I think there are some AMAZING things out there that independent developers are doing for the church.  The HT/VT reporting system is one, ReadTheScriptures.com is another.  Well, there are a couple of problems with independent developers: money and policy. 

I am writing this post as a sounding board (and I hope you will add your comments) for a problem I see in hopes that it will encourage some discussion and hopefully some answers.  If nothing else, it will make us a bit more aware of

Money

Perhaps this is one of the biggest ones.  People that do this out of their own time and money are often left with shouldering the burden of keeping it up to date.  It is often a single person who just wants to do some good.  Sometimes they ask for donations. 

ReadTheScriptures.com is a great example of this.  Wayne and Deann Dixon are just wonderful members of the church who just want to help people do their daily scripture study.  They have committed to keep the service free, but asked for contributions. 

To help offset some of their costs they have put Google AdSense in certain locations on their page.  They probably won’t make a lot of money off of these ads, but it is something none the less.

The Problem:  Some of the Google Ads will advertise anti-mormon literature.  To some extent you can control that in adsense, but to a large extent you can’t.  They could take the ad’s off, but then they have to shoulder the burden again. 

Real Life Example

My Mom recently forwarded a link to ReadTheScriptures to a bunch of people she knew in the church.  She thought it was a good idea, but soon received an e-mail from a brother who thought that the site was being funded by anti-mormon people because of the ad’s on the page.  She did her best to reply to it… but the damage was surely done.

Contribute!

I, for one, would pay for a service like ReadTheScriptures.  But I can imagine their position.  Charging people for the word of God… hmmm… doesn’t sound very good.  But the service is what they provide.

I guess, the bottom line is… send them contributions.  They will never ask for it… but they certainly deserve our support!

Policy

This one is a bit more hairy.  What is appropriate use of personal information?  I think a lot of the hesitancy to do anything with the information we have about members.  The HT/VT fiasco is a good example of that.

This past week I also ran into that in my ward.  After I created a ward map (and secured it), I got two responses from the ward leadership I shared it with.  First, COOL!  How can I do that.  That would be so useful.  And second… don’t pass that on to anyone! 

The information came from the ward website, where it is already available to ward members, but now it can’t be passed onto those same members in a different form?

Don’t get me wrong.  I understand to some extent.  I wouldn’t want to make a map like that public. ((As a sidenote, I put it on one of my own servers and secured it with passwords.))  That could lead to all SORTS of problems from other religions with persecution that is still alive and well, but then there are privacy issues.

Conclusion

I guess I don’t really have the answers, I mostly just want to start the conversation. 

Perhaps a possible solution is to build a developer’s backend into the ward/stake websites.  Something like an API that would allow those who want to develop modules to do so within a controlled environment that stakes/wards could (and would be encouraged to ) implement within their own stakes/wards.  Maybe something like a Joomla CMS instance.  Then allow people to develop modules that could be added on. 

The technology tools (and TALENT) is certainly there to do this type of stuff…