SOCNews Editors:

Work Content:
Report on news items of significance from various parts of the Syriac Orthodox world. For most news, headline news with a very brief report will suffice. For news of significance for the whole church, a detailed report would be required.

Skills & Resources Required:
Ability to translate news items from local publications. Awareness about events in the Syriac Orthodox communities and contacts to get first hand information. HTML skills are not necessary but can be helpful.

There are several publications that carry news items of interest. Volunteers can select one of these publications (eg. Patriarchal Journal in Arabic published from Damascus, Qolo Suryoyo in Syriac published from Holland, Atmadeepam published from Malankara, etc.) and translate significant news items.

Time Frame:
On-going basis. News items have to be provided two weeks after publication of an issue of each journal.

Culture Corner:

Work Content:

Collect articles and materials about the society and culture of Syriac Christians from the Middle East and India. These may include cultural history, social customs in marriages, funerals, etc., recipes for food (including lenten food), traditional attire, etc.

For information about customs in India, a source is S. G. Pothen's book, parts of which can be scanned and OCRed.

Skills & Resources Required:
Interest in researching cultural aspects of the Syriac Christian community in the Middle East, India and diaspora. Aptitude to acquire HTML skills desirable.

Syriac Orthodox Dioceses, Churches and Monasteries:

Work Content:
Compile information about each of the Syriac Orthodox dioceses, churches and monasteries including address, travel directions, contacts for arranging visits, worship service schedule, diocese affiliation, history, current membership information, etc. Identify one or more contacts who will provide updates on each entry. Primary focus is on ancient churches.

Scan and digitize pictures (300 pixels in height max; less than 10,000 bytes). Format the information in HTML according to the SOR style guide.

Ideally, information about parishes is best maintained by diocesan web sites and can be moved in the future to such sites as appropriate. If information about any individual parish is volunteered, that can be hosted on the SOR site.

Skills & Resources Required:
Volunteers to collect and compile information with meticulous attention to detail. One volunteer with HTML skills to create and maintain the pages.

Biographies of Saints and Fathers:

Work Content:
Collect information on Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Fathers of the Church, etc. in particular relying on Syriac Orthodox sources. The Syriac Computing Institute's HyperText Project will provide a lot of information on the lesser known Saints. Also, biographies of living bishops as also bishops who have recently passed away have to be collected.

Skills & Resources Required:
Aptitude for researching historic documents and writing objective summaries. Access to a major university/public library system is desirable, although many resources are available with the SOR Editorial Board to get started. For current bishops of the church, information has to be located through personal contacts, local publications, etc.

Time Frame:
Complete birographies for all names remembered in the Diptychs, the famous Patriarchs of the church, and other renowned bishops, clergy and laymen who have made significant contributions in the history of the church by December 1998.

Liturgy:

Ma`de`dono:

Work Content:
The text of the liturgies in the book Ma`de`dono (published by late Mor Athanasius) to be scanned and OCR-ed. The OCR has to be checked and the text separated into different HTML pages linked to the index page; footnotes have to be re-numbered and moved to the end of each liturgy.

Skills & Resources Required:
HTML skills. Access to the book "Ma`de`dono," published by late Mor Athanasius Samuel.

Holy Week Services:

Work Content:
Scan and OCR text. HTML editing of the electronic copy of the text.

Skills & Resources Required:
HTML skills. A copy of the text has to be obtained from the Eastern US Archdiocese.

Lectionary:

Work Content:
The official lectionary will be published on this site. The work involves compiling the biblical text so that a comprehensive lectionary is available. This will be later used with the on-line church calendar under development.

Skills & Resources Required:
Internet access and HTML skills to pull the Bible text off the web and format for the lectionary.

Chronological Time Line of Church History:

Work Content:
Create a chronologically ordered time-line of the church history.

Skills & Resources Required:
Research aptitude. Compile information from sources such as Brock, Ya`qub III, Zakka I, etc to create a time-line. A separate timeline for the Malankara church has to be created.

Liturgical Calendar:

Work Content:
Create an application (preferably in Java) that automatically generates the liturgical calendar for each year. The calendar will have both feast days as well as Bible readings.

Skills & Resources Required:
Programming skills in Java. Some source code is available in C/Perl. Manually generated calendars indicate the desired output from the program.

Graphics:

Work Content:
Assist with graphics scanning and editing. Enhance the visual appeal of the web site and improve navigation, while conserving space on the web site.

Skills & Resources Required:
Computer graphics skills; access to a good computer graphics program such as CorelDRAW, PhotoShop, etc.; GUI design skills in the context of HTML pages.