Beta Evolution: new.lds.org

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is shifting to a new website over the coming weeks and months. The new website (new.lds.org) has dozens of new features including an online store, a page you can request patriarchal blessings (yours and your ancestors), and a personal, online study notebook (My Study Notebook).
We have a great opportunity to use these tools and give feedback on what works and what needs further development.
I've also been reading up on crowdsourcing. I watched a movie on the new website called "That Promised Day" about the coming forth of the LDS version of the KJV. I learned that the Church called returned missionaries to become involved in cross referencing the footnotes for the standard works and creating the Topical Guide. I had always assumed that experienced church scholars had done all that work.
I wish we could do a similar activity today with the online version of the scriptures. We could cross reference not only scriptures to scriptures, but scriptures to conference talks and other online media like the Mormon Messages, the Hymnbook and even manuals. There are amazing possibilities. We need everyone to get onto new.lds.org and give their suggestions. Will you . . .?

A Shelfari Monopoly

I recently finished reading the Newberry award winning Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham. I got on to Shelfari, a social book networking site to read more about the book and see what Shelfari has to offer. I learned a little about the book, but I was interested by all the empty sections that Shelfari had for Carry On. I decided to fill in by memory all the sections that I could: summary, ridiculously simplified synopsis, cast of characters/important people, setting and important places, table of contents, themes and symbolism, notes for parents, and links to supplemental material.

I hope that my submissions will help other shelfari-goers to choose to read Carry On, Mr. Bowditch. Therein, I feel, lies the problem. The success of Wikipedia is that just about everyone uses it for just about everything. I glanced at a couple other sites like Shelfari (goodreads and librarything) and it seems like they all accomplish roughly the same thing. I believe that a natural monopoly on reviews can be helpful because everyone can go to the same place and give their review or add their favorite quotes for a book. Just by increased traffic, the material is more likely to be true. What's wrong with a natural monopoly on social book networking?

Sweet Stupidity

My ignorance evidenced itself when I skimmed a section of my tech comm book about research. I've been writing research papers for years now (or at least once per year) so I skimmed quickly. That afternoon the random reading quiz came. Groans echoed in the class.

Initially I was smug thinking: "I one-upped the rest of the class; I at least skimmed it." I was wrong. After failing the reading quiz I felt humbled in my false sense of "research" security. So tonight I opened up the chapter that I failed to understand. An impending deadline for a research-based report was a great avatar to follow the recommendations page after page for my research. It was enlightening. I learned more about pre-writing and pre-researching than I ever would have by trial-and-error. I thought back to my first post for this blog. I could have felt stupid and decided to quit learning or place my focus somewhere else, but learning to learn from my stupidity created an avenue to change my perspective. . . Awe, the sweet sense of stupidity.

Help me Digital World . . .

I want to organize a crowd sourcing venture. The problem is I feel like the crowd is walking all around me and no one is stopping to listen. So here's my ideas and the problems that I can see. I need your help to fix it.

The internet is the problem and the solution. There is too much information for any one person to read it all. We need a open public interface (that may be the wrong word) where students can do social bookmarking for important sites, and chat rooms to discuss topics, and links to really important topics affecting our society right now.

I was in a lecture today where Dr. R. Chad Swanson spoke of the systems change needed in global health. I want to find an way to connect with more people like Dr. Swanson and make a net to capture the really good information on the internet. We need a place to store filtered information (like Diigo). We are creating something bigger than ourselves.

What are the proven methods for social discovery? I need your criticism and your comments to focus my thinking. All benevolent Digitites, I'm calling for you. . . please?

A Walden Experience

Nature-a pristine picture of all things good that God created for us. Nature calls to the deepest parts of our souls. There is a thrill that comes only from forsaking technology for a weekend and getting back in sync with the real world: the natural world. Henry David Thoreau forsook the comparably primitive technology of his day to experience the serenity of nature. He followed Descartes' approach in a sense; Thoreau could believe nature only through his own experience. But from that year next to Walden's Pond, Thoreau experienced what modern prophets and apostles preach about: a return to simplicity.

As I read Thoreau's experience at Walden Pond, I recognized the story. After searching

"thoreau" in the lds.org search bar, I found a number of general conference addresses that cite Thoreau's works, and particularly Walden. Elder Perry, Elder Worthlin, and Elder Maxwell use the Walden experience to emphasize the prominent distractions in day-to-day life. After reading this counsel and the most recent counsel from Pres. Uchtdorf on the subject, I see that we all need our own Walden experience.

A Walden experience doesn't have to be in the woods

near a pond. Indeed, a Walden experience only requires slowing down to appreciate the natural

beauties around us. I'm currently reading a book about sailing. The protagonist remarks often on the sublime feeling of looking at the stars in the mid-ocean night sky. I felt the sublime when I returned to the Wasatch Front after my mission in Ireland. The mountains made the rolling hills of Ireland look like the smooth countryside of Kansas. However, both Ireland and Kansas hold their own type of natural beauty.

So after all this talk, My challenge is this: plan time to not keep track of time. Walk around a local park. Do some star gazing. Leave your phone at home. Remove the distractions. Have your own Walden experience.

Choosing Mr. Bowditch

Nathaniel Bowditch was born a common lad just prior to the American Revolutionary War. He grew up in hard times. But from common roots came uncommon greatness.

Our book club selection was based on the content. Nat Bowditch revolutionized nautical navigation in his day. His mathematical intuition helped him see the problems of his day in a new light, a lunar light.

When I started reading, the book struck a familiar cord. Perhaps because I hope to contribute greatly to the world from my common, small-town background. It was also familiar because I realized that I've read the book before though I know not when. Regardless, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch catches readers with its engaging prose. I look forward to reading it again.

My Book List

First, a novel by Henry David Thoreau about his personal experience in the wilderness. Thoreau opposes urbanization with his actions. Walden is two and a half hundred pages describing the natural life next to Walden Pond. I'm somewhat partial to this book because Elder L. Tom Perry referenced Thoreau's experience in one of his conference talks. Thoreau also rights a short essay now entitled "Civil Disobedience" which gives ideas not far removed from current anti-war sentiments, however Thoreau is quite charged on the matter.

Next on my list is Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill. I think this draws me particularly because I know so little about utilitarianism. My interest in this book parallels that of The Communist Manifesto. I'm sure some English professor will lose his wings when I say this, but I haven't ever heard of John Stuart Mill before investigating this book. I think it will be worth my time as was The Communist Manifesto.

I do recognize the name Frederick Douglass which is part of the reason I am raising to my list Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. I have long enjoyed learning about the 19th century pre- and post-civil war. The perspective of a slave would be most enlightening.

The final spot on my list is filled by Ralph Waldo Emerson "American Scholar" and "Nature". I have had a book of selections from Emerson and I found these two selections are on the Honors reading list. I already have the book so why not spend the time reading critically acclaimed work.

I must now admit that all the titles above are found on the BYU Honors Great Works List. Who can blame me for killing two birds with one stone?

"North and South"

The industrial revolution spurred on a change in the social make up of England. The short BBC series, "North and South" depicts these differing societies as an adaptation of the book "North and South" by Elizabeth Gaskell. Luckily my wife is English so I had an excuse to watch this educational chick flick.

Much of the monetary capital came from the wealthy land owners of Southern England. The wealthy upper class had largely inherited their wealth. The traditionally poor classes in Northern England used the Southern capital and the availability of cheap labor to construct factories. "North and South" brings the daughter of a Southern preacher-turned-teacher to a Northern industrial town centre. The chick flick represents a large portion of the dialog, but I was most interested by the entanglement of John Thornton, the protagonist mill owner. We easily hate Thornton at the start of the series because we watch him savagely beat a worker caught smoking in the cotton mill; we learn later that Thornton acts with the understanding that his successful mill lifts himself and his workers out of the depths of poverty. The savage beating was on behalf of all the workers who would lose their livelihoods should the factory burn down because of one ignorant smoker. I must admit I enjoyed the movie.

Are we too harsh on industrious owners like Bill Gates? How many people are employed by Microsoft? What other parallels to our time do we see in this drama from the Industrial Revolution?