Schola

Here you can discuss all things Latin. Use this board to ask questions about grammar, discuss learning strategies, get help with a difficult passage of Latin, and more.
Post Reply
metrodorus
Textkit Fan
Posts: 339
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 7:19 pm
Location: London
Contact:

Schola

Post by metrodorus »

Schola has now passed the 1000 member mark - a milestone in the history of the internet's only Latin Language 'web 2.0' social network.

There are now two chatrooms on schola - one for text only, and another that offers the option of videochat.

Both chatrooms get busy every day, and the number of regular conversationalists on the site is steadily increasing. Lots of people also use the site to find people to write to.....you can get a pretty good idea of a user's latinity from their microautobiography.

http://schola.ning.com
I run http://latinum.org.uk which provides the Adler Audio Latin Course, other audio materials, and additional free materials on YouTube.

User avatar
Lucus Eques
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 2037
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2004 12:52 pm
Location: Pennsylvania
Contact:

Re: Schola

Post by Lucus Eques »

It's really a wonderful site; I have enjoyed many a conversation in Latin in the chatroom (locutorium). I think it's going to revolutionize the Latin-speaking world.
L. Amādeus Rāniērius · Λ. Θεόφιλος Ῥᾱνιήριος 🦂

SCORPIO·MARTIANVS

adrianus
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 3270
Joined: Sun Sep 10, 2006 9:45 pm

Re: Schola

Post by adrianus »

Metrodore

Since you oblige visitors to become a member of Schola before entering the site, that means just that a thousand people have visited your site, from whom you solicit non-sensitive personal information,—name, email address, date of birth, job, a photograph,— and sensitive personal information,—first and second languages spoken (which may be used to indicate racial origin, though I don't say you are using the information in that way), personality characteristics (which may be used to indicate mental health, though I don't say you are using the information in that way), facial and body characteristics (which may be used to indicate physical health, though I don't say you are using the information in that way), and sexual orientation. Furnishing answers to such questions is not a prerequisite to membership but the questions are nevertheless posed and answers are stored.

Oportet omnem hospitem in situm tuum ut sodalis se inscribere. Ideò, sunt non plus quàm milia hospitum qui in situm tuum intraverunt quibus quaestiones naturâ et personales et (quibusdam casibus) sensitivas posuisti. Illae naturâ personales non sensitivae vident ita: sicut nomen, inscriptio interretialis, dies natalis, quaestus, photographia. Illae naturâ personales et sensitivae ad res sequentes pertingunt: sicut linguae locutae et prima et secunda (quae stirpem nonnunquam indicare possunt, etsi non dico te eis sic uti), affectus personae (qui ad salutem mentis diriget, etsi non dico te eis sic uti), corporatura (quae salutem corporis indicare potest, etsi non dico te eis sic uti), et genus socii sexualis praeferendum. Ut sodalis sitûs accipiatur, petitori ad omnes quaestiones non respondum est; si respondere autem optat, servantur responsa.

For example // Exempli gratiâ
Schola wrote:In arte amātōriā egō qvidem faveō torī sociīs:
• fēminīnīs
• masculīnīs
• ambōbus
• neutrī
• Pudōris verēcundiæqve causā mālō tacēre.
What purpose do you have in storing responses to that and other personal, sensitive questions? This is not good.
Quamobrem responsa ad hanc quaestionem personalem et sensitivam et ad alias eiusdem generis conservas? Inlaudatum est.

You are in the UK. Have you read the UK Data Protection Act? // In Regno Unito habitas. Legistine Actum Pro Datorum Custodiâ in Regno Unito (1998).
UK Data Protection Act 1998 wrote:Part I, §3 Personal data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they are processed.
Part I, §5 Personal data processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.
I just hope that the data is secure! // Utimam tuta sit data, precor!
Last edited by adrianus on Wed Jun 10, 2009 9:34 pm, edited 3 times in total.
I'm writing in Latin hoping for correction, and not because I'm confident in how I express myself. Latinè scribo ut ab omnibus corrigar, non quod confidenter me exprimam.

metrodorus
Textkit Fan
Posts: 339
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 7:19 pm
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Schola

Post by metrodorus »

Duly noted.
How many social networking sites/dating sites, etc have you ever joined? They all ask similar questions. Why? To facilitate social interaction between members.
Schola is a social network, not different to any other, except it is in Latin. The questions asked are pretty standard for most social networks.
But, hey, feel free to rain on the parade, it's a free world, Adriane.
I run http://latinum.org.uk which provides the Adler Audio Latin Course, other audio materials, and additional free materials on YouTube.

metrodorus
Textkit Fan
Posts: 339
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 7:19 pm
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Schola

Post by metrodorus »

I'd like to point out you can't use the Grex Latine Loquentem without registering either, and they have less than 300 members, according to my email server, which tells me how many recipients messages to GLL have.
As the GLL has been in existence for over 10 years, and Schola for only 1, this is quite an achievement. John and I deliberately asked the sexual orientation question, because we want Latinum to be a real, social network, and not a neo-fascist, homophobic hangout like some other online Latin networks I could care to mention. I am surprised how open people are in answering these questions.
I believe Schola will have, eventually, a major impact - it brings people together in new way, in a little Latin universe.
I run http://latinum.org.uk which provides the Adler Audio Latin Course, other audio materials, and additional free materials on YouTube.

User avatar
Lucus Eques
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 2037
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2004 12:52 pm
Location: Pennsylvania
Contact:

Re: Schola

Post by Lucus Eques »

Evane amice, ne verba oscura adhibueris. Don't mince words, my friend, or merely allude; perhaps the various problems you cited with the GLL should be discussed here. I would like to hear you opinion.

[EDIT: random note: the number of posts I have made on Textkit is equal to my birth year as of this post! how exciting. :) ]
L. Amādeus Rāniērius · Λ. Θεόφιλος Ῥᾱνιήριος 🦂

SCORPIO·MARTIANVS

adrianus
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 3270
Joined: Sun Sep 10, 2006 9:45 pm

Re: Schola

Post by adrianus »

metrodorus wrote:How many social networking sites/dating sites, etc have you ever joined? They all ask similar questions. Why? To facilitate social interaction between members.
One wouldn't like to imagine that a site calling itself Schola was attracting very young members for the purposes of dating.
And correct me, but I don't think the members themselves have access to all the personal information you gather; just the site administrators do.
Non velis imaginare ut situm sub Scholae nomine ad congressiones romanticas collocandas petit sodales novissimos.
Et me corrigas si erro, at non sodalibus sed solùm administratoribus cuncta data personalia aperta sunt.
metrodorus wrote:John and I deliberately asked the sexual orientation question, because we want Latinum to be a real, social network, and not a neo-fascist, homophobic hangout like some other online Latin networks I could care to mention.
To not seek information about sexual orientation, physical appearance and personality characteristics is neither neo-fascistic nor homophobic. To suggest it might be is itself symptomatic of narrow thinking.
Ut quaestiones de moribus sexualibus, corporaturâ atque affectubus personalitatis non rogantur, nec neo-fascistae nec homophobiae signum est. Quod quisquam aliter suggerit, in ipso mentem angustam indicat.
I'm writing in Latin hoping for correction, and not because I'm confident in how I express myself. Latinè scribo ut ab omnibus corrigar, non quod confidenter me exprimam.

metrodorus
Textkit Fan
Posts: 339
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 7:19 pm
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Schola

Post by metrodorus »

Well, actually, members do look at other's profiles - and people make friends with new people as a direct result of this.
"schola" has the sense of 'otium' here, also with nuances of 'ludus', in both senses of that word as well. It is not an academic community, but a social one. The name was probably not so brilliant a choice, in
retrospect, and the community has grown in unforseen ways. For example, there were no chat applications when the site first went live, and we had no idea if it would be a tiny little 'dead' site - the only other similar forum totally in Latin had only 12 members-----so we had no idea what would happen. It has been wonderful watching the site growing so quickly.

re the GLL, suffice it to say, Schola was started because neither John Doublier nor I were comfortable with the type of things that were being said on the GLL,( a sentiment that was at that time shared by other contributors here on textkit) and we also did not like the format, feeling it was time to have a modern web 2.0 network that let members express their personalities, have a blog, share photos, exchange messages, that sort of thing.

Schola grows steadily - around 3- 4 new members look over the site from outside, and decide to join, every day. Yesterday was exceptional - 10 new members in 24 hours. I suspect your crit. of the site is largely responsible, so thank you for raising Schola's profile.

The real time chatroom is busy several times a day.

And yes, believe it or not, members are using Schola for all kinds of social interaction- picture sharing, chatting, private messaging, face to face video chat, dating, you name it.
Private off-site messages can be in any language, and people are using the site to meet up with others with similar interests.
I run http://latinum.org.uk which provides the Adler Audio Latin Course, other audio materials, and additional free materials on YouTube.

User avatar
Lucus Eques
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 2037
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2004 12:52 pm
Location: Pennsylvania
Contact:

Re: Schola

Post by Lucus Eques »

adrianus wrote:
metrodorus wrote:How many social networking sites/dating sites, etc have you ever joined? They all ask similar questions. Why? To facilitate social interaction between members.
One wouldn't like to imagine that a site calling itself Schola was attracting very young members for the purposes of dating.
And correct me, but I don't think the members themselves have access to all the personal information you gather; just the site administrators do.
I will gather, amice, by your taciturnity that you have not joined other social networks like Facebook or YouTube. I was deeply skeptical of these sites at first, finding them painfully frivolous — but over the years, I have found how incredibly useful they are to stay in touch with people, particularly other Latinists, and especially family members.

Quo casu te suadeo ut ad Facebook te adjungas, meque amices (e neologismo "amicare" :) ) ac pro te ipso videas.

You mention "very young members" — I haven't seen any below age 18, though it is possible there are some — but Schola, just like Facebook and myriad others, give members the opportunity to use the site as they will.
L. Amādeus Rāniērius · Λ. Θεόφιλος Ῥᾱνιήριος 🦂

SCORPIO·MARTIANVS

adrianus
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 3270
Joined: Sun Sep 10, 2006 9:45 pm

Re: Schola

Post by adrianus »

Lucus Eques wrote:I will gather, amice, by your taciturnity that you have not joined other social networks like Facebook or YouTube.
Wrongly, Lucus // Perperàm, Luce
I'm writing in Latin hoping for correction, and not because I'm confident in how I express myself. Latinè scribo ut ab omnibus corrigar, non quod confidenter me exprimam.

Post Reply