 Technology and Bible Study Phil Butler 2/9/11

Two parts  Website  Bible study on the Computer

Hardin Valley Website    Public area  Member’s area

Public area – Today’s Verse

Public area – Calendar

Public area – Sermons

Public area – Links

Member’s area – Login  Use your full address.  Problems with login – let me know.  Guest access – guest / live4jesus  Guest access does not have the member directory.

Member’s area – Miscellaneous  Connection - Can download current and back-issues  Library – online listing of our growing print library  Contacts – phone/ of all of our leaders  Prayer List – recent items needing our prayers  Worship assignments  Calendar – same as public calendar but with more info  Yellow Pages – do business with fellow members

Member’s area – Member Directory  For HV members only  Use search box to filter  Search on name, city, phone number, etc.  Click on family name to get detailed info  larger photo, address, phone numbers, , birthdays, etc.

Member Directory

Bible Study on the Computer  Websites  Computers  Desktop  Laptop  Phones, etc.  iPhone  iPad  iPod Touch  Blackberry  Android  E-Readers  Kindle  Nook

Why use a computer at all ?  Searching  Syncing – keep your notes and bookmarks in more than one place  Portable – dozens of translations and reference

What can be done ?  Reading bible  Translation selection  Navigation  Search  Reference  Commentary  Personal notes/bookmarks

Requirements/Wish List  Want to be able to read the bible on the computer, web, and/or smart device  Want multiple translations  Audio bible  Reference capabilities  Want bookmark and notes capability  Would like to sync between computer and smart device  Ideally, be able to export raw data (bookmarks, notes, etc.)  Able to print/share notes/bookmarks/highlights

Resource - Christian Computing Magazine  - back issues available free in PDF form.  Jan 2011 – General discussion of Bible software  Nov 2010 – Mac Bible software  Oct 2010 – Logos  Sept 2010 – e-sword  June 2010 – iPad apps  May 2010 – iPad apps  Jan 2010 – Wordsearch  Dec 2009 – Quickverse/BibleGlo  Sept 2009 – iPhone  Sept 2010 – Taking notes

Side note  Haven’t found the ideal package yet  Cross-platform with syncing  NIV  Commentaries / Dictionaries  Free or cheap  Easy to use

Websites  BibleGateway.com  Nice interface  Used on the Bible Bowl site (web scraping)  Audio  Heartlight.org   Used on the HV website  Reference tools  Biblia.com  Companion to Logos software  Others listed on the HV website (Links -> Online Study)  If you have more, let’s add it

Logos (Dan Spann)   Platforms: Windows/Mac/iOS/Android/Web  Very powerful – probably the Cadillac of Bible study software  Just about every word/name is hot-linked  Commentaries / People / Places  Web access - biblia.com  Somewhat expensive to get NIV. Very expensive for a large library.

WORDSearch (Bob Hunter)   Platforms: Windows / Mac  “enormous resource for a very reasonable price”  Commentaries, Dictionaries, etc.  Price – about $40 + $30 for NIV

Glo   Platform: Windows  Interactive, Immersive  Virtual tours & video

Tecarta (Kathy Swallows)   Platforms: iOS (iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch), Android  Nice and intuitive interface  Notes, bookmarks, parallel translations  Somewhat clunky (incomplete) web interface – but it does sync  No native Windows/Mac software  Price: Free – streaming, NIV offline version is $10

Tecarta

YouVersion (Keith Weber)   Platforms: iOS, Blackberry, Android, Mobile web, web  Nice interface – notes, bookmarks, history, reading plans  Web interface – no native software – but can sync with mobile  NIV requires internet connection on mobile devices  Affects speed and availability  Price: Free

YouVersion

Just 1 Word   Platforms: iOS, Android, Blackberry, web  Nice interface – notes, bookmarks, history, reading plans  Explore Bible books, keywords, stories, topics, devotions  Nice book/chapter/verse navigation  Nice verse highlighting  What’s Happening  Web and mobile interfaces are clean and complete – however cannot sync between them.  Price: Free – NIV offline version download is $7

Just 1 Word

Many more…  Mantis  Olive Tree  Laridian

Summary and Warning  There are a lot of good tools out there for Bible study using today’s technology. We can hope that the tools will evolve – knowing that the Word will always be the same.  With Bibles on our computers and phones, it is possible to read 5 minutes here and there while at work, while our car is in the shop, or while at the hair salon. However, we should not rely ONLY on this for study. We should have a time for study and not only give God’s Word our left-over time.