Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 22:37:39 -0230 (NDT)
From: dapike@math.mun.ca (David Pike)
To: PIKE-DNA-L@rootsweb.com
Subject: [PIKE-DNA] Conference & Article


Hi everybody.

First I want to mention that the other day I made arrangements to attend a conference
on genetic genealogy that is taking place in Washington DC in November.  FamilyTreeDNA
and the National Geographic Society are the hosts for the conference, which is designed
for coordinators of DNA projects.  FamilyTreeDNA put on a similar conference last year,
but I was away in Australia at the time and wasn't able to attend.  Anyway, thanks to
a bunch of frequent-flyer miles that I was able to redeem, I will be going to this
year's conference.  My reason for saying all this is to put out a call for input:  if
any of you have any questions that you would like me to raise at the conference,
then please let me know before I go.

Meanwhile, despite not saying much about it in the past while, I have continued to
try to attract more participants into the Pike DNA project.  It has also dawned on me
that lots of folks are completely unaware about genetic genealogy.  So several weeks ago
I took the time to write "A Gentle Introduction to Genetic Genealogy".  It's a short
article written in an effort to convey to genealogists some of the benefits of DNA testing,
along with some of what it cannot do.  I made a point of avoiding complex terminology
so that it would be understandable by a wide audience.  It can be downloaded as a PDF
file from

http://www.math.mun.ca/~dapike/GIGG/gigg.pdf

Part of my intent in writing this article was to submit it to a few genealogical
societies in the hope that they might publish it in their newsletters and journals,
and that it might then help to get a few more folks involved.  So far, one society
in England has gotten back to me, suggesting that they might be able to include it
in the Feb 2006 issue of their society newsletter.

Anyway, I have received positive feedback from several people who have looked at
the article, so if any of you are in touch with people who don't know much about
about genetic genealogy, then perhaps this might help to give them an idea for
what it's about.

- David.