Inspired by Jim West and Tim Bulkeley I’ve added a link in the sidebar to the daily PodBible Podcast. Today’s reading was
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. As you can see in the screenshot below, it took me quite a while to download this with our slow dialup connection in Mozambique. In actual fact, it only took about 22 minutes to download the 1.4 MB mp3.
The 4:45 recording is of Jeremiah 36 in the Contemporary English Version. The male voice was nice to listen to although he had a bit of trouble with some of the names like Jehoiakim and Gemariah. The accent was either New Zealand or Australian but wasn’t unpleasant to listen to.
There’s something about the PodBible that I find really attractive. Tim can help me on the facts here, but I believe that they used a large number of readers from many nationalities to do the actual recording. In fact, according to the blog they recorded and broadcast the entire Bible from cover to cover over one long weekend from October 21 to 24, 2005. I am a big fan of audio Bibles. I can still recall the voice of Alexander Scourby reading the Bible. I haven’t listened to Max Maclean but he appears to have done a large number of recordings of the Bible. And of course the Bible Experience, which the CEO of Zondervan said was the best-selling Bible of 2007, was done using professional actors.
As I think about the idea of an Open Bible, it seems to me that we need to find ways to make Bibles accessible to people in creative ways. The PodBible is definitely an example of that. In fact, I’m hoping to replicate the PodBible model here in Mozambique. Rather than working with a small group of speakers to do a recording, why not head into the market with a microphone and work with real people? Crowd-sourcing can work great in Africa.
Podcasts are not necessarily a perfect solution, however. I heard somewhere that 80% of podcasts are listened to on the PC they were first downloaded on. So much for mobile bibles! Also, as you can see from my experience, the average person in the developing world is not going to be able to download a 1MB file. But person-to-person file sharing is rampant. I saw one of my students last night staring at his phone. I said, “Do you have any music?” He said, “Yes, but I only have two songs.” “Where did you get them?” He replied, “Bluetoot.”
In 2006, I did something like the PodBible with the Psalms of Ascents and a junior high class in Mozambique. The kids recorded the Psalms and made artwork which we scanned and imported into a PowerPoint.
Here’s a screenshot of the page for Psalm 120:
Listen to Eric, Ellie and Ted reading Psalm 120:
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To add the PodBible to your WordPress blog, read Tim’s article.
For PodBible our readership wasn’t a small group, over 300 as I remember it, they were volunteers, though they came to us rather than us going to them. Though this reduced the spontaneity a little it did (a) self select people who (at least thought they) could read and (b) give them an opportunity to read through “their” chapters first. They were supposed to ask for help with names etc. however at some times of day the person available to help was less help than others
The reason we distribute PodBible over the internet is because we don’t have access to many other networks, though we hope people will share via bluetoot! The files are as small as we could get them and still get reasonable quality…
We hope to offer C60 cassette/CD size portions that churches etc. can download and distribute to the elderly. And once we have the whole Bible in good state we will offer a DVD with the whole Bible to people to share how they like!
Well, it made me want to read Jeremiah which is saying a lot…
Thanks for the extra info. Did you guys ever post something online about that event? Pictures? Also, somewhere you once mentioned the various nationalities involved.
You got a problem with Jeremiah?
That’s one of my favorite books. Anyone who can tell God, “Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook. It is like a spring that has gone dry.” has my attention–he gets major points for honesty and courage. And to say it right after also saying, “Your words are what sustain me. They bring me great joy and are my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God Almighty.” gives me hope that my own emotional and spiritual fickleness might not be as distressing to God as it is to me.
Oops. That was kind of off topic, wasn’t it? I have nothing intelligent to add to the real topic, though, since I haven’t a clue how to get my cell phone to do anything more than let me talk to other people. I waste so much technology, living in this country as if I were still in the technological dark ages.
Thanks for putting in a good word for Jeremiah. The only time I mention him is when I’m singing about a bullfrog.
Google it, gal.
You knew I’d have to, didn’t you?
I found it on YouTube, with the lyrics coming up on the screen karaoke style–”but I helped him drink his wHine”! Everybody needs a friend to help them with their whine, I think….
I really liked the music–if somebody put praise and worship lyrics to that, I wonder if it would set me dancing?
It’s a gospel song just in deep cover.
I’m not quite sure of the spiritual application of “You know I love the ladies…” I’m not allowed to sing that verse around the children.