Documents Related to the
Fellowship Database Project

• Proposal for an IT Advisory Committee, August 22, 2008
  • This was subsequently approved by the Executive Committee
• Default Strategic Plan
• IT Overview for EC Conference Call, August 12, 2008
• Some Fundamental Database Admin Issues, June 18, 2008
• IT Report, May 2008
• David Kantor response to Dreier questions, April 28, 2008
• Steve Dreier request for clarification on expenditures, April 21, 2008
• Present Considerations -- Project Issues, March 31, 2008
• EC Conference Call Minutes, March 21, 2008
• Overview for EC prepared March 21, 2008
• Projected Tasks and Costs for Ongoing Database Work, March 2008
• Executive Committee IT Overview, February 2008
  • For one year the EC is to function as an IT oversight committee. This document attempts to provide background information on present status and developmental directions.
• Website Purpose Statement; January 2008
  • Committee-developed statement of Fellowship IT/Web purposes
• An Overview of Database-Related Issues, September 2007
  • Issues and agenda for a database issues conference in Denver attended by Robert, Michelle, David, Paula, Tim Hobbs, Alan Goodman, Larry Watkins, September 2007.
• Information Technology AdHoc Committee Report, July 2007
  • Report by Michelle Klimesh on Steve Dreier April 2007 motion to activate a committee to conduct "a thorough examination of current and anticipated demands on website/IT resources"
• April 2007: Steve Dreier Motion to Establish Committee to Review Demands on IT Resources
• IT Architecture and Priorities, April 2007
  • Comprehensive outline and overview of IT issues and developmental needs.
• March 2007, Excerpt from Email to EC
  • David's response to motion to create an IT standing committee; describes fundamental challenges and suggests approaches to the resolution of outstanding issues.
• March 2007: Steve Dreier email to EC discussing hiring of a database administrator
• March 21, 2007: Agenda for EC Conference Call
  • Need for additional support noted
• October 2006: IT Overview Prepared for EC Meeting
  • The need for additional technical staff is becoming critical; forward progress is being retarded due to lack of action on this matter.
• Interim Report on Fellowship Financial System, January 2006
  • Detailed description of financial processing portion of projected database, POS, and related needs.
• July 2006: Steve Dreier's IT Report
  • Steve reviews status; notes that a POS will substantially reduce Fellowship expenses and provide information needed for fundraising and other activities; he notes it seems likely that the Fellowship will need to employ additional IT professionals if we are to continue in a stable manner.
• June 2006 IT Services Report
  • Warnings about possible breakdowns due to lack of staffing and long-term planning for IT development; a plea for persons functioning in administrative roles better inform themselves.
• May 2006: The Urantia Book Historical Society Archive Goes Online
• Interim Website Report, January 2006
  • Overview of work in progress and description of projected needs.
• September, 2005: Fellowship Database Requirements
  • Detailed overview of projected architecture, needs, and approach to implementing a comprehensive administrative database.
• Interim Report on Financial System Progress, June 2005
  • Outline of administrative and technical factors related to an integrated financial management system for the Fellowship.
• March 2005: Susan Cook's List of IT Issues and Tasks (per Steve's committee)
  • Notes admin issues and immediate need for a database administrator
• February 2005: Barry Clark's Analysis of Issues (per Steve's committee)
  • Notes need for admin archive
• February 2005 Website Review
  • Description of difference between public web services and internal IT support; outline of services and description of both administrative and technical developmental needs and directions.
  • Steve Dreier became chair of an ad-hoc IT Committee, charged with developing suggestions for improvements and continued development of IT services.
• April 2005, Website Overview for Robert
  • Review of IT situation for Robert including a list of tasks needing immediate attention.
• 2005 Website Annual Report
  • Includes notes on issues related to staffing; the growing need for knowledgable professionals and limitations of volunteer and committee-only staffing.
• September 2004, Website Report
  • Plans noted for moving all admin documents into a database archive where they can be indexed and searched.
• Minutes from August 2003 OKC Administrative Procedures Meeting
  • Steve Dreier, John Hales, Robert Burns and David Kantor assigned to be a committee to monitor database development and use.
• August 2003, Oklahoma City Website Review: Some Considerations on Going Virtual
  • Comprehensive IT status overview and detailed projections of long-term needs including the need for professional staffing prepared for Executive Committee administrative issues retreat, August 2003; the need for the Fellowship to hire a database administrator is noted.
• August 2003: Issues Agenda for OKC EC Administrative Procedures Meeting: Website and Admin Database
  • A plea for implementation of initial admin database; detailed outline of needed decisions; projection of developmental issues.
• August 2001, Annual Website Report
  • Initial design objectives of the Polygloss reported; growth of Spanish language website traffic noted.
• June 2000, Annual Report on Website Activities
  • IT services at Wrightwood office upgraded, router and network providing remote access to Chicago office data installed; initial technology put in place enabling administrative work to be managed at geographically dispersed locations.
• February 1999, Database Issues
  • Initial overview of comprehensive Fellowship administrative database project; design objectives and key administrative issues outlined. A prototype database running in Microsoft SQL Server was created but no interest in its use was ever shown by the Executive Committee.
• 1998 Report on Internet Development
  • In conjunction with ongoing website development, Robert Burns and Pierre Chicoine are doing some initial thinking about long term administrative database needs and potentials.
• 1997 Special Projects/Internet Development Report
  • The Special Projects committee is continuing website develolpment; some initial admin services are discussed as is the need for a comprehensive document archive.
• 1997: Fellowship initiates first Spanish language discussion list on the web.
• 1995: Mark Turrin and David Kantor begin developing a readership web presence.
• 1992: Michael Million starts "Urantial" on a server at the University of Arkansas -- first reader email list to appear on the Internet.
• 1991: Urantia Foundation sues Kristen Maaherra for creating and giving away the Folios searchable Urantia Book.
• 1987: Brotherhood of Man Library goes online
  • The vision and hopes of George Sammis
• 1985: Establishment of The Brotherhood of Man Library

  • The Brotherhood of Man Library was established in 1985 by Richard Preiss and Dave Missavage.  It was located in a closet in Western Illinois.  It ran on a Commodore 64 computer but went offline late in the year.  In 1986, George Sammis began typing old documents and storing them in his own Commodore 64 and at the 1987 Midwest Conference he showed a working system.  He then took it to Maine in an attempt to interest folks who were attending the IC87 conference.

    George's document collection went online in Mason City, Iowa, in September of 1987.  In May of 1988 it was moved to Muscantine, Iowa, and taken over by Tim Young.  Everything ran on Tim's Tandy 286 computer (from Radio Shack) for some years and was accessible only via modem using ftp. 

    Ken Glasziou in Australia was also very interested in these developments and left a meeting with George Sammis at Science Symposium I determined to set up something in Australia.  Ken soon had a second site up and ran a mirror image of the system running in Iowa although it was adapted for an early IBM PC clone.  The last known logon to this system was in the autumn of 1995, shortly before what was to become the beginnings of the Fellowship website went online as a part of Mark Turrin's private network in Walnut Creek, California.