Last week, we were contacted by Aaron Frey, who has begin a Kickstarter project called PearlVault asking to help get the word out about this project. We’ve not talked about some of the struggles with notes and electronic Bibles in a long time (something from 2008, and another something from 2006), and so getting this note about PearlVault reopens that conversation alongside the other collaborative features many have asked for in the Bible software domain.
About PearlVault
From the Kickstarter page:
…This project will create a web portal where you can take your Bible study notes so that they are searchable, taggable and indexed according to Bible references. It will also allow you to attach notes to words from a particular Bible translation–or even words from the original Greek or Hebrew. It will be optimized for the easy discovery of past notes whenever you study that same passage/word/topic again. It will also be optimized for use on mobile devices so that, even when you are away from your desktop, you are never away from your Bible notes. And PearlVault, should this project succeed, will be available for the rest of your life, independent of whatever study environment you use otherwise.
Essentially, your Bible reader of choice will utilize PearlVault as the syncing-linchpin for your notes content between Bible apps. Not a bad idea, and definitely down the road towards how we’ve supported similar-featured projects in the past in regards to being able to have more liberty with the content you create or own.
[Click here if unable to see the video embedded above]
The Challenge for PearlVault
The challenge for PearlVault is getting enough buy-in and interest from Bible publishers and software companies to support this effort. Hence, the Kickstarter project. Your notes would be stored outside of the application, so that in the case you’d decide to move to another Bible software suite, that you’d not lose the content you’ve already created. As it stands right now, of the Bible software programs which have a notes functionality, many times this is a feature within the application and you usually need an additional piece of software (or in some cases a full PC) to take the notes from the application and put it into a more generic format.
The other challenge actually comes from the users of Bible software. Much like with versions of the Bible, software can become an issue of comfort and attachment. And unless circumstances dictate otherwise, many people will stick with the same Bible software family for many years. Now, when they do change, there’s some general flow towards how they evolve with Bible software:
- Many start with a free, gifted, or low-cost package; as they become more skilled in using the software, they may opt for the paid content or a paid Bible app with a similar user interface (UI);
- Some start with a recommendation of personable apps such as Olive Tree, Pocket Bible, YouVersion, Logos, etc.; sometimes with the encouragement to try a few of these before settling on one; in the meantime, notes and other content is being generated that won’t transfer to the app they settle to
- The last step forks one of two ways: either the person is such the student of the text (w/pastorial responsibility) that Logos and their deep library is the only option, or they are a mild-academic in terms of the text, looking to some of the lighter Logos packages, or the wares of Olive Tree, Accordance, or eSword (depending on content needs); the latter group is likely to use more than one Bible software package
Having said this, the challenge is actually quite apparent. Even if a person moves up and through several leagues of Bible software, they will have some (not major) difficulity in keeping their notes attached (programatically) to the text. Now, do know that we are talking about a specific set of Bible software users here, its not the normal course for non-pastor/teacher types to go through several iterations of software – folks just aren’t that patient. Those who are, and who have a genuine joy for searching the Scriptures so that this issue of notes between apps comes into play, just have different needs that’s not been met as of yet which PearlVault seeks to do.
More Information, Supporting PearlVault
PearlVault is using Kickstarter in order to raise the funds needed to support the building and maintaining of the service which will be hosting these linked notes. It is also in place to log the interest of people for such functionality. By placing your donation into the project, you help Frey’s discussion with Bible publishers and software developers who sometimes don’t want to look outside of their products, but do know that the user at times will.
Some additional information about PearVault and Aaron Frey’s motivations for the project have been detailed in an interview over at Christiandroid. Definitely check that out as it goes into a bit more than the Kickstarter page towards the project’s vision and aims.
And finally, support Aaron. Having been on the side of trying to just make Bibles available between platforms, I admire and affirm Aaron Frey’s project and what it aims to do for everyone who gets value out of storing, rereading, and sharing Biblical notes.
When I am at a coffeeshop, I usually have my mobile to the side of me and my iPad in front of me -occasionally with my wireless keyboard. At times, at least when I’m typing on the keyboard, I’m stopped to ask if I like my iPad, or how I get along with the keyboard. On one particular day, a woman asked me my opinions on the iPad as she was considering one. It just so happened that less than an hour before she asked me that, Amazon announced its new slate of 
This past weekend, Matt Miller opined that the new HTC Flyer Tablet might make for the right approach to being a digital bible replacement because of it’s inking ability. During 
A Healthy Dose of Rambling
Friday, June 3rd, 2011Apps and Challenges
For example, in one aspect of the past week’s trips, Brett (one of the contributors here) and I got a chance to connect and talk about how we’d like learn better cross-platform development techniques for some of the content that we own or read. We got into talking a bit not just about apps, but things like QML, HTML5, and even the mobile web server. Being on an edge of mobile use, we’re finding that its not just a matter of having access, but there’s sometimes when ownership and accountability needs to also be a part of the pie.
That goes into the Kiosk Evangelism project that MMM has been a part of and some of the challenges there. As a project, its going through a leadership transition. Some of the questions though influence practices and understandings. For example, if creating a mobile-tuned service (such as the digital library component of Kiosk Evangelism), does it make sense to go native with an app, or use the browser and possibly something like Modernizr to create a UI that plugs into several systems an scales well. Does such a UI need to also be offline-context-sensitive, and if so how?
There’s also the challenge of owner rights. Church Mag recently opined about jail breaking and it caused me to go back into the archives a bit and relook at just how free we are to customize devices or interfaces. Certainly, there’s a challenge all around if you want to do something right.
Some are better than others with challenges. I’m always impressed at the energy and execution behind Logos and YouVersion and their latest projects serve as a solid measure of encouragement. Of the many support and feature updates for the application and service, I’m impressed the most with how YouVersion is paying attention to how we hear the Word. Audio and native language features ring most relevant for a lot of folks. Logos has released Vyrso which is basically a reader that goes beyond just Bibles. Through that system, I wonder how many budding authors will take up the challenge towards creating content that empowers and reveals the impact of the Gospel? Seems like as good a channel as any to do so.
Events and Movements
On the other side of happenings, there are several events and movements happening that all have something to do with how we approach (or at least view from our perspectives) mobile ministry.
The Uplinq Conference recently concluded. We attended this last year and had a great time as a part of the WIPJam Panel talking about opportunities and challenges for mobile developers. This year, the conversations started on mobile and there was a lot of innovations presented in mobile and blended reality computing.
Due to scheduling, we cannot attend this year’s Muther Hackathon, but we certainly want you (or your dev team) to get out there to it. If you would like passes, shoot us a message or tweet as we have a few free ones to give away.
MMM will be at the ICCM conference in Indiana in a few weeks. We’ll be speaking on a session about mobile ministry, actually breaking down that sketchnote that we’d posted here last week. We’d love to connect with you if you are going to be there.
And don’t forget about the Carnival of the Mobilists. Though its now on a once-per-month posting queue, the selection of articles that makes it to each Carnival seems to get better and better. This month No. 249 is being hosted over at Francisco Kattan’s site. Now that I’m not in my car or in front of folks for a few hours, its definitely something that will enter my rested reading time.
MMM Team and Role
Personally, I’m having fun with a new mobile (the Nokia N8) and some of the challenges around using it with my personal approach to mobile. That part has been fun, but its also led to finding some nuggets that would be valuable here.
Our team has taken some heavy shots personally and spiritually lately. Its been an honor to keep them lifted in prayer, but having been sick last week definitely showed me just how fragile all of us can be.
What is MMM’s role? We point to what’s happening. Unfortunately, we’re also finding that people sometimes need help with finishing what they started or just telling their message in a manner that’s able to be heard. To some extent, we are a media initiative, and to another, we’re just some hands and feet to some parts of the Body that want to move forward with a pure and honest depiction of the Gospel in their contexts.
That makes for a wide and deep role for us. And honestly, one that a single person has trouble with, let alone a small team. If you’ve been interested in getting involved with helping us share the stories of faith and technology, get in contact with us. If your heart is in other areas, and you’d just like to know how we can be supported, get in contact with us.
We’ve got some house-cleaning to do on some of the pages here we know – and we’ll get to those items in time. In the meantime, there’s a Body using this tech that’s asking for the road that isn’t techie or overly theological. We’re helping to cut a trail, rambling on about what we find as we do
Tags: Carnival of the Mobilists, HTML5, ICCM, jailbreaking, Logos, Modernizr, Muther Hackathon, nokia, open source, sketchnotes, UI, Uplinq, UX, Vyrso, WIP, YouVersion
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