e-Sword Resource Bot

This is an outline of a project I'll start working on in the middle of May --- unless somebody else does it.

This is a bot that will:
* Crawl the web looking for new e-Sword resources;
* Add the resource to a database when found;
* Create a list of new resources on a daily basis;
* Create a list of new resources on a weekly basis;
* Create a list of new resources on a monthly basis;
* Verify once a month that resources listed in the database are still available;

If things go as planned, sometime in the middle of June The e-Sword Module Database will be in beta on the Internet. It might be supplemented by a wiki that provides a more complete description of the resource.

e-Sword Resource Census

The current project target dates are:

19 April: Complete esnips.com folder listings;
22 April: Complete esnips.com file listings;
26 April: Complete yahoogroups.com file listings;
1 May: e-Sword.net and eStudySource.com census;
3 May: Complete census of other e-Sword repositories on the Internet.
4 May: Release Currently Available e-Sword Resources with all sections updated.

15 May: OPML file for all sites found/listed in Currently Available e-Sword Resources.

I expect to release daily updates of the section I am working on, until the census is complete.

File names for the sub-projects are:
* caem-esnips: Resources at esnips.com;
* caem-yahoogroups: Resources at yahoogroups.com;
* caem-internet: Resources of other repositories;

The file names are followed by an eight digit number. This is the year, month, and day that the file was updated.

A Scabbard for e-Sword

Most of the blogging about e-Sword that I will do in the future will be on the A Scabbard for e-Sword blog. http://sword-and-scabbard.blogspot.com/

Product Guides for e-Sword

Browsing Logos, I found this Product Guide ( http://www.logos.com/products/info/guides )

When I have finished:
* Updated the FAQ;
* The e-Sword Resource Census;
I will tackle doing something similar for e-Sword.

Along the way I expect to be sending out hundreds of emails verifying that the resources can be legally distributed in e-Sword format. I hope I don't have to resort to filing DMCA take down notices. But if that is what it takes to reduce/eliminate the number of pirated resources, then that will be done.

With a couple of changes the e-Sword Original Languages Library (http://www.forananswer.org/Top_General/E-Sword_Modules.htm ) could serve the same function for e-Sword as the Logos Bible Software for Ancient Languages ( http://www.logos.com/ancientlanguages) page does for Logos

Currently Available e-Sword Resources

Currently Available e-Sword Resources was released 6 April
http://www.esnips.com/doc/debbc25d-565a-4b48-bcbd-61f167cf8f33/currently-available-e-sword-modules_200703

It is, to put it mildly, very incomplete.
A look at esnips.com reveals:
* 51 folders tagged "eSword";
* 95 folders tagged "e-Sword";
* 542 files tagged "eSword";
* 705 files tagged "e-Sword";

I started going through them tonight. I probably will finish it at the end of next week.

A couple of observations:
* There are a number of modules that are either copyright violations, or posted in violation of the e-Sword licence;
* There are a number of files that are found in two, three, or more folders;
* The range of material is tremendous. People are using e-Sword as a digital book library;

I['m not sure which surprised me more to find:
The Bible in Zulu, or Maimonides Guide for the Perplexed. Or maybe The Communist Manifesto.

Road Map of Personal Projects

This is a rewrite of material that was on my original blog, that I posted 14 January 2007.

Documentation

Using e-Sword: The Harmony of the Gospel Component: I hope to have this released by 1 May 2007.

The e-Sword Utility Program FAQ : My goal is to release an average of two sections a week.

The e-Sword Utility Program FAQ: Where to find e-Sword Support: This is updated monthly, on or soon after the first of the month. [It also counts as one of the sections I release that week.]

Currently Available e-Sword Resources: This is updated monthly, on or soon after the first of the month. This also counts as one of the sections of The e-Sword Utility Program FAQ that is released that week.

The e-Sword Module Database: Work on this document will be restarted in the summer.

Using Text2DAO: This should be released around 1 May 2007.
Using BeST: This should be released around 1 May 2007.
Using TheWORDpad Editor: This should be released around 1 May 2007.
Using ModulEditor: This should be released around 14 May 2007.

Translations:

I'll restart translating The e-Sword Utility Program FAQ after I have updated all seventy of the current sections. This should be sometime in July or August.

e-Sword Resources:

The e-Sword Utility Program FAQ.top : Once all of the sections of the FAQ that will be publicly released, have been released, they will be combined into a topical file. [Somebody showed me an easier way to import it into e-Sword. :)

e-Sword as a Spiritual Journal: The updated version should be released around the middle of April. I hope to do quarterly updates of this resource.

English-Spanish Interlinear Bible: This should be released in May.

Old Castillian Bible: This should be ready around in May.

The Ten Commandments harmony resource: This should be released around 21 April.

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary on the Bible: I've shunted this to January 2008.

Hawker's Poor Man's Dictionary on the Bible: I've shunted the editing of this to June 2007.

Strong's Numbers in Russian: This should be ready by May 2007.

The Concordance at the Bottom of the Page: An initial cut should be ready for release in June 2007. This is a long term project.

Jonathon's Concordance to Sacred Texts: An initial cut should be ready for release in June 2007. This is a long term project.

An e-Sword Hymnal. This is a very long term project.

A Map for every verse in the Bible. This is a very long term project.

The Bible in toki pona. This is a long term project. I'll restart work on this in 2008.

Utility Programs:

All work on these has been halted. I'll restart them once The e-Sword Utility Program FAQ has been completed updated --- which should be around August 2007.

If a project is not listed in this post, or in The e-Sword Utility Program FAQ: How to Use The Utility Programs (JB), then it is not on my list of projects to do. Suggestions made as comments to this post, will be considered.

e-Sword 7.8.2

This post was copied from my previous blog.
It was originally posted on 24 December 2006.

On Friday (23 December) Version 7.8.2 of e-Sword was released.

The most noticeable enhancement is a "Harmony of the Gospels" component.
This can be accessed by clicking on "Bible" on the menu bar. The first item listed is "Gospel Harmony". Click on that and the new screen appears.

Currently, the only Harmony of the Gospel resource that is available, is based upon Robertson's work. From the design of the screen, it looks like additional resources will released.

Depending upon how this component works, it might be possible to add resources such as

• Prophecies of the Messiah in the Tanakh and their Fulfilment in the New Testatament;
• Parallel passages in First Kings, Second Kings, First Chronicles, and Second Chronicles;
• Pericopes of the Gospels;
• The Miracles of Jesus;
• Other New Testament Miracles;
• Miracles found in the Old Testament;
  

I am not saying that these will be created, merely that it might be possible to create them.

I'll wait and see what happens in the future.

Requesting New Modules

This post was copied from my old blog.
It was originally posted on 23 November 2006.

Back on the 19 November 2006, Mike Brandt announced on the e-Sword_tools list (amongst others) that he was working on a website that would list all of the publicly available e-Sword modules.

Somewhere in the resulting thread, a side discussion about how people could request new modules arose.

Proposed solutions are:
* A Wiki;
* A Blog;
* A mailing list;
* A web forum;

Of course, back on 23 October 2006, Pastor Throop put a message on his web forum (http://pastorthroop.com/modules/newbb/viewforum.php?forum=28) , asking if people had any module requests.

Meanwhile, over at http://www.thechan.com, a sticky note was put up on 13 October 2006 requesting that unorthodox translations not be requested on the website.

Over at http://cafe.naver.com/esword.cafe there is a never ending stream of requests for material, and an equally long stream of "How do I make modules for e-Sword?"
I can't tell if anybody is tracking, and working on the resources that are requested.

There is a long list of desired resources in Dutch on e-Sword_Nederlands at yahoogroups dot com. The issue here is quite simply manpower. There are far more modules than one or two people can easily create.

You have the same issue with German on e-Sword_German at yahoogroups dot com.
Again, the same issue about manpower arises. Some people on that list have also made their request known at eSword at yahoogroups dot com. Still, not much German material has been created. :(

If your interest is Romanian material, then Bible_Modules_developers_from_Romania at yahoogroups dot com is very well organized. This does not mean that they will provide the requested material, but they do track what is requested, and where it is in the production line.

I am not sure what happens on the Spanish support lists for e-Sword. Announcements of new modules are made frequently on those lists.

Which leaves the English language support lists. There are a number of messages on all of the lists, requesting specific modules. If a request catches a module creator's attention, and they have the time, then it might appear. Otherwise nothing happens to it. Nobody tracks the requests, much less where in the production cycle the material is in.

An Old/New Blog

For various reasons, I decided to create this blog, and delete my old e-Sword blog.

Articles in the old blog that I think are worth keeping,will be rewritten here, with a note stating that it is a rewrite.

The primary aim of this blog is to:

* Write about where I am in my ongoing documentation of e-Sword,e-Sword utility programs,and e-Sword resources;
* Write about the utility programs I am creating for e-Sword;
* Write about discussions on other Bible Study Software blogs;
* Write about features in other Bible Study Software and how to emulate them in e-Sword;