Brigham Young University

2009 Workshop Schedule

7:30-8:00 AM Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:00-8:10 Invocation and Opening Remarks – Randy Wilson, FHTW 2009 General Chair
8:10-9:00 Invited Keynote Speaker: Dr. Bertrand Desjardins, Senior Researcher, Université de Montréal
9:00-10:20

Session One – Handwritten Records: Reading & Recognition
Session Chair – Scott N. Woodfield, BYU Computer Science

  • Interactive Smoothing of Handwritten Text Images Using a Bilateral Filter, Oliver A. Nina, Bryan S. Morse
  • Word-Spotting for Automatic Tag Suggestion in the BYU Historic Journals Project, Douglas J. Kennard
  • Deciphering Old German Documents Using the Online German Script Tutorial, Bradley Jay York
  • Using a Hidden-Markov Model in Semi-Automatic Indexing of Historical Handwritten Records, Thomas Packer, Oliver A. Nina, Ilya Raykhel
10:20-10:35

Demo Fast-Forward Session
Session Chair – John Finlay, Neumont University
10:35-11:10 Break & Demos
11:10-12:30 PM

Session Two – Data Extraction & Organization
Session Chair – Anne Roach, FamilySearch

  • The New Immigrant Ancestors Project Software: A Web-Based Approach to Data Extraction and Retrieval, Mark Witmer
  • Domain-Independent Data Extraction: Person Names, Carl Christensen, Deryle Lonsdale
  • Name, Date, and Place Recognition in Unstructured Text, David G. Wiggins III, Scott N. Woodfield
  • Implementing a Surname-Study Website with Drupal, Degory Valentine, Denise Mortorff, Christophe Giraud-Carrier
12:30-1:40 Lunch & Speaker:  Dr. Charles Knutson, Brigham Young University, What Was I Thinking About? The Dilemma of the Part-Time Genealogist
1:40-3:00

Session Three – Record Digitization & Application Interfaces
Session Chair – Bob Leaman, ASU

  • Low-Cost, On-Demand Film Digitization and the Online Delivery, Matt Garner
  • Digitizing Records, Richard Ivie, Evan Ivie
  • Lineage Linked Cousins and Social Networking with the FamilySearch API, Peter Ivie
  • Mobility and Accessibility: The Rosetta Stone Approach to Genealogical Web Design, Anne Roach
3:00-3:30 Break & Demos
3:30-4:45

Panel Discussion Session – Conversion and Publication of Genealogical Content: Best Practices, Challenges and Unmet Needs
Moderator – Jake Gehring, FamilySearch

    Panelists:
  • Roger Bell, Footnote
  • Geri Mineau, Huntsman Cancer Institute
  • Chris Cowan, ProQuest
  • Laryn Brown, The Generations Network
4:45-5:00 Announcement of Best Presentation & Best Demo Awards/Wrap-up

Keynote Speaker

Bertrand Desjardins — Senior Researcher, Université de Montréal

Bertrand Desjardins holds a Ph.D. in Demography from the University Lumière-Lyon and is the autor of numerous scientific publications centered on the study of the Candian and Quebec populations. He has been associated all his professional life with the Programme de recherche en démographie historique (Research Program in Historical Demography, PRDH), a major project at the Université de Montréal aiming at setting up a database of the entire French-Cnadian population of Quebec from its beginnings in 1608; this database generates in-depth information allowing studies in the fields of Demography, History, Anthropology, Population Genetics, etc. It is thus for the needs of University research that Bertrand discovered and mastered genealogy. In collaboration with the computer specialists of the project, he defined the methods leading to the construction of the database and its dissemination to both researchers and the general public. In particular, he masterminded the highly considered internet site of the PRDH (www.genealogy.umontreal.ca) which makes its genealogical information available online. Borin in 1948, Bertrand, a "fervent" French-Canadian, has lived in Montreal all his life. He has four children and, as of today, two grandchildren.

Abstract

A population register of the historical French- Canadian population of Quebec.
Principles and methods

In 1966, the Programme de recherche en démographie historique (Research Programme in Historical Demography) at the Université de Montréal undertook the exhaustive "reconstruction" of the catholic population of Quebec from the beginnings of French colonization in the seventeenth century. This objective has been realized in the form of a computerized population register, composed of biographical files on all individuals of European ancestry who lived in the St. Lawrence Valley. The file for each individual gives the date and place of birth, marriage(s), and death, as well as family and conjugal ties with other individuals. This basic information is complemented by various socio-demographic characteristics drawn from documents: socio-professional status and occupation, ability to sign his or her name, place of residence, and, for immigrants, place of origin. Created to provide data for demographic research, the PRDH register has been used for a wide variety of research projects involving scholars from many disciplines – history, medicine, linguistics, anthropology, biology, genetics, and genealogy – as can be seen in the hundreds of titles in the PRDH’s bibliography. As the data base includes the Quebec ancestors of all French- Canadians, it has generated a great interest among genealogists across North America with French-Canadian ancestry. It is available to researchers on the internet in a form presenting both the data extracted from the original documents and the genealogical files that were constructed.

The project relies basically on exhaustive gathering of data from the parish registers of old Quebec. By the systematic attribution of baptism, marriage, and burial certificates to the respective individuals – a "family reconstitution" made on the basis of names and family ties – people are identified and their biographies established. Our talk will present the data base and the different principles and avenues that were followed to link the data from the parish registers into individual and family files.

Bertrand Desjardins
November 2008