New Resources: Author Guides

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933348#Comment_933348

When do you expect these to hit mobile devices? A day or two later as usual?

Adam Borries (Logos)

The Luther Author Guide is available on all platforms now. Other titles TBA.

Richard Labelle

Adam, I am a Logos Now member but cannot find this resource anywhere. How do we get to it? God bless you!

Ben Amundgaard (Faithlife)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933359#Comment_933359

Adam, I am a Logos Now member but cannot find this resource anywhere. How do we get to it? God bless you!

Hi Richard,

The product should show up in our library soon. It could take a few hours or so for the license to update. If you are using the desktop app, try typing "Update resources" into the command box in a few hours.

Randy W. Sims

Cool! Looks like a great reference. I only wish that it were integrated. Eg if I type 'martin luther' or 'author:"martin luther"' in library it would be cool if there was a banner entry at the top of the library pointing to this resource. I'd like to see a link from the info pane to this resource from works authored by Martin Luther. (desktop & mobile) Additionally, a backlink from Factbook would be cool, either at the top under the main entry or at least in the See Also.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933388#Comment_933388

Cool! Looks like a great reference. I only wish that it were integrated. Eg if I type 'martin luther' or 'author:"martin luther"' in library it would be cool if there was a banner entry at the top of the library pointing to this resource. I'd like to see a link from the info pane to this resource from works authored by Martin Luther. (desktop & mobile) Additionally, a backlink from Factbook would be cool, either at the top under the main entry or at least in the See Also.

Hi Randy:

Thanks for the suggestions. Our current designs for Library and Info don't support the kind of linkage you're imagining, but we will definitely add a backlink from Factbook.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933394#Comment_933394

This is still not showing on my iPad. I haven't tried my computer yet

Matthew

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933402#Comment_933402

I just got done looking through this resource, and it definitely seems like a helpful and interesting way to further integrate our library resources and to find relevant material. I especially liked that there was an index towards the end to find what Luther taught on various topics. Still, as I looked through it, I had mixed feelings about whether I would want this sort of thing as a separate resource versus just having the information and links available from within Factbook itself. Right now I am leaning towards rather having it integrated so I don't have two separate guides to work through and then have to try figuring out what what information is unique to each one. Regardless, I think the kind of organization that has been done here looks impressive and scholarly -- or at least until I got to the very end and saw that the very first source listed was Wikipedia. With all those resources on Luther linked throughout the resource, was it really necessary to resort to Wikipedia for information? [:P]

Paul

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933412#Comment_933412

Thanks Faithlife for this interesting and useful resource. Its well set out and easy to use. The subject index links to "Luther's Works" in particular will help to open up and enable greater use of that collection. For me that's quite a bonus! Keep well Paul

Randy W. Sims

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933394#Comment_933394

Our current designs for Library and Info don't support the kind of linkage you're imagining

That's unfortunate. I really like author pages, eg on Logos & Amazon. It would be great for discoverability, to point to these new resources from the Library. Even if it were a simple highlighted link. If there were going to be a lot of these Author Guides, a Spotlight on the Author type card on the Home page for desktop & web might be another cool way to make these more discoverable?

Organizationally, I wish the Biographical Resources section was moved toward the end, near Bibliography. That endless list of resources breaks the flow when you want to browse the informational part of the resource. The Notables and Quotes definitely should be placed ahead, IMO.

Other than those minor nits, I really do love the resource and organization. Compliments to the author. It seems very thorough and well linked, not just to other resources but to features within Logos, eg to Factbook. Looking forward to more of them. Possibly expanding into other areas? Theology Guides on individual topics (Open Theism, Calvinism, Dispensationalism), possibly also Denominational or Movement Guides. Please do all my searching and researching and organizing for me!

mike

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933423#Comment_933423

Can you guys have Faithlife's Content Innovation team to fix the "Collection"..

They're hardly updated and there are so many mistakes on the rules & books that aren't suppose to be there (or lack there of)

Faithlife's Content Innovation team should be able to come up with the tons of official Collections, rather than waiting for users to create our own.

It would help us a lot.

It would even make this "Author Guides" obsolete if you fix your "Collection"

Thanks Adam

Martin Folley

Hi.

This probably deserves a different thread, but it relates to this resource, and I am not sure if the issue relates specifically to this resource's tagging.

I was looking at the the Friends and Associates section. The names in this section are linked to Factbook searches. Many of which return no results (Library size 8500 resources).

Johannes Oecolampadius produces some results including an image in the media section that corresponds to the image in this resource:

The next entry, John Frederick produces no results ... NOT EVEN THE IMAGE of John Frederick in the resource, or the media entry for John Frederick which has his name in the title.

I can understand that there may not be specific encyclopaedia articles for John Frederick but why should factbook not return his image, which clearly is there?

Thanks.

Adam Borries (Logos)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933426#Comment_933426

Can you guys have Faithlife's Content Innovation team to fix the "Collection"..

Great question, Mike. I've responded here, so we can continue the discussion without hijacking this Author Guides thread.

It would even make this "Author Guides" obsolete if you fix your "Collection"

I don't think so. Collections are primarily used for searching within the contents of the resources in the collection, while Author Guides are a summary of the author's life and work. Collections, by definition, contain only resources in your library, while Author Guides curate links to hundreds of resources you may or may not already have access to. Am I missing something you have in mind?

Whyndell Grizzard

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933480#Comment_933480

Just another sales tool.

PetahChristian

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933482#Comment_933482

I think the new author guides are very useful, and I would like to see FL add guides for other areas, as Randy mentioned.

Thanks, FL!

Just another sales tool.

That's fine with me. It's a useful way to discover specific resources that I hadn't been aware of.

Jessica Parks

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933440#Comment_933440

I can understand that there may not be specific encyclopaedia articles for John Frederick but why should factbook not return his image, which clearly is there?

Hi Martin,

That was a tagging issue on our end. It should be resolved now and the image should appear on the Factbook page for John Frederick.

Thanks for bringing that to our attention!

Jessica Parks

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933412#Comment_933412

With all those resources on Luther linked throughout the resource, was it really necessary to resort to Wikipedia for information?

Hi Matthew,

I generally use Wikipedia as a jumping off point and for getting an overview of individuals, especially when diving into the social network section. I make sure to verify any information from a source against other resources as well, including primary works from the author (if available). Not to worry, Wikipedia is used with caution. [:)]

I'm glad you've found this new resource to be helpful and thank you for your feedback!

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933440#Comment_933440

I was looking at the the Friends and Associates section. The names in this section are linked to Factbook searches. Many of which return no results (Library size 8500 resources).

Martin, thanks for your comments. Since we're reaching farther into the author's history with these guides, not all the individuals are common in church history, so it's not surprising that some aren't found elsewhere in your library. In fact, some (like Georg Rörer) don't even have a Factbook page (yet: maybe someday). But since our goal is to go deeper into the author's background, we felt it was important to include these individuals even if there's not much else in the library.

There's a similar observation with many of the links in Sermons and Subject Index: depending on your library, many of these links may show up as locks (meaning you don't own the resource). We've tried to emphasize resources that are in many base collections, but also include resources to add value for those who have an expanded set of the author's works. In some cases you'll see multiple links for the same sermon, where it occurs in multiple works: you may own one and not the other, so we've tried to cover multiple options.

Erwin Stull, Sr.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933484#Comment_933484

I think the new author guides are very useful, and I would like to see FL add guides for other areas, as Randy mentioned.

Thanks, FL!

Just another sales tool.

That's fine with me. It's a useful way to discover specific resources that I hadn't been aware of.

I agree. [Y] They (Faithlife) have to continue to market somehow. That's ok and understood. I generally look pass the marketing, and extract the relevant things. In this case, I haven't considered the marketing at all, although it's there. :-)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933512#Comment_933512

Can a category be added to Reading Status for Author Guides and will they always be a temporary license?

Adam Borries (Logos)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933534#Comment_933534

Beloved, this sounds like you are asking two different questions:

Can a category be added to Reading Status for Author Guides

I'm sorry, I don't follow. I'm familiar with Reading Status in the library, but what do you mean by "adding a category" to Reading Status?

and will they always be a temporary license?

Author Guides have a temporary license at this time, because the only way to get them is with a Now membership. Future marketing plans for this product are still being determined.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933557#Comment_933557

Can a category be added to Reading Status for Author Guides

I'm sorry, I don't follow. I'm familiar with Reading Status in the library, but what do you mean by "adding a category" to Reading Status?

If you add the Reading Status column to your library display, and you've read some of the resource, the status is displayed.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933560#Comment_933560

Can a category be added to Reading Status for Author Guides

I'm sorry, I don't follow. I'm familiar with Reading Status in the library, but what do you mean by "adding a category" to Reading Status?

If you add the Reading Status column to your library display, and you've read some of the resource, the status is displayed.

I'm sorry I have caused confusion, but Sean has identified the menu I was referring to I don't know what it is called, but this is where you can organize your library into columns of information Publisher, Last Update, Title, Author, etc. This is what I suggest we add an entry to for the Author Guide.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933582#Comment_933582

I'm sorry I have caused confusion, but Sean has identified the menu I was referring to I don't know what it is called, but this is where you can organize your library into columns of information Publisher, Last Update, Title, Author, etc. This is what I suggest we add an entry to for the Author Guide.

The menu on the right side of the image (from right-clicking on the column headers) just controls which columns appear in the Library panel. The Martin Luther Author Guide is already a row in the Library display (as my image shows). So i still don't understand what you're suggesting: a new column?

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933602#Comment_933602

The menu on the right side of the image (from right-clicking on the column headers) just controls which columns appear in the Library panel. The Martin Luther Author Guide is already a row in the Library display (as my image shows). So i still don't understand what you're suggesting: a new column?

This menu with the check marks by the column headings as seen below, that appears upon right clicking the column references. I'm suggesting that Author Guides be a column reference as well that you're able to display/organize from this menu.

Bradley Grainger (Logos)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933667#Comment_933667

I'm suggesting that Author Guides be a column reference as well that you're able to display/organize from this menu.

What would be displayed in this new "Author Guides" column for each row?

(You have 1 author guide and 14,000 other resources; would it be "Yes" in one row and blank in all the others? Or something else?)

Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933690#Comment_933690

I'm suggesting that Author Guides be a column reference as well that you're able to display/organize from this menu.

What would be displayed in this new "Author Guides" column for each row?

(You have 1 author guide and 14,000 other resources; would it be "Yes" in one row and blank in all the others? Or something else?)

Ideally Author Guide column would have Author Guide name(s) that reference a resource (so can sort Library by Author Guide, similar to Author sorting). Filtering Library by Author Guide should show relevant resources. Comparing Author:"Luther, Martin" with Author Guide found some resources in my Library that are not in Author Guide:

Also learned Martin Luther is included in many resource descriptions, which are not mentioned in Author Guide.

Keep Smiling [:)]

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933690#Comment_933690

What would be displayed in this new "Author Guides" column for each row?

Ideally Author Guide column would have Author Guide name(s) that reference a resource (so can sort Library by Author Guide, similar to Author sorting).

This is what I envisioned would be the case too. My suggestion looks to the future when we have many more Author Guides.

Andrew Batishko

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933729#Comment_933729

It looks like you guys are thinking along similar lines as we are. There are already some discussions about implementing some new metadata that would accomplish this objective, but would be more broadly useful than just for Author Guides. Unfortunately, we don't yet have any idea when or if this will actually become available.

Simon’s Brother

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/933732#Comment_933732

There are currently four author guides available: Luther, Edwards, Irenaeus & Warfield. It's approximately six months since we have seen any new guides. Is there plans for more to come or had this idea been shelved?

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/993743#Comment_993743

There are currently four author guides available: Luther, Edwards, Irenaeus & Warfield. It's approximately six months since we have seen any new guides. Is there plans for more to come or had this idea been shelved?

I'm still hoping to make more Author Guides, but we've prioritized other work recently which has put Author Guides on the back burner.

We're always open to suggestions for

authors for which it would be valuable to have a Guide like these
any features that would improve Author Guides

Simon’s Brother

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/993811#Comment_993811

Thanks Sean for the update. I think they are a valuable addition but understand the need to balance priorities. Hope time is good found to some more if them. Because there is only a small number they might get overlooked in our library or resources but realistically you will only be able to a small subset of authors.

Mike Tourangeau

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/993814#Comment_993814

I just stumbled upon these "Author guides" in my library and was reminded how awesome they are.....I certainly hope Faithlife keeps producing these. They are a good example of what makes Logos unique.

Ken McGuire

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/993811#Comment_993811

I'm still hoping to make more Author Guides, but we've prioritized other work recently which has put Author Guides on the back burner.

We're always open to suggestions for

authors for which it would be valuable to have a Guide like these

any features that would improve Author Guides

This is admittedly a bit old. Is Faithlife still interested in hearing feedback on these guides, or has the new improved Factbook replaced this?

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1179470#Comment_1179470

There were author guides included in the Logos 9 packages that are still to be released.

Ken McGuire

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1179488#Comment_1179488

Looking at the Logos 9 Feature Sets, it even looks like you are writing one of them, MJ...

I went over the Luther and Irenaeus guides since those are guides where I knew the them the best. Most of my comments will be about Luther...

Overview: Both are decent traditional overviews. That is not to say there are not some quibbles that can be made about them, but they do serve as a useful introduction to both figures. For an example of quibbles, Luther was technically not a Monk, but rather a Friar. That said, in his context it appears to have been quite common to describe Luther's order as Monks... While I do appreciate having an easy to read introduction like this, having some footnotes for the assertions would be nice.

Timeline: Getting the details of the dates for historical figures can be incredibly complicated. Some things are admittedly easy, but many are not. And what events should be included? For example, it is actually debated if Luther did actually post the 95 Theses on 31 October 1517, or if that was just an early legend. And the fact that Luther was in Electoral Saxony with a pending Election of a Holy Roman Emperor was probably pretty significant for the lack of early action against Luther. So while having a timeline like those provided is good, it would be much better if included links to some sources - or even a note saying what chronology you are using...

Social Network: This is actually pretty cool. In general, it is clear and well organized. But it seems to me an odd reading of the English Reformation to describe Henry VIII as playing a key role in the separation of church and state when it seems like he was insisting that Royal power was over the church. And much of historiography after the Nag Hammadi and related finds has generally argued that the Heresies have roots older than the figures Irenaeus mentions, with more recent scholars finding in Irenaeus Irenaeus's frustrations at how diverse these teachers are... So while these statements are useful to a point, like just about every summary, they are in danger of over simplifying.

Geography: It would be lovely if this had a link to a map. I like how in Irenaeus it both has the modern nation mentioned as well as that from the actual time period. I would like it if this could be added for Luther, since "Germany", "Austria" and "Italy" did not exist in Luther's time - at least in anything like the modern sense.

Biographical Resources: Two major criticisms.

1. The first thing I learned about text books or reference books is that when you mention them, the most important thing to mention is the author, not the name. But this listing just has the name of the resource with a date. The listing seems to be sorted by resource name, but this includes the articles "A", "An" and "The", which is not the way I was taught to do this.

2. When I look at most of this "Guide", I see it directed mostly at people who are not experts in the field and so need a bit of hand holding. But this section seems more like an exhaustive list of resources that were in the Logos system when the guide was written instead. This has two problems, namely not giving the reader a good place to start and also with the way Logos adds resources, giving a dated listing. I would much rather see a more modest listing written by an expert in the field with a link to a Logos query that can show what the user has in their library with advertising for other resources available in your store.

And a minor quibble. The order of the sections is different between our Luther and Irenaeus guides. If this is going to be a regular thing you offer, consistency in formatting would be good.

Notable Contributions: I like this, especially how it is linked to relevant passages from their works.The article on Irenaeus IMHO shows a Protestant bias by not mentioning his views on Mary or on Church Hierarchy.

Quotations: Some good quotes. I liked how when it was possible, you liked it to a datatype so that it will take you to a resource that has the quote. That said, the translation you use for the Luther quote on Idolatry is not exactly the standard translation - I certainly recognized it and your link will take you to more recent translations of it. But I question why you used that source for it...

Sermons: I like how when a sermon is in multiple resources, you generally group the sermons together with multiple links in each line. I do wish you had a bit more consistency about the order of these links though to the various different translations of the Church Postil.

Personal Letters: Here you are being selective - which in many ways I do appreciate. But there are some inconsistencies. The Cover letter to Archbishop Albrecht is listed as being to him and then the same letter is listed as to "Unknown" when it links to another resource - a resource that Anglicizes his name as "Albert". In general, I wish you would combine different translations of the same letter into one line like you generally did for the sermons.

Bibliography: The organization you have for this section looks like it designed for more modern writers. For Irenaeus, you have a useful listing of his works with estimated dates, both those we have as well as lost works. But for Luther you have no information on when he actually wrote anything. Instead you have dates for English translations. Could you maybe have some of the major writings at least listed by the date Luther actually wrote them? For both of these writers, it would be helpful if you listed translator and/or editor of the editions you list.

Subject Index: I have not worked with the indexes here enough to tell how useful they are in the real world. Both of these figures have been mined for centuries for quotes on topics - often without careful attention to context. And yet we ask this question because we care how these figures spoke about various issues and having a list like this saying where to look for where they talk about things. As I said, I have not spent much time seeing how useful your specific index is. I was not impressed with the link to Adv. Haer. 2.12 for Baptism, but the other references do look useful.

Sources: They are quite thin, especially for Irenaeus. But going to the Theopedia link gives a good example of introducing readers to what is actually debated about Irenaeus - some of which I complained about above.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1179494#Comment_1179494

Ken, thank you for this thoughtful reflection on Author Guides. We're still very interested in doing more, and MJ is correct that we have 4 outstanding ones from Logos 9 (the content has been ready for some time but production has been delayed, though as it happens I've just started working on that).

Timeline: ... So while having a timeline like those provided is good, it would be much better if included links to some sources - or even a note saying what chronology you are using...

Agreed that we could/should do a better job of citing sources for this information.

Social Network: This is actually pretty cool. In general, it is clear and well organized. ... So while these statements are useful to a point, like just about every summary, they are in danger of over simplifying.

The "glass half full" perspective is that we're providing helpful context through identifying important social relationships. But as you suggest, this is inherently a subjective process, and i'm not sure a "full glass" can even be defined. Note that one important (and opinionated) design feature of these introductory sections of Author Guides is brevity: these are meant to introduce users to an author and guide their exploration of the author's works, not provide comprehensive information.

Geography: It would be lovely if this had a link to a map.

Absolutely: however, creating maps like this currently requires too much effort for us to fit the scope of these resources. I hope we can improve this in the future.

For Biographical Resources:

The author is typically displayed when you hover over a link to a resource, but maybe it would be better to include that as text. We'll also look into the sorting issues.
Yes, it's our intention to provide an exhaustive list of Logos resources, in part because it's not always possible to do that with a search. I'm not sure we're in a good position to suggest which resources provide the best starting point, but that's worth further consideration.

I won't enumerate responses to your other suggestions, most of which I'm in favor of, but we'll review these and see what we can improve.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1179524#Comment_1179524

How do I find these in my library?

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1179525#Comment_1179525

How do I find these in my library?

In your library you can use "series:faithlife author guides"