Our Next Meeting:July 13, 2024 |
Presentation: Dallan Quass
Using AI to transcribe, summarize, and extract information from handwritten genealogical documents |
The regular monthly meetings of the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group are held on the second Saturday of each month, except December, from 10 AM to noon. The meetings are free and open to the public. They are held at the Red Brick LDS Chapel, 4050 North 650 East (Timpview Drive), Provo, Utah, usually in the Cultural Hall. If you would like to receive email notification of classes planned for the next meeting, go to our blog page for instructions on how to subscribe. The Group is experimenting with live streaming of the main presentations through Facebook. To watch it online live click on UVTAGG Facebook website link in the box above and view the meeting remotely.
Dallan Quass
Title: Using AI to transcribe, summarize, and extract information from handwritten genealogical documents
Description:
I will explain how to use multi-modal large language models (LLMs) to transcribe handwritten genealogical documents and also how to use them to summarize the documents including names, dates, and places in the summaries. I will compare the cost and performance of several LLMs so you can decide which one is best for you.
Bio:
I have a PhD in computer science from Stanford University and BS and MS degrees in computer science from BYU along with extensive software development experience, especially extracting information from the Web and creating leading-edge search engines. I have served as the CTO of FamilySearch and have co-founded several software startups: RootsFinder, acquired by Findmypast, WhizBang! Labs, acquired by Inxight Software, FlipDog, acquired by Monster.com, and Junglee, acquired by Amazon.com. My interest in family history prompted me to develop two other family history websites: gengophers.com and werelate.org, both of which have been listed among the top 101 family history websites according to Family Tree Magazine. Finally, I’ve written over a dozen academic publications which have been cited over 6,000 times according to academic.research.microsoft.com.
The following class is scheduled after the main presentation (Start Time 11:10).
Class Presenter: Carol Hill, Rayanne Melick, Gerhard Ruf and others
Title: Open Discussion on Family History and Technology
Description:
This will present an opportunity for any participant in the live broadcast to share their positive experiences, frustrations or ask questions or provide answers for other’s questions related to anything dealing with family history and using technology in that endeavor.
Please note: Additional classes will be taught at the meeting location when meeting attendance justifies it.
The meetings are always open to the public and generally open with announcements that include what is happening in technology that effects family history work. A featured guest speaker will then make a one hour presentation on a topic of general interest relating to some aspect of technology and genealogy. Following the main presentation 3 or 4 classes are taught relating to technology and genealogy. These are at all levels from beginning to advanced and typically include classes about various genealogy programs and instruction for using the Internet for Family History work. The classes vary from month to month. There is a list of teachers and their specialties on the Teachers page. A few of the teachers have provided class outlines or summaries for some of their classes. For information about the meetings or about the Group, email us at uvtagginfo@gmail.com or call or text Gerhard Ruf at 801-602-5048.