AI could help the FamilySearch.org new user experience

 

Over the years, I have probably helped a few thousand new users of the FamilySearch.org website. I have never viewed the website to be even slightly "user friendly." The recent addition of a new startup screen for those logging in the first time is a major first step towards rectifying this situation. 

However, the screen does not show again if your login in still in your computer's cache. You can compare this to the still in existence startup page that has been around for quite some time. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has recently been in the news. However, AI has been actively used by computer programmers for many years. The earliest successful AI program was written in 1951 by Christopher Strachey, later director of the Programming Research Group at the University of Oxford. See https://www.britannica.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/Alan-Turing-and-the-beginning-of-AI

Here is one of perhaps hundreds of quotes that could easily be found online about using AI to improve the user experience. 

AI has the potential to greatly improve website personalization, providing users with a more personalized and engaging online experience. By collecting and analyzing data about user behavior and preferences, AI algorithms can make personalized recommendations and tailor the website experience in real-time. See The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Website Personalization.

The FamilySearch.org website has a huge database of information. For example, the Research Wiki has over 100,000 helpful articles about how and where to find information for new and experienced users. When I talk with someone who is just starting out using the website, I almost always guide them to the Research Wiki. Almost uniformly, the new users are amazed, overjoyed, and mostly surprised that instructions about how to do genealogical research are free and readily available. When time permits and when someone shows interest in actually doing research, I also send them to The Family History Guide.  

The challenges of the Research Wiki and the rest of the FamilySearch.org website is that they are "static." The user must supply all the initiative to finding the resources in the website. My wife and I are tasked with teaching all the new missionary volunteers at the BYU Library Family History Center. We start with how to login to the website. Immersing the website in AI would allow new and experienced users to actually use the website without fighting with it. For example, I have to log onto the website sometimes dozens of times each day. Every time, I have to go through the process of logging on the same way - every time. What if when I opened the program, it recognized me (like by Subaru does)? What if the website then asked me if I wanted to return to the last page of the website I was using or wanted to do something else? What if there was also a way to opt out of the entire process and go directly to the Family Tree? What if the FamilySearch.org website tailored the website experience to my use of the website in real time?

Another issue with the FamilySearch.org website is the lack of internationalization. Some modest attempts a have been made so far, but the website is essentially my same English speaking experience even when I am looking at in Spanish and usually it is even sometime harder to use when I elect to view the website in Spanish, for example. AI is quickly becoming a way to translate text faster and more accurately. Why is the Research Wiki in Spanish a weak experience compared to the English version? 

Let's suppose that the website not only asked me what I wanted to do, but had a way for me to start a conversation about my research goals. This expertise to help new and experienced users exists with the pool of genealogists such as those at the BYU Library Family History Center who have years of experience. Why not transfer this pool of experience to a website. Guess what, that is already available and done. That is essentially what is the basis for The Family History Guide website. By the way, The Family History Guide website is now linked directly from FamilySearch.org. The Family History Guide is in essence the basis for an AI entry experience with the FamilySearch.org website. 

I will probably have a lot more to say about this subject in the near future. Stay tuned.