With nearly 500 posts to this blog, its without a doubt that the question above is one that I think about often. With the dearth of social networks, personal weblogs, lodge sites, and Grand lodge sites (not to mention the body of related sites) there is a great potential to communicate the meaning of Freemasonry.
But is that the point of what a website should do?
What then should a Masonic website do? Obviously, the easy answers are that they communicate a time and place of a meeting or function both on a local level and at a state level, and that they should have a degree of education made available for those who want to seek more light on line.
This topic was something that came up recently by one of the newer posters on the blogosphere, the Palmetto Bug, who made a very good point about the separation between web interaction to personal interaction. Is there a way to overcome this wall of personal/impersonal relationships?
Should all of this be a consideration to a Masonic website, or is it still regulated to an informational hub on what goes on at a local level? Is there a happy medium?
With the above in mind I ask you, the readers of this blog, what should a Masonic site look like? If this were a perfect world and you could construct a site, what would you want to see in it?
Let me know in the comment section below. I really want to know and would appreciate your input.
Mon pasteur est Franc-Maçon!
3 hours ago
4 comments:
With the dearth of social networks, personal weblogs, lodge sites, and Grand lodge sites (not to mention the body of related sites) there is a great potential to communicate the meaning of Freemasonry.
(emphasis mine)
Did you really mean "dearth"? It seems like a new Masonic forum opens up every month, and a new blogger appears just as often. MySpace has no lack of S&C messages, and Facebook has several hundred members and related groups at my last check - there may be even more by now.
I'm registered at well over a dozen different web forums. I belong to (I think) three or four other socnet sites, including one which just started a month ago.
The problem is not a lack of places to hang out - the problem is that with so many to choose from, many of them languish for lack of members because some of us - and I'm most guilty of this - end up spreading ourselves too thin.
That said, one might respond that the "cure" would be to have one super-excellent socnet/forum place to go where you can get a bit of everything. The problem is that you simply can't do everything well - you need to focus on certain things and do those well, and hope that people will respond.
or is it still regulated to an informational hub on what goes on at a local level?
Connecticut has a large website, and each lodge has it's own domain. We also have a forum on the GL site, as well as the opportunity to have forums on each lodge site. We have 683 registered members.
We have about the same dozen people who actually use the GL forum.
Likewise, most of the lodges in my district barely use the web calendars that they have been given. We have several training sessions per year to show people how to use the GL calendar and the Search Event function (two drop-down boxes).
I live in two different Masonic "worlds" - one of them is the online place where I get to meet and associate with some great people who live hundreds, if not thousands of miles from me. The other is a place where I get to meet and associate with great people who live within two hours of me. Neither of these worlds seem to interact with each other, except, perhaps, on the rare occasion that somebody near me happens to read a blog or listen to a podcast.
I don't see large online groups or socnets as being particularly useful - at least, not in the practical sense of, say, posting a trestleboard or activities calendar. I do see them as a great way to exchange ideas; they are a way to travel to foreign countries without leaving one's office.
Dearth may not be the right word... at least not without qualifying it. maybe more ...dearth of good...
There is lots out there, but but few really do it really well, or having a specific focus.
Maybe diversity is the way to be. If you don't find something in one place, you go to another.
Great point - agree with you & Tom that we live in two worlds - on line with new friends in distant places and in person at a local level where most(at least of MY local) brethren are older and stare blankly at the mere mention of the word "blog" much less "social networking"
We obviously need both, but perhaps in time we can draw to two closer together - but not to the extent of "holding meetings on-line", etc. We shouldn't go that far.
I was pleasantly surprised by the support I received when I started posting our monthly bulletin in a blogger blog.
http://www.irving1218.org/
Our lodge website wasn't being updated and had gone offline when the gentleman who was hosting it stopped.
I added a "Link List" Blogger.com gadget to serve as our main menu. On the main menu I linked to the posts:
Work Schedule (posts labeled Work schedule)
Officers of Irving Lodge
Permanent Commitees
Past Masters
Affiliated Texas Past Masters
Grand Lodge Website
I also added links to the six lodges in my district.
Setting everything up took very little time. Since it's hosted by Blogger.com I don't have to worry about the site going down or backups failing.
If you want help duplicating what we have then give me a call. I'd be glad to lend a hand.
cheers!
John
972-259-8081
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