Information and the Future

This is the blog of the Information and the Future task force of the Rolfing Library at Trinity International University. The IF task force exists to explore the role of libraries in the future of Christian higher education.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Wiki Bible

On Moody radio this morning they were talking about a wikipedia translation of the Bible, where anyone can contribute to a new translation. The speakers were of course concerned about this; you wouldn't be able to tell the translators' expertise or their perspective which might affect their translation.

I did a google search trying to find out more about it. I didn't find a wikipedia Bible translation, but I did find BibleWiki, which is a wikipedia Bible commentary. That would be open to the same criticisms.

On an interesting side note, I found a wiki that is translating the Bible into LOLspeak. I think it's like the shorthand used for IM, but another characteristic seems to be that almost everything is misspelled. Sigh - what is happening to young people these days? :)

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

"Is Google Making Us Stupid"

In July/August issue of Atlantic Monthly is this interesting article by Nicholas Carr on how our pervasive use of the Internet may be changing the structures of our brains and how we interact with and process information. Carr, author of The Big Switch, discusses changes he's observed in his own reading habits and those of his friends, recent neurological research, and historical changes brought about by inventions such as the printing press, the mechanical clock, the typewriter and the assembly line. He is concerned by the technologization of our thinking processes and the loss of mental space for contemplation. The article reminded me of the warnings of Quentin Schultze and Sven Birkerts.