John’s on the verge of publishing something new, and a good bit further reaching. His upcoming book, From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology seeks to catalyze what’s been heard/seen on his blog (Don’t Eat the Fruit) as well as when you get to chat with him in person or virtually. That is, there are both positive and negative implications to technology that influence and are influenced by our association with faith. His exploration of this topic is something I’m itching to be ready to read once it comes out (August). Here’s the text from the back cover:
Technology—from the first stone tool to the latest smartphone—has changed our daily routine, the way we communicate, and even how we encounter God. We often laud the benefits of technology (increased quality of life, faster ways to spread the gospel) or bemoan the detriments of technology (decreased attention spans, reduced interpersonal contact), but fail to properly address its transformative power. Where does technology fit into the larger Biblical story?
From the Garden to the City deconstructs the concept of technology and examines it through the lens of Scripture. Studying Bible passages and insights from the best thinkers on technology, theology, and culture, John Dyer shows how technology left unexamined can enslave us rather than honor God and fulfill his plan for us. With helpful observations and practical application, Dyer issues an urgent challenge to live faithfully in this technology-saturated world.
Before From the Garden to the City is released, there are a few things John is doing to keep the interest. One of them is that he’s got a survey-of-sorts on the book’s website where based on what services are used to promote his upcoming book, a specific chapter of the book would be unlocked for all to read freely. He’s using the social networking technologies as a viral-like means to promote the book, and the strength of networks and promotion will be what unlocks the book. Nifty.
To track the eventual book release, check out From the Garden to the City’s website. To check out some of the kinds of thinking that John has going into this book, I’d recommend following his blog Don’t Eat the Fruit – lots of nuggets just happen to fall off that tree.
And if you can’t wait until August, check out this listing of reads that John’s posted about. Time to knock off some items from my Amazon Wishlist 
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John Dyer and Digital Bible Society Introduce Bible Browser
Thursday, March 15th, 2012Was meandering about the web when I saw a note from John Dyer speaking about a new(ish) project he worked on with the Digital Bible Society (DBS). Called the Bible Browser, its very similar to the apprach I’ve taken with the All Books Project in terms of making a Bible reader that is built with HTML, CSS, and jQuery. John’s a better coder (by a few country miles) than I, and there were several groups participating in this project, so the end result is a good bit more polished, and further ahead. Still, the Bible Browser represents what I think should be the base level of performace and integration we should be seeing in the use of HTML as a platform for publishing with the Bible starting as the foundation.
Here’s a bit more about the project from John’s announcement:
Very cool stuff. We’ve added it to the Bible Apps page and definitely want to encourage you to check out the Digital Bible Society’s website and support their efforts. John Dyer also has some other neat projects which are great to take a look into (Bib.ly, Bible Web App, etc.) and support.
Now, back to work on All Books… am encouraged to continue and persue this project’s direction.
Tags: All Books, All Books Project, Bible apps, Bible Browser, CSS, DBS, Digital Bible Society, Don't Eat the Fruit, HTML, HTML5, John Dyer, jQuery, jQuery Mobile, mobile in development, mobile in missions/evangelism, mobile in moment, mobile in personal/moment, NET Bible, security, web apps
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