Y - You Are Here
April Challenge: A to Z of AI in Genealogy
‘Remember standing before that giant mall directory, searching for your destination among a maze of stores and corridors? That reassuring red dot marked "You Are Here" was often the difference between confident navigation and aimless wandering. Without it, even the most detailed map remained simply an abstract diagram, disconnected from your immediate reality.’
Approaching the end of this A to Z challenge, I scratched for ideas for the letters Y and Z. Who better to ask for help? Claude Sonnet 3.7. Several suggestions were provided; not just titles but short outlines of what to include. This is the one that resonated with me today:
You Are Here: AI-Powered Personal Positioning in Family History
Outline:
How AI helps individuals locate themselves within their family narrative
Personalized approaches to family history based on individual interests
Creating "you are here" moments that connect personal traits to ancestors
Identifying hereditary patterns across generations
How AI helps create personalized entry points for different family members
Techniques for making distant ancestors personally relevant
Case studies of family members connecting with history through personal positioning
The psychology of personal identity within family narratives
Each of these options offers a unique angle on the role of AI in genealogy while working with the challenging letter "Y". They all provide opportunities to explore both technical aspects and the human dimension of family history research.
My next prompt was to ask Claude to develop a more detailed outline for this topic. Of course, Claude provided an extensive and comprehensive response; here is the first part.
This sparked an idea for where I could start this blog post. The response became the opening paragraph for this post, see above!
Case Study: Family History Detective Memoir
My next prompt for Claude was more like a continuing conversation with a friend.
Claude’s response was encouraging and engaging. An outline emerged:
This was an exciting journey into expanding my ‘memoir’, a chance to add even more emotional connection for readers of my blog posts at WeAre.xyz. I then asked Claude to ‘Please write the case study in my style!’
The response gave me just the right amount of text and context from the details I had provided, to add a creative opening hook for my ‘memoir’. The beginnings of this memoir (a work in progress) are shaping up here on my blog:
Family History Detective Memoir
AI can be your friend, your assistant, and your muse when you are ready to record your memoir!
Now I have several more ideas for continuing my ‘memoir’, thanks to AI.
Note: I have those stored now on my Trello board to explore throughout the winter months here in Victoria, Australia.
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What would your ideal "You Are Here" marker in your family history look like? Which aspects of your personality, interests, or life journey would you most want to trace through your family tree? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Great ideas that AI gave you Carole. I don't use AI much at all, but since reading your posts, I've been experimenting with asking for help with ideas. I've been still writing my own posts, but the AI information, often gets me started. After the AtoZ Challenge is over, I will be back to deep dive into your posts.
My limited experience with ChatGPT is very much of a conversation and I can relate to the conversation you were having as you developed this post.