3354 Journal of Salesian Studies Online
austraLasia #3354

 

SAN FRANCISCO: 22 January 2013 --  Students at Don Bosco Hall, Berkeley USA, led by someone who 'knows his game' in the digital field, Sean Bryan, have undertaken an exciting digitization project to put the Journal of Salesian Studies online. This has, in one sense, been a long time coming and just had to happen, but it needed to happen properly, that is, by regarding JSS as an academic journal of considerable merit with a wide appeal throughout the Salesian world ('Salesian' in its widest sense), and ultimately only able to reach that world through the digital medium. As you can see below (material 'lifted' from the JSS homepage) it is being tackled professionally:

Support the Digital Republication Project

The first 25 issues of the Journal of Salesian Studies are in the process of digital republication, but we cannot do this without your support!

How to help:

    Pray     Please pray for the success of this project, your prayers do make a difference!
    Pledge     Visit our kickstarter page & pledge your financial support
    Promote     Tell you friends about this project, and post the kickstarter link on your facebook page

The Goal:
To digitally republish past issues of the Journal of Salesian Studies (in both searchable PDF format, and online academic journal format) in order to make the Salesian spirit and charism more readily available to the Church, to academia, and to the world.

Funding Goal:
There are two funding goals. The first phase of the project will require $2,200 in pledges. This will enable us to publish the past issues in a searchable PDF format. The second phase will make the Journal available in an online academic journal format. This will require an estimated 2-3 times the amount of labor needed for the initial publication due to the need to complete a detailed review of the accuracy of the OCR (text recognition), as well as additional editing and publication requirements. Although the ultimate goal of this fundraising effort is the second phase, kickstarter.com is an all-or-nothing platform, so we do not get funded unless we reach the minimum pledge threshold, which is set by the phase one requirement. If we fail to reach this threshold, you are released of your pledge. Since the priority is making the Journal accessible, we created a low threshold to get it started, but ultimately, we will need to reach an estimated $5,000 to see this project all the way through to the end. Anything over the $5,000 will go toward funding the next project: the re-launch of the Journal with the publication of new articles.

The Deadline:
January 24th, the feast of St. Francis de Sales, the patron of the Salesians of Don Bosco, marks the deadline of reaching our minimum funding goal. St. Francis de Sales is not only the patron of the Salesians, but also the patron of the press and of journalism…how fitting?!

One week later, January 31st marks the feast of our founder, St. John Bosco, as well as the 91st birthday of Fr. Arthur Lenti, co-founder of the Journal, and world-renowned author of many of the articles. What a great birthday present: the pledge to continue the legacy of Fr. Arthur, who has dedicated his life to the study and propagation of the Salesian spirit and charism.

Your Support Also Benefits Students in Need:
Your contribution not only supports the digital republication project, but also goes toward helping college students in need. Don Bosco Hall is home to students at both the graduate and undergraduate level. These students chose to live with the Salesian community, and the ones involved with this project would not be able to afford their education if it wasn’t for the support of the Salesians. They are excited about participating in the digitization and publication of the journals because it not only provides them with flexible working hours, and a fair wage, but also because they see their work as a service of the Church and its mission.