- The World Wide Web and You
- Resources for Christian Living
- Topic of the Month: Names
- Current Issues
Introduction
Welcome
Welcome to this month's journey through the Web. But first a
few reminders:
1. When you click on the links supplied (words underlined in
a contrasting color) you'll be taken outside the EEWC site. To
return, you can always click on the back button on the toolbar.
(If you click on the links in some of the external sites, you'll
sometimes find they open a new window layered on top of the site,
and the back button won't take you back to the site you just left.
In such cases, try clicking on the X in the upper right corner of
the new window to close it.)
2. EEWC cannot be responsible for the content of these
external sites. They're simply places that I think you'll be
interested in visiting, but they're outside EEWC's control. So
keep in mind that a site's inclusion in this column (or
"Weblog") doesn't mean that EEWC necessarily endorses
the material contained there.
3. If this is your first visit to "Web Explorations for
Christian Feminists," you might want to click on the
"previous issues" link (at the top of this page on
the right side) and read the introductory material and tips
supplied with earlier columns.
The World Wide Web and You
Informative sites about using the Internet:
The problem of cybersquatting
Each month, in talking about "The World Wide Web and
You," I like to introduce some general sites containing
information related to the Internet -- useful materials outside
our main topics in Parts 2, 3, and 4 below.
This month, I thought I'd include some links that explain an
unfortunate situation that sometimes occurs in cyberspace--the
loss of ownership of a domain name and the problem of
"cybersquatting."
Perhaps you can identify with this scenario: You click on a
link and expect in good faith to go directly to the site of a
particular organization or informational Web page. Instead you're
whisked to some site you didn't want at all -- perhaps it's even a
site that is totally offensive. Puzzled, you check the URL (Uniform
Resource Locator), the long string of letters and numbers that
constitute the Web address of the site. EEWC's URL, for example is
http://www.eewc.com.
Once you see that you have keyed in or clicked on the correct
address of the website you wanted to access, you might wonder if
the misdirection to another site was the work of hackers. Perhaps,
but much more likely is the possibility that some website owner
(whether an organization or individual) has failed to renew the
site's domain
name (which has to be officially
registered and paid for, usually on a yearly basis). As a
result of the nonrenewal, another owner has purchased the domain
name and taken over the site. It's like failing to renew a post
office box number and having another organization rent that
mailbox, or like having your phone number become the number of
someone else when you moved away. Mail or calls directed to you at
your former address or phone number then may reach someone else.
Domain
name speculators have found that they can make a lot of money
by purchasing the domain names of well-known companies,
celebrities, brand names, places, events, and generic terms and
then reselling them at a high profit to parties with a special
interest in those names.
The deliberate infringement of a trademark in registering a
variation of a brand name to make money from the resale of that
domain name to the owners of the brand name is called cybersquatting
and it
is illegal. Famous cybersquatting lawsuits include Time
Warner's suit against the usurping of 107 domain names
referring to Harry Potter, and suits
involving domain names for Julia Roberts and Madonna. A
variation on cybersquatting has been dubbed "Typosquatting,"
in which speculators buy domain names with misspellings of famous
people or brands.
One of the most troublesome variations that has recently
emerged has been given the name "porn-napping." It works
this way: A good name of an organization is "kidnapped"
when the organization accidentally lets its domain name
registration expire. The domain name is then purchased for
redirection to a pornographic site before the organization may
even realize that the time for renewal has passed. A surprisingly
large number of well-known
organizations have experienced the embarrassment of having
their Web address co-opted by pornographic, gambling, or other
types of sites, keeping seekers from finding the organization they
intended to access.
The Online Internet Institute,
an organization that serves educators, has posted a list
of articles on the topic. Another excellent article on the OII
website is Ken Leebow's "Protect
Thy Good Name."
Here are a couple of examples of the problem: A Lutheran
women's organization changed its name and Web address, only to
find that its older name (to which a church still posted links)
had been purchased by an "adults only" site offering to
sell it back -- but for no offer less than $500. And the Diocese
of Brooklyn similarly found last December that its expired Web
address had become a gateway to pornography. When members of the
Diocese tried to buy it back, they were told it would cost
$1,500!
The moral of all this? Nonprofit organizations --or anyone --
with a website should be very careful not to let a domain name
expire; and in the event of an organizational name change or move
to a different web address for whatever reason, retain the
original name for a page redirecting viewers to the new site. That
way, seekers can find you wherever you are, and they won't be
taken to where you wouldn't want them to go.
Resources for Christian Living
When Jenee Woodward graduated from Saint Paul School of
Theology (United Methodist) in Kansas City, she planned to pursue
further education in Biblical studies, Early Christianity, and
Textual Criticism in preparation for an academic career. But her
plans changed when her son was diagnosed with severe autism while
just a toddler. That was seven years ago and much of her time,
energy, and resources have gone into his care since then. Instead
of her original plan for an academic career, Jenee has found a
ministry over the World Wide Web by devoting from 40 to 60 hours
weekly providing resources for Bible study and worship. Her
website is called, "The
Text This Week," and it provides virtually endless
resources on Bible study and liturgy, based on the three-year
cycle of the Revised Common Liturgy. In addition to these
regularly updated resources, she provides a Scripture index; a
"movie concordance," where you can find films related to
a large array of biblical and theological themes; and an "art
concordance," through which you can find famous works of art
from all over the world depicting biblical topics. The menu for
these is at the top of "The Text This Week" web page for
easy access with just a click. (Incidentally, since this site
directs the viewer to thousands of outside links, Jenee Woodward
has included a brief notice that on rare occasions, readers have
reported that a listed link redirects viewers to an offensive
site. She therefore requests that anyone who finds such a link
notify her. She tries to keep the links up to date, but she
sometimes runs into the same problem discussed in Part One above
-- a problem that we should all understand a bit better now.)
Another excellent resource comes from the Ohio Conference,
United Church of Christ, which has put together some guidelines
for inclusive language that other churches may wish to
consider as well.
And here are some "Ideas
for Planning Feminist Worship" from Rev. Judy Redman, a
campus minister of the Uniting Church, who serves at the
University of New England in New South Wales, Australia.
Topic of the Month
For this month's theme, I thought we might consider names
-- names for God, names for people, and decisions about whether or
not to change names as new families are formed.
Names for God
Have you ever wondered why names are given such significance in
Scriptures? Why the Jewish people treat God's name with such
reverence, including writing "G-D" rather than GOD? Have
you wondered about the Hebrew letters YHVH? If so, you'll want to
check out "The Name
of God," which is part of a marvelously informative
website called "Judaism
101," and is filled with answers to Frequently Asked
Questions (FAQ) about almost anything you've wondered about
Judaism. (Incidentally, in keeping with the emphasis on reverence
for the name of God, the page about God's name begins with these
words: "Please note: This page contains the Name of God. If
you print it out, please treat it with appropriate respect."
Once God's name is written, it is not to be erased or defaced in
any way.
Here's another article on the Names
of God in the Bible, this one from the Biblical Studies
Foundation
As Christian feminists, we are especially interested in
inclusive imagery for God. Be sure to click on "Basic
Linguistic Options: God, Women, Equivalence," by
Elizabeth A. Johnson, a reprint from her 1997 book She Who Is:
The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse.
Have you ever wondered why some Christian feminists prefer to
spell "God" as "Godde"? Here is Katy Scott's explanation
for using "Godde."
Names for people and the meanings behind them
We have already seen the importance of names for God in
Judaism. Names for people in Judaism also have great
significance. You might want to explore these meanings of Jewish
names, both Hebrew and modern Israeli.
You've probably wondered about your own name, too. If you'd
like to check out its meaning, click on "Behind
the Name: The Etymology and History of First Names."
Decisions about changing or not changing
surnames at marriage
The question of surnames often means agonizing decisions for a
couple. The best discussion I've seen on all the options and
issues surrounding decisions about name changes at marriage,
family names for children, and so on can be found under the title
"The
Name Change Game."
Two other good sites on the topic are these: "General
Information about Marriage Name Changes" from Brideserver
and The Lucy
Stone League, which promotes name change freedom for women and
men and "equality of patrilineal/matrilineal name
distribution for children."
For couples in gay and lesbian marriages, information on
options for name change decisions can be found at NOLO: Law for
All's Legal
Guide for Lesbian and Gay Couples, and at FindLaw's
Legal Commentary. See also an American
Civil Liberty's news item that updates some of the case
information in the Findlaw's Legal Commentary article just cited.
Current Issues
Women's Issues
A number of websites directly address issues of concern to
women today. Here are some of them:
Feminist Majority Foundation
Online
Women's Enews
(Incidentally, Women's Enews recently published a condensed
version of our own Anne Eggebroten's article on the Andrea
Yates tragedy and referred readers to EEWC's original
publication of "A
Biblical Feminist Looks at the Andrea Yates Tragedy.")
Feminist.com
Worldwoman
Women's Feature Service
Interactive sites
And finally, here are three interactive sites that provide
information on past and present events through engaging viewers in
active participation:
First, here's an interactive history
of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict from the United Kingdom's
Guardian Unlimited. It provides background information that aids
our understanding of the current situation in the Middle East.
Just click on "next"(or on arrows) to move forward or
backward, like turning pages.
And speaking of history, here's a feature from National
Geographic that lets the viewer have a virtual
experience of the Underground Railroad, with several places
provided in the narrative which permit viewers to decide to go in
one of two directions -- and what is likely to happen in either
case.
Finally, here's a site that helps us experience some of the
frustration and limited choices of homeless people. Called "Hobson's
Choice: the Game You Just Can't Leave," this feature lets
you click on numerous choices and tells what is likely to happen
--or not happen--when you make a particular choice. It won't take
long before you'll feel the anxiety and frustration that many
homeless people live with daily.
Hobson's Choice was developed by Real
Change News, in Seattle, one of the numerous "homeless
newspapers" dealing with poverty and other social justice
issues around the world.
That brings us to the end of this month's column.
I'll be back again in May with more Web Explorations.
Your Web Explorations tour guide,
Letha Dawson Scanzoni
© 2002 Evangelical and Ecumenical
Women's Caucus
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