Aug

28

Crowdsourcing for Mormons

August 28, 2008 by Giuseppe Martinengo | Leave a Comment | Filed in Internet & Media, Mormon Church

According to LDSMediaTalk,

Crowdsourcing is an innovative business trend that takes collaborative work to a whole new level. Around the world, individuals are using online communities to identify people with similar experiences or interests who can share ideas, offer their expertise, and collectively accomplish work.

Examples of crowdsourcing are provided by people editing a Wikipedia article, or uploading a video to YouTube, and so on.

Crowdsourcing is the act of taking a job traditionally performed by an employee or a third-party provider and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call. Using the technique, an organization can tap into the collective intelligence and expertise of the public at large to complete the task. Crowdsourcing can include anything from gathering feedback on a new idea, asking for help to solve a problem, or actually accomplishing the task at hand.

It is important to realize that crowdsourcing is not a magic tool for solving all problems, but it can be used to speed up many processes and test new ideas or attract volunteers to participate in projects that would require an amount of resources unavailable to an organization.

However, there are also criticisms of this idea. According to Wikipedia

Some reports have focused on the negative effects of crowdsourcing on business owners, particularly in regard to how a crowdsourced project can sometimes end up costing a business more than a traditionally outsourced project.

Some of the pitfalls of crowdsourcing include:

  • Added costs to bring a project to an acceptable conclusion.
  • Increased likelihood that a crowdsourced project will fail due to lack of monetary motivation, too few participants, lower quality of work, lack of personal interest in the project, global language barriers, or difficulty managing a large-scale, crowdsourced project.
  • Below-market wages, or no wages at all. 
  • Difficulties maintaining a working relationship with crowdsourced workers throughout the duration of a project.

In my experience I have noticed that some of these criticism are true. For example, to overstress the use of volunteers in an organization to save money may be a mistake since volunteers are not really free. They need to be trained and organized, and most of the time they are looking for something in return. Therefore, unless the organization is able to find alternative forms of “compensation” for volunteers, the turnover may become extremely expensive.  In short, lack of monetary motivation, too few participants, lower quality of work, lack of personal interest in the projects may end up costing the organization more than simply paying people to do it.

Thinking about the use of crowdsourcing in the Mormon Church I cannot avoid thinking that it has been used many times very well (see the recent example of the Family History Record Extraction program).

However, in some cases I believe that the most important result and benefit is not that of saving money to the organization, but that of allowing members to learn and to participate more fully in fostering the mission of the Church. This added benefit alone may be enough to promote more “crowdsourcing programs” in the Church.

Aug

22

Glenn Beck - Mormon Success

August 22, 2008 by Giuseppe Martinengo | Leave a Comment | Filed in Famous Mormons, Glenn Beck, Mormon Videos, Videos

Glenn Beck is not perfect. We know it. We are not either. He is learning, we are too. He made mistakes, we did to.

But he is funny and becoming a Mormon has helped him to improve his life.

This video tells us a little more about Glenn Beck’s life as a Mormon.

Aug

21

Gay rights and Mormons

August 21, 2008 by Giuseppe Martinengo | Leave a Comment | Filed in Gay rights, Mormon Church, Mormon Doctrine

I know that this is a very difficult topic.  Mormons by principle should love all men, but loving does not mean to give up correct principles. God loves the world but it does not give us all that we ask for.

Presidente Gordon B. Hinckley said:

“People inquire about our position on those who consider themselves so-called gay and lesbians…We love them as sons and daughters of God. They may have certain inclinations which are powerful and which may be very difficult to control…If they do not act on these inclinations, then they can go forward as do all other members of the Church. If they violate the law of chastity and the moral standards of the Church, then they are subject to the discipline of the Church, just as others are.” (See Ensign, November 1998: 70).

I learn several things from this statement.

1) There are people who consider themselves gays or lesbians but it is not correct to say that “they are gays and lesbians” as if their situation was immutable or if they were something different from other people.

2) They are worthy of love and help like any other son or daughter of God.

3) The Church recognizes that they may be struggling.

4) Their inclinations do not determine their actions, and therefore they are responsible as any other person (who may have other inclinations that are not in harmony with Church standards).

I was reading yesterday a book by A. Dean Bird, Mormons & Homosexuality and it is clear from his book that an important point is to decide if homosexuality is inborn or not, because when people think that homosexuals are that way, they are more likely to support gay rights.

He says,

Though there is no science to support the notion that homosexuality is inborn, the gay activists in the mental health organizations as well as in the media still continue to trumpet the “born that way” notion.

Dr. Bird explains how gay activists in 1973 were able to pressure the American Psychiatric Association to the point that

By a vote of 5,854 to 3,810, homosexuality was eliminated as a diagnostic category from the psychiatric manual, making it the first time in the history of the healthcare that a diagnosis was decided by popular vote rather than by scientific evidence.

Very interesting! The consequence is that

American Psychiatric Association had established precedents that medical and psycological diagnoses are subject to political fiat.

Similarly, many proclamations by national organizations

are simply activism masquerading as science (p.22-23).

Now this activism is pushing to a point that is illustrated by this email I received today,

The California Supreme Court, which recently legalized same-sex marriage, has ruled by a 7-0 vote that homosexual rights trump religious freedom. The ruling barred doctors, because of their Christian beliefs, from withholding unnecessary medical care to gays and lesbians. The ruling says that under state law sexual orientation rights trump religious freedom.

Justice Joyce Kennard wrote in the ruling that two Christian fertility doctors who refused to artificially inseminate a lesbian have neither a free speech right nor a religious exemption from the state’s law, which “imposes on business establishments certain antidiscrimination obligations.”

Doctors at the Christian clinic referred the lesbian to another clinic, but the lesbian refused their referral - demanding that the Christian clinic perform the procedure. When the Christian doctors refused to violate their religious convictions, the lesbian sued and the Supreme Court gave her the victory.

Why do they have to force those doctors to perform a procedure that they do not approve? Are there not enough other doctors who could do it?  It seems to me that gay activists are eager to defend their rights but they easily dismiss or trump other people rights.

There would be a lot more to say, but this is enough. Mormons try to love every son or daughter of God, including those who have homosexual tendencies. However, Mormons believe that to act on those tendency is wrong. Finally, since we live in a democratic society, Mormons believe that if gays has the right to promote their cause, everybody else also has the same right.

Aug

20

A positive attitude: a great (non Mormon) video

August 20, 2008 by Giuseppe Martinengo | 1 Comment | Filed in Mormon Videos, Videos

Our attitude about problems in life can positively influence others and make a real difference in the world.

This video is great (and it is not officially a Mormon video in spite of the fact that our thirteenth article of faith says that:

…If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”

So, I adopt this as a Mormon video….

Aug

18

Mormons Exposed - The Mormon Conspiracy

August 18, 2008 by Giuseppe Martinengo | Leave a Comment | Filed in Mormon Conspiracy, Mormon Videos, Videos

Some people are afraid of the so-called Mormon conspiracy to take over the government of the United States.

This video explains a little more about this conspiracy using the comments made by Michael Medved, a syndicated radio host with 3.5 million listeners who is also very active in the Jewish community.

Aug

14

Television and Internet

August 14, 2008 by Giuseppe Martinengo | Leave a Comment | Filed in Internet & Media, Parenting

It is sad to notice that in many homes (even Mormon homes) parents are not monitoring their TV and Internet appropriately. Some people simply do not monitor their children, others even provide their children with a negative example of parents who spend most of their free time in front of the TV, watching almost verything that is presented. How can they teach their children? Their actions speak louder.

According to LDSMediaTalk

pornography on the Internet is a blight…I believe, however, that in many homes the Internet isn’t the worst portal for inappropriate content. For some, the TV is even worse–and many don’t know it.

Movie channels like HBO have content you’d be horrified to see your kids watching. Nudity, inappropriate language, violence. It’s all there in abundance. Even stations that come with the basic packages (like MTV) have content I’m not comfortable with my kids watching. Pay-per-view channels are awful. If you’re not careful, your kids can order movies which not only ring up your monthly bill but, much worse, bring content into your home that you don’t want there. Commercials can be the worst. I’m embarrassed at some of the commercials I see in prime time.

What can we do?

One solution, perhaps too radical for some, but probably the best solution, is to throw away our television and use our time at home interacting in more positive ways.

If this is too much, and it may not be enough since your children may be watching TV at someone else’s home, here there are a few other suggestions,

Be careful ordering movie channels like HBO and Showtime. We don’t order them at all. Second, block channels you don’t want the kids to see. You can use the parental controls on most cable and satellite services to completely remove certain channels from the list of channels that your family can even see in the channel guide. We do this with MTV and others which have content that we don’t like and we also do it with the channels that allow pay-per-view movies. If you want to allow pay-per-view movies then make sure they’re password-protected. Most importantly, P-A-Y  A-T-T-E-N-T-I-O-N. My kids have friends whose parents don’t have any idea when the kids watch TV. I don’t allow my kids to go their houses. And we always try to pay attention when the kids are watching TV. It may sound severe, but if the kids (even the teenagers) want to watch TV, they have to ask permission first. And if they don’t, they lose TV priveleges. This helps us gauge how much TV they’re watching.

Aug

13

Snoop Dogg and Steve Martin are Mormons?

August 13, 2008 by Giuseppe Martinengo | Leave a Comment | Filed in Famous Mormons, News & Politics

I know that this is old stuff, but people still ask for this. The answer is that neither Snoop Dogg or the actor Steve Martin are Mormons. This does not mean that it will never happen, but I would say that it is highly unlikely, especially in the case of Snoop Dogg (but who am I to judge?).

In any case, there was a fake CNN report that portrayed rapper Snoop Dogg reading a Book of Mormon and an article about how he converted to Mormonism. It was very well done, but the date of the story was April 1 — April Fools’ Day.  Also,  the URL of the alleged CNN article, wasn’t a valid CNN site at all.  Finally, the fine print at the bottom of the phony Web page, was saying: “You just got fooled! Snoop’s not Mormon… yet!”

And what about Steve Martin. This is not true also, in spite of this being a little more credible (at least after watching the movie Cheaper by the Dozen).

According to http://www.compleatsteve.com/person/mormon.htm

There is a great deal of fan interest in Steve’s religion. Although raised in a Southern Baptist family, his statements in the press tend to suggest that he is probably more agnostic than anything else.

However, rumors persist that Steve is secretly a Mormon.  After years of such rumors, he has publicly said he is not.

Aug

12

Luca has been in a mission (a Mormon mission) for several months now. He went from the Missionary Training Center in Provo, to Amherst, Massachusetts, then Greenfield, and finally in Pittsfield where he has been for the last five months.

Luca Martinengo - Mormon missionary

Luca Martinengo - Mormon missionary

He has been writing every week, and even more, and we have all noticed his amazing improvement as a person and how he is really loving his mission in spite of all the difficulties and challenges. People use to say that when missionaries go into a mission they leave as boys and come back as men.

We have already noticed a great change for better in Luca and what is more impressive - but we were expecting it - he says that he has never been happier in his life. These are really the fruits of service in the gospel.

Luca was blessed with the opportunities of seeing several people enter the water of baptism, that is always a great moment for missionaries, even if it is not the only or even the most important indicator of a missionary’s success.

Aug

11

I grew up in Italy during the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. In 1989 I was still living in Italy and I can vividly remember the impact and the excitement created by the fall of the Berlin Wall. On a particular day I was in my lunch break and I saw those historic images on TV when East Germans started climbing onto and crossed the wall, joined by West Germans on the other side. It really was the ushering of a new era for Europe. In the following year Germany was reunified in a process that seemed impossible even a few months before.

In spite of the importance of the US President Ronald Reagan in the process, I still think that the change was possible mostly because of the reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union. It was a lot harder for him than for Ronald Reagan to lead the change in his own country, where the opposition against reforms was a lot stronger and dangerous.

Now, the same day of the opening of the Olympics in China, Russia invaded Georgia. I was looking around in the news and I found this recent comment by Gorbachev: US could start new Cold War. Mikhail Gorbachev has accused the United States of mounting an imperialist conspiracy against Russia that could push the world into a new Cold War.

This is very interesting. We are now in 2008 and we got used to this new situation, post Cold War. However, Russia is still a major world power and even if many changes in Russia happened, it is still a very young democracy and very fluid, I would add.

According to Gorbachev,

“We had 10 years after the Cold War to build a new world order and yet we squandered them.”

“The United States cannot tolerate anyone acting independently.”

“Every US president has to have a war.”

I am not an expert in foreign policies, and I am not sure if I agree completely with Mr. Gorbachev. However, I remember President Gordon B. Hinckley - and before him many others, including President Kimball, warning against putting our trust in the arm of flesh or in the military, while at the same time forgetting that the real protection come from the Lord, who delights himself in protecting a just people, but does not respond to the pleas of an evil nation.

In the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church), in October 2002, Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, gave a talk “Blessed Are the Peacemakers” where he said,

Peace is a prime priority that pleads for our pursuit.The commandments to love God and neighbor are interrelated. We cannot fully love God without loving our neighbor. We cannot fully love our neighbor without loving God. Men really are brothers because God really is our Father. Nevertheless, scriptures are studded with stories of contention and combat. They strongly condemn wars of aggression but sustain obligations of citizens to defend their families and their freedoms.

I am not sure what is the right things to do, and I am glad I am not in the position of making very difficult decisions in terms of war and peace, but I know that hatred, aggression, and war only create more hatred and more wars. Russia is now creating a difficult situation, and the day they choose to attack is quite troubling, but the response to their actions may make a big difference.

If people think that there are too many pages about wars in the Book of Mormon, they simply need to realize that that book was written for our generation. It becomes always more evident why.

Aug

5

Are Mormons Christians?

August 5, 2008 by Giuseppe Martinengo | Leave a Comment | Filed in Mormon Videos, Mormons Christians, Videos

I have found a very good video about Mormons and their beliefs in Jesus Christ. It should be obvious that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe in Jesus Christ, since His name is part of the name of the Church (while it is not in many other Christian churches). Also, the Book of Mormon’s subtitle is “Another testament of Jesus Christ”. Even more important, thousand of members of the Church testify of their beliefs in the Savior, but still there are people who feel justified in tell Mormons what they believe.

This video may help clarify that Christ is the real center of our religion.


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