Fellowship Admin

 

 

The State of Fellowship
Information Technology Development
January, 2008
David Kantor

 

A great deal of developmental work is being done in the IT domain.  A great deal has been accomplished since the last report to the General Council on these matters.  The present report is provided in semi-outline form for sake of brevity.  It will list only significant elements of ongoing work.  If you have specific questions about any of it I would be glad to try and answer them.

 

  • Significant changes and additions:
    1. Integration of the online text with the topical index, audio versions, and printer-friendly versions of each paper.  Visit the online text to see how this works. 
      ( http://urantiabook.org/newbook )
    2. Deployment of the Polygloss.  ( http://urantiabook.org/polygloss )
    3. Conversion of all pages to template formats with a single style sheet that controls the formatting of all web pages on the entire site.  75% complete.
    4. Completion of the conversion of movement video tapes to digital formats for further editing and eventual website publication.
    5. Implementation of a more comprehensive and controlled backup procedure covering all Fellowship data and web resources.
    6. Continuing work on our web store where we sell Uversa Press editions of The Urantia Book, CDs, DVDs, and Urantia Foundation translations ( http://webstore.urantiabook.org ) and integration of the web store and bookkeeping software with Urantia Foundation order fulfillment.
    7. Provision of an online registration form for IC08.
    8. Expansion of site search engine capabilities to include the ability to search, index, and sort documents consisting of all international language character sets including Korean and Arabic.
    9. Passing of significant historical archive resources into the custody of the Urantia Book Historical Society and the Urantian archive which this group has created at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
    10. Expansion of Fellowship e-list services to include archiving of all correspondence.
    11.  Completion and adoption of an overarching purpose statement through the work of the ad-hoc website committee to guide web resource development. (A copy is provided at the end of this report.)
  • There is a significant move toward more multimedia and interactive materials on the website.
  • A dedicated audio server should be installed on our network by the end of the second quarter of 2008.  This will provide better service for the growing demand for our audio services.
  • Sometime during 2008 we will begin offering more video materials. 
  • We are gradually moving toward having the majority of our resources stored in a database that will feed more interactive and automated website software. 
  • An IT booth is being planned for IC08 at which we will be soliciting volunteers with technical backgrounds who would be willing to take on specific tasks.  Some of the tasks which would benefit by being managed by a dedicated volunteer include:
    1. Statistical evaluation of website visitor logs.
    2. Store management -- includes working the Internet for sales positioning.
    3. Development and execution of comprehensive search engine strategy.
    4. Content optimization -- metatag and title content for each page; identification of key documents and their promotion.
    5. Administration of ongoing translation publication strategy--overseeing technical coordination between programmers and translators.
    6. It takes time to develop secondary works and reference materials -- we don't want to do this for transient translations.
    7. Development of media committee -- shift to audio and video materials on website.
    8. Development of admin website and internal services -- this will become more important as we get new database services online.
    9. Review and classification of existing website documents into public, member, and admin only categories.
    10. Development of digital vault with version control software so that master documents can easily be identified and updated in a managed way.
    11. Management of online organizational event calendar.

 

  • Other projects in process:
    1. Preparation of a Folios-like CD for distribution at IC08 which contains a searchable copy of the Uversa Press text fully integrated with the topical index.
    2. Integration of the Paramony with the online text of The Urantia Book.
    3. Organizational database integration; we have hired a professional database designer and are making significant progress on this long outstanding project.  An online demo will be provided for Executive Committee review Friday afternoon of our meeting weekend.
    4. Internet webcasting of selected IC08 sessions.  Also being planned are webcasts of Executive Committee meetings for password access by members of the General Council.
    5. Formatting of selected materials for access by mobile devices, cell phones, etc. such as contact information, event information, and searches of the text of The Urantia Book. 
    6. Increasing orientation of website content around the text of The Urantia Book which is being restructured to form the core of website content, with all other content being arranged relative to the core text. 
    7. Creation and implementation of a translation publication policy (to be discussed separately in the upcoming meeting).

 

 

A statistical report on website usage will be provided separately.

 

I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to Larry Watkins, Victoria Clark, Troy Bishop, Barry Clark, Michelle Klimesh, Robert Burns, Alan Goodman, and Paula Thompson,  without whose thoughtful collaboration and support very little of this would be happening. 

 

Submitted with appreciation for the privilege of so serving,

 

David Kantor

 

 

 

PURPOSE, INTENT & GOALS FOR

THE URANTIA BOOK FELLOWSHIP WEBSITE

January 2008

 

 "As faith-enlightened and spirit-liberated sons of the kingdom of heaven, you face a double responsibility of duty to man and duty to God while you voluntarily assume a third and sacred obligation: service to the brotherhood of God-knowing believers."

 

     Three primary areas of focus for the development of web resources:

1.      Dissemination of the revelation

2.      Socialization of the God-Knowing believers

3.      Administration of all dissemination and socialization efforts.

Dissemination:

 

·         Education – Educational materials for readers at beginning, intermediate and advanced levels.  Also educational materials targeted to young children, youth, adolescents, young adults, parents, etc.  These things should be easy to print.  

·         Public Relations – material for potential new readers, journalists, the press, and people checking out what the teachings are about.  

·         Marketing and Branding – Taking advantage of current events by preparing relevant articles and information that people are searching for on the web and can be directed to our site.  Example: Articles and references in The Urantia Book to Mary Magdalene as many searches were going on during The Da Vinci Code book and movie press hype.  People are always searching and we have the opportunity to bring people to our site though science, philosophy, religion, especially if currently topical.  A rich and robust cache of articles, a plethora of articles that are searchable on the web can bring many people in contact with our website, our organization and The Urantia Book. 

·         Retail - purchase options for The Urantia Book and secondary items.  

·         Outreach – Downloadable and printable brochures and introductory documents to assist others in their efforts of dissemination.

.
Socialization:

 

·         Communication – Email lists, electronic newsletters, downloadable publications like the Herald and The Mighty Messenger, posting news of interest to Urantia communities, administrative announcements for Fellowship members.

·         Calendar of Events - Urantia related with dates, time, location, contact info (There is a very nice one on the Urantia Archive site.)  

·         Pictures, Articles and Information - of readers and people in the movement past and present. 

·         Contact Info – for Societies, committees, Fellowship staff and officers, study group & related study group help.  

·         Conference info - Fellowship Conference announcements

 

Administrative:

 

·         Database - For the Fellowship and for Societies and related groups.  

·         Book keeping/Accounting - for Fellowship and for Societies and related groups.

·         Files - with forms, procedures, policies, contracts and agreements, etc, password protected at various levels.  For Fellowship officers, EC, GC, employees and contracted.  Also for Societies and related groups.  

·         Organizational structure - what the TDA, EC and GC are and who they currently are.  Easy access to society information and contacts. Password level protected.  

·         POS - On-line Point of Sale connected to the accounting package. 

·         On-line reports - various accounting reports, membership reports, etc.  A variety of reports that improves the management of projects, activities, committees and events of the organization.

 

The Goals for our Website

 

Dissemination:

GOAL:  Be the premier site for dissemination of The Urantia Book.

 

·         Make the book less mysterious and more relevant

·         Make the book readily available and relatively easy to purchase.

·         Offer the book available in every language whenever possible.

·         Offer relevant beginner, intermediate and advanced studies of the book.

·         Offer good children’s and family courses for the book.

·         Maintain a pace of technology development sufficient to assure our ability to provide state-of-the-art web resources and services including multi-media, interactivity, and administrative support for dissemination programs.

·         Identify opportunities for stimulating traffic we may not have already considered.

 

Note: Concerning dissemination, there are three basic groups of visitors to our site.

1.       Those who read the book and are looking for contacts and/or information.

2.       Those who happen upon our site and know nothing about the book or about us.

3.       Those who have heard something about the book and are curious about it and/or us.

Catering our menu of information to these basic groups is a good way to measure the relevance of what we add to or take away from the site.
 

Socialization:

GOAL:   We want to make it simple for readers and interested people to find and connect with each other.

 

·        Create the most comprehensive list of contact people available anywhere.

·        Make the most comprehensive Study Group Directory available anywhere.

·        Add International groups and willing reader contacts whenever possible.

·        Provide a comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date calendar of events.

·        Create and provide links to online resources like online study groups.

·        Maximize connection to other online communities like My Space.  

           

Administration

GOAL: We want to have highly efficient administrative systems that will allow us to do more meaningful work.

 

·         Automate database and administrative functions wherever possible.

·         Provide basic user account options with memory capability.

·         Automate response to when response is called for, wherever possible.

·         Provide a good FAQ to alleviate having to answer the same questions all the time.

·         Automate conference registration.

·         Automate online purchase options and integrate them with Quickbooks.