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Katinka Hesselink

Moving the TS into the 21st century: video

On theosophy forward there was recently an article about what we should do to move the TS into the 21st century.

I don't think many of those suggestions are very realistic.

What I wonder is: why aren't the videos made of theosophical lectures at the TSA made publicly available at youtube? Right now, among the many videos mentioning theosophy, I could find only one that was actually made by a theosophical organisation. And one other one that features a prominent current teacher.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu5BP5hUfWw

and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ1kQP2WAq8

Why doesn't someone interview the main theosophical teachers and put the videos on youtube? I mean: Michael Gomes, Radha Burnier, Joy Mills, John Algeo, Glenn Mullin or any of these people?

And since the TSA is already recording the lectures held at Wheaton, why aren't those available on youtube - or only some choice tidbits from them? That's online marketing people...

Well perhaps I got a bit carried away - but the main point stands. It's 2009 and the technological basics are in place to do this - why isn't it done? Why are we letting the Alice Bailey people tell our history on youtube?

Tags: video

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Katinka Hesselink Permalink Reply by Katinka Hesselink on October 29, 2009 at 7:23am
While I'm at it - I bet Pablo Sender would do very well explaining the basis of theosophy on video :)

Could be a whole series

- what is theosophy
- what's the history of theosophy
- who was H.P. Blavatsky
- what the TS learned from Jiddu Krishnamurti
- reincarnation / karma
- meditation
- why I'm a member of the TS (interview several members)

And that's without touching on the many themed videos could be done about. John Algeo about the spiritual meaning of Harry Potter. Stephan Hoeller about gnosticism. etc. I'm sure any issue of Quest has possible video topics.
Janeth Permalink Reply by Janeth on November 3, 2009 at 7:13pm
Re: " Reply by Katinka Hesselink on October 29, 2009 at 7:23am"

A lot of information is already available to anyone by visiting the Theosophical Society in America website www.theosophical.org where we have many resources available. Most of the educational resources are listed on the Resource Menu, including over 150 MP3s of Theosophical lectures that he can download for FREE, our online e-Learning courses (also FREE), and the introductory Theosophy course by John Algeo (look under Self-Study Courses) which is a good place to begin one's study of Theosophy. In addition, there are many articles in the online articles page as well as a few online books on reincarnation, etc. All these resources are available to anyone regardless of whether he/she is a TSA member or not.
Katinka Hesselink Permalink Reply by Katinka Hesselink on October 29, 2009 at 7:31am
I know - I linked to it above. I think it's great. Really. As I have said before - I wish he'd put in more of that kind of energy into the TS.

I also found this video on google video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2500050210699556702# I just tried to embed it here, but failed.

It's John Algeo. Goes to show that google video just isn't 'IT'. Hard to integrate into websites, doesn't have a live link back to the questbookshop website. In short: not ideal for online PR. Better than nothing though. Just like Sala's video: definitely better than nothing.
christinaleestemaker Permalink Reply by christinaleestemaker on October 29, 2009 at 8:11am
All on you tube are short impressions not more than 10 minutes for each video.
I catched a lot from HPB, Krishna Ji and others they like to sell.
christinaleestemaker Permalink Reply by christinaleestemaker on October 29, 2009 at 8:26am
christinaleestemaker Permalink Reply by christinaleestemaker on October 29, 2009 at 8:30am
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2500050210699556702#docid=1...

From all I dislike this, for it has been played, theatre
Katinka Hesselink Permalink Reply by Katinka Hesselink on October 30, 2009 at 3:33am
Great videos.

My point was: it's not youtube & that has definite negative consequences for online pr. Also many of those don't even mention the TS website, let alone link to it. Also not good for PR.
Dan Noga Permalink Reply by Dan Noga on October 29, 2009 at 9:41am
Katinka,

We've had it on our "To-do" list to set up a YouTube channel and upload more of our videos to it. The issue is finding someone to do it--we are all very busy. Most of us do several different jobs just to keep the National Center running, and we simply haven't gotten around to it yet.

I should add that we've been recording our lectures and putting them up online at our website for years--since before YouTube existed. Now the issue is converting all of those files and putting them up on YouTube as well. We have an Internet Face committee tasked with brainstorming and implementing these kinds of things, and there are many other projects it is working on right now to move us forward in other ways, including:

- Converting to a new membership database
- Investigating Content Management Systems such ad Drupal and Joomla with the hopes of converting our website to a template-based format that will make it easier to manage and make it more "Web 2.0" functional
- Developing and maintaining The Theosophical Community
- Organizing an effort to monitor various existing resources that reference us, such as Wikipedia
- Increasing our usage of Facebook, Twitter, et al

So in other words, "We're on it." There just aren't enough of us young whippersnappers to do it all! :P
Katinka Hesselink Permalink Reply by Katinka Hesselink on October 30, 2009 at 3:31am
How good are you all at reaching out to find new people for jobs like this? I mean - does a notice get put in Quest, or on the website when there is an opening for volunteer work like this? Asking that because I know that's one of the things the Dutch TS is NOT good at at all. How are volunteers going to come your way if you don't tell them you need them?

Opening up and telling people - hey, we'd love to have youtube videos up but we need someone to do it for us - is GOOD pr in my point of view.
christinaleestemaker Permalink Reply by christinaleestemaker on October 30, 2009 at 2:38pm
Nonsense
Dan Noga Permalink Reply by Dan Noga on October 31, 2009 at 11:36pm
That's another thing that's come up in the Internet Face meeting, I believe--the idea of putting up a page on our website listing what kind of volunteer work we need done. I think when I first started coming around, our approach was to get the volunteers first, then think up things for them to do. At least, that's how it worked for me (I started as a volunteer). It is a good idea to be more pro-active about it, and to think of the tasks first and then put out appeals for volunteers.

Asking for help can be difficult. I know that is true for me personally, and I suppose it can be true of organizations, too.
Lenny Permalink Reply by Lenny on November 2, 2009 at 4:21pm
Yeah that does sound good. Get up on it and keep us posted.

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