Bahá’í World/Volume 29/The Bahá’í Faith on the World Wide Web
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The , ,
BAHA’I FAITH
on theWQRLD WIDE WEB
he Virtual landscape of the Internet has blossomed in the
past decade from a mostly text-based universe used only by technophiles into a dynamic resource that is becoming more and more a part of everyday life for millions of people. Although the past year has seen many of the financial expectations of the World Wide Web deflate, the public seems no less engaged by its potential in other areas. The rush that fueled the rapid expansion of the Internet has hinged not only on its potential profitability but also on its ability to connect people, to allow them to share ideas. It has the capacity to bring people together, to become a point of contact for people to share news and Views—a digital version of the global Village.
The Bahá’í Faith is founded on the principles of uniting people and eliminating the prejudices that separate them. The Internet gives a glimpse, however imperfect, of the possibilities for communication across not only geographic but also political and ideological divides. This is surely not far from what Shoghi Effendi envisioned in 1936, when he wrote,
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TE Bahá’í WORLD
A mechanism of world inter—communication will be devised, embracing the whole planet, freed from national hindrances and restrictions, and functioning with marvelous swiftness and perfect regularity.1
For many, the Web has become a primary source of information, and the Bahá’í International Community launched The Bahá’í World Web site in 1996 in order to provide an official presence on the Web, authorized and maintained by the BIC. In the five years since, the site has experienced more than a five—fold increase in Visits and by early 2001 was averaging more than fifty thousand Visits per month from all over the world, with each lasting an average of 11 minutes.
The site offers in-depth information about the central figures and institutions of the Faith, its history, and its theological and social teachings. It includes a profile of the worldwide Bahá’í community and its involvement in social action. Selections from the Bahá’í writings are available, as are a library of statements of the Bahá’í International Community and links to national Bahá’í communities around the world.
In June 2000, a redesign of The Bahá’í World site was launched, to provide an enhanced appearance and a more up-todate interface. In addition to the Visual changes, the content of the site has also expanded. The English material available has approximately doubled in volume, and sections of the site are available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese, and Spanish, with a Persian version planned for the near future.
The Bahá’í World site is only a part of the ever-growing presence of the Bahá’í International Community on the Web. The Bahá’í World News Service (BWNS) site,2 launched in November 2000, contains news stories about developments throughout the Bahá’í world. Users can subscribe to the service and have individual stories e—mailed to them or receive a monthly digest of stones.
' Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh: Selected Letters, lst pocket ed. (Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1991), p. 204. 3 <www.bahaiworldnews.org>
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BWNS carries reports on activities, projeets, ahd events in the worldwide Baha’ 1 community and includes a searchable news and photo archive. It provides timely reports to the news media about Bahá’í involvement in a broad range of issues and news about the growth and development of the worldwide Bahá’í community. Bahá’í-sponsored magazines and newsletters around the world are also able to draw upon the service.
Another prominent Bahá’í Web site is the electronic version of One Country, the official newsletter of the Bahá’í International Community.3 Launched in 1998, the site contains quarterly features about the Bahá’í community as well as book reviews and profiles of Bahá’í activities in areas such as socioeconomic development, the advancement of women, and human rights.
In addition to the general-interest and information sites, there are many more which have more specific aims. The International Bahá’í Library Web site,4 launched in June 1999, includes a general description of the Library and some of its special collections. It outlines expansions of both Dewey Decimal System and Library of Congress classifications for categories of Bahá’í books.
A Web site for the Official Opening of the Mount Carmel Terraces in May 20015 features downloadable press materials and publication-quality photos for use in local and national media
3 <www.onecountry.org> 4 <1ibrary.bahai.org> 5 <www.bahaiworldnews.org/terraces>
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campaigns. In addition, the site will host a live Webcast of the Inauguration.
Many of the nearly two hundred national Bahá’í communities have their own Web sites (some of which are accessible Via The Bahá’í World site), and beyond these, hundreds of personal and local community pages fill out the range of sites dedicated to the Faith. Youth workshops, publishers, bookstores, directories, and Bahá’í schools are just some of the entities participating in this new realm of communication by creating sites that reach out, through digital means, to other Bahá’ís and t0 the rest of the world.
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