On Baha’is in the Blogosphere: A grassroots participatory undertaking
By george wesley dannells on Jan 23, 2007 in Baha'i Views
The remarkable growth of the “blogosphere”—an arena primarily for individual initiative—offers opportunities to explore Bahá’í teachings and Bahá’í community activity through a personal lens that has previously not been available. Because of its unique interactive aspects, blogging opens new avenues for sharing the message of Bahá’u’lláh. The networking phenomenon associated with blogs allows for information to reach potentially large numbers of like-minded people.
In some respects, individual blogging mirrors in the Internet space the “friends, family, neighbors and co-workers” approach of the core activities now at the heart of Bahá’í community expansion and development. It is a grassroots participatory undertaking. Even if only a handful of friends and acquaintances read one’s blog, that blog can serve as an instrument to draw that particular “community of interest” to the Revelation and to Bahá’í community activity. Thus, a thousand such small blogs might be just as effective as a few highly visible blogs.
Because the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh provides insight into all areas of human life, the range of possible blog themes is vast—for example, sharing stories and experiences that have spiritual significance; correlation of the Bahá’í teachings with contemporary social challenges; presentation and exploration of the Creative Word; our spiritual purpose and how one’s relationship with Bahá’u’lláh allows one to navigate the challenges of life; basic beliefs of the Faith; community and family life; artistic expression and Bahá’í identity; the pursuit of moral excellence; the relationship of the Faith with other religions; the Bahá’í vision of the future; the model of the Bahá’í administrative order; defense of the Faith; social action; experiences with core activities, youth year of service, or pioneering, etc.
“Blogosphere en la ACM,” Uploaded on December 11, 2004 by fernand0 on flickr
On Jan 24, 2007, Bryan said:
You know, I went to the SED Conference, and I complete missed this paper and the entire topic! It’s so exciting to see that there are other Baha’is out there getting comfortable with the idea of blogging, especially when it comes to integrating it with our activities.
Is there any way you could e-mail the paper to me (bgtribble@comcast.net)? Thanks a ton!
On Jan 29, 2007, Anonymous said:
The Blogging paper and other documents produced by the Baha’i Internet Agency can be found at:
bcca.org/bia