Next Steps
Immediate Next Steps
A great deal of new work is
required on many
fronts.
Native
Testing. We need to
continue to identify
living descendents of the Mi’kmaq tribe who we can test to
prove/disprove a
connection to Jarl Henry and his crew.
Software
Upgrades. A goal of
mine over the next
2 years is to build a better way into the results section to quickly
click
between our members and how they stack up using current marker groups,
SNP
delineations, S21, CCR5-(delta)32, etc. This software should scale to
future
SNPs and even to as yet un-invented new testing labs. I am not a
software
engineer, but experience tells me that this software should be either
Java-based or PHP-based. We’re currently running a PHP
solution because it has
an elegantly simple “lasso” system (their term, not
mine) and can slice and
dice data in many ways. To run the software side of this, future
generations
simply must learn a little about the best ways to achieve scalable
solutions.
Software engineers will sell you whatever platform they happen to be
comfortable with, not necessarily the best solution.
The goal of the software is
to allow members to
quickly have access to the kind of information they need to understand
where
they fit with other members and lineages based on the SNP results, the
basic
FTDNA results, and much more. Information wants to be free.
Active
Recruitment in the UK, and Other
Countries. We have an appalling lack of participation from other
countries.
This simply must be overcome to better understand our Lineages.
It’s probably
the single most important thing we must do. We do not have even nearly
a
complete picture of our family as a whole without more participation.
While I've been slow to recruit based on input from a consultant, I
feel it's time to begin to push into the UK, France,Italy and other
countries.
Long Term Next Steps
Future generations running
this project must
keep a sharp eye out for further SNP tests.
They must guard against
allowing threats into
the project. You may have noticed this as a recurring theme in this
report. It
deserves an explanation. Several years ago, a Baron Von Fulburg was
allowed
into one of the two chat groups on Yahoo that discuss family history. He seemed particularly
interested in the
Earl’s son and whether they’d taken the DNA test.
Further investigation of this
“gentleman” turned up a disturbing trail of rumors
such as arms sales, internet
fraud, computer hacking, etc. When he took a strong interest in our DNA
project
and the Earl, I locked down the DNA results behind a password.
Other threats are the
zealous reporting of
half-investigated “facts.” We’re
attempting to build a lasting legacy for the
worldwide family. When I hear people using our results to make
breathless
pronouncements, it makes my skin crawl. While we encourage every member
of the
project to learn as much as you can, we demand that large scale
pronouncements
be fully investigated AND reported from all sides.
One thing you’ll
notice in this report is that
we’re attempting to come at any conclusion from all sides.
There’s just too
much yet to learn to leap to conclusions. So we warn any future
administrators
to watch carefully who you allow into the management page at FTDNA.
Some people
have a way of changing their colors.
Most importantly, we must continue to recruit from all over the world. It’s very tempting to leap to conclusions about our family simply from looking at the results which are overwhelmingly from the United States. And it’s very difficult to have the patience to wait for a more complete sampling size. But, wait we must.
Home | Contact