That one I had on my mind. Now let's see if there is any interest. Using internet for talking and sharing is nice but imho Srila Prabhupada would be esp. interested in using it for organized preaching (like we have organized skt, etc.).

"We should always be eager to find out such nice ways to spread this Movement. This will automatically bring joy to the devotees as well as to the nondevotees." (SP letter to Jagadisa - Bombay 17 November, 1970)

Thanks. I know about the Skype thingy, took a part in few sessions. Nice attempt.
The namahatta.org attempt to have a space devoted to this also lacked participation.

Few ideas from my friends expanded:

- many temples and projects repeat the same basic information about history, philosophy, practice, etc. These could be easily linked to articles at krishna.com, thus saving rented webspace and increasing traffic
- they also rent domains, sometimes expensive ones, while they could be hosted at one place like Krishna.com (that was the idea of iskcon.net). These domains often end up as expired.
- until that happens, interconnect online projects in a webring hosted at Krishna.com
- listing of devotees willing and able to help with ideas, design,tech support, promotion, etc.
- proactive presence in forums, blogs, etc. (first ascertaining current situation and then making plans and assignments)
- increased presence at Wikipedia (ditto), not only in Hindu section
- etc.

After accumulating some initial but solid ideas in a wiki a handful of volunteers would start to promote the wiki and contact webmasters (webservants) and other online devotees and asking them to take part. It'd have to be a grassroots effort, not a company like in the past.

this site (and wikipedia is a huge example of it) is based on trust. If someone says something trivial or nonsensical, we trust people will filter out as self-evident.
And in the midtime we take advantage of the worldwide sadhu sanga huge potential.

[cite] abrennan:[/cite]It does seem that the internet is strewn with failed or abandoned attempts at online preaching. It takes a long term commitment and an ability to keep up with the technology if you want to keep up with the internet.

Exactly. Most ISKCON internet projects I've seen were of a rajogunic type - initial enthusiasm evaporated after few weeks or months. Most of the long-term (5+ years) successful projects are one-man shows and they are few.

[cite]l like the idea of experts to answer questions and encourage interested people. I have a concern about the quality of the party providing the answers and encouragement. You couldn't just let anyone provide the answers, or perhaps you would need guides who help people move toward the correct conclusions. What does anyone think about that.[/cite]

Right. This site works fine so far. Also many gurus have websites and questions can be directed there.

[cite]A lot of effort has already been wasted in the experiments that have already been tried. Blogging seems to be very popular. It's one thing to post slabs of information but whether people can access and make use of it is another.[/cite]

There are tons of them and it's hardly possible to see any structure. But a devotee presence in topically-related and busy blogs would be valuable. Some devotees do it already now.

[cite]In business they call it quality of service. Planning to deliver your service in a shape that best fits the requirement and continuing to monitor it and changing it when it isn't hitting the mark anymore. This is the nature of Internet based services.[/cite]

Yes. Feedback and constant upgrade.

[cite]Thats why the idea of Krishna.com as a hub which allows people to find other related services is interesting. In that way at least you could ensure some standard as well. I think that is a called a portal.[/cite]

Yes

[cite]It would be interesting to hear of anyones actual ideas on possible projects that the teams and resources Veda outlines above would participate in.[/cite]

Definitely

centralized place for all audio from Srila Prabhupada... how? dunno

Krishna.com as the major site would be the natural choice with many advantages like high traffic. The quality and recency of websites is very varying now and it could be improved when under such an umbrella site. But obviously it cannot be forced, just presented as a better alternative to what exists nowadays. No need for a strictly unified design. Look at sites hosted at iskcon.net (pity it didn't expand more). And aside that main page, they could also have some other pages or blogs if needed. The whole point is not to do something which has been already done elsewhere but link to it.

Yes, Krishna.com has all basic info covered. Esp. now with veda.krishna.com. ;)
Out of which context? One can link to any content in or out of context.
They load slowly due to a slow connection. There could be a mirror in India too. If someone would want to do it I don't see a reason why Manu & Co. would object.
Yes, working wiki space seems ideal. It just needs to be taken advantage of in the spirit of cooperation.

phani:[p]i don't see 'high traffic' as a major advantage: devotees who'll come to this cooperative / organization effort won't come via a google-search, but because they have been approached by someone.[/p]

I meant the future visitors, not devotees coming together to work on this.

[p]of course, whatever's already there doesn't have to be done again. i'm thinking of the present idea of some devotees here to start this cooperation-effort. if he have to wait for the BBT to discuss and agree to the idea, this will take a while. why not start here, right now? we can link to anything on krsna.com, of course.[/p]

I meant two things (which wasn't so obvious) - both direct hosting at krishna.com and linking to krishna.com content or just linking to it and hosting elsewhere. For the first option you obviously need to have it figured out with krishna.com staff before advertising it to webmasters.

[p]i didn't know veda.krishna.com existed. will look at it right now.[/p]

That's just a mirror of Vedic Encyclopedia section.

[p]with "out of context" i mean can i use the information, with or without pictures, and stick it into my own content?[/p]

Quotes with sources in the fair use mode (not extensive) are ok.

[p]if resources are prepared with that in mind they can be linked to inside your own articles, which doesn't require to send readers to other sites.[/p]

That's what we have now - duplication of the same info over and over again.

[p]and a slow connection is a disadvantage. why does a high-profile site like krsna.com have to use a slow connection?[/p]

I meant your connection, not theirs (which is quite fast but I didn't measure it).

That's what we have now - duplication of the same info over and over again.

[p]not really, since it's the same content, automatically updated when the resource changes. i'll only accept the extra trouble to format it into my own pages instead of posting a link.[/p]

I meant your connection, not theirs (which is quite fast but I didn't measure it).

[p]oh, i thought you were talking about their web server. true, i can't really judge these things because my connection is deadly slow - which makes me feel the impact of flash animations and other fancy stuff more than you guys ...[/p]

Mishraji, can you make this thread sticky and rename it as 'Interested in online preaching coordination?' ? This should help to get more devotees involved. Thanks

anybody knows a RSS addon or hack for our wiki ?

"Hidden but open" ???

Wiki is inaccessible already for some time. What happened?

Better to use this thread/category if discussion is needed and then add the work/ideas to the wiki.

Wiki is not very practical for conversations isn't?

not really much written yet,hehe..
I know, I know you have just started it...:)
Was too curious to look at it....:P

I did not know you already sent the letter. Mediawiki is great software but was a pain when coming to some of the functionalities we expect.
I already deleted the Resources page there and put up a link to the new wiki.
Please tell me about anything that has to be fixed in the midtime.

"I mentioned it in my comment under it yesterday."
it comes to me that the wiki will not be a good place for "communication" in the sense of messages and discussion, but a place to enter somewhat "predigested" stuff.
For communication we can use this thread. What do you think?

what do you think about creating a separate mailing list instead of using this thread, Prabhus?

Like the idea...
:)

Problem comes when someone wants to encroach the hard earned success of an individual by the strength of the group vote. (And it happens, do not doubt it.)

To talk and to make rules is easier than to put energy to create something worth.

If we centralize, then a person or group will sooner or later tend to take over the collective mission

So, instead of trying to subject the individual to the group, make the group a bunch of individual coordinated efforts, keeping the individuality.

This will keep the egos abreast and will foster the effectiveness.

I am not sure if the idea of centralizing everything in krishna.com or similar strategies will get somewhere for the reasons said.

So, I am happy if the devotee willing to help agrees to the same basic rules this forum has, and then lets work cooperatively but in our own field of activity.

And if someone wants to make a separate page for classes or pics, what is the problem? Will happen anyway. .So, we go and help this devotee to make a professional presentation or integrate it in a greater project if she/he is happy.

This is the motto of IskconTech and I think is the way to go.

At the same time we can create projects with coordinated efforts among ourselves.

If we want to use a mailing list, why not use the worldsankirtan googlegroup (http://groups.google.com/group/worldsankirtan)? It's already there, and then we're not fracturing into yet another mailing list for the same purpose. Phani and I are both administrators of the group, so it's "friendly territory", and it already has 50 or so devotees on it.

from this site press release:

> Pariprashnena.com has been developed by ISKCON Tech, ( www.iskcontech.com )
> a worldwide devotee group of programmers, designers and web developers whose
> aim is to modernize Iskcon sites and use the latest technology in Krishna's
> service. Pariprashnena.com is the first of a series of websites that are now
> in the works. Stay tuned!

Hey that's not a motto : )

This is a motto:

Viribus Unitus

It means something like - we achieve success though unity

What would that be in Sanskrit

that would be a good motto

I cover pariprashnena on my blog at atmayogi.com. I use the promote code. It's still kind of broken though, because it has these hard carriage returns in it that I have to take out manually.

what about this kind of preaching?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaurangapada/1034034175/

I checked out secondlife for about a day. It reminded me too much of a video game. I like the wiki idea and this forum much better.