Bible translation is a collaborative activity, it can not be done alone. More and more Bible Translation and Language Development organizations are re-orienting themselves so that they can better work together to see God's Word transform hearts and lives. With all the transitions happening among these organizations I've been helping to introduce analytical approaches that make it easier for us to understand our needs as well as technical approaches that allow us to respond quickly by adjusting current systems, or providing new systems, to support the work of developing minority languages and translating materials into them, especially God's Word.
One example is the introduction of Federated Identity Management (kind of like how you can log into Web sites using your Facebook account). Federated Identity allows us to incorporate cloud-based services (like Google Apps) into our solutions. It also allows us to share these and other services among several organizations to enable effective collaboration. There are three main prerequisites for making all of this work: 1) trust, 2) standards, and 3) technology. The technology exists, thanks to the Research and Higher Education sector; some of the necessary standards and best practices exist; and there is a desire for trust. But more work is needed AND organizations need help understanding how to apply them in their contexts.
That's where I'm working (developing standards and recommendations; demonstrating the approaches; helping organizations talk about their needs; and implementing these approaches in my own organization and key partners). All of this is helping establish trust among organizations that want to partner this way and it's making new kinds of partnerships possible that were previously impossible (or at least seemed that way).
In January, 2011 we started the Polder Consortium as a forum for collaborating with numerous Language Development and Bible Translation organizations. This has made it possible to include a diverse group from various organizations in the work. The Polder Consortium also provides a way of publishing our work so it is useful to the largest possible audience of organizations.
In addition to my primary role as IT Architect I am also the Coordinator of the Polder Consortium. Please pray that the Lord will give me discernment to interpret situations, wisdom to know how to recommend approaches, favor with decision makers, and stamina to keep up the pace that is necessary. Also pray that the Lord will continue to send people that he has equipped with appropriate experience and insight to participate in this work.
