The Web can help build community among subscribers to the Church’s periodicals
July 2010. The July issue of The Christian Science Journal reported a visit by two Trustees of The Christian Science Publishing Society and two Editors of the Heralds through Germany, Switzerland, and France to conduct meetings about the future of the Herald. How can our religious periodicals do more to strengthen the activity and progress of all its members? “The Trustees explained that some very specific ideas have been emerging, and the Publishing Society has benefited greatly from lessons learned from the The Christian Science Monitor’s transformation [to Web based format] over the last year.”
The report by Michael Pabst and Scott Preller continues: “Many longtime readers of the Monitor … have also come to depend upon the daily, and even hourly, updates that happen on the Monitor’s website. In that same light, it’s helpful to consider some of the similar ways the Internet could continue to strengthen our religious periodicals. These organs need to be able to communicate information and inspiration to the many members of the Church body. Space doesn’t allow us to publish all of the announcements and activities of our Church in the printed Journal, and publishing schedules don’t always allow us to publish articles needed to address world events as quickly as we’d like. But both of these things are possible on the Web.”
“We also shared how the Web can help us develop more of a sense of community among our subscribers. Those who had visited the Web pages of TMC Youth or spirituality.com and had seen some of the community input that takes place, could readily grasp some idea of the kind of interchange we see as possible between readers and writers. And … it’s easy to imagine how much value will be added to their subscriptions when they can eventually access and search all of the bound volumes as well.”
“This new vision of our periodicals means that it will be possible to have a great deal more content available to readers.” To read the full article in the July Journal, please visit a Christian Science Reading Room.
Posted: July 27, 2010 | 9:41 am
Comments:
1. David K. McClurkin says:
Thank you for highlighting this discussion of “The Power of Unity” article in the July issue of the Christian Science Journal.
Many members of The Mother Church must agree that the “Web-first” platform for The Christian Science Monitor has successfully moved the paper into the new frontier of modern news reporting and analysis. Doing so has kept the paper “abreast of the times” as Mrs. Eddy requires. I am most grateful for that.
While all our periodicals deliver the “news” of renewal and redemption, they each meet and serve a fundamentally different need. They record the deeper concepts of Christian Science in the Journal. They stand watch over our own thoughts about us and the World in the Sentinel. They announce activities and ideas directed toward non-English speaking areas in the Heralds.
Could they do this effectively in a Web-first platform? Certainly, but the tangible products themselves must be always available and not fade from view and their unique utility. Just as we “read beyond the markings” in study, the periodicals as they are now encourage the reader to reach deeper into the pool of ideas in each issue.
Perhaps this is rather like the discussion of e-reader “books” vs. tangible books! What assurance can be given that today’s printed products will be always available?
2. hedrickj says:
The July Journal article doesn’t mention a “Web-first” program for the Christian Science periodicals. It mentions a willingness to explore new ideas for utilizing the Web to strengthen the periodicals and better meet the needs of members and readers worldwide. Amen to that.
3. Sandi Stricklin says:
What about pushing articles to all platforms (email, iPad, iPhone, etc) based on subjects we define in preferences we set up? For example we can define keywords for “finance”, “health”, “injury”, “disease” etc. If your articles are tagged with appropriate keywords we’ll have a wealth of information coming that’s relevant to us at that moment. Then we can change our preferences at any time to see more.
4. Susie says:
Great ideas, Sandi. Please keep sharing them. There are many folks at The Mother Church working and praying together about the best ways to bring ideas, articles, and other media to the web via email, websites, social media, and mobile applications. We’re taking one step at a time, and we definitely welcome all ideas and support.
5. Les says:
Isn’t the bottom line of any business money? How can a church provide publications if there are no paying subscribers or advertisers? Can you provide figures on how much revenue online subscriptions and advertising are adding to the bottom line?
Submit a comment: