LegacyStories.org announces the first API for FamilySearch Family Tree

LegacyStories.org is a archive website that describes its mission as:

Our mission is to provide a secure platform to archive personal testimonies that represent the living history of our time and the legacy of our ancestors while connecting families to share these stories regardless of geographical impediments.

They are presently the first such organization to have a direct connection (API) to FamilySearch.org's Family Tree program. Here is a copy of the announcement:

LegacyStories is proud to be the first web application to be FAMILY TREE ACCESS CERTIFIED by FamilySearch. 

This special certification allows our LegacyStories members to search for and bookmark their writings, photos and oral narratives to ancestors found in the FamilySearch.org Family Tree 

In late November, 2012, FamilySearch will launch the revolutionary TREE CONNECTfeature. At that time our members will be able to easily link their bookmarked stories to the Family Tree.

One of the features of FamilySearch Family Tree that has been discussed in their presentations on the subject will be the ability to link to or incorporate media with the individual records. FamilySearch has indicated that this will occur in the future, but it now appears that the future may be sooner than later.

As I see it, FamilySearch can either increase its storage capacity exponentially to accommodate media files, or it can license out the function to third-party developers. It appears that FamilySearch will license this out to developers, even if it decides in the future to host media files.

LegacyStories.org includes the following;

• The Living Legacy Project which includes the "I Ask" or International Association of Storykeepers, an organization of independent heritage professionals dedicated to saving the living history of our time. Members are mentored through an online Certified Legacy Advisor course, then provided career pathways to serve growing demand in the senior living and financial planning arenas.
• LegacyStories.org, the official family-connection archive and sharing platform for the Living Legacy Project. The site provides free and secure cloud-based back-up storage for the things families hold most dear—their legacy stories, photos, audios and family history. The site enables members to discriminately share this content and collaborate in its accumulation with anyone they choose. Each story or media contribution can be linked to one of 2.5 billion records as part of the world’s genealogical tree.
• Legacy Matters a kick-start program designed to help get the ball rolling. We have a program for families/individuals looking for assistance and a program for care facilities interested in implementing the program for their residents.

It will be interesting to see how future concepts begin to interface with Family Tree.