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Glo – the new interactive, virtual Bible
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Glo, Zondervan's interactive virtual Bible
In a previous life – before the world’s knowledge was not available at your mouse-tips – doing an in-depth study of the Bible generally included having more than one translation plus concordances, dictionaries, commentaries, and maps. Fast-forward to present day high-speed life and the thought of lugging around multiple heavyweight books can be daunting. For those who prefer the latter to the former, is Glo, the newest in interactive, virtual Bibles.
Glo, releasing worldwide through Zondervan, brings God’s word to life with HD video and documentaries, high-resolution images, zoom-able maps, 360-degree virtual tours and more. Glo is the Bible “re-imagined for a digital world,” according to Glo co-creator Nelson Saba. He and co-creator Phil Chen combined more than 12 years of expertise in interactive media to create a Bible product that would revolutionize how the Bible is experienced.
Content is accessed through Glo’s five lenses: Bible (the text in its traditional form); Atlas (biblical events represented geographically); Timeline (biblical events represented chronologically); Topical (browse by subject); and Media (HD video, works of art, virtual tours and zoom-able high-resolution images). Additional content to the NIV Bible text and its study notes includes more than 500 virtual tours with 360-degree views, 7,500 encyclopedia articles, 2,400 high-resolution photos, 700 pieces of artwork, 3.5 hours of HD video, nearly 150 maps and much more, allowing users to immerse themselves in the world of the Bible.
Say, for instance, you want to study Gideon. On Glo's home page, under buttons for the five different lenses, type, “Gideon” into the search box. The search results include 7 different scripture references, 101 different articles, 6 pictures, and 3 pieces of artwork. Click on the first Scripture selection and you have three panels. The NIV of Judges 6 is in the top 2/3 of the page. On the bottom left are study notes and the bottom left is a virtual tour of a wine press. The first article on Gideon includes an interactive map. Click on the first picture and you see a present-day aerial view of Ein Harod and Mount Gilboah. Once you’re finished, you have the option of saving this session.
Okay, those are some of the pluses; now for some of the minuses. First, Glo is a huge program, requiring 18 gigabytes of free space on your PC and taking two gigs to run. The computer has to have a dual core processor and a high-speed Internet connection. The installation instructions state that it can take about 2 hours to install depending upon the speed of your connection; mine took about 1 hour. The program is not as easy to learn as the video on the website would have you believe. As of the October 15 launch date, Glo is available only on PC, with other versions due out in 2010.
However, compared to other Bible software, Glo is a reasonably priced program that makes studying the Bible something that can be done at home or on the go; and you don’t have to carry 10-pound books to do it.
photo courtesy of Rogers and Cowan
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