Bits and Pieces of News

Here are a few unrelated bits and pieces of news about the genealogical community. They aren't in any particular order so I strung them all together in one post:

The Salt Lake Tribune ran a story headlined, "Buyout talk for Utah’s Ancestry.com intensifies, reports say." The article states,

The New York Times, citing sources that it did not identify, reported earlier this week that the publicly traded company is in talks with TPG Capital, Providence Equity Partners and Permira on a possible sale.

"The way it’s trading, people think it’s a no-grow," Raghavan Sarathy, an analyst with Dougherty & Co., told the Times. "But there should be interest from private equity because they are generating copious cash."

I just thought you might want to know that you are helping Ancestry.com generate copious cash. 

In a press release, Family History Information Standards Organisation, Inc. (FHISO) announced today 28 July, 2012, that RootsMagic, Inc., has finalized its plans to become a founding member of the organisation. As a founding member, RootsMagic will designate organisational member representatives to participate with other FHISO members from the global genealogical community in the development of standards for the digital representation and sharing of family history and genealogical information.

In a statement on its website, FHISO states, "Family History Information Standards Organisation, Inc. (FHISO) was incorporated earlier this year to act as the community-owned standards organization serving genealogists, world wide. Standards organizations depend on broad support — that includes support across some of the entrenched territorial lines we find in our community."

LineageKeeper in his Family History blog, wrote an extensive article on "FamilySearch Wiki ~ Use Google Site Query." You might want to try the techniques Lee Drew outlines for other huge websites.

In TheAncestorFiles.blogspot.com blog, Amy updates information on the Mormon Migration Site. This site was compiled by Brigham Young University professor Fred E. Woods, with the help of many research assistants and colleagues. Mormon Migration is a very useful resource, similar in its scope to the Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel database. Here is a description of the project:

About the Mormon Migration Website