So when you do your family tree and Margaret Cho does hers and... Wanda Sykes and John Legend... we're adding to the database that scholars can then draw from to generalize about the complexity of the American experience. And that's the contribution that family trees make to broader scholarship.
Digital imaging has untied our hands with regards to technical limitations. We no longer have to be arbiters of technology we get to participate in the interpretation of technology into creative content.