Family Tree DNA has launched a new Learning Center. Meant to be much more comprehensive and interactive than their previous FAQs, with everything available in one centralized place, the new Learning Center encompasses a blog, the former FAQs, Webinar information including currently scheduled and archived past Webinars available, FTDNA’s Forum, a link to group projects, Users Guides, Group Administrator Guides and tools, a glossary, links to scientific papers and more.
In fact, the site is so comprehensive that there is even a tutorial about how to utilize the Learning Center.
One of the best aspects of the Learning Center is that it’s fully searchable. Just as a test, and because I’m a skeptic, I typed the word “heteroplasmy” into the search field. This term, if you’re not familiar, is a relatively obscure term for mitochondrial DNA. About 2% of the people who take a full sequence test will have a heteroplasmic mutation, which is really a mutation in process where two different nucleotides are discovered at a single location.
Sure enough, there were several results presented in a drop down box and then each one has a “read more” tab and the ability for questions and comments. OK, FTDNA, you passed the pop quiz!
The Learning Center is a one stop shopping center. You can also contact customer support through this page, or do things like look at career openings, if you’d like to live in Houston.
Family Tree DNA has made a renewed effort and commitment to stay in touch with their customer base. I’m particularly encouraged with the “Latest News” tab. And it’s not just because of my interview, although I was quite honored to be the first of several interviews with leaders in the genetic genealogy field published. You can read the interview here.
Customers and project administrators have been asking for a central place to find information about products and announcements at Family Tree DNA, and it looks like the Latest News tab is going to be the new “market square” where everyone gathers to find the latest information.
Rebekah Canada, who is responsible for the Learning Center, has also been making a concerted effort to update several other lists and locations such as the genealogy-dna list at Rootsweb, the Family Tree DNA Forum and the FTDNA Facebook page with pertinent information, but it makes sense for the “go to” place linking everything together to be the Learning Center.
Best of all, you can also subscribe to new posts. To subscribe, click on any of the “Latest News Posts” that you see on the main page.
On the right hand side of each article is a subscribe option. This way, all the news comes directly to you – no signing on to check to see what’s new! It’s delivered. I love this!!!
My only negative comment…..that’s a really ugly lightbulb. Just doesn’t seem to convey the same thing as….
Seems like the perfect opportunity for a bright idea, some creativity and a double helix design to me!
