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D. FUTURE OF THE SITE: VIDIMUSDOMINUM.ORG, AN ON-LINE MEETING POINT FOR RELIGIOUS AND THE CONSECRATED LIFE
10. Should we continue the "united and permanent" presence of religious on Internet?
My personal opinion is "Yes". I will tell you why.
To take advantage of the impact we have already made: the investment we have made and the excellent results obtained from the events of the Congress; to give depth and continuity to the spirit, commitment of the Congress and the work already carried out; to have a common point of reference on the web about religious institutions (male and female) and religious life.
So that religious are represented in the areopagus "par excellence" of everyday communication;
to give an account (testimony) of the life and commitments of religious to those who ask us about it; to provoke (sic) the "internauts" from faith: culture, meaning of life and the path to be followed, vocations...
12.What kind of communications architecture or set-up should the new site have?
The contents of the Congress site will only remain on the web for a certain length of time.
All religious institutions, male and female: list of institutions and reference to the official web page of the general curia to form a great tree, a great network of religious: from Vidimusdominum to the official webs of the general curia, from the official webs of the general curia to the local webs of each institution and to Vidimusdominum, from the local webs to Vidimusdominum.
Other links: electronic showcase of events in institutions which could have a reference to a precise web page.
(aims, structure and
performance, similar to the participation sections already tried out during the
Congress).
Public Place for Dialog
Your Prayer on the Internet
Guest Book ("belonging", suggestions...)
Pro-vocation
(a space dedicated to stimulating vocations)
(to accommodate small webs for religious institutions which want to be represented in the network but find setting-up and management a problem.
This does not mean playing the part of a provider, but only making things easier for small organizations which have greater difficulty even in creating a tiny web page).
At the time, the Vidimusdominum.org site was registered in the name of the USG: for purely legal reasons which do not allow for more than one name to be registered. Having to choose between the USG and the UISG, we opted for the first because the Congress Secretariat was using the USG headquarters as its official address. It was understood that during the Congress, responsibility for the site would be shared by the two bodies promoting the Congress, the USG and the UISG.
Thinking about the future of the site, a few days before the Congress we asked the Presidents of the USG and the UISG whether or not they would be willing to continue the web page created for the purposes of the Congress. Both replied on behalf of their Councils:
The USG was in favor of continuing; the UISG was unable to make an immediate decision.
For the immediate future, responsibility and ownership would belong to the USG. My personal advice is to go ahead, "keeping a door open" for the UISG to continue the co-operation experienced during the Congress. Then the UISG would have to accept the situation and the particular conditions already in operation.
14.How should the site be managed?
Final responsibility would lie with the Council of the USG and a site manager appointed to the task.
The team:
Estimated requirements (almost all part-time and working from home):
Periodical (3-6): editor-in-chief,
sub-editors, editing administration department
"Reflections": section head (plus regular contributors: 3-6)
Filing and documents (initially a team)
Participation sections (for each section, a section head - 4; plus a number of contributors):
Sponsors: Thanks to the flattering results obtained from the site during the Congress, the possibility of finding sponsors can be considered fairly realistically.
USG: However, for the foreseeable future, the USG should think of covering the costs of operation as a proof of its interest and of serious commitment to this project.
Friday, November 28, was a very active day with the theoretical and practical presentation of the Communications Plan for the Congress and, in particular, of Internet; because it is very new, it monopolized all the information on the Congress.
The speaker was Fr Carlos Garulo sdb, Chancellor’s Delegate for Salesian Universities in the world; he took advantage of EuloTech society technical collaboration to show what has been Internet contribution during the Congress, what it could be in the future of religious life.
In spite of the short time he disposed, Fr Garulo could give an idea through eloquent demonstration of the good material at his disposal; he detailed the "communication architecture of the site" constituted of two blocs: the information sector (subdivides into four sections: All about the congress, Participant’s file, Journal, Authors) and the participation sector (Guest book, Public Place for dialogue, Your prayer on the Internet).
The result of this initiative was very positive, and statistics elaborated by Nicola Mastidoro of EuloTech society confirmed it; such an assessment gave rise to the idea of developing the www vidimusdominum.org, as a reference for information and dialogue on consecrated life, from the young religious themselves, and we also hope, from their age groups who are rushing more and more numerous toward this modern way of communication.
Exchange of information and idea between the participants and Fr Garulo on this topic took place in the morning as well as in the afternoon, when the groups work and the linguistic constellation results were proposed.