features offered so far will always be a professional
genealogical tool that is free of any costs.
In a family network featuring active members from
all parts of the world, one can start a photo album,
upload your scanned photos and mark relatives and
ancestors in the pictures. Of course, the entire family
network remains private so that only your relatives
can see your family tree, the information it contains,
and the photo albums. So if someone from the Polish
part of the family has some old pictures of his greatgrandfather,
he can just upload the photo and mark his
great-grandfather in the image. The more documents
the family uploads, the more common ancestors might
be found, of course. To illustrate the development of
the family, Dynastree automatically shows entered
birthplaces in an interactive map of the world.
Ja n ua ry/Fe b r u a r y 2009 Ev e r t o n’s Ge n e a l o g i c a l He l p e r © 115