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Enabling the
Distributed Family Tree
Thesis Proposal
November 10, 2006
There’s a lot of Genealogy on the
Web
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Databases (records, images, results)
GEDCOM files
Family Websites
Genealogy Wikis
Cyndi’s List
262,200+ links
WeRelate.org
1.3 million sources
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Nevertheless…
Genealogical data is isolated, causing:
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Duplication of prior work
Unnecessary stalls at dead ends
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Distributed Family Tree (DFT)
Network of genealogical data and metadata:
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Machine-understandable
Open
Standards-based
Extensible
Scalable
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Obstacles
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Inadequate Search Interfaces
Isolated Pedigrees
Chicken-and-Egg Dilemma
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Plan of Attack
Inadequate Search Interfaces
 Natural Language Search Interface
Isolated Pedigrees
 Semi-automatic Lineage Linkage
Chicken-and-Egg Dilemma
 Real-time Data Extraction
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Thesis Statement
Enable the Distributed Family Tree:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Graph-based data model
Communications protocol
Server software
Extensible client software
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Genealogy Core Data
“Sarah /Baker/”
“Mark /Baker/”
name
name
#sarah
married
#marriage
place
married
#mark
“Boston”
date
“December 22, 1868”
gaveBirth
fathered
#birthOfSamuel
born
place
date
“Chicago”
sex
“Male”
“April 17, 1873”
name
“Samuel /Baker/”
#samuel
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Genealogy Provenance Metadata
#william
name
“William /Roberts/”
source
“Male”
sex
“City of Detroit”
#fromBirthCertificate
#gedcom
imported
source
“Public Records”
#birthCertificate
author
publication
image
“http://www.example.com/genealogy/cert.png”
#fromGedcom
“October 5, 2006”
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Genealogy Trust Metadata
“Lawyer”
occupation
“John /Morris/”
name
#birthOfJohn
born
place
date
#john
born
“Houston”
“Houston”
“April 13, 1923”
“June 5, 1903”
#trueBirthOfJohn
place
date
#falseData
#trueData
trust
trust
0.1
0.9
comment
“I’m sure that this information is correct because I have
in my possession John’s original birth certificate.”
#trustDecisions
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Communications Protocol
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Query
Synchronize
Pingback
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Server Software
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Code-named Valhalla
Simple data store
Partitioned user accounts
Restricted access to living records
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Client Software
Code-named Genesis
Three primary functions:
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Data Entry
Search
Inference
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Data Entry in Genesis
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Minimal record manager functionality
Web page data extraction
(using extraction ontologies from the Data Extraction Group)
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Search in Genesis
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Natural Language Queries
(using ontology-based query processing from the Data Extraction Group)
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Anticipatory Search
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Inference in Genesis
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Manual non-destructive merges
Semi-automatic lineage linkage
(using record linkage from the Data Mining Lab)
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Validation
Test installation of Valhalla on five servers:
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Distribute genealogy, provenance, and trust
information
Establish links
Seamlessly browse
Demonstrate functioning plug-ins
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Imagine the possibilities…
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Instant gratification
Single search
Accidental collaboration
Deliberate collaboration
Accessible anywhere, anytime
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Questions?
Progress updates and pre-release software available at
http://blog.nucleartoiletpaper.com/dft
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