austraLasia
#1799
Digital virtues - a useful
resource
ROME: Palm Sunday
2007 -- Even though the
austraLasia numbering
system suggests we are just about to enter the 19th century, at 1799, the topic
of this news item isdefinitely something for the 21st! 'Digital
virtues'.
Readers may now have access to a work that began
some years ago, and has reached completion for just three 'digital virtues':
detachment, fidelity, persistence. The completed work, if and when, will
contain seven such virtues. A fourth is virtually (!) complete, a fifth
sitting around in note form, a sixth on the drawing board and the seventh barely
conceived as yet.
The context out of which these 'virtues'
have arisen is a set of circumstances that required some responses to whether
the digital world impinges on a Religious Congregation (or Church group along
those lines) in a particular way, but the context has developed somewhat - as
the first 'virtue' was completed, and presented to a group in India, after
having been earlier presented in its draft form in Africa, the response was
encouraging, to say the least. 'Digital Detachment' was seized upon for
likely publication in a philosophical magazine, and was subsequently translated
into Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese for distribution in a number of nations
using those languages. The most recent group to show interest was RIIAL,
already spoken of, (South America), who offered to translate and distribute any
further 'virtues' of this kind in Spanish throughout the RIIAL network, which is
Latin America.
The three completed digital virtues benefit
from being read in sequence, beginning with 'detachment', then 'fidelity', then
'persistence', though they can be read independently with profit. (When and if
others follow, the fourth will be 'friendship' and the fifth 'wisdom'; the sixth
or will it be the seventh, is likely to be 'governance', ...). The first
is rather solid in content, but establishes a number of the basic principles.
There is a degree of repetition throughout the series, but it is cumulative, or
spiral repetition and should assist understanding rather than be
annoying.
To the best of this writer's knowledge, no
previous work of this kind has been attempted. In that sense, then, it
breaks new ground. While principles are being established, the purpose of
the essays is practical - to help Religious to adopt sound practices in
something that is now a part of their lives - the digital environment in which
they live. The essays assume a context of computers and internet, but the
observation is that no matter where one goes these days, (talking here of
Salesians in particular), one finds computers, and some degree of internet
access, even if only just sometimes and for a few minutes. The essays are
not so much about equipment and hardware and all that sort of thing; rather they
are about developing a new mentality to ensure that those we minister to now,
and those who follow us, are advantaged by our digital habits. The overall
viewpoint is a positive (hence 'virtues') appreciation of what we have on hand,
rather than its problematic side - there is enough of that about.
Digital Virtues explores potential, while hinting at lost opportunities
if we don't do things right.
You can either read the three
virtues online or download them for reading on screen - or download them as RTF
files (which effectively means lightly formatted text which will open in any
word processor at all). You will find them at www.bosconet.aust.com in the
'what's new' section for the time being. Happy
reading!
_________________
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