Common English Bible Named Among Top Religion Stories of 2011

 

The completion of the new Common English Bible (http://CommonEnglishBible.com) translation is among the top 10 religion stories of 2011 as decided by leading religion journalists in the 30th annual Religion Newswriters Association survey.

The Common English Bible (Twitter @CommonEngBible – http://twitter.com/CommonEngBible) is newsworthy for several reasons:

·         Its objective: the Common English Bible uses a natural English vocabulary to clearly and freshly communicate the ancient sacred text in a world where 9,000 new words & meaning revisions are added yearly to the English lexicon.

·         Its speed: the Common English Bible took only four years to accomplish – a phenomenal feat when compared with other recent modern English Bible translations that took 10-17 years to complete.

·         Its efficiency: the Common English Bible was able to be completed so rapidly due to the translation process using an online project management database that permitted more than 200 collaborators (translators, editors, and field testers) to communicate immediately. The project was constructed in a workflow matrix with more than 400 overlapping parts.

·         Its breadth: the Common English Bible is a collaboration of 120 academic scholars and editors, 77 reading group leaders, and more than 500 average readers from around the world who joined together to clearly translate the Bible’s original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages directly into 21st century English.

·         Its balance: the Common English Bible translators – from 24 denominations in American, African, Asian, European, and Latino communities – represent such academic institutions as Asbury Theological Seminary, Azusa Pacific University, Bethel Seminary, Denver Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, Seattle Pacific University, Wheaton College, Yale University, and many others.

·         Its understandability: The Common English Bible is written in contemporary idiom at the same reading level as the newspaper USA TODAY—using language that’s comfortable and accessible for today’s English readers.

·         Its uniqueness: the Common English Bible is the only translation to combine highly respected ecumenical biblical scholarship necessary for serious study with field-tested responsiveness to 21st century clear communication requirements for comprehensive clarity.

·         Its contractions: the Common English Bible is the only translation to extensively use contractions where the text warrants an engaging conversational style (although contractions are not used in divine or poetic discourse).

·         Its cartography: the Common English Bible is the only translation that includes exclusive, detailed color maps from National Geographic, well known for its accurate topographical map making.

·         Its acceptance: the complete Bible, including an edition with the Apocrypha, released in August 2011. More than half-a-million copies of the Bible are already in print. It’s also available online and in 20 digital formats. A reference Bible edition and a daily companion devotional edition are now also available.

More than 140 international bloggers are currently participating in the three-month long “Thank You-Come Again-I Promise” blog tour (from November 2011 through January 2012). The complete tour schedule, and information about joining the tour, is available at CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/blogtour (http://www.CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/blogtour). The tour Twitter hashtag is #CEBtour (http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23cebtour).

Visit CommonEnglishBible.com to see comparison translations, learn about the translators, get free downloads, and more.

The Common English Bible is sponsored by the Common English Bible Committee, an alliance of five publishers that serve the general market, as well as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) (Chalice Press), Presbyterian Church (USA) (Westminster John Knox Press), Episcopal Church (Church Publishing, Inc.), United Church of Christ (The Pilgrim Press), and The United Methodist Church (Abingdon Press).

For a media review copy of the Common English Bible and to schedule an interview with Paul Franklyn, associate publisher, please contact Audra Jennings, ajennings@tbbmedia.com at 1.800.927.1517.

Top 10 Technologies For 2012

Heidi Sinclair (@heidisinclair), president, Global Technology at Weber Shandwick (@WeberShandwick), offers her list of the top 10 technologies for 2012. Since it’s important in our current age for publishers to see themselves not only as content creators but also as technology companies (to successfully understand what it means to publish ebooks), we’ve included her predictions here:

1.   Tablets. Yep, more tablets. The iPad and Kindle will continue to dominate. But expect other players to be competitive with next generation tablets, and new players (Microsoft) to finally enter. The other big news in the tablet space will be integrating them into our work life as enterprise IT deals with employees using tablets for work and a flood of B2B applications that will make tablets more than a media tool.

2.   Interfaces.

3.   Social.

4.   Internet of Things.

5.   Apps.

6.   Big Data.

7.   Analytics.

8.   Storage.

9.   Entertainment Everywhere.

10. Cloud Computing.

Read this in full.

Stay ahead of the curve by using the SomersaultNOW online dashboard of news and links; especially the Futurist news tab.

The Economics of Christmas Lights

Social media marketing author Seth Godin (@ThisIsSethsBlog) observes that people buy Christmas tree lights, put them up, spend money on electrifying them, and then take them down. He says

The very same non-economic contribution is going on online, every single day. More and more of the content we consume was made by our peers, for free. My take:

People like the way it feels to live in a community filled with decorated houses. They enjoy the drive or the walk through town, seeing the lights, and they want to be part of it, want to contribute and want to be noticed too.

Peace of mind and self-satisfaction are incredibly valuable to us, and we happily pay for them, sometimes contributing to a community in order to get them.

The Internet is giving more and more people a highly-leveraged, inexpensive way to share and contribute. It doesn't cost money, it just takes guts, time, and kindness.

No wonder most people don't insist on getting paid for their tweets, posts, and comments.

Read this in full.

NY Times Builds Interactive Wall Mirror

The New York Times Company Research & Development Lab (@nytlabs) has built an interactive mirror, called Reveal, that displays headlines, the weather, and even a current outside view, so you can stay up-to-the-minute while brushing your teeth.

As the physical world becomes increasingly digital, computing is becoming more connected to our physical selves

We've designed Reveal to explore how the relationship between information and the self is evolving and how media content from The New York Times (@nytimes) and others might play a part.

It uses a special semi-reflective glass surface, so that

users of the mirror are able to see both a normal reflection of the real world as well as overlaid, high-contrast graphics. We've dubbed this "augmented reflection." Conceptually, the idea is that our mirror can reveal the halos of data around real-world objects, including ourselves.

Envisioned as a key fixture in your home, the mirror uses face recognition to call up personalized data, including health stats, a calendar, news feeds, and other information relevant to your morning routine. Voice commands switch between views, and gestures (via an embedded Kinect) activate content, including fullscreen video messages from other mirror users. An RFID-enabled shelf responds to objects that are placed on it, such as medications and personal care products, revealing personalized data. The mirror will recognize certain behaviors, such as when you schedule a trip or fail to get enough exercise, and recommend contextually-relevant content. If you're interested, you can tap your phone on the mirror to sync the article for reading on the run or on our Surface Reader application.

Read this in full.

How will this type of innovation affect other content creators, such as you? What ideas does this prompt for you as you consider your publishing agenda and how your consumers will interact with your content?

Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you navigate the churning waters that make up 21st century publishing.

Be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Futurist news tab.

Infographic: Understanding Viral Content Marketing

Viral marketing must be intriguing, riveting, worthy of repeat viewing, and personally valuable to the viewer. The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra Chorus (@calgaryphil) came up with a great idea and executed it well. The Chorus invited its Twitter followers to tweet ways to stay warm in a Calgary winter. Then it video recorded itself singing those tweets to Carl Orff's melodramatic music of “O Fortuna.” Even CNN reported on it. A creative example of word-of-mouth marketing!

Infographic by Voltier Digital (@VoltierDigital).

Also see our previous posts about viral marketing: “A Giant Wood Xylophone” and “Messiah and Viral Video.”

What viral marketing can Somersault (@smrsault) help you with?

Seth Godin Ends Domino Project with Lessons Learned

Seth Godin (@ThisIsSethsBlog) is bringing to an end The Domino Project (@ProjectDomino), his publishing venture with Amazon. Twelve books in 12 months. Godin gives a history, calls it a success, and says it’s over “because it was a project, not a lifelong commitment to being a publisher of books.”

The goal was to explore what could be done in a fast-changing environment. Rather than whining about the loss of the status quo, I thought it would be interesting to help invent a new status quo and learn some things along the way. Here are a few of my takeaways:

Permission is still the most important and valuable asset of the Web (and of publishing). The core group of 50,000 subscribers to the Domino blog made all the difference in getting the word out and turning each of our books into a bestseller. It still amazes me how few online merchants and traditional publishers (and even authors) have done the hard work necessary to create this asset. If you're an author in search of success and you don't pursue this with singleminded passion, you're making a serious error.

Godin says, “permission” doesn’t mean “might be interested;” it means that “if you didn’t show up, they would want to know where you were.”

Read this in full.

In its article “Is Seth Godin Right About Book Publishing?,” Digital Book World (@DigiBookWorld) says

The book business, for its part, is listening to Godin. The many industry experts we spoke with today read what Godin has written and followed The Domino Project closely in its short life. They praised him for his insights and agreed with many of his ideas – or, at least the general gist. In addition to building their own “tribes” and gathering “permission,” the book business still has other ways of selling books.

Read this in full.

Another DBW article, “Hachette Document Explains Why Publishers Are Relevant,” reports on Hachette Book Group’s (@HachetteBooks) (multiple Twitter streams) response to Godin in a document it circulated to its employees, which begins:

“Self-publishing” is a misnomer.

Publishing requires a complex series of engagements, both behind the scenes and public facing. Digital distribution (which is what most people mean when they say self-publishing) is just one of the components of bringing a book to market and helping the public take notice of it.

It goes on to say publishers are important because they offer an array of services to authors: Curator, Venture Capitalist, Sales and Distribution Specialist, and Brand Builder and Copyright Watchdog.

Read this in full.

You may also be interested in reading how Thad McIlroy (@ThadMcIlroy), of The Future of Publishing, reacts to Godin’s announcement in terms of allowing libraries to lend ebooks.

Stay up-to-date in the world of publishing news by bookmarking and using daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard of more than 300 links and RSS feeds specifically for publishing and marketing professionals.