Archive for the ‘Digital’ Category

At the ESV Online Edition, we’ve introduced a new option: you can now listen to verses from the New Testament in Windows Media format. Previously, only RealAudio was available.

We should caution that Windows Media Player is maddeningly imprecise in its start and stop times. If you’re listening to part of a chapter, you will often find that at the end of your selection, Windows Media Player will start playing the beginning of the following verse. For this reason, we can’t recommend using Windows Media as the default audio type.

(If you know a way to make Windows Media Player better obey start and stop times, we’d love to hear it.)

How to Do It

1. Visit the Options page at the ESV Online Edition.
2. Choose “Windows Media” in the “Audio Format” option.
3. Press the “Save” button.

Passages in the New Testament (such as John 1) will now have “Listen” links that point to Windows Media files.

We’ve been having some intermittent reliability problems with our media server. If you get an error message while trying to listen to the audio, please wait a few minutes and try again.

Changes to the Web Service

Those of you using the ESV Web Service can control which audio you enable using the new “audio-format” option. Currently it takes two values: “real” (the default) or “wma.” We hope to add another value soon.

Sample web service query (John 1 with a Windows Media link).

The ESV.org website (as well as the Crossway site) experienced a server upgrade earlier this week that left parts of the site inaccessible. In particular, some recent of the Verse of the Day podcasts haven’t included their MP3 files. We’ve also received sporadic reports about other audio files not working.

Most of the problems should be under control now. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Scott Yang has written an innovative and useful script for website owners: Scripturizer for Javascript. It scans the text of a webpage and automatically finds and links Scripture references to the ESV. But it also goes a step further–clicking a link makes the text of the ESV for the linked passage appear in a popup frame:

The beauty of this script is that it’s all client-side: you upload it to your web server, link to it from your webpages, and you never have to think about linking Scripture references again. The script also works for other Bible versions, but only the ESV will give you a popup. Learn more about the script at Scott’s site.

Michael Jones shares ScriptureMenu.com, which arranges passages of Scripture topically in the style of a restaurant menu. It uses the ESV Web Service to display those passages. He also has a page that discusses why he uses the ESV.

Sometimes we get ideas that are impractical to implement on the ESV website but that might enhance other websites or help people learn more about the Bible.

One such idea is this: why not overlay a Google Map with Bible map data?

Here’s an interactive map we made showing certain cities from the life and ministry of Jesus. Click any of the pushpins to see the name of the city and a link to passages in the ESV that mention the city.

Here’s a screenshot of that map:

Background

Google Maps has recently updated their site with worldwide satellite imagery. With some effort, anyone can add text and locations to any Google map. We created the above map as a proof of concept.

We recognize that some of the maps’ details have changed since the time of the Bible, changes that are especially apparent when you zoom in. But, overall, the geography has stayed fairly constant. Familiarizing yourself with some of the geography of the Bible will enrich your Bible reading.

Make Your Own Map

Here’s what you’ll need to make a map of your own:

1. A little knowledge of HTML and Javascript. You can also use a service like mygmaps.com to help you with your own map. (We originally made our map with this service before Google published an API.) Feel free to use our latitude and longitude data for your own maps–view the source code of the page with the map to see the data.
2. A list of places. Start with the maps in the back of many ESV editions or the online maps at Studylight.org. You might also find this OWL file of names in the New Testament useful.
3. Latitude and longitude for each place. You can adapt a resource like The Morrish Bible Dictionary, which lists latitude and longitude for many biblical locations. You can also estimate the latitude and longitude from existing maps. One time-saving trick we found is that Google Maps will tell you the coordinates of the center of a map when you use the “Link to this page” link. (You’ll probably find that identifying latitude and longitude will consume most of your time. Wouldn’t it be great if a free database already existed that listed the coordinates of biblical places?)
4. Put it all together. You can make the map yourself if you’re technically minded, or you can use a service like mygmaps.com.

Future Applications

You could create a guided tour around the Ancient Near East in chronological order. You might display all the places in a particular book or show the route of, say, the Exodus or of Paul’s missionary journeys.

We can think of a few ways you could integrate our web service with maps you create. You might automatically display the text of passages that refer to each place, for example, so the relevant passages will show up when you click on the map. On a Bible-browsing site, you could link the place names in a passage of Scripture to your map.

Google Earth lets you pan and zoom in unique ways. You could create a flyover map to help you teach a Sunday School class, for example.

Only your imagination (and the available technology) limit the possibilities.

Let Us (and Others) Know about It

Should you decide to pursue making your own maps, we encourage you to make your data publicly available so others can build on your work, especially as you nail down the latitude and longitude of biblical locations. Please consider trackbacking this post or emailing us so we can link to you.

Update July 21, 2006: John writes that he’s created a Google Earth file with about 200 biblical place names.