Libby Evans, here on the UNC campus, has started sending out little tips to a instructional listserv I am a part of.  The first one was great so I thought I would pass it on here!

During a PowerPoint presentation, you can press the letter B at anypoint and the screen will go blank.

This is really effective if you want your class or other audience tofocus on you or on a discussion. As long as there’s something showingon the screen, people’s attention will be drawn to it.

I once used this during a conference presentation for a seminar-styleaudience. The effect was visually amazing. Every pair of eyes in theroom moved from looking at the screen to looking at me. I wasactually demonstrating the use of “B” during a discussion of effectivePowerPoint use, and everyone in the room recognized what had happened.Very powerful. Try it when you want attention focused away from thescreen and onto something else.

Oh, yes… how do you bring the screen back to your presentation? Justpress B again. 

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.¹  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…

1. As a sidenote, I put it on one of my own servers and secured it with passwords.[↩]

I was doing some research today and came across a press release from April 1988 where Elder Packer and Elder Nelson introduced the first DOS based “Computerized Scriptures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” Awesome!

I especially love this quote given by Elder Nelson (originally from Joseph Fielding Smith):

“I maintain that had there been no restoration of the gospel, and no organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there would have been no radio; there would have been no airplane, and there would not have been the wonderful discoveries in medicine, chemistry, electricity, and the many other things wherein the world has been benefited by such discoveries. Under such conditions these blessings would have been withheld, for they belong to the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times of which the restoration of the gospel and the organization of the Church constitute the central point, from which radiates the Spirit of the Lord throughout the world. The inspiration of the Lord has gone out and takes hold of the minds of men, though they know it not, and they are directed by the Lord. In this manner he brings them into his service that his purposes and his righteousness, in due time, may be supreme on the earth. …

“I do not believe for one moment that these discoveries have come by chance, or that they have come because of superior intelligence possessed by men today over those who lived in ages that are past. They have come and are coming because the time is ripe, because the Lord has willed it, and because he has poured out his Spirit on all flesh.” (In Conference Report, Oct. 1926, p. 117.)

I knew that the church was always into computers… at least as long as I have been using them, but this is just classic. Two things to point out. These scriptures cost between $63-$75, plus an additional $40 for “documentation booklets and copy authorization.” That is a lot of money now a days, let alone back in the day. Wow… and then to use them it appears you had to load it (about a 30 minute process) and use DOS prompts… wow… how far we have come.