austraLasia #1799
Digital virtues - a useful resource
ROME: Palm Sunday 2007 -- Even though the austraLasia
numbering system suggests we are just about
to enter the 19th century, at 1799, the topic of this news item isdefinitely
something for the 21st! 'Digital virtues'.
Readers may now have access to a work that began some years
ago, and has reached completion for just three 'digital virtues': detachment,
fidelity, persistence. The completed work, if and when, will contain
seven such virtues. A fourth is virtually (!) complete, a fifth sitting
around in note form, a sixth on the drawing board and the seventh barely
conceived as yet.
The context out of which these 'virtues' have arisen is a
set of circumstances that required some responses to whether the digital world
impinges on a Religious Congregation (or Church group along those lines) in a
particular way, but the context has developed somewhat - as the first 'virtue'
was completed, and presented to a group in India, after having been earlier
presented in its draft form in Africa, the response was encouraging, to say the
least. 'Digital Detachment' was seized upon for likely publication in a
philosophical magazine, and was subsequently translated into Italian, Spanish,
and Portuguese for distribution in a number of nations using those
languages. The most recent group to show interest was RIIAL, already
spoken of, (South America), who offered to translate and distribute any further
'virtues' of this kind in Spanish throughout the RIIAL network, which is Latin
America.
The three completed digital virtues benefit from being read
in sequence, beginning with 'detachment', then 'fidelity', then 'persistence',
though they can be read independently with profit. (When and if others follow,
the fourth will be 'friendship' and the fifth 'wisdom'; the sixth or will it be
the seventh, is likely to be 'governance', ...). The first is rather
solid in content, but establishes a number of the basic principles. There is a
degree of repetition throughout the series, but it is cumulative, or spiral
repetition and should assist understanding rather than be annoying.
To the best of this writer's knowledge, no previous work of
this kind has been attempted. In that sense, then, it breaks new
ground. While principles are being established, the purpose of the essays
is practical - to help Religious to adopt sound practices in something that is
now a part of their lives - the digital environment in which they live.
The essays assume a context of computers and internet, but the observation is
that no matter where one goes these days, (talking here of Salesians in
particular), one finds computers, and some degree of internet access, even if
only just sometimes and for a few minutes. The essays are not so much about
equipment and hardware and all that sort of thing; rather they are about
developing a new mentality to ensure that those we minister to now, and those
who follow us, are advantaged by our digital habits. The overall
viewpoint is a positive (hence 'virtues') appreciation of what we have on hand,
rather than its problematic side - there is enough of that about. Digital
Virtues explores potential, while hinting at lost opportunities if we don't
do things right.
You can either read the three virtues online or download
them for reading on screen - or download them as RTF files (which effectively
means lightly formatted text which will open in any word processor at
all). You will find them at www.bosconet.aust.com in the 'what's new'
section for the time being. Happy reading!
_________________
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