Posted by Peter Kirby at 11:48 PM | Permalink

This is related to my earlier blog entry on "Free Bible Study".

I have also registered the following names for a website. Each name is a different context, direction, and branding that will largely define the culture that runs on top of the software (which would be the same in each case):

* FreeBibleStudy.com
* iBibleStudies.com
* ResearchTheBible.com
* ErrancyWeb.com
* TheBibleWars.com

OK, before you make your decision on the best name, wouldn't you like to hear what the software does? Of course you would.

The technical details include that it is a custom programmed modification of a content management system like Drupal. Features include...

1. Primarily content that is owned by poster, but also collaborative content.
2. Content generates a threaded commentary, which is always owned by respective users.
3. Content is tagged with keywords and with Bible verses for indexing.
4. Content is rated for quality and "dug" for the hot factor.
5. Content can plug in Bible verses and link to Bible resources.
6. Content is cross-linked to other content on nearby Bible material, similar keyword space, and perhaps in other ways--so you can continue finding content you like reading, commenting on it, and perhaps riffing off your own content along similar themes.
7. Various other ways technological for accessing content, such as search boxes and RSS feeds and aggregators and intelligent rating-based "stumbler" ability (users who liked this also liked...).

Here is more detail on the system.

"VerseLink"
VerseLink brings you to a dynamically created page with translations, original texts, links, Amazon books, possibly commentary, and a list of all the content items related to that verse or verses; as well as forward and back to browse adjacent verses and get context. The code [ John 4:16 ] will make a VerseLink. No VerseLink may exceed 50 verses or contain an entire biblical book. (This is to cooperate with the license for the electronic RSV and other modern copyright editions, which will be included.)

"Plug-In Verses"
The code [[ John 4:16 ]] will "plug in" the translation of John 4:16 along with VerseLink. This is not to exceed 10 verses, or the amount of 25% of the original words (not plugged-in) in the content item, whichever is greater, and in no case shall comprise an entire biblical book. To override the user's preferred Bible for display, use [[ John 4:16 | KJV ]].

"Comment-threading and Content Ownership"
Every content item will have threaded comments. The default is to make author-owned content to be discussed in comments and modified only by the owner.

"Collaborative Creation"
The alternative is to create a "collaborative" piece. This will get you exposure on the "collaborative" section of the homepage, but you relinquish control over the content. Collaborative sessions must be initially approved by an admin on criteria of worthiness, or they will be converted into regular owned content. (There is still comment-threading on collaborative creation items, and you always own your comments.)

"Content Digging"
If a user "digs" an item, it is a candidate for front-page placement. The items that have been "dug" the most over the preceding 7 days are displayed on the homepage. You can only "dig" any given content item once per user.

"Content Rating"
A user may rate any content on a scale of 1-10. These ratings will be adjusted along a percentile system, so rating high/low/middle evenly is the way to maximize your voting.

e.g., if you vote 10 times and you vote one of each of the 10 possible ratings, your votes will translate into 0.5, 1.5, 2.5 .. 9.5.

e.g., if you vote 5 times and you vote "1" twice and "10" three times, the tens represent the 40th percentile and will average out to 7's, while the 1's will average out to become 2's.

"Keyword Tagging"
Content is tagged with at least 2 keywords at creation. Keywords start life with a 0 relevancy rating, but they can be thumbs-upped or thumbs-downed, incrementing or decrementing the relevancy rating. The default search will ignore keywords with a relevancy of -3 or below, and may give greater weight to those with positive relevancy ratings.

Anyone can add keywords at any time, and they can only be thumbs-downed into obscurity, not deleted, except by administrators.

Example keywords: Contradiction, Interpolation, Error, History, Science, Morality

The more popular keywords will be shown to be browsed on the homepage, and all of them are accessible through search. (Search also takes advantage of full-text searching and keyword density, content ratings, dig history, inbound links, page views, click throughs, credit FICA score, and anything else it can get its hands on.)

"Bible-verse tagging"

This is the quantum-leap above ErrancyWiki (an existing site), and it is deceptively simple. Any content item could be tagged with one verse, but it could also be tagged with a couple verses far away from each other, with a passage and a stray verse somewhere else, with three long passages from three different parts of the Bible, or whatever. These tags are carefully made at creation (it's about the most important part, although it is optional) and modified only by admins. Searches on Bible verses will try to bring you results that match you most exactly, then more specifically (if you didn't ask for a single verse), and lastly more broadly.

Thank you for your input on what I should name the next big thing!

Labels: bible studies, wiki