Come Join Me at UVPAFUG Meeting and Training Classes!

UTAH VALLEY PAF USERS GROUP MEETING

The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the Utah Valley PAF (Personal Ancestral File) Users Group will be on Saturday, 13 Nov 2010, from 9 am to noon in the LDS "Red Chapel", 4050 North Timpview Drive (650 East), Provo. Information about the Users Group, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on the Group's website http://uvpafug.org and the press releases are at http://blog.uvpafug.org/ .

The main presentation for this meeting will be by Travis Mecham on INTRODUCTION TO WAYPOINTING. Waypointing is a process used to group document images together according to locality, record type, and year range in preparation for online publication. The Waypointing process creates a browse structure allowing users to focus their search on a single place and time. Waypointing is, in essence, a digital microfilm reader, allowing patrons of FamilySearch access to many images that they would otherwise have to access at a Family History Library on microfilm. This presentation will explain why this process was developed, as well as demonstrate how the Waypointing tool functions.

Travis Mecham was born and raised in Cache Valley, Utah and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in History from Utah State University in 2006. He received his Master's Degree in History in 2009, also from Utah State University. Currently an employee for FamilySearch in Salt Lake City, he now coordinates volunteer efforts for the Digital Browse Team, which oversees the use of the Waypointing tool.

Following the main presentation there will be several classes about family history and technology with something for everyone at any level of expertise. The teachers and classes presently scheduled for this meeting are as follows: 

1. Using Google Effectively, by Sue Maxwell
2. Publish Instead of GEDCOM, by Merlin Kitchen
3. Q&A: Waypointing, by Travis Mecham
4. Video of last month's main presentation Preserving Your Family History Records Digitally, by Gary Wright
5. Personalized Help, by Finn Hansen & Claudia Benson
6. Ancestral Quest, by Gaylon Findlay
7. Legacy, by Dean Bennett
8. RootsMagic, by Diana Olsen & Renee Zamora

All meetings of the Users Group are open to the public whether members of the Group or not. The Users Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually 100-125 attending the monthly meetings on the second Saturdays.