austraLasia #1799
Digital virtues - a useful resource
ROME: Palm Sunday 2007 -- Even though the austraLasia numbering system suggests we are just about to enter the 19th century, at 1799, the topic of this news item isdefinitely something for the 21st! 'Digital virtues'.
Readers may now have access to a work that began some years ago, and has reached completion for just three 'digital virtues': detachment, fidelity, persistence. The completed work, if and when, will contain seven such virtues. A fourth is virtually (!) complete, a fifth sitting around in note form, a sixth on the drawing board and the seventh barely conceived as yet.
The context out of which these 'virtues' have arisen is a set of circumstances that required some responses to whether the digital world impinges on a Religious Congregation (or Church group along those lines) in a particular way, but the context has developed somewhat - as the first 'virtue' was completed, and presented to a group in India, after having been earlier presented in its draft form in Africa, the response was encouraging, to say the least. 'Digital Detachment' was seized upon for likely publication in a philosophical magazine, and was subsequently translated into Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese for distribution in a number of nations using those languages. The most recent group to show interest was RIIAL, already spoken of, (South America), who offered to translate and distribute any further 'virtues' of this kind in Spanish throughout the RIIAL network, which is Latin America.
The three completed digital virtues benefit from being read in sequence, beginning with 'detachment', then 'fidelity', then 'persistence', though they can be read independently with profit. (When and if others follow, the fourth will be 'friendship' and the fifth 'wisdom'; the sixth or will it be the seventh, is likely to be 'governance', ...). The first is rather solid in content, but establishes a number of the basic principles. There is a degree of repetition throughout the series, but it is cumulative, or spiral repetition and should assist understanding rather than be annoying.
To the best of this writer's knowledge, no previous work of this kind has been attempted. In that sense, then, it breaks new ground. While principles are being established, the purpose of the essays is practical - to help Religious to adopt sound practices in something that is now a part of their lives - the digital environment in which they live. The essays assume a context of computers and internet, but the observation is that no matter where one goes these days, (talking here of Salesians in particular), one finds computers, and some degree of internet access, even if only just sometimes and for a few minutes. The essays are not so much about equipment and hardware and all that sort of thing; rather they are about developing a new mentality to ensure that those we minister to now, and those who follow us, are advantaged by our digital habits. The overall viewpoint is a positive (hence 'virtues') appreciation of what we have on hand, rather than its problematic side - there is enough of that about. Digital Virtues explores potential, while hinting at lost opportunities if we don't do things right.
You can either read the three virtues online or download them for reading on screen - or download them as RTF files (which effectively means lightly formatted text which will open in any word processor at all). You will find them at www.bosconet.aust.com in the 'what's new' section for the time being. Happy reading!
_________________
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 . Use BoscoWiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at at http:sdl.sdb.org. To contact austraLasia by voice on Skype, the Skype name is austraLasia.
Digital virtues - a useful resource
ROME: Palm Sunday 2007 -- Even though the austraLasia numbering system suggests we are just about to enter the 19th century, at 1799, the topic of this news item isdefinitely something for the 21st! 'Digital virtues'.
Readers may now have access to a work that began some years ago, and has reached completion for just three 'digital virtues': detachment, fidelity, persistence. The completed work, if and when, will contain seven such virtues. A fourth is virtually (!) complete, a fifth sitting around in note form, a sixth on the drawing board and the seventh barely conceived as yet.
The context out of which these 'virtues' have arisen is a set of circumstances that required some responses to whether the digital world impinges on a Religious Congregation (or Church group along those lines) in a particular way, but the context has developed somewhat - as the first 'virtue' was completed, and presented to a group in India, after having been earlier presented in its draft form in Africa, the response was encouraging, to say the least. 'Digital Detachment' was seized upon for likely publication in a philosophical magazine, and was subsequently translated into Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese for distribution in a number of nations using those languages. The most recent group to show interest was RIIAL, already spoken of, (South America), who offered to translate and distribute any further 'virtues' of this kind in Spanish throughout the RIIAL network, which is Latin America.
The three completed digital virtues benefit from being read in sequence, beginning with 'detachment', then 'fidelity', then 'persistence', though they can be read independently with profit. (When and if others follow, the fourth will be 'friendship' and the fifth 'wisdom'; the sixth or will it be the seventh, is likely to be 'governance', ...). The first is rather solid in content, but establishes a number of the basic principles. There is a degree of repetition throughout the series, but it is cumulative, or spiral repetition and should assist understanding rather than be annoying.
To the best of this writer's knowledge, no previous work of this kind has been attempted. In that sense, then, it breaks new ground. While principles are being established, the purpose of the essays is practical - to help Religious to adopt sound practices in something that is now a part of their lives - the digital environment in which they live. The essays assume a context of computers and internet, but the observation is that no matter where one goes these days, (talking here of Salesians in particular), one finds computers, and some degree of internet access, even if only just sometimes and for a few minutes. The essays are not so much about equipment and hardware and all that sort of thing; rather they are about developing a new mentality to ensure that those we minister to now, and those who follow us, are advantaged by our digital habits. The overall viewpoint is a positive (hence 'virtues') appreciation of what we have on hand, rather than its problematic side - there is enough of that about. Digital Virtues explores potential, while hinting at lost opportunities if we don't do things right.
You can either read the three virtues online or download them for reading on screen - or download them as RTF files (which effectively means lightly formatted text which will open in any word processor at all). You will find them at www.bosconet.aust.com in the 'what's new' section for the time being. Happy reading!
_________________
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 . Use BoscoWiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at at http:sdl.sdb.org. To contact austraLasia by voice on Skype, the Skype name is austraLasia.
