Notice: Wikicreedia Update

Because the project really began here, I hope to update everyone here as it goes along.

I'm pleased to announce that the first Wikicreedia Forum was a success. Attendance and interest were gratifying, and I was as clear and publicly confident as I can ever remember being- all of which bodes well for the project. At the Forum, I retold the story of Wikicreedia's origin as a confluence of a class on the Nicene Creed and an NPR report on emerging uses of wikis as democratic technology.

I emphasized the following aspects of Wikis:

* A wiki invites all users to edit any page with any vanilla Web browser.

* A wiki promotes meaningful associations by making link creation intuitively easy.

* A wiki involves the visitor in an ongoing process of creation that constantly changes the site.

*A wiki enables collaborative documents.

And I emphasized what might be aspects of a Wiki creed:

Narrative. It could describe moments when Christian faith was formed or tested or changed. It could help Christians think about their experience, and tell the things about belief that the rest of the world might not know.

Brevity. Conciseness could help Christians name specific tenets of ordinary faith today- and the most essential ones at that.

Positive and confessional. It could avoid preaching and editorializing. We could tell each other what we do believe, rather than quibbling over things that others might or might not.

Ordinary, modern English. A creed is only as relevant so far as its believers might understand it, and the Wiki creed could be one that believers take with them out into the world.

I then introduced the Wikicreedia advertising and roll-out timeline (though it's always open to everyone):

Avent 08->Easter 09: wiki for Gethsemane with early ideas and first content
Easter 09->Advent 09: wiki for downtown and regional churches
Advent 09->Easter 10: wiki for national, Catholic and Orthodox churches.
Easter 10->Easter 11: wiki for all Christians worldwide
Easter 11->Easter 12: final versions of the Wikicreed

Finally, I announced the group that will meet to produce first-page content, which is @Gethsemane on Sat, Dec 6 @10:00 AM- with a few further meetings likely to follow.

As I said, I enjoyed this all immensely, and hope to be a good steward of Wikicreedia going forward.

Comments? Questions? Let me know.