September 2008 News from
The Dalai Lama Foundation

Being Online

You may also read this newsletter online, or download a copy in PDF format.

Being Online

By Jim “Sky” Schuyler, CTO —

I was asked the other day how the size of the Dalai Lama Foundation’s website relates to the size of the physical, human organization. It made me think for a while about all of the online services we offer and how people use them.

So this issue will be devoted to describing some of our online programs that you might not be aware of.

The Foundation’s online work is critical to its impact on the world. (Thus the tagline for my blog, Spreading the word in a Networked World.) The Foundation utilizes network technologies to expand our reach far beyond what we could ever do as a small group of human volunteers. And our online presence is far the “interactive brochures” that characterized the web of the 1990s. The website probably represents 25% or less of what we do utilizing communication technologies.

EVENTS

On the website, the most-visited page is the Events page. Nearly 15% of all pageviews are this page, and over ¼ of our visitors go directly to the events page — skipping even the home page (usually coming from search engines). So naturally we try to focus on keeping this page up to date and relevant. Because of our non-religious charter, we focus on secular events, and those seeking Buddhist teachings are advised to check www.dalailama.com.

We have made an RSS (“news”) feed specifically for the events page, so you can be alerted immediately when new events are added (using NetNewsWire, Safari, Flock, Google, Feedblitz, or other news readers or services).

STUDY CIRCLES

Emmanuel Ande Ivorgba, of Nigeria, invites you to participate in one of our most successful online programs, which is actually an offline program! Emmanuel coordinates our Study Circles program, supplemented by the Study Guide for Ethics for the New Millenium which is downloadable in English, Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese, and can be printed and duplicated for your own use. With over 107,000 visitors to the site in the last 12 months, these were the download figures:

English study guide	22,138
Portuguese	3,434
Spanish	1,815
Chinese	1,550

STUDY CIRCLES BLOG

We’re beginning to promote our study circles blog in which we’ll try to profile some circles, and will publish success stories and tips for a successful circle. If you’re considering starting a circle, or you’d like to share your experiences, let Emmanuel know by email.

WEBCASTS PAGE

If you enjoy watching and hearing the Dalai Lama, check the Webcasts page, where we’ve assembled some links to recent online video from the Dalai Lama’s appearances around the world. There are hours and hours of material here.

THE MISSING PEACE ONLINE

There are lots of ways you can enjoy the art exhibition The Missing Peace online.

First, check out the artists page, where you can read about each artist and see works that aren’t in the show.

Then take a virtual tour of the galleries of The Missing Peace where you’ll get a photographer’s-eye view of the installation, a look at each work of art, and each artist’s statement about their work and participation in the show.

We collaborated with Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) to build a real-world interactive mobile phone art project Making Peace, which can be viewed online.

And finally, download the curriculum materials for The Missing Peace. Each guide and/or poster in the series has been downloaded 500 to 800 times in the last year.

The Foundation is co-sponsor of, and provides all online facilities for The Missing Peace.

LEARNING ONLINE

Since the early days of the Foundation, we’ve wanted to provide an online learning center.

So this month we’re proud to announce our online education site is available at edu.dalailamafoundation.org.

Our first online course is a reflective examination of The Ethics of Altruism.

And The Missing Peace curriculum materials are also available at this site, along with additional study and activity suggestions.

The online learning site is built on the free and open-source Moodle software.

DAILY GOOD

If you “join” us online, then in addition to receiving the monthly email newsletter, you can receive Daily Good, which is a service of Charity Focus. This daily email will inspire you with wisdom and tales of good works. You can also receive Daily Good on your cell phone as TXT or email!

PROJECT HAPPINESS

The Foundation helped launch Project Happiness, including its online presence and digital media programs. Two weeks ago, the project launched a beautiful new web presence with new videos and activities.

And now we’ve added a new “online” activity called Faces of Happiness, playable from your mobile phone, that incorporates realworld activities with photos from participants.

MORE...

Find out about all of our online activites at our special website: projects.dalailamafoundation.org.

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