Online Study Forum

[Bonita]

Would someone explain to me why it is not possible to start a topic on the Online Study Forum?

I have an idea I’d like to try out, a UB encyclopedia in the style of wikipedia.  Recently there have been questions asked such as; what is life; what is death; what is personality.  I think we could all put our heads together and come up with a UB based definition for those words or a description in a few paragraphs. It would take a group effort. There are so many, many words, names and ideas in the UB that either are entirely new or have a new revelation attached to them.  To have all the info in one place, along with pertinent references, would be a really useful study guide, in my opinion, especially if it can be updated and tweaked from time to time.  The Online Study Forum would be the best place for such an endeavor using one overall topic of “Collaborative UB Encyclopedia” and then list sub forums for each word, name or idea to be discussed, defined or described.  It would not be a place for arguing though . . . don’t know if that’s even possible.

Maybe this is just a pipe-dream and a total waste of time, I don’t know.  I was thinking of attempting this on my own, but it occurs to me that one person’s definition of something is not always the best.  I’m interested to hear if others are willing to participate, or whether this has already been tried somewhere, or if you think it is destined to fail given the enormous variety of opinions within the community.

 

[Mark Kurtz]

Bonita,

Sounds like an an attractive ideal, but do you realize Wikipedia maintains a significant staff to provide its services?  UAI could possibly do as you suggest, but not with volunteers.  UAI could do a lot more with adequate funds, for your idea would likely require a contract with a capable organization.  There are many ideas that floated in the past, but adequate funds has always been a big problem.  I’d like to see an indexed achieve of topics for this and for printed publications.

I’m sure UAI would glad accept donated funds for projects it could authorize and execute adequately.

 

[Bonita]

Oh, okay.  Never mind then.

[Kathleen]

Hi Bonita,

You said:

Would someone explain to me why it is not possible to start a topic on the Online Study Forum?

This is still a project on the back-burner unfortunately but it’s on the list for a New Year project. Last year we admin folks spent most of our time being taught how to build the site and update and maintain it. Most of that has now been done for the English. (We’ve begun work on translated sites.)

The Online Study Group Forum is still only half built as we need to create links for every single paper and work out a tagging system. It’s not hard – just labour intensive and there’s still only a couple of us who’ve been trained on the back end engine room. (We’re hoping that will change this year when we get more worker bees on the content maintenance team.) I’ve been promising another reader who’s been chomping at the bit to use the Online SG forum that we’ll get it done early in the New Year. So bear with us, I’ll take it off the back burner and put it on the front one…

Your idea is intriguing. I wouldn’t give up on the idea. If it’s something you would like to do in a study group environment with others interested, I don’t see that we’d need to make it a UAI project that needed funds. Rather it would be a reader initiative using this forum to thrash out ideas and suggestions. I say go for it!

We’ll get that section up and running just as soon as we can. Apologies for the delay.

Regards,
Kathleen

 

 

From Sydney, Australia

[tas]

Hi Bonita,

Wikipedia is just one project of the Wikimedia Foundation.  Another lesser known one is Wikiversity.   I’ve noticed before that it has a stub of an effort about the Urantia Book already. It would be a great place I think for topics and ideas along the lines you’re describing, and the results may be better housed there in the long run anyhow than on a little known and fairly quiet forum. Maybe others with an interest could at least share ideas and be coordinated to a degree here to help with any work on topics over there.

Here’s an overview:

https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikiversity:Welcome

Here is their theology section… take a look at the 3rd paragraph:

https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/School:Theology

tas

[Bonita]

Kathleen wrote:

So bear with us, I’ll take it off the back burner and put it on the front one…

That’s okay Kathleen.  Don’t bother.  I’ve been working on this myself for years; I can keep doing so.  Not a problem.

[Bradly]

tas – thank you so much for the links!!  A new “favorite” of mine now.  What an opportunity for veteran readers to layout a ministry of presentation – dissemination of the teachings via a public access tool.  From the second Wiki link from tas:

“The School of Theology is devoted to study of religion, spirituality, and deities. Participants here at this school may use rational analysis and argument to discuss, interpret, and teach on any of a myriad of religious topics.

Within this school can be distinguished from the Division of Religious studies. The Division of Religious Studies is for multi-disciplinary and secular study of religion. In contrast, studies within the School of Theology can be undertaken to help participants understand more truly one’s own religious tradition or can be undertaken with the goal of preservation of religious traditions, reform of a particular tradition, or to apply the resources of a particular religious tradition to some present day problem, situation or need.

So, whether you are interested in Bahá’í, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Urantia or any other doctrinal foundation, Wikiversity is your soundboard and learning environment to find others who think and believe as you do. If you wish to further your knowledge and practice to encompass a richer base for doing so, please, by all means, feel free. Wikiversity is a wiki.”

Bonita – as one of my favorite teachers (and fellow student) and given your in depth scholarship and research, I hope you will work with the site committee to formulate some of these foundational learning tools for us and those to come.  I would love to take a “class” which is not centered on or overtaken by comments, arguments, and tangents and I hope you find such a vehicle for the sake of all sincere students everywhere.  Such a work will receive translation attention here too as that is now a big priority for the Association for this site and more and more volunteers are joining the site committee to expand contents and access to the global community of readers.

Thanks all.

 

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