Overview of Goals and Objectives
The main goal of this interactive Google site is to consult on how best to present the Bahá’í Faith to receptive populations in the Atlanta area. A successful consultation process would facilitate the development of focused multimedia resources. These presentations would increase the effectiveness of Atlanta’s Web presence in attracting local residents to investigate the Bahá’í Faith and to explore spiritual principles for the advancement of civilization.
In light of the recent World Centre movie, "Arising to Serve," multimedia is now a vital aspect of presenting the Bahá'í Faith.
Traditional uses of multimedia have focused on broad-based proclamation. However, other uses are possible. And, indeed, there may be specific presentations for people with limited knowledge about the Bahá’í Faith (introductory material) and quite different presentations that assume a basic understanding of Bahá’í principles, nomenclature, and a specific area of interest.
One approach is to contextualize the Faith in a manner that appeals to a specific audience - in order to focus on a presentation of principles applied within a specific domain.
For example, spiritual health is often seen as synchronized with the underlying principles of physical health - and, as such, could open a dialogue with people in the community of medicine. Such a dialog would enrich both a deeper understanding of how to apply spiritual principles in support of a vital global objective and collaboratively refine the broadest definitions of what a diverse, but unified, world of healthy people might look like.
Another example is the domain of education. Again, spiritual principles can inform the intersection of current practices and potential development. Given the great wealth of guidance within the Bahá’í Faith, a rich presentation can be created.
Current Plans and Atlanta Growth
The current guidance from the World Centre of the Bahá’í Faith indicates that we should focus our energies on teaching receptive audiences - using core activities (Devotional Gatherings, Children’s Classes, the study of core Bahá’í themes…) as both a means of attraction and a technique for fostering deeper knowledge and understanding.
The primary receptive audience during the past two years has been the immigrant population in apartment complexes within the jurisdiction of the Assembly of Central Dekalb - and the teaching has been largely door-to-door with Anna’s Presentation / Introductory Conversation.
This personal initiative is a possible way to broaden the definition of receptive populations and to explore alternative presentation modes and dialogues.
Assumptions
A central assumption of this site is that there are many receptive populations and other techniques for the presentation of the Bahá’í Faith.
Many teaching methods are needed to reach the diverse collections of audiences in Atlanta... We can interactively critique ideas that will enhance our effectiveness in suing the Internet.
Note: This site is a personal initiative – not the work of an institution of the Bahá’í Faith.
Process / Technique
The structure of this site is designed to provide an awareness of the central question surrounding the development of audience-centric multimedia.
It is always possible to send comments to the author of these pages: Email: Arthur Murphy
If you would like to comment actively, please request a Collaborator sign-in. Then, on each page there will be a comment block at the bottom. Collaborator are free to use these areas for public discussion.
To assist in understanding the type of multimedia to be created, a prototype exists:
http://aeoliansolutions.com/reference/beta_Intro_Search.mov
The final presentations may be quite different in tone / audience / message, etc.
Please note: like any current Internet site designed for interaction, this set of pages is subject to change. Existing pages are intended to remain in existence – but, content may change and new pages will be added.
Discussion Pages