Genealogy in the Future – Year 2050

 
Over the past couple of weeks I have been sitting around day-dreaming, musing over what the future of genealogy will look like to our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

No, I don’t have a crystal ball. But, based on what I have seen in my lifetime I do think that some of the items listed below will be witnessed by our descendants.

Computers: Computers will be purchased without data drive and without keyboard. All data will be collected and accessed verbally through software like Dragon Naturally Speaking by Nuance but much more advanced and more capable than today’s software.

Data storage: All data will be stored and backed up in the clouds.

Smart Phone: the new advanced Smart phone will become the Swiss Army Knife of hand held devices providing instant access to the internet. Its expansion as a do-all device will make it a favorite with genealogist from taking photos, e-mail, texting, to  on-board scanning capabilities.   

 

National Genealogy Society (NGS) and Local Genealogical Societies: No one will leave home to attend a local meeting or genealogy conference. The meetings and conferences will be brought to you in your home over a system similar to Webinars and Virtual Genealogy Conferences. Both video and audio elements will be streamed into your home. The NGS and local societies will collect fees from those wishing access and provide you the user a password that will allow access at a predetermined time. Fees will be collected electronically to pay for the cost of the guest speakers, facilities and equipment maintenance.

In this new “genealogical data electronically transmitted” environment, those who plan to participate in the conference will not have to worry about making hotels, airlines and rental car reservations. The syllabus or course outline will be automatically sent electronically before the conference or meeting begins.
Monthly societal genealogical meeting will also be transmitted this way to society members.

Virtual Genealogy Conference will be utilized more and more to get information out to the masses.


Media - Books, Films, Tapes: -There will be no film to order from the LDS Library for use at the local Family History Center. All film will be replaced by a digital Audio-Video file downloaded directly to your computer or accessed in the Cloud. By 2050, public library will disappear and be replaced with Media Distribution Centers where all type of media will be stored and you will be granted access to the media while it remains stored in the Cloud. Cloud computing will continue to grow exponentially.

Vendors: There will be more consolidation within the vendor ranks and many new vendors will come and go with some becoming a mainstay within the Genealogical Community. Google and  Microsoft along with FamilySearch will be prominent players in this market.

The Genealogical Proof Standard: The foundation for all professional genealogical research will also become the foundation for the family historian whose only interests is to document their family lineage. “Junk Genealogy” will disappear from the internet to be replace with evidence based genealogical research and data. 

While I am sitting here writing this article Dick Eastman just posted an article entitled “Meet Your Ancestors in Your Living Room Holodeck?” I know it seem far-fetched for some of you reading this article but it’s not. Can’t you just imagine sitting in your living room and being able to project a holographic images of your “Ancestor” in 3 dimensional.

The advances I have witnessed just since graduating from high School in 1960 are phenomenal. In the year 2050, just a short 38 years from now, the electronic and electro-mechanical devices of our era will seem archaic.

Unfortunately, I will not be here to witness these advances but my children and my grandchildren will certainly be here and maybe even participate or invent some of these new devices.  I will probably reprint this article in the future as I sit here in my retirement years and mused about the changes we have experienced and may experience in our lifetime.