The OpenGen Alliance held a meeting to discuss improving the file format standard for genealogy data exchange. They prioritized implementing the conclusion portion of the GEDCOM format first to provide the most value quickly while allowing other improvements like evidence, additional data fields, and revision history to follow. The Alliance will release drafts of an improved file format over time, with the goal of having a more complete standard by mid-2012, along with updated translation software. The next meeting was scheduled for January 11, 2011.

1. OpenGen.org Alliance Meeting • December 28, 2010

2. Housekeeping – OpenGen Webinar
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• Webinar Housekeeping
• This webinar is being recorded
• Recording will be available at OpenGen.org tomorrow afternoon
• BaseCamp Writeboard as Reference for this Webinar
• “December 28 Working Session”
• A list of webinar attendees will be included in the slides published at
the close of the call
• The webinar slides will be posted at SlideShare following the webinar,
and commenting will be enabled
• Comments and questions are welcome during the call
• Please use the G2W tools to pose questions, raise hands, or chat with members
during the webinar.
• Questions: Ask written questions to the presenters using this dialogue
• Raise your hand: Request permission to speak directly to the group via your
voice connection
• Chat: Offer comments/questions to the entire audience or a specific member

3. Agenda
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• OpenGen Update
• File Format
• Defficiencies with current standards
• Prioritize solution
• Roadmap
• Open Discussion
• Next Meeting

4. Update
3
• Slides from last webinar on SlideShare
• Membership Update
• Currently 37 members signed up
• Gliffy Data Model now Public

5. File Format
4
• Current Standard (GEDCOM) Deficiencies
• Ambiguity
• Incompleteness
• Inelegance
• Need to Solve Ambiguity and Incompleteness
• Lossless data exchange
• Complete data preservation
• Need to Solve Inelegance
• Developer & software vendor happiness
• Data preservation

6. File Format (cont)
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• Prioritize Solution
• Developers & software vendors matter
• Increased adoption
• More participation in OpenGen
• Conclusion portion of GEDCOM implemented first
• Many applications only support this
• Provides the most value in the shortest time
• Easy to add the below
• Evidence/sources
• More data including social media
• Revision history
• Research data and opinions implemented last

7. Roadmap
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Task Date
First Draft of File Format Early 2011
Open Source Translator (GEDCOM + 1) Mid 2011
Second Draft of File Format (evidence) Late 2011
Revised Open Source Translators (3) Early 2012
Third Draft of File Format (more complete) Mid 2012
Revised Open Source Translators Mid 2012

8. Open Discussion
7
Be Candid – No Limitations
• Comparison of existing Data Models
• First Draft
• What’s feasible and what to include

9. Next Meeting
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The next scheduled meeting for OpenGen is:
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
1:00 p.m. PST / 4:00 p.m. EST / 9:00 p.m. UTC
GoToWebinar details will be available at
OpenGen.org

10. Participant Summary – OpenGen Webinar
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Participants for the webinar included:
• Andrew Hatchett Retired
• Doug Blank Gramps
• GeneJ Composer Family Historian / BetterGEDCOM
• Jimmy Zimmerman FamilySearch
• Louis Kessler Behold Genealogy
• Rysa Pitner AppleTree.com / OpenGen.org
• Scott Mueller AppleTree.com / OpenGen.org
• Tamura Jones Independent Consultant / Computer Scientist