austraLasia 1644
Pre-release notice: material that should interest all Salesians, communicators at heart and by charism
CYBERSPACE: 6th September 2006 -- In just 10 days time, a click on your net-connected computer will offer you a real first, a developing work by a committed Catholic communicator, globally acknowledged systems engineer, promoter of Free and Open Source Software, family man, good friend of the Salesians and supporter of our communications charism, Marco Fioretti. Marco will be releasing his major work for forming ordinary folk of their role in active citizenship in a digital world. The work will be entitled The family Guide to Digital Freedom.
The Family Guide is not a software manual, requires no technical knowledge, but it is a knowledgeable, reflective and important appeal to mums, dads, older citizens, educators to rethink, and act on the basis of hopefully newfound convictions. He writes out of long and personal reflection based on wide experience in the digital world (he lived and worked in Silicon Valley during the DotCom Boom - and bust), survived both, then brought the family back to Rome, where he has now teamed up with other committed laity and clergy to study and act on the basis of Church teaching on 'social communications' informed by pragmatic experience in what most would regard as a thoroughly secular field. He has the ability to come over as easily and convincingly as a Bill Gates or a Richard Stallman (the one an IT philanthropist who needs no introduction, the other a Free Software 'apostle' who has also described himself privately as a 'scientific atheist'!). In other words Marco does not 'preach' - he simply tells you how things are, why they could be different, and suggests what you could do to act on that. While I have not as yet read everything he will be making available, I have talked face to face with and corresponded with Marco sufficiently to know what he will be saying. He will be telling us how to act at home, at work, with our money, our work or our vote, to make sure that our true interests, and those of our children, pupils, in our Salesian case 'those to whom we are sent', are protected and advanced.
The guide will be published in October or November in English, with other languages to follow quickly. But of particular interest will be a website associated with the book. This will be made accessible on 16th September. Expect a further austraLasia that day to give you the URL and urge you to follow up at that point.
This is also a good opportunity to point to some unusual other recommended reading for all Salesians! The English edition of the weekly L'Osservatore Romano n. 34, 23 August 2006. It contains a centre spread (yes with colour photos too!) written by a member of a relatively new religious society in the Church, founded in Kerala in 1968, The Missionary Society of St Thomas the Apostle. I personally believe this is the most significant 'ecclesial' comment I have read in recent times on the importance of communications as an integral part of mission and ministry! That is some claim - and you may ask where does it leave Inter Mirifica, Rapid Development, SSCS and a dozen other major statements of great churchmen and movements? It doesn't 'leave' them at all - it takes them on to a new plane: it clarifies theological thinking and should offer every Salesian some ideas that we know from experience to be inherently true - communications ('social' variety, as the Church insists) are not best described simply as media or means, not as instruments, not even as inculturation. Instead communication is the defining factor in creating new culture and establishing meanings. That changes the way we evangelize. Read it, please. Once you survive the first two columns, it is all new and interesting stuff!
___________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com Try out BoscoWiki to be interactive. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm A separate service entirely is called F/OSSERVATORE to help us keep abreast of trends in the digital world.
Pre-release notice: material that should interest all Salesians, communicators at heart and by charism
CYBERSPACE: 6th September 2006 -- In just 10 days time, a click on your net-connected computer will offer you a real first, a developing work by a committed Catholic communicator, globally acknowledged systems engineer, promoter of Free and Open Source Software, family man, good friend of the Salesians and supporter of our communications charism, Marco Fioretti. Marco will be releasing his major work for forming ordinary folk of their role in active citizenship in a digital world. The work will be entitled The family Guide to Digital Freedom.
The Family Guide is not a software manual, requires no technical knowledge, but it is a knowledgeable, reflective and important appeal to mums, dads, older citizens, educators to rethink, and act on the basis of hopefully newfound convictions. He writes out of long and personal reflection based on wide experience in the digital world (he lived and worked in Silicon Valley during the DotCom Boom - and bust), survived both, then brought the family back to Rome, where he has now teamed up with other committed laity and clergy to study and act on the basis of Church teaching on 'social communications' informed by pragmatic experience in what most would regard as a thoroughly secular field. He has the ability to come over as easily and convincingly as a Bill Gates or a Richard Stallman (the one an IT philanthropist who needs no introduction, the other a Free Software 'apostle' who has also described himself privately as a 'scientific atheist'!). In other words Marco does not 'preach' - he simply tells you how things are, why they could be different, and suggests what you could do to act on that. While I have not as yet read everything he will be making available, I have talked face to face with and corresponded with Marco sufficiently to know what he will be saying. He will be telling us how to act at home, at work, with our money, our work or our vote, to make sure that our true interests, and those of our children, pupils, in our Salesian case 'those to whom we are sent', are protected and advanced.
The guide will be published in October or November in English, with other languages to follow quickly. But of particular interest will be a website associated with the book. This will be made accessible on 16th September. Expect a further austraLasia that day to give you the URL and urge you to follow up at that point.
This is also a good opportunity to point to some unusual other recommended reading for all Salesians! The English edition of the weekly L'Osservatore Romano n. 34, 23 August 2006. It contains a centre spread (yes with colour photos too!) written by a member of a relatively new religious society in the Church, founded in Kerala in 1968, The Missionary Society of St Thomas the Apostle. I personally believe this is the most significant 'ecclesial' comment I have read in recent times on the importance of communications as an integral part of mission and ministry! That is some claim - and you may ask where does it leave Inter Mirifica, Rapid Development, SSCS and a dozen other major statements of great churchmen and movements? It doesn't 'leave' them at all - it takes them on to a new plane: it clarifies theological thinking and should offer every Salesian some ideas that we know from experience to be inherently true - communications ('social' variety, as the Church insists) are not best described simply as media or means, not as instruments, not even as inculturation. Instead communication is the defining factor in creating new culture and establishing meanings. That changes the way we evangelize. Read it, please. Once you survive the first two columns, it is all new and interesting stuff!
___________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com Try out BoscoWiki to be interactive. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm A separate service entirely is called F/OSSERVATORE to help us keep abreast of trends in the digital world.
