Release: Beta Apps!
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June 30, 2022(Updated July 4, 2022)
Tons of work has been poured in the Bible Tags project in the past several months. As with any project, there have been curve balls and unexpected delays, but at last we are done with Phase 3! See the bottom of this post for more particulars on that, but first let’s cut to the chase and announce the release of the first app empowered by Bible Tags beta.
Bible Tags BETA App Template Features
- The ability for all users to “tag” verses to the original languages, with extensive instructions on how to do so
- A server algorithm that intelligently chooses the best tag submission for a verse, based on the overall accuracy of each contributor
- An auto-tagger system that sensibly “guesses” at all untagged verses until tags for that verse are submitted by a human contributor
- Original language parsing and lexical information for all Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words, as well as all tagged translation words
- Eight Bible translations with many more to come Current listing: English (ESV, NASB, NET2, KJV), Spanish (LBLA, NBLA), French (LBA), German (SCHL)
- Compare a verse with other translations of your choosing via a single tap
- Automatic bookmarks that make it really easy to switch back and forth between several passages
- An amazingly powerful search, capable of complex, original language queries, that will become even easier to use in future phases
- Fully functional offline, including being able to submit tags
Download the Biblearc Beta app...
How you can help advance the project...
1. Tag
This is the ultimate win-win for Christians who have studied the original languages. First, there are few better ways to work on your biblical language skills than marking how each word or phrase in a verse is translated in your favorite translation. This practice both expands your vocabulary and challenges your grammatical understanding. And being on your phone, it is wonderfully convenient for your “in-between” times—waiting for a meeting to start, just before turning out the lights at night, or whenever. Taking 5 minutes to tag a verse will be far more fruitful for your mind and soul than checking the news or social media!
And this is also a win for Christian service. By contributing tags, you are helping the next person who comes across that verse—someone who might just be learning the biblical languages or dabbling with original language tools. More still, you are helping support and advance a project that ultimately aims to go far beyond serving English-speakers (who already have such tools), to serving Christians who speak one of the other 7,000 languages in the world!
2. Give
Phase 4 fund-raising is now underway! Would you partner with us through a financial gift? If you have already given in Phase 3, would you consider giving again?
- Develop a list of Bible societies and other organizations interested in releasing Bible Tags based apps
- Seek out key partners in this project
- Publish instructions for creating a Bible Tags based app suite
- Refinement of UI and addition of key how-to guides
- and more...
3. Join
Has God laid it on your heart to make an even higher level of commitment? Please consider joining the Bible Tags team of volunteers. See here for more information.
Detailed Updates on Project Phases
As things got underway in Phase 3, it became evident that a few changes needed to be made to the breakdown of phases. Here are the things that have been shifted and added:
- Instead of adding a “basic original language search” in Phase 3, we implemented the core functionality of a complex original language search. More features will be added to this search in Phases 4 and 5
- Several items have been added to Phase 4. As a consequence, the cost of Phase 4 has been increased to $12k, while the cost of Phase 5 has been reduced to $10k. (Hence the overall project cost has not changed.) Here are the items added to Phase 4:
- Form a team of volunteers to promote and advance the project
- Refinement of UI and addition of key how-to guides
- Make up-to-date tagging data available to the public
- Fully develop a user-interface translation process
- “Optional user authentication” has been moved from Phase 3 to Phase 5. Additionally, “Produce instructional and inspirational videos for the project” has been added to Phase 5.