LDS IT executive requests help for internal IT projects
David May 21st, 2009
No, the LDS Church hasn’t released the source code for its internal applications to Open Source, but it is looking for help from the community. They need help with project management, design, development, and testing (QA). From the blog of Joel Dehlin, the LDS CIO,
The Church has been working to figure out a way to allow folks who want to contribute to its missions to do so. We’re ready for help!
We now have applications you can work on, a sandbox with web services, source control, bug tracking and even a requirements for participation.
The most immediate need is the re-write of the stake and ward web site. We are working on an International web site (10 languages to start with) which will allow members to log in, and view or print their stake/ward directory, see a list of ward leaders, read the ward/stake blog, edit & view the ward/stake/Church calendar, and so forth.
Interested?
Read more here.
The first component you can start on immediately is the calendar portion. It’s built on our Java stack, which you can read about here. You can also read up on our “community development best practices.”
Even though the Stake and Ward Web Site project will be using Java, there are other projects mentioned on the site which are architected around web services for more flexibility in the actual implementation of the project.
To be clear, most of the stake and ward web site will be done with Javascript talking to web services. :)
So if you are a developer, a good background on JSON and consuming RESTful web services would be in order. The nice thing about this is that you don’t have the steep learning curve of the Java Stack for functionality where this isn’t required. You can be up and able to contribute meaningfully even if you can’t commit a lot of time to the project.
For the designers, current open standards still apply (CSS-driven layout).
For QA, you’ll just have to test the consumption of the web services and the front end. This encapsulation should make your job a whole lot easier too!
Interesting way for the church to deal with the struggle they’ve had hiring technologists. I agree that open-sourcing the code may not be the best option (anti-mormon easter eggs?) but if the church needs help and isn’t willing or able to pay market wages to hire enough American IT personnel, why not outsource to India or China like everyone else?
@Steve
I don’t think that it is a point that the Church “isn’t willing or able to pay market wages” because between the ICS and Family History IT groups, they have one of the biggest staffs in the state of Utah. It comes down to the sheer number of projects being undertaken by current paid staff and the additional projects that the community has been clamoring for and it willing to contribute to.
If you think of how many ward clerks across the country who have all made their own customized reports in an external application… all on their own time with a huge duplication of effort. What if there was a way that the community of clerks could contribute to a central repository to share their work? A paid staff person can’t anticipate all of the needs each application user will have or get it done as quickly as an army of independent contributors. A way for users to share their customizations would have a huge impact on the effectiveness of their time and build a community where the best contributions can be leveraged by all and be built.
David, I misunderstood the point of the original post, and for that I apologize. But your response begs another question. I’ve never served as a ward clerk, so please pardon my ignorance, but isn’t there a standard in place that all ward clerks should follow when reporting statistics? Why would ward clerks need to write their own custom reports? And even if there were cases where ward clerks needed to write custom reports, wouldn’t an AdHoc reporting solution make this easier than writing applications from the ground up?
All good questions. I think that it really goes back to who is the audience for the reports or output. For example, an experienced leader with a background in accounting or business would make best use of their time to design a system that allows them to target the demographics and needs of their area in the least amount of their limited time. On the other hand, a new priesthood leader in a developing country needs a system that is as simple and straightforward as possible. A complex system, especially written in language which isn’t their primary one, would be impossible for them to use.
I don’t have the answers, but I hope that this helps to frame the broad scope of problems that these community projects need to address. The diverse experience of community members can provide what a few dedicated staff would be unable to do themselves.