9. 02/13/15 9
Browse search mode is alphabetical and cumbersome to work
through with the confusing expression of topics, Latin terms and
names variations.
Each article can be more quickly looked through with a section
subheading guide.
Related topics or related persons links are useful.
Standardised features – highlighting key texts / send selected texts
to Facebook or email / text enlargement / favourites selection.
11. 02/13/15 11
Mauro Dalu (Official Rep) 12 months ago
Hello Joanne,
Our apps contents are officially licensed and authorized by the
International Commission on English in the Liturgy and by the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Our Bible App carries the "imprimatur" of the New American Bible.
The Liturgy of the Hours audio is produced according to the "approved" general
instructions, which represent our reference and set the boundaries of our "creative
freedom".
Our podcast and apps are used regularly by ordained people.
That said, you should also be aware that our Liturgy of the Hours production is a work-
in-progress as we record new audio and implement the new translation of the Missal for
the concluding prayers, therefore whenever we get pointed to typos and mistakes, we
promptly correct them in a continuing effort to improve the prayer experience of our
community.
As a side note, I do not know of any app that has received an official,
formal recognition by the Vatican in terms of an "approval".
Many apps, including ours, have received words of appreciation from
the clergy, and some of them in written form. That does not
necessarily imply any app or podcast received an official "approval" or
"endorsement" from the Catholic Church.
Thank you, Mauro.
https://getsatisfaction.com/divine_office/topics/church_appoved
App publishers - their
purpose and context.
What did you find out?.....
Thanks for that collaboration.
Let’s start… In inquiry learning when we start a new topic. we set some parameters to the information search and final presentation.
We will be looking at the following broad categories.
Note that I have “snippy’ed” the app store details indicating:
description, features, cost, authorship.
Very informative content but some of the features in the e-text version are hard to use. Published originally in a 15 volume encyclopaedia. Sheer volume of downloaded data and the recent IO6 update makes it rougher to run.
Understand that it is very helpful on Church history and theology up to 1917 but has no further updates. 20th and 21st century Catholic church is not mentioned.
Search tool is present but could have had predictive text to make finding information easier due to number of entries and complexity of Latin terms or complex European names.
For an app it’s expensive at $10.00 but understandable as you download a 15 volume encyclopaedia.
The text is well known as an authoritive Catholic encyclopaedia, but in general app authorship can be unclear even in this authoritive text. (See last paragraph)
However for many apps the authorship is very difficult to discern and therefore raises worries as to the content and its application in the religion classroom.
Further features of the Catholic Encyclopaedia:
Search mode operation is alphabetical but cumbersome to work through with the confusing expression of complex theological topics, Latin terms historical events and name variations. Not an easy resource for a young or adolescent reader.
Each article could be more quickly looked through with an article section subheading guide.
Related topics or related persons links are useful.
Standardised features – highlighting key texts / send selected texts to Facebook or email / text enlargement / favourites selection.
Makes use of the same structure as the Catechism being divided in Part / Section / Chapter / Specific Q and A.
The search facility is good and fast, but you must know exactly what term you need to search on.
Direct comparison test of time taken to find a specific question and answer between paper version to electronic version catechisms, indicated very little difference in time saving.
Usual good features to send content to Facebook or email are present.
Authorship and credentials become important to evaluate the theological authority and integrity of the app.
This app originally worked but now…..
Waiting for the technical issues to be resolved.
This e-zine is found online and in the app store.
Authority - clear US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Some articles are free and some through subscription.
Easy reading and informative content.
Sample Word among us e-zine pages.
Updated monthly.
It becomes important to establish early the promised functionality, Bible translation, source material and cost.
Here the initial purchase of software shell and is moderate for an app, but then subsequent purchases are required for the other Bible versions.
The initial Bible version is NABRE – North American Bible Revised Edition and the more preferred translation for Australian Catholic secondary students would be NRSV Bible translation. (New Revised Standard Version).
Could be an IOS version error - Ability to create personalised notes wasn’t working.
Previous apps are basically paper text scanned to e-text formats with social networking links and some interactivity.
The next few apps feature user significant interactivity. 3D - information popups, multimedia, virtual reality walk - though.
Exciting visually
Even balance in explanation to all the Christian faiths maintaining the Holy Sepulchre.
Apps from other Christian faiths.
As long as you can identify authorship purpose and theological context some apps can assist the user to understand better the life of Jesus.
iWitness is a series of 3 apps examining Bible texts and the life of Jesus.
Multimedia visual effects are very interactive and intuitive.
Memory heavy. Needs ipad 2 or higher.
Context - Text is an example of Christian Apologetics. Apologists have based their defence of Christianity on historical evidence, philosophical arguments, scientific investigation, and arguments from other disciplines.
Some variation from Roman Catholic bible interpretation, historical sources.
Author’s faith background and context is difficult to identify in separate Internet searches.
Secular interactive apps that discuss Christian content.
National Geographic yearly subscription. Well regarded authorship and photography.
Special feature is the interactivity.
Timeline demonstrates the historical traditions underlying or related to the different translations.
Photo wall is seamless.
Bible versions zoom in and out for closer inspection and explanation.
Unifying purpose and theme is that each map must relate to historical Holy Land.
Maps visually pleasing and interesting but difficult to find initial publication source or faith context of each map. Variety of language formats, bible versions, and attached commentaries. Maps come from different historical contexts and purposes, cartographers, different map scales and projection points. To effectively use it in the classroom. Requires greater knowledge of scholarship sources and theological content.
Apps that contain a Christian message embedded in a literary text.
Interactive – reader encouraged to tap the screen to find the hotspots.
Well illustrated with voiceover to assist young readers.
Collection of bible stories.
Nativity text for young readers.
Animated voice over with text highlight.
Story well paced.
Further colouring interactivity.
