Tag Archives: copyright

Multi-Lingual Digital Libraries

Responding to a friend’s email, we were asked what might be some of the best multi-lingual digital libraries? First, a small listing, then some reasoning to why this isn’t a separate page on this site (unlike the way we’ve done apps, resources, and services).

Reasons Why This Isn’t A Separate Page

When this question was asked, I remembered a conversation with the late WS Keel as to why this wasn’t out there already? Why is it that people have to search  far and hard to find a semblance of a library of digital content that works with various connected and mobile devices? My answer to him was quite simple: “a digital library is of no good use when there’s nothing to read it on.” MMM took the approach of pointing to mobile containers for this content. And left it to the greater digital-enabled Body to develop the hooks to connect content into these and former relevant media spaces.

The other reason that you don’t see this as a separate page is that there’s really not much in they way of local content except by a few providers. When you speak of audio content, much of it comes through Faith Comes By Hearing. They really are the leaders of audio biblical resources in this respect. That also means that if there’s work being done, its either under their umbrella, or overshadowed by the legal and logistical issues of being a small fish in a big pond.

Lastly, and most importantly, the legal issues. Instead of writing this again, I recommend the Copyright and the Kingdom (slideshow, PDF) from Tim Jore of Distant Shores Media.

Now, if there’s enough buzz from this post (probably from those libraries that I’ve missed), to make this a page to itself, I’ll do it. But, until the Body gets it together in several facets, we’ll continue to have a hard go of things finding not just multi-lingual Christian resources, but simply finding resources at all.

Content Submission

If you create content and would like to submit it for inclusion into any of these libraries, let me recommend that you do so to open libraries such as Open Bible Stories, Project Gutenberg, and Open Church. Its not that the others aren’t good, its just that they aren’t open to all of the world (yet).

Tweets from Monday

Here are the tweets from Monday:

Yep, lots of retweets. Perhaps today might find a bit more nuggets in here. Never know what the day’s social streams offer ;)

Where Are the Bible Database Sources App Developers Can Use?

screenshot of Katana, Maemo Linux open source bible reader
The other day, we received a question asking about the location of Bible databases which would be suitable for using for mobile apps. This is something of an undocumented search I’m afraid, as much of what ends up happening either doesn’t get talked about, or falls under the conversations about copyright, licensing, and digital use we hear about from time to time.

While I was able to give the respondant an answer, I thought it a good idea to also share that answer here and ask you where you might obtain your sources for the religious texts that you use within your mobile apps and services.

  • Logos has the Biblia API which is a set of APi libraries into their content database (20,000 items and growing). I do not remember there being any restrictions on using it for other applications, but you will want to check on that.
  • Crossway has the ESV available in both a packaged download (not necessarily a database) and API calls to their server. There is some restriction on usage
  • Bible.org/NET has the New English Translation (and notes) available as a packaged download. They are working on an API into their texts. Refer to their website for specifics, and you would probably end up crossing paths with many others attempting the same
  • CCEL has several Bibles (many past copyright) and Biblical content. Much of it is in semantic HTML4 documents, packaged as zipped archives. All of those are free to use as long as you keep the attribution in your source documents.
  • The WEB (World English Bible) is mostly an open licensed text, I am not sure of the state of their content [in respect to being usable for inclusion into web/mobile applications or services].
  • You might also want to look into Open Doors and Door 43, as they have been working on an open licensed text/audio biblical library. Their project is in process.
  • If you are looking for audio, your main/best resources are Faith Comes By Hearing and GRN. They do make content deals with [organizations and] developers to offer the content based on you providing to them metrics about use/downloads/etc.

Then there’s BibleDatabase.net, the e-SWORD modules library, and I’m sure a few others that I’ve simply forgotten.

Perhaps, in helping to answer the question of licensing and access, hearing about the challenges around discovery and implementation might lend towards some obvious solutions in this space.

If you have a listing of Biblical sources, definitely respond in the comments. If the list grows sufficiently, then perhaps this information becomes something else added to our page of resources for developers/organizations.

Copyright, Licesning, and Faith-Based Resources

screenshot of the World English Bible copyright and liscense agreement
The publicaion, use, and sharing of religious resources has been a rights issue for as far back as there has been a faith practice to transfer. One can make the call that God even enforced the first rights-management system when he declared that “I am ther Lord your God and you shall have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:2)” Weighty in the respect of reverence, but also in the respect of exclusivity – if there is to be a faith towards a deity, then let your faith towards this one be exculsive and binding.

To that end, the faith world has seen all kinds of challenges to doctrine, dogma, and behavior. Going digital has rekindled some old arguments and founded some new ones. In 2009, we tried to add some sense to the challenge and change that digital contexts makes in regards to copyright/licesning biblical resources. It was one part of an on-going discussion, and one where there just isn’t a clear answer. Its been an intention to add to that article some items of relevance – with a ground literally shifting often. But thankfully, others are picking up the discussion, and the mounting challenges not so much for just having access, but having access that fits the context of digital use and ownership paradigms.

The licenses that govern the use of modern versions of the Bible in English grant very limited, arbitrary permissions for the use of the content. For instance, a person may be permitted to use 250 verses of the Bible (or 500 or 1,000, depending on the publisher) but only if they do not include a complete book of the Bible in their content. The amount of Biblical text they use is usually not allowed to exceed a certain percentage (often 25%, sometimes 50%) of the complete work. The table below lists current (at the time of writing) license restrictions on some common versions of the Bible in modern English. Note that “Max. Verses” refers to the maximum number of verses that may be used, “% of Total” refers to the maximum percentage of the text in the resource that may be Biblical text, and “Complete Book?” refers to whether or not a complete book of the Bible may be used in the resource.2

Version Max. Verses % of Total Complete Book?
CEB3 500 <25% No
ESV4 1,000 <50% No
HCSB5 250 <25% No
NASB6 500 <25% No
NET7 not specified <50% No
NIV8 500 <25% No
NKJV9 1,000 <50% No

Most licenses (though I am not aware of any exceptions) do not explicitly allow freedom beyond these specific permissions, meaning the restriction preventing the translation of the Biblical text has not been lifted. For use of the text that requires more than this—like including the complete text of a book of the Bible—the user must enter into a specific licensing agreement with the copyright holder of the Bible translation. These licensing agreements typically include the negotiations of royalties from the sale of the content back to the owner of the Bible translation.

Read the rest of The Urgent Need for An Open Liscensed Bible in English at Distant Shores Media

Besides being an updated guide, towards the current challenges publishers, participants, and readers have towards digital faith-based resources, it also speaks to the problem of why there is even a greater challenge to create non-English faith resources. Simply put, law and process hasn’t kept pace with technology and behavior.

…Imagine a Christian pastor in Tehran who uses his mobile phone Bible application to search for what the Bible says about “suffering for Christ.” The pastor does not know that the free Bible he is reading on his app is only free in exchange for data about how he uses it. In fact, he cannot even do a search for “suffering” on his phone without a network connection, because his free app with the “free of charge” Bible he is reading phones home to the web service with every search he makes. And when his app phones home to an American website (a Bible website, no less), it may well trip a filter in the Great Iranian Firewall. And maybe around 2am, the pastor gets to find out firsthand what it means to suffer for Christ. Because his app phoned home. Because “free of charge” comes with a tradeoff, when it is not also accompanied by “legal freedom” at the level of content…

While I do think that in some revolutionary ways this will be addressed in my lifetime, I am also very aware that the nature of faith, data, and information lends itself to be something held close and valued towards exclusion rather than shared towards posterity. Hopefully, there can not only be a change that works for all here, but one that compensates rightly all the levels of engagement that it takes to make these resources possible to the global faith community.

Then again, is not part of the definition of religion that of a system that’s exclusive not just in application, but in information shared?

Raising the Bar for Bible Apps

logos bible app screenshotWe come down pretty hard on Bible apps here at MMM. Either they aren’t focused enough, or they have so many features that people get lost in using them (a product focus issue). Nevertheless, there’s always room to talk about what they do well and what can improve from there.

What Mobile Bible Apps Do Well

Its well agreed, even when comparing leading Bible apps to other eBook readers/applications, that Bible applications are well developed for their target. From the handling of notes, to offering different views to compare content. Bible apps seem to run in the lead in respect to having the kind of user experience (UX) that is responsive to many of the needs of the Bible reader.

Footnotes, cross-references, and some even integrate image support better than you’d see on the Nook, Kindle, or other electronic reading devices. Add to that, an large body of content (usually priced appropriately), and you basically have a niche in mobile Bible apps that can pretty much sustain itself – for a little while longer at least.

And then you just have availability. Just look at our Bible apps listing – there’s at least one Bible app (and therefore several Bibles and other religious literature) available for nearly any mobile device. There are even SMS and audio-only options for those folks that would prefer something a bit more responsive to those reading and learning styles. I’ve been around mobile devices and software for a very long time, I don’t know of any genre outside of games that covers such a diverse range of devices and usage types.

What Mobile Bible Apps Don’t Do So Well

Where mobile Bible apps falter, and this is true for just about anything attached to the publishing world, is in two specific areas: access and consistency.

In respect to access, we still have the situation with Bible applications that content is locked to specific applications. Though we are getting better with this – just recently, we saw the release of Simple Bible Pro for HP webOS devices which uses Laridian’s licensed content. Instead of a situation such as a single vendor needing to making an application for (and then support) various mobile platforms, another company has made the application, and there was some cross-licensing able to be done here. This doesn’t happen enough, and therefore Bible software companies are dealing with access the hard way – building platform-centric silos. And in most cases aren’t even taking advantage of respective platform strengths when doing so.

Then there’s consistency. I’ll let Kevin Purcell from Christian Computing Magazine take it form here:

…While all of these are good apps, they have one thing in common. They lag behind their iPad/iPhone counterparts running on iOS in features and sometimes in stability. Let’s take Olive Tree Bible Reader as an example. The iOS version is rock solid and has a lot of great features. It has split screen capability and markup features like book bookmarks and notes. The most recent stable Android version only recently added some of these features, but not all of the iOS features are present yet. Logos has a good iOS app. They haven’t even re-leased an Android version yet, but do have a public beta (see link above). Their beta is little more than a book reader. You cannot compare translations, there is no Passage Guide or Word Study Guide and like the iOS version it has no note taking feature, bookmarking or highlighting. Laridian’s Android app is an alpha, not even a beta. I downloaded it and they have a great start, but it is definitely missing most of the great features of the iPhone version…

Read the rest of his July 2011 article (PDF)

Feature parity is important whether you are doing simple reading, or diving into a more in-depth study with your community. This aspect really hits folks who move to another mobile device and have gotten used ot a specific feature.

How Then to Raise the Bar

This is the part where you make the call. Being that mobile Bible apps have this base, where do they need to improve or become better in your perspective? Let’s hear what you have to say, and maybe the voices can get some of these excellent companies to consider tweaking their offerings in that direction.

Does Publishing Change or Do We

Composed in Evernote, this is a doc that I’ve been working on for a week or so. Hope it comes out nice.

Am sitting is a car at the moment talking about the kiosk project and some of the issues that relate to how the bible publishing industry can move forward. We know for certain that publishing the way that is has been going for the last 50-100 years isn’t going to continue in the face of advancements made digitally. From content distribution to monetization, there are questions to be addressed and none of them will endear easy answers.

Ownership and Access

The common perception of ownership is that of sovereignty and domain. When you purchase a product, you take responsibility of it’s upkeep and any additional service to fix or improve the initially purchased product is done for an additional fee.

Access is the ability to get to content, but not necessarily the ability to change or maintain it. Access usually has additional rules around it such as copying, sharing, and forwarded distribution. In some cases, access might be tied to another service agreement which allows for updates to the content (product) and some kinds of maintenance.

To be blunt, there has never been a model of publishing where we have owned the Bible. Access is granted through agreements we enter into with publishing houses. Distributors may also have a slice of this access pie, but it all ends up in the same equation – you don’t own your biblical material, you are granted access.

Access and Publishing

With that said, the publishing industry would seem to have an excellent heads-up on some of the upcoming trends in this information economy. They have the intent, the content, and the understanding of the marketplace to continue with this model for some time longer. Truly, there are many persons who don’t have access to the Bible or it’s associated materials who would prove to be solid markets for publishing houses to pursue.

Yet, as I look at the world around me, the question about information isn’t ownership, it is access. If I have the access to the source, when I need it, does it make sense to continue to purchase access in silos (books, applications, audio formats)?

The kiosk proposes that someone only needs to know where a central content distribution area is. The internet proposes that you only need to know the website, or at the very least be connected to a person who does have the access and will share it (that link) with you. To a publisher, how does their model of selling success make sense in the light of such changes in the receiving method?

Publishing’s Opportunity to Change

There have been a lot of calls for publishing to change. We’ve gotten into the fray here with our series item The Future of (Biblical) Publishing. And it is true to an extent that publishers are facing the moment of change, thing is, they still hold the cards (content). Therefore, anything that looks like change to them has to ultimately work in their benefit.

Monday Note recently posted an article in a similar scope to MMM’s and came to a similar conclusion:

“Coming back to the subject of this column, the shift from paid-for files to rights for books or digital contents won’t come easily. As a telco exec told me last week: ‘It took centuries to convince people their money was more secure in a bank than under a mattress; convincing them they should trade ownership for access rights will take some time’.”

Publishing’s opportunity to change isn’t just a matter of changing to a digital-enabled economy, but being a literal agent of behavioral change for authors/consumers. But, if I were a publisher, how could I go about changing something that was so embedded into the way we think/use content?

Or, is it us who need to change our viewpoint of what really is the reality of ownership, and modify our perceptions and use to that in light of publishing’s hold on content?