The Future of Bible Studies and Technological Tools
I write this a good bit before writing Part Three of the MMM Mobile Experiment Report but this is a great article posted at the Biblical Studies and Technological Tools blog about thinking about what technology and faith will look like given what we have seen happen in other media and lifestyles in the Western church.
Without going too far into things on my end, here is a snippet of this great thought-piece:
I am also wondering, then, if we might actually become more dependent on private resources/devices rather than network resources. I.e., it will be lots easier to secure a personal device not connected to any network, and I will be more confident in working with guaranteed secure resources not based on the network. This does mean that I believe that someone will still be developing and providing technological resources for biblical studies, but I also suspect that the choices will be greatly reduced. We are already seeing the convergence of best features of the various Bible programs, and as this trend continues, the only differentiating factor will be cost. I just hope we aren't all buying Wal-Mart or Google Bible software after they buy up every other current company in this field
Read the rest of the post The Future of Bible Studies and Technological Tools.
Related Articles:
- New King James with Microsoft OneNote (Palmsolo)
Labels: Bible, church, community, education, gospel, mission, mobile, mobility, networking, phone, purchasing, software, stewardship, study, tech, urban, worship
posted by Antoine @ 5/06/2008 10:00:00 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Anyone who can bring down what seems to me to be the very high cost of Bible software, whether it is Google, or whoever, I would welcome. When you wind up paying more for a digital copy than a hardback, something is amiss.
It's not about keeping companies in business for me. It's about getting tools in the hands of people to learn, grow, and be conformed to the image of Jesus.
While I share your sentiments David; part of this issue is not cost alone, but availability. Cost is an issue when companies charge prices that do not seem inline with the deliever method - digital should be cheaper to produce than print but they are not priced so.
That being said, much of the content that is for-pay is not cheap because of licensing restrictions. And until people like LaRosa Johnson gain notoriteory for the low cost yet qualities materials they produce, this imbalance will remain.
I definitely share the sentiments here. I wish there was a more open platform for Bible software and Christian works to be ported to them.
Let me add this though, since I do work for a Bible software company... most times the electronic version of a book is cheaper than the hard copy, but that is when you compare it to the MSRP (full retail price). In many instances, though, the print books are cheaper, but that is because of the Internet and warehouse sellers. Companies like Amazon and Christian Book Distributors (CBD) are able to buy books in such high quantities at a lower rate that they are able to sell them at a significantly lower price. For example, the retail price for Chafer's Systematic Theology is $175 for the entire 8 volume set, but I was able to purchase a brand new set from CBD for $40 ($55 total with rush shipping). Yet, if I were to buy it in Logos (the only electronic version available right now), I'd pay the full retail price.
Let me further add why the electronic prices are the way they are. When a bookstore or warehouse buys the books, they have no other fees to pay the publisher; they have their money and are happy. Yet, with electronic copies, the company has to pay royalties to the publisher, and in some instances the royalties are rather high. Therefore, a software company can't justify lowering a price to compete with the warehouse sellers because they would not profit or break even. Plus, you have to also factor in paying people like myself who have to convert a print book into an electronic version (which isn't always an easy or quick process).
But yeah... I feel the sentiment and I continually pray for a change & shift in the way the Bible software industry operates. If SWORD were a stronger & more robust platform, I'd probably push that more than I do any other software; but for now, I'm stuck using two or three different apps to do what I need to do, with no cross compatibility amongst them. Terrible... smh...
lj.
Post a Comment
<< Home