17 April 2024
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Learn how to use WATO and WATO+ from DNAPainter with Michelle Leonard
Join us for a two-part immersive masterclass, presented by DNA Detective Michelle Leonard of Genes & Genealogy and hosted by Family Tree. Michelle will demonstrate how to use WATO. (the DNA Painter tool, What Are The Odds?) that helps you assess your DNA research, analyse your hypotheses, and work to solve your family history mysteries
About the WATO Masterclass
The DNA Masterclass, 'How to use WATO?' (the DNA Painter tool, What Are The Odds?) will take place live on Zoom on the following dates:
- Part One: Thursday 9th May 2024, 7-9pm
- Part Two: Thursday 23rd 2024, 7-9pm
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The masterclass, brought to you by Family Tree, will be tutored by Michelle Leonard, with a live presentation, followed by time for questions hosted by Donna Rutherford.
The masterclass will be recorded for you to view in your own time, and will be available to view until 24th June 2024.
Any queries, please contact [email protected]
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A quick Q&A about WATO with Michelle Leonard…
Who needs WATO for their DNA family history research?
WATO is a tool that helps you work out how a specific DNA tester fits into a particular family group and I think at some point EVERYONE will need or want to use WATO!
We will all have brick walls, some of us will have unknown ancestors (close and distant) and we will all come across groups of mystery matches at times that we just can't place and wonder how they fit into our family or how we fit into theirs.
These are the kinds of scenarios in which we should consider turning to WATO. Ask WATO your question and learn how to interpret WATO's answers!
What do you need to know in order to start using WATO?
Firstly, you need to have a scenario that works for WATO so you need to work out if WATO is suitable for your situation.
If you just want to ask how do these two people relate to each other then the shared cM project tool at DNA Painter or Ancestry's probability charts will suffice but when you have multiple people, that's when WATO is the place to go.
You need to know the amount of DNA in cMs that the matches in the mystery group share with you/your tester to input this detail to WATO.
How can WATO help with DNA family history research?
WATO can help you decide on the way forward - it can provide you with the most likely avenues to chase and that's hugely valuable as you don't want to spend your time and energy on the wrong lines or your money on the wrong target testers.
It can help you see if you're on the right track and suggest new pathways that you may have overlooked. It can help you see where you have testing gaps. It's a clue tool.
It's the most essential of the third party tools available in my opinion and the first tool to turn to with mystery situations.
Don't let WATO rule you though! You know more than WATO about the scenario as a whole so always remember that there could be facts you know that WATO doesn't and that you can't tell WATO - WATO is purely going to give you the numbers/maths/probabilities.
That also means that confirmation bias can't sneak into WATO as it will give you a dispassionate answer.
What will you be covering on your DNA Masterclass: How to use WATO?
We'll be going from the very beginning right out to more complex and advanced techniques by the end!
You'll get four hours of detailed step-by-step teaching on the subject.
- What is WATO?
- Why should you use it?
- What kinds of scenarios can it cover?
- What can't it do?
- What are the limitations?
- How do you use it?
There will be step-by-step guidance on setting yourself up on WATO and practical case studies showing exactly how to go about it from start to finish. We will cover original WATO and WATO+ and go over the differences between them.
By the end, we will also delve into more complex and advanced techniques like twinning and the Borg technique.
What will students on the Masterclass gain confidence in?
I hope they will gain confidence in identifying when to use WATO and, most importantly, how to use and interpret WATO and how to stay in control of WATO.
About the Masterclass tutor, Michelle Leonard
Michelle Leonard is a professional genealogist, specialising in the use of DNA for family history. Her clients include people seeking to trace missing parents and grandparents and family historians wishing to solve the mysteries within their family trees.
Michelle was instrumental in the Fromelles project, and the use of DNA to identify the remains of First World War soldiers. Co-author of the leading Pen & Sword book on the topic of DNA for family historians, recent years have seen Michelle publish the DNA Workbook with Family Tree, and Michelle also tutors the ever popular DNA Bootcamp (8 week online DNA skills course for family historians), hosted by Family Tree.
Follow Michelle via the links below.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/genesandgenealogy
Twitter: www.twitter.com/genealogylass
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleleonardgenealogist
APG: https://www.apgen.org/profiles/michelle-leonard
Ancestry Hour: http://www.ancestryhour.co.uk/michelle-leonard.html