Jay Chen said...

Is the church has a plan to have more languages? such as: Chinese, Korean, Japanese…etc?

[Joel: Yes, we do. We're trying to see which articles are most popular before we begin translating them. More information as we get it...]

October 3, 2007 8:15 am #

JT Haynes said...

Are there any plans to allow RSS or get email reminders for broadcast events. I know the stake gets the notice but it would be nice to get this info in an email form.

[Joel: We'll mark it down as a request. Thank you!]

October 3, 2007 10:51 pm #

Bob Hamilton said...

After each conference, I put the MP3 files on my iPod and listen to sessions as I drive. I always wonder why MP3’s aren’t provided for the priesthood session?

I did download the WMV file this time and was able to use a utility to get the audio out in MP3 format. Would be a bit simpler if it were provided. I’ve never understood why video and written is provided but no audio?

Thanks for providing these files. I think I listened to last conference 4 times.

…… Bob

October 8, 2007 6:22 pm #

Adam Thompson said...

On the Stake Technology Specialist page under the link “Roles and Responsibilities”, at the bottom of that page there is a link to a PDF from the Presiding Bishopric’s Office that is called “Policy and Guidelines for Computers Used by Clerks for Church Record Keeping”. On page 6 of the pdf document, duties of the stake clerk are listed. There is possibly some ambiguity in the meaning of one of the duties.

Duty 11 makes sense. It reads, “Ensures that ward clerks do not install Church record-keeping software on their home computers and that they do not reverse-engineer record-keeping software code.” Clearly, fooling around with the code in this way infringes on copyright laws and also allows for programs to be “grafted” into MLS that may cause problems down the road.

Duty 13 also makes sense. It reads, “Ensures that authorized priesthood leaders who export membership data to PDAs use passwords to protect that data in the event the PDA is lost or stolen. Reminds priesthood leaders to erase the membership data on their PDAs when they are released.” Clearly, having the membership data available in secure digital format is very helpful to many leaders. But care must be taken to protect the information contained therein (and the members who it represents).

Duty 12 has me somewhat puzzled, though. It reads, “Ensures that priesthood leaders and clerks do not use tables, schemas, and the like to create third-party or commercial recordkeeping software.”

With Duty 13, it would seem clear to me that the Church isn’t trying to stop priesthood leaders and clerks from setting up personal record-viewing software into which MLS exports can be imported. With Duty 11, it would seem clear that they don’t want any tampering with the MLS code. So, I get the idea that Duty 12 means “don’t take MLS’s tables, schemas, etc. and use them in home-made / commercial software.” Or is it the difference between record-viewing and record-keeping software that is the issue here? What do you think?

Thanks,
Adam

October 13, 2007 1:11 pm #

.Eric Werny said...

We have found that once you understand MLS, there is no need to create anything external. All Ward management tools are on the system and printable. Yes of course the program could use a few improvement, which happens quite often.

As MLS stands today I can supply our Bishop with all decision making information he needs.

As an assistant clerk, I have advised continually the need for careful handling of confidential records. Beside the Bishopric members and clerks having access, secretaries from organization have access to the system. Any disciplinary council documents should never be accessible to anyone after they have been printed and included in the Bishop file. Leaving copies on the system, can cause a back lash that I hope not gets to experience.

Now concerning the STS’s web site. The tech.lds.org forum has been an invaluable tool in solving many issues, and if the STS’s would use that same system they could be able to see things from the software side and the hardward
side at the same time, and get faster answers to their problem.

The last thing I will say in conclusion – BACK UP YOUR DATA AFTER EACH SESSION TO EXTERNAL MEDIA – You never know when your box might die

August 20, 2008 1:19 am #