WikiTree joins the growing list of FHISO Founding Members

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Croton-on-Hudson, NY and Gilbert, AZ — August 15, 2012 — WikiTree.com and Family History Information Standards Organisation, Inc. (FHISO) announced today that WikiTree has finalized its plans to become a founding member of the organization. As part of this process, WikiTree has designated its founder, Chris Whitten, as an organizational member representative. Chris will participate with other FHISO members from the global genealogical community in the development of standards for the digital representation and sharing of family history and genealogical information.

“Although the mission of the WikiTree community is to grow a worldwide family tree, only a fraction of the world’s genealogical information will ever be organized and stored on WikiTree.com. The worldwide tree is something much larger and greater than any one forum or organization. That’s what makes universal standards so important. Information on WikiTree needs to fluidly connect with information elsewhere. When the FHISO team invited WikiTree to join as a founding member, I jumped at the opportunity,” said WikiTree founder, Chris Whitten.

“WikiTree is a dynamic, innovative platform where community members work together to connect our ancestral families. This sense of community spirit is also important to FHISO’s development. Today’s announcement represents the innovators of one community, WikiTree, supporting the development of another, FHISO. Our many thanks to Chris Whitten for helping FHISO connect with another important market sector,” said Robert Burkhead (USA), member of the FHISO organizing team.

WikiTree is a community of member volunteers collaborating to develop a single world tree. By design, WikiTree sets out to balance the interests of privacy and collaboration so that everyone can share the same family tree. This dynamic, innovative approach to family history began in 2008 and has been growing ever since. Members of the WikiTree community agree to an “Honor Code” in their joint work. Chris Whitten, WikiTree founder, has made a pledge to keep the platform free. To learn more about WikiTree, visit the company website, http://www.wikitree.com/ .

FHISO is a standards-developing organization bringing the international family history and genealogical community together in a transparent, democratic forum for the purpose of developing information standards to solve today’s interoperability issues. To learn more about FHISO, visit http://fhiso.org/ .

Please join us in welcoming WikiTree and Chris Whitten to FHISO!

CONTACTS:

WikiTree.com, info@wikitree.com

FHISO General Enquiries, enquiries@fhiso.org; Membership enquiries, membership@fhiso.org; FHISO Media Relations, Anthony C. Proctor (acproctor@fhiso.org)