BELL FUND PICK: Discover your roots with Who Do You Think You Are?

Who Do You Think You Are? is a 13 part documentary series on the CBC exploring the genealogy of 13 famous Canadians including Don Cherry, Shaun Majunder, Mary Walsh and Chantal Kreviazuk. Each half hour episode retraces the family roots of a celebrity. The web companion to this Barna-Alper Productions television series was designed by Lifecapture Interactive Inc. to encourage Canadians to explore their own personal genealogy: first by reviewing the ancestry of the 13 famous Canadians showcased in the series, then by providing the tools to allow them to delve into their own family's past. The site not only leverages content pulled from the series, but provides a wealth of research material supplied by the Canadian Genealogy Centre, Library and Archives Canada and Ancestry.ca and a suite of easy-to-use tools that allows people to build their own genealogical record. In addition to the series' support material, the website's content is divided into three sections. The first, Famous Families, deals solely with the family history of our celebrities. It provides a detailed synopsis of each episode peppered with URLs to reference websites as well as the opportunity to explore documents and photographs featured on the show. This section also includes Digging Back, a seven part webisode series starring the television series' master genealogist Janice Nickerson and one of the researchers Rebecca Snow discussing how they uncovered some of the more thrilling or obscure tidbits of information. This section inspires users to explore their own family history. The second section, Genealogy 101, provides a step-by-step guide to start a family tree along with expert advice on conducting genealogical research. As users gather their own personal historical data, they can store it in the third section of the website MyFamilyTree. Although similar in nature to other genealogical tree software available online, it pushes the boundaries of technology in terms of visual representation and functionality. Furthermore, it offers the opportunity to complete the tree with other friends and family members. Both the series and the website were financed by the CBC and Library and Archives with a generous contribution from the Bell New Media Fund. So far, their investment seems sound. Over half a million CBC viewers watched the season premiere on October 11, 2007, which represents an incredibly high number for a documentary series. The website on that same day had more than 20,000 unique visitors! The television series and the website demonstrate to Canadians the value of personal genealogy as a gateway to understanding themselves as well as the history and development of Canada. Watch Who Do You Think You Are? on CBC Thursdays at 7:30 pm and visit the website at http://www.cbc.ca/whodoyouthinkyouare.

BELL FUND PICK: Discover your roots with Who Do You Think You Are?

Broadcast | December 13, 2007

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