Last week, we were contacted by Aaron Frey, who has begin a Kickstarter project called PearlVault asking to help get the word out about this project. We’ve not talked about some of the struggles with notes and electronic Bibles in a long time (something from 2008, and another something from 2006), and so getting this note about PearlVault reopens that conversation alongside the other collaborative features many have asked for in the Bible software domain.
About PearlVault
From the Kickstarter page:
…This project will create a web portal where you can take your Bible study notes so that they are searchable, taggable and indexed according to Bible references. It will also allow you to attach notes to words from a particular Bible translation–or even words from the original Greek or Hebrew. It will be optimized for the easy discovery of past notes whenever you study that same passage/word/topic again. It will also be optimized for use on mobile devices so that, even when you are away from your desktop, you are never away from your Bible notes. And PearlVault, should this project succeed, will be available for the rest of your life, independent of whatever study environment you use otherwise.
Essentially, your Bible reader of choice will utilize PearlVault as the syncing-linchpin for your notes content between Bible apps. Not a bad idea, and definitely down the road towards how we’ve supported similar-featured projects in the past in regards to being able to have more liberty with the content you create or own.
[Click here if unable to see the video embedded above]
The Challenge for PearlVault
The challenge for PearlVault is getting enough buy-in and interest from Bible publishers and software companies to support this effort. Hence, the Kickstarter project. Your notes would be stored outside of the application, so that in the case you’d decide to move to another Bible software suite, that you’d not lose the content you’ve already created. As it stands right now, of the Bible software programs which have a notes functionality, many times this is a feature within the application and you usually need an additional piece of software (or in some cases a full PC) to take the notes from the application and put it into a more generic format.
The other challenge actually comes from the users of Bible software. Much like with versions of the Bible, software can become an issue of comfort and attachment. And unless circumstances dictate otherwise, many people will stick with the same Bible software family for many years. Now, when they do change, there’s some general flow towards how they evolve with Bible software:
- Many start with a free, gifted, or low-cost package; as they become more skilled in using the software, they may opt for the paid content or a paid Bible app with a similar user interface (UI);
- Some start with a recommendation of personable apps such as Olive Tree, Pocket Bible, YouVersion, Logos, etc.; sometimes with the encouragement to try a few of these before settling on one; in the meantime, notes and other content is being generated that won’t transfer to the app they settle to
- The last step forks one of two ways: either the person is such the student of the text (w/pastorial responsibility) that Logos and their deep library is the only option, or they are a mild-academic in terms of the text, looking to some of the lighter Logos packages, or the wares of Olive Tree, Accordance, or eSword (depending on content needs); the latter group is likely to use more than one Bible software package
Having said this, the challenge is actually quite apparent. Even if a person moves up and through several leagues of Bible software, they will have some (not major) difficulity in keeping their notes attached (programatically) to the text. Now, do know that we are talking about a specific set of Bible software users here, its not the normal course for non-pastor/teacher types to go through several iterations of software – folks just aren’t that patient. Those who are, and who have a genuine joy for searching the Scriptures so that this issue of notes between apps comes into play, just have different needs that’s not been met as of yet which PearlVault seeks to do.
More Information, Supporting PearlVault
PearlVault is using Kickstarter in order to raise the funds needed to support the building and maintaining of the service which will be hosting these linked notes. It is also in place to log the interest of people for such functionality. By placing your donation into the project, you help Frey’s discussion with Bible publishers and software developers who sometimes don’t want to look outside of their products, but do know that the user at times will.
Some additional information about PearVault and Aaron Frey’s motivations for the project have been detailed in an interview over at Christiandroid. Definitely check that out as it goes into a bit more than the Kickstarter page towards the project’s vision and aims.
And finally, support Aaron. Having been on the side of trying to just make Bibles available between platforms, I admire and affirm Aaron Frey’s project and what it aims to do for everyone who gets value out of storing, rereading, and sharing Biblical notes.
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Noticing Things with Bible Formats
Friday, November 19th, 2010A Short History of Files
Years ago, I got involved with the Palm Bible+ project as the webmaster and a user. As one of the few free Bible applications (at that time), Bible+ used to get all kinds of requests for Bibles in various languages. This was usually easy to do with a bit of programming on the part of the user, but you usually ended up with a Bible that would only work with that application.
In a similar fashion, there was the eSword application and Bibles created for it. This application were also free to distribute and worked across several desktop PC platforms. In the years since initially running into the eSword project, there’s been several updates to the file format, including the use of the STEP format, and the creating of a Windows Mobile client to also read these texts.
On the other side of the Bible+ project was the move to DRM texts. The original developer of the Palm Bible Reader made steps to create a version of the Bible reader that would accept copyrighted texts. The Bible+ project grew out of this, yet it was clear at this point that there would need to be two methods for handling Biblical text/media.
The Dollar Items
Of course, not everything can be for free, and as we’ve chatted about here several times, the issue of Bible formatting is a sensitive one for those publishers and developers involved.
There is a clear line though towards Bible formats and what becomes needed to be paid for. For example, there has always been numerous versions of the Bible available for free – but, it had not been until recently (past three years) that you’d be able to find some of the more modern translations available for free. These were (rightly) tied to an application, and coded to work specifically with that body of text.
This works well when you are talking about the audience of readers whom are invested into reading the text – those people who are new to the faith, or who only see the Bible for a casual reading/reference work will place a different value to it, and therefore look at the cost of it to them differently.
Not everything can be free, and not everything will fly off the shelves priced too far away. There’s got to be some kind of answer to this issue, and maybe it is near the actual formats that are used in various Bible applications.
What I Noticed
When looking at the Mobile Bibles page, I noticed a few things. The Bible+ Project was originally just for one platform, and the Bibles created for it can now be read in PalmOS Classic, Symbian, BlackBerry OS, and Maemo/MeeGo. Bibles made for the eSword environment also are supported on several platforms (Windows/Mac/Linux, Maemo, Maemo/MeeGo, and some previous Windows Mobile devices).
And that’s the free stuff. When you get to the paid Bibles, there’s compatiability for everything from Java-based handsets, to iOS (iPad, iPhone), Android, Symbian, and BlackBerry mobile devices.
A newer approach is being taken on by Logos, with the Biblia API project. Here, its not so much the actual reading environment that is being pressed, but you are given content, and have the ability (through license agreement) to use that content in a manner that works best for you. So here, you are using both new and old texts, free and paid texts, in a connected space, over a browser, or a customized (for the platform) application. So far, other companies aren’t going this route, but I do postulate that this would be the eventual end of much of the content that we deal with Biblically when consistent connectivity (QoS) isn’t in question.
In effect, everything is covered by two approaches to Bible formats:
I think that we still need to get to a point of seeing one commonly used Bible format, with the sharing, purchasing, etc. components handled by device/user tokens. And we might get there. Looking at just what is available now, and how the needs of those looking for Bibles are being addressed, it looks like we might essentially get there – but with users needing to pay as much attention to the reading platform, as much as they do the text itself.
At least that’s what it looks like on our Mobile Bibles page. I’ll probably tweak this page even more later when more of these associations are noticed. Besides making it easier for you to find a reader, it might help you make better decisions about how to manage your digital Biblical assets before the next major change hits several more software/development companies in this space.
And to think, I’m not even touching (yet) audio Bibles
Tags: Android, Bible, bible software, bibles, BlackBerry, eSword, file formats, files, Future Trends Series, hardware, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Java, Maemo, MeeGo, mobile platforms, mobility, open source, PalmOS, publishing, software, webOS
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