TCFM Adult Education program 5-14-2007

Types of Internet Communication and examples
Libraries of Quaker texts (generally searchable; not interactive)

Digital Quaker Collection at Earlham School of Religion: http://esr.earlham.edu/dqc/links.html
Quaker Heritage Press: http://www.qhpress.org/

Sites of Quaker organizations (communications between organization and reader; little if any reader-reader communication);

AFSC: http://www.afsc.org/
FCNL: http://www.fcnl.org/
FGC: http://www.fgcquaker.org/
Friends Journal: http://www.friendsjournal.org/
Northern Yearly Meeting: http://www.northernyearlymeeting.org/
TCFM: http://www.tcfm.org

Listserves (e-mail based) & Forums (internet based): public discussions (unmoderated or lightly moderated conversations; open to all)

QuakerInfo.com Forum: “A place to discuss Quakers and Quakerism.” Many threads of topics and discussions. http://www.quakerinfo.com/forum/
Quakerlists.org: Mailing list discussion of issues of interest, e.g. Canadian Quakers; Community and spirituality; peace, justice, and other social concerns; Quaker-Translators ; etc. http://quakerlists.org/

Web logs (a.k.a. blogs): Web pages published by individuals or small groups; blog owner posts essays, observations, photos, etc.; easy for readers to comment on postings; usually contain links to other blogs and resources creating networks; highly eclectic in subject matter, style; frequency. Easy to start for free or very low cost using various blog hosting companies (e.g., Blogger http://www.blogger.com/; Word Press http://wordpress.com/; Vox.com http://www.vox.com/

Examples of blogs by TCFM Friends:

The Good Raised Up by Liz Oppenheimer; “A Quaker woman’s journey to be faithful in the face of her and others’ humanness.” Essays, comments, meditations on Quaker topics http://thegoodraisedup.blogspot.com/
Reaching for the Light by Pam Marguerite, “Dyke vegetarian Quaker.” http://rftlight.blogspot.com/
Nontheistfriends.org “Presents the work of Friends (Quakers) who are more concerned with the natural than the supernatural.” Coordinated by James Riemermann http://nontheistfriends.org/
Gaia Voices by Richard Fuller, “A living planet, Mother Earth, within an ‘intentional’ universe. An evolving paradigm for post-industrial culture.” http://www.gaiavoices.net/
Showers of Blessings by Paul Landskroener. Personal blog on variety topics of interest to writer, mainly Quakerism and Sacred Harp singing. http://www.showerofblessings.blogspot.com/

Clearinghouses, aggregators, hubs contain links to other on-line resources: libraries, blogs, home pages, etc. Not interactive, but some accept nominations for inclusion.

Quakerinfo.com “Your online source for information about the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)” Wide variety of links & resources. Also has a forum.
http://www.quakerinfo.com/
QuakerQuaker “The best way to learn what Friends (Quakers) believe is through listening in on our conversations. In the last few years, dozens of Friends have begun sharing stories, frustrations, hopes and dreams for our religious society through blogs. The conversations have been amazing. There’s a palpable sense of renewal and excitement. QuakerQuaker is a daily index to that conversation.” Collaboratively edited listing of blog and news stories about Friends. http://quakerquaker.org/
Zebby. A somewhat more comprehensive list of Quaker-related blogs, organized by categories (e.g., blogs with direct focus on Quaker faith and practice; blogs casual blogging by Friends). http://quaker.zebby.org/
Planet Quaker. Less selective than QuakerQuaker and has wider scope of blog coverage. http://planet.quaker.org/

Social networking like My Space http://www.myspace.com/and Face Book http://www.facebook.com/ enable Friends to connect with people they’ve met at Quaker events like FGC or Yearly Meeting, for example. Groups can communicate with each other one-to-one or to group. Some use instant messaging - like e-mail, but instantaneous in real time. Highly interractive. Access can be limited by page owner.

No Comments »