This past year has seen continued expansion of the Fellowship website in areas of both content and services. Some twenty five readers contribute to the accomplishment of this work on a more or less regular basis. Current website usage averages 350 to 400 distinct individuals accessing a little over 1,000 documents or 25 Megabytes of data every 24 hours.
The address of the Fellowship's website is: http://www.ubfellowship.org
To keep this report brief, I will simply list the major areas of development followed by a note regarding undertakings immediately on the horizon.
Document Processing: This task continues apace. There is a small network of people in place who scan, proof and correct old documents which are being digitized. There is a steady stream of these documents continuing to be published on the website which consist of both historical materials as well as study aids. At present some 200 historical photos have been digitized (many of them with PhotoShop enhancements of focus, contrast and the elimination of dust spots, etc.) along with nearly 1,000 documents. Not all of these are published in the publicly available archive. Much of this work is being done by Richard Johnson, his wife Peggy, and their son. Matthew Block and John Hales have lent important support by tracking down documents in the files at the Wrightwood office.
Inquiry Response: Personal requests for information coming into the website get personal responses. If the inquirer requests being added to the mailing list, the message gets forwarded to John Hales for action. There is presently not a high volume of requests which require personal responses -- four or five each week -- but this does represent an on-going task largely managed by Larry Watkins and Lawrence Brown and Dolores Nice. Paula Thompson plays a significant role in this task.
Prayer Requests: A prayer list was established several months ago. Presently there are requests for prayer or spiritual support coming in at a rate of four or five per week. Marty Greenhut, Beth Bartley, Ann Garner and Paula Thompson are presently responding to these requests. People who send notes into the prayer request list are prayed for by list members and personal responses are sent out. I didn't think this was such a great idea when it was initially suggested and I implemented it reluctantly. But seeing some of the requests for help we've received has completely changed my view.
Internet Presence Promotion: Joy Brandt has taken on the task of promoting our presence on the web. She regularly sends new URLs to all the major web search engines and takes care of other matters related to strengthening our presence. This is an essential contribution to the overall effort.
Web-based Reader Services: Private E-mail services for special interest groups and collaborative working groups are well established and people are getting used to using them. Good examples are the IC99 planning committee list, the EC list, and the Family Life Committee list.
Community Calendar: The foundations for a web-based community calendar, editable by anyone with access to the Council webspace, have been put in place. Hopefully this will evolve into a useful tool which allows everyone to keep track of when conferences are happening and when other significant events are taking place within the readership community.
Database of Site Visitors: We have begun to collect E-mail addresses from visitors in order to expand our list of contacts. Regular electronic mailings will go out to this group at least monthly, announcing readership events and informing subscribers about new materials published on the website.
Backup Mirror Site: A second server has been brought into service on the East Coast which is gradually begin brought into a state which mirrors the West Coast server. This will provide an essential backup system as well as providing faster access times for visitors from these two geographical regions. I am currently looking for someone outside of California willing to offer reciprocal DNS services.
The Pilgrim's Bookshop: This new section of the website (currently being developed) features a sales page for The Urantia Book and will soon include the Good Cheer catalog and products from the Fellowship's Guide to Secondary Works. A gateway is provided to the Amazon.com website. Any books or CDS purchased by anyone who enters the Amazon site via the Fellowship's gateway result in a sales commission being earned by the Fellowship. So if you want to order anything from Amazon.com, please enter their website through the gateway at http://www.ubfellowship.org/bookshop/
Liaisons with readers outside the U.S.: The ongoing publication of German papers, the publication of back issues of Innerface International and the continuing work on Spanish language materials represents a good start at collaboration by the international readership on website evolution. Joe Hausler, Susan Ransbottom, Ken Glasziou, Ángel Sanchez-Escobar and Juan Paulo Vega continue to play key roles in this process.
Technical Support: Mark Turrin is to be thanked for providing and maintaining a rock-solid technology platform from which all of this activity proceeds. Down-time has been virtually non-existent. Everything works, and works consistently, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. This is no small accomplishment and the continuous work necessary to pull it off is mostly hidden from view. Larry Watkins is also involved in essential background technical support.
On the Horizon
Administrative Database Development: Pierre Chicoine is presently working with Robert Burns on tasks related to a web-based administrative database. In the next six to eight weeks, additional hardware and software will be deployed to support this effort. Several experiments with this technology are presently being made.
Integrated Study Aids: Programming and acquisition of materials proceeds from which an integrated study database will hopefully be constructed. This will include the Paramony, The Urantia Book, Bill Sadler's lectures, Harry's topical index and perhaps a few other works, all hyperlinked into a common, fully cross-referenced database. This is presently being planned in such a way that it can be integrated with Spanish language resources as well.
Liaison with PR Committee: This next year should see a greater integration of website content and services with the plans of the PR committee as we attempt to evolve a consistent cross-media representation of the revelation and our organization.
Improved gathering of statistics: Several attempts are being made to improve the gathering of statistics from our website visitors so that we will have better information to guide further development of the website. It is anticipated that this improved information will also help inform other outreach efforts.
Spanish Language Materials: A variety of Spanish materials are currently under development. I feel it is important to foster the development of services for this growing segment of the readership and will continue to try and find ways of accomplishing this.
Respectfully submitted with appreciation for the opportunity to attempt the discovery of meaningful service,
David Kantor, Chair
Ad-Hoc Committee for Internet Development