Executive Director Andrew Sears outlines a "Vision for the Christian Social Graph".

1. A Vision for the
Christian Social Graph
Andrew Sears
Executive Director

2. Christian Social Graph Vision
 What if every Christian could connect with
the needs and resources to maximize
their calling on earth?
◦ Missions: Mapping every need in the world to
Christians with resources to meet that need
◦ Discipleship: Mapping every Christian with
resources they need for growth
◦ Helping Christians meet the needs of non-
Christians
 Why do thousands of people have this
same vision?
◦ It’s something that God is doing

3. What is the largest social network in the world?
No. Facebook is the
largest online social network
900 million
The Global Body of Christ is
the largest social network.
2 billion Christians.
The problem is the Global Body
of Christ is Disconnected!

4. What is the Christian Social Graph?
1. The Christian social graph is a social utility
to connect Christians and resources
◦ Similar to the Facebook Social graph, but more
open and focused on mapping resources related to
Christians
2. It will be how Christians contribute to the
semantic web (Web 3.0)
◦ Will build on standards like RDF, Schema.org and
Facebook Open Graph API
3. It will define a set of data format standards
and terms of use for sharing data

5. Christian Social Graph
Volunteer
Opportunities
Event Jobs
Content Organizations
Christian
Social
Graph
Groups Churches
Classified
People
Listing

6. Why is the Christian Social Graph
Important
 Creating it is too large a task for any
one organization to create the Christian
Social graph, so standards are needed
 Christian data will remain splintered
in inaccessible silos as it is now if we do
not have standards
 The Benefit: The Christian social graph
could help connect every Christian with
the needs and resources to maximize
their calling on earth

7. The Problem of Splintering:
Christian Jobs
 Probably 20k-100k Christian jobs online
 Christian searching for a job would need to
search…
◦ Over 100 Christian jobs sites, most with less than
1% market share
◦ Hundreds of thousands of church and parachurch
websites with job postings on their sites
◦ Secular job sites with Christian jobs
 Usability for Christian job seeker
◦ Top 5 secular job sites combined probably have
80% market share
◦ Top 5 Christian job sites combined have less than
20% market share
◦ Results in secularization

8. The Problem of Secularizing:
Volunteering
1. If Christians cannot easily find opportunities in Christian
ministries, they will serve in secular ministries
◦ Strong secular bias against Christian organizations exists on
secular sites
◦ About 40% of volunteers are in FBOs, but the leading secular
volunteer site only list 3% of their opportunities as religious
2. Christian volunteers provide hundreds of billions worth of
donated services each year
◦ $100 billion x 40% = 40 billion
◦ $100 billion x 3% = 3 billion
3. Lack of Christian volunteer directories with critical mass
will result in secularization and a major loss of volunteer
resources to ministries and churches
4. Goal is to avoid secularizing Christian resources while
also avoiding creating a “Christian ghetto”

9. Why TechMission is Interested in
the Christian Social Graph
 TechMission has relationships with most of
the organizations that could serve as
potential data sources to the Christian
social graph
 TechMission is aggregating Volunteer
Opportunities, Jobs and Organizations
 TechMission has been engaged with most
major secular counterpart initiatives
(AllForGood, 211, etc.)

10. ChristianVolunteering.org
 Volunteer Opportunities
◦ 6,171 Posted by users in past year
◦ 4,925 through feeds (expect 10k by 2012)
 Organization Profiles
◦ 6,518 posted by users
◦ 5,523 imported
 Christian Jobs
◦ Expect 10-20k by Spring 2012
 Provides widgets, apps for iPhone, Android
and Facebook & automated rebranding
 UrbanMinistry.org wiki has 160,000 items of
creative commons content

11. Volunteer Opportunities
 Christian Sources
◦ ChristianVolunteering.org (50%)
◦ ShortTermMissions.com (5%)
◦ Meettheneed.org (1-5%)
◦ MissionFinder.org (1%)
◦ CatholicVolunteerNetwork.org (1%)
◦ Denominational Sites (10%)
◦ Missions Sites (10%)
◦ Local Directories (5%)
 Secular Sources
◦ AllForGood.org (20%)
◦ VolunteerMatch.org (5%)
 Schema Examples
◦ http://www.allforgood.org/spec
◦ http://schema.org/Event
 Readiness for Standard: ready

12. Jobs
 Christian Sites
◦ ChristianJobs.com (5%)
◦ Churchjobs.com (5%)
◦ NeedsMet.com
◦ 100 other Christian job sites (30%)
◦ Individual organization job postings
 Secular Sites
◦ Indeed.com (80%)
◦ SimplyHired.com (80%)
 Schema Examples
◦ http://schema.org/JobPosting
◦ https://ads.indeed.com/jobroll/xmlfeed
◦ https://www.jobamatic.com/a/jbb/partner-dashboard-
advanced-xml-api
 Readiness for Standard: ready

13. Organizations
 Christian Sources
◦ ChristianVolunteering.org
◦ National Christian Foundation
◦ Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability
◦ Ministry Spotlight
 Secular Sources
◦ All For Good
◦ Guidestar.org
◦ CharityNavigator.org
 Schema Examples
◦ http://www.allforgood.org/spec
◦ http://schema.org/Organization
◦ Integrate data by EIN
 Readiness for Standard: ready

14. How Secular Providers are Linking
 Organizations (by EIN)
◦ Volunteer Match/AllforGood: Volunteering
◦ Network for Good: Donating
◦ Guidestar: Organization Database/990s
◦ Idealist: Jobs
 Widgets/Facebook/Mobile Apps (Web
Services APIs)
◦ Catalista Volunteer App (uses All for Good API)
◦ Create the Good
◦ Johnson & Johnson &You App (uses Volunteer
Match, Network for Good, Idealist and
Guidestar APIs)

15. Secular Social Graph Aggregators
 Volunteering: AllForGood.org
◦ Aggregates 100,000 volunteer opportunities
from 20 data providers
◦ Provides volunteer search for Serve.gov portal
◦ Provides API key to 3rd party distributors:
AARP, AmeriCorps, Care2, HuffingtonPost, etc.
 Jobs: Indeed.com and Simplyhired.com
 Organizations: Guidestar.org

18. How Christians Could Link Up
 ChristianVolunteering.org
◦ Provide link to organization data on National Christian
Foundation, ECFA and Guidestar
◦ Provide API, export or feed of data
 Organization Data Providers
◦ Provide link to ChristianVolunteering.org volunteer
opportunities on based on EIN
◦ National Christian Foundation, ECFA & Guidestar
◦ Provide API, export or feed of some data
 Third Parties
◦ Should have access to APIs or feeds of Christian data
similar to secular providers to create custom websites and
apps

19. Links to National Christian Foundation Profile, Guidestar, ECFA

20. Roles in the Christian Social Graph
Christian • Regional Christian portals
Websites & • Church management Systems
Applications • Christian social networks
• Christian portals
• Schema.org
• Semantic Web • Websites
• Search Engines • System Integration
Global Programming Mobile Apps
• Social Networks •
Standards & Aggregators
• Places/Maps Aggregators Consultants • Facebook Apps
• AllforGood • Widgets
• 211 • Open Source Projects
• Specialized Directories
• National Aggregators
Data Sources • 1,000’s of websites
• Volunteer, Jobs, Orgs, etc.

21. Architectural Philosophy for
Christian Social Graph Standards
 Simplicity is top priority
◦ Most Christian data sources will struggle just to
provide RSS or CSV files (XML is too complex)
◦ Standard should define fields for flat file or RSS feed
 Start with where there is a felt need that is
solvable
◦ Volunteer Opportunities, organizations and jobs
 Incentive to share will be similar to RSS in
that sites will share data to drive traffic
 Aggregators can then convert simple feeds to
more public global standards & Web services
◦ Schema.org, RDF, AllForGood, 211

22. Christian Open Social Graph Standards
 Data Format Spec
◦ https://docs.google.com/a/techmission.org/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqF
Vmw4IVrQUdG1QVnRXVkFPcUVHcVR2MjZYU0JHU2c&hl=en_US#gid=0
◦ Defines optional and require set of fields for each
type of object (job, organization, etc.)
◦ Preferred data format will likely be RSS, but may
also use CSV
◦ Encourages data providers to standardize where
possible
 Creates a template for standard terms of use
agreement for sharing data
◦ Similar to API Terms for: AllforGood,
VolunteerMatch, Guidestar, Indeed.com,
SimplyHired.com

23. Christian Social Graph Working
Group
 Group to discuss and define open social
graph standards & sharing agreements
 Seeking input from
◦ Potential Data providers
◦ Potential developers utilizing the data
◦ Major Christian organizations with a vested
interest in a Christian social graph standard
 Plan to publicly announce and seek out
partners end of 2011/early 2012

24. Protecting Shared Data
 Data providers need to share enough to be
useful to aggregators
 Need to protect types of data that could
result in excessive spam
 Need to provide incentive to share data by
driving traffic
 Technical protection
◦ Aggregators provide API keys tied to terms of use
◦ RSS feeds and CSV files from data providers in non-
public locations if not wanting to be fully public
 Legal protection through terms of use and
legal agreements

25. Applications That Could Use the Christian
Social Graph
 Church management software
◦ TheCity
 Christian Social Networks
 Citywide Christian Portals/Social Networks
 Megachurch Websites
◦ Volunteer Opportunities, Jobs
 Parachurch websites
◦ Volunteer Opportunities
 Widget & Open Source Module Creation
 Facebook Apps
 Mobile Apps
 Consulting/System Integration

26. Law of Network Effects

27. Achieving Critical Mass

28. Achieving Critical Mass
Cost/Value
User
Generated
Value
Cost
Number of Users

29. Scale of the Problem
 Assumptions
◦ There will be a Christian social graph 20 years from now
◦ The scope of the problem is too large for any one organization
 How much will it cost to develop parts of the Christian
social graph to achieve critical mass?
 Christian Social Graph: $100-500 million
◦ Christian social network: $100 million
◦ Christian Volunteer Opportunity Directory: $10 million
◦ Christian Jobs: $10 million
◦ Christian Funding Directory: $10 million
◦ Church Directory: $50 million
◦ Small Group Directory: $50 million
◦ Christian Wikipedia: $10 million
◦ Christian YouTube: $10-50 million
◦ Christian Events Directory: $10 million
◦ Can lower costs by focusing on a metro area, country or region

30. Will Christians Online be like Christian
Radio or Christian TV?
 Christian Radio
◦ Called “the major single innovation of the present missions
era.”
◦ Christian Broadcast Network alone has reported 45 million
decisions to follow Jesus through their broadcasts.
◦ At its peak, religious broadcasts represented the single
largest component of transnational broadcasting
 Christian Television
◦ Gave us tele-evangelist and some really bad Christian TV
◦ Negligible presence in television compared to Hollywood
 If Christians remain splintered online in the social
graph, the impact of Christians online is likely to be
negligible like Christian TV

31. For More Information
 Visit: www.techmission.org
 Call at 617-282-9798
 Request to join Email list
◦ christiansocialgraph@techmission.org
◦ http://groups.google.com/a/techmission.org/gr
oup/christiansocialgraph/subscribe?note=1
 Standard Specification:
https://docs.google.com/a/techmission.org/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0A
qFVmw4IVrQUdG1QVnRXVkFPcUVHcVR2MjZYU0JHU2c&hl=en_US#gi
d=0

32. Appendix

33. Churches
 Sources
◦ www.forministry.com
◦ www.churchseek.net
◦ www.netministries.org
◦ http://www.infousa.com/Home/Home/99889/S70623449
919922
◦ http://www.yearbookofchurches.org
 Schema Examples
◦ http://schema.org/Church
◦ http://schema.org/CatholicChurch
 Readiness for Standard: not ready
◦ Scope of the problem is enormous
◦ Even extremely resourced organizations can’t solve it
◦ Need one major source to open up their data and
probably expand that through partnerships or web
scrapping

34. Small Groups
 Christian Sources
◦ WorldWideOpen
 Secular Sources
◦ Meetup.com
◦ Eventbrite.com
 Schema Examples
◦ http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/api/group/
◦ http://schema.org/Event
◦ http://www.meetup.com/meetup_api/
 Readiness for Standard: not ready
◦ No significant directory of small group
meetings exists

35. Events
 Secular Sources
◦ Meetup.com
◦ Craigslist.org/cal
◦ Eventful.com
◦ Upcoming.org
◦ Eventbrite.com
 Schema Examples
◦ http://schema.org/Event
◦ http://www.meetup.com/meetup_api/
 Readiness for Standard: not ready
◦ No significant directory of Christian events
exists except a few locally

36. Content
 Christian Sources
◦ GodTube
◦ Mission Wikis
◦ UrbanMinistry.org
◦ StrategicNetwork.org
◦ Catholic.org
 Sharing Models
◦ Embedding/YouTube
◦ RSS/Feeds
◦ Creative Commons Licensing
◦ Services APIs:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:API/MediaWiki
◦ Semantic_web: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_web
 RDF, Sparql, dbpedia.org
 Readiness for Standard: not ready
◦ Few Christian organizations even using Creative commons
sharing, so not ready for automating sharing beyond RSS

37. Classified Listing
 Christian Sources
◦ christianfishlist.com
◦ christslist.com
◦ Megachurch classifieds: rededicate.org/phpBB3
 Secular Sources
◦ Craiglist.org
 Readiness for Standard: not ready
◦ None have critical mass

38. How Nonprofits are likely to fit with
Semantic Web Standards
Aggregators:
VolunteerMatch, AllforGood, Guidestar, ChristianV
olunteering, Mobile Apps, Widgets, Web
Portals, ThousandsContracts/API Terms of Use
Nonprofit of Sites
Sparql endpoints: AllforGood, Guidestar
Sparql: API standard for nonprofits
Schema.org: organizations, job postings
events, volunteer opportunities
RDF: data sharing format in XML

39. Schema.org
 Defines schema of objects relevant to
nonprofits in RDF
◦ Organizations
◦ Job Posting
◦ Volunteer Opportunity
◦ Events
 Will be used by all major search engines
to improve search results
◦ Most experts say using Schema.org format
could increase click-throughs by 30%

40. Schema.org & MicroFormat Search Results

41. SPARQL Endpoints
 SPARQL Endpoints serve as the primary
repository for a source of data
◦ Nonprofit Organizations in USA, Volunteer Opportunities
 Provides standard API query interface
◦ Two-way update capabilities coming soon
 Similar to AllForGood API, but using semantic
web standards
 Will require nonprofit community in each country
to agree to endpoint
◦ Will probably want to interface with data.gov
 Sample Endpoints
◦ Data.gov, Data.gov.uk, Dbpedia, Freebase, World
Factbook,
http://www.w3.org/wiki/SparqlEndpoints
http://www.w3.org/wiki/SPARQL
http://www.w3.org/wiki/SPARQL/Extensions/Update

42. Schema.org: Organization
Property Expected Type Description
Properties from Thing
description Text A short description of the item.
image URL URL of an image of the item.
name Text The name of the item.
url URL URL of the item.
Properties from Organization
address PostalAddress Physical address of the item.
The overall rating, based on a collection of reviews
aggregateRating AggregateRating
or ratings, of the item.
contactPoints ContactPoint A contact point for a person or organization.
email Text Email address.
employees Person People working for this organization.
Upcoming or past events associated with this place
events Event
or organization.
faxNumber Text The fax number.
founders Person A person who founded this organization.
foundingDate Date The date that this organization was founded.
A count of a specific user interactions with this
item—for example, 20 UserLikes, 5 UserComments,
interactionCount Text
or 300 UserDownloads. The user interaction type
should be one of the sub types of UserInteraction.
location Place or PostalAddress The location of the event or organization.
members Person or Organization A member of this organization.
reviews Review Review of the item.
telephone Text The telephone number.
More specific types: Corporation, EducationalOrganization, GovernmentOrganization,
LocalBusiness, NGO, PerformingGroup, SportsTeam

43. Schema.org: Job Posting
Need Volunteer Opportunity
Property Expected Type Description
Properties from Thing
description Text A short description of the item.
image URL URL of an image of the item.
name Text The name of the item.
url URL URL of the item.
Properties from JobPosting
baseSalary Number The base salary of the job.
benefits Text Description of benefits associated with the job.
datePosted Date Publication date for the job posting.
educationRequirements Text Educational background needed for the position.
Type of employment (e.g. full-time, part-time, contract, temporary, seasonal,
employmentType Text
internship).
experienceRequirements Text Description of skills and experience needed for the position.
hiringOrganization Organization Organization offering the job position.
incentives Text Description of bonus and commission compensation aspects of the job.
industry Text The industry associated with the job position.
jobLocation Place A (typically single) geographic location associated with the job position.
Category or categories describing the job. Use BLS O*NET-SOC taxonomy:
occupationalCategory Text http://www.onetcenter.org/taxonomy.html. Ideally includes textual label and formal
code, with the property repeated for each applicable value.
qualifications Text Specific qualifications required for this role.
responsibilities Text Responsibilities associated with this role.
The currency (coded using ISO 4217, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_4217 used for
salaryCurrency Text
the main salary information in this job posting.
skills Text Skills required to fulfill this role.
Any special commitments associated with this job posting. Valid entries include
specialCommitments Text
VeteranCommit, MilitarySpouseCommit, etc.
title Text The title of the job.
workHours Text The typical working hours for this job (e.g. 1st shift, night shift, 8am-5pm).

44. Schema.org: Event
Property Expected Type Description
Properties from Thing
description Text A short description of the item.
image URL URL of an image of the item.
name Text The name of the item.
url URL URL of the item.
Properties from Event
attendees Person or Organization A person attending the event.
The duration of the item (movie, audio recording, event, etc.) in
duration Duration
ISO 8601 date format.
endDate Date The end date and time of the event (in ISO 8601 date format).
location Place or PostalAddress The location of the event or organization.
An offer to sell this item—for example, an offer to sell a
offers Offer
product, the DVD of a movie, or tickets to an event.
The main performer or performers of the event—for example, a
performers Person or Organization
presenter, musician, or actor.
startDate Date The start date and time of the event (in ISO 8601 date format).
Events that are a part of this event. For example, a conference
subEvents Event event includes many presentations, each are subEvents of the
conference.
An event that this event is a part of. For example, a collection
superEvent Event of individual music performances might each have a music
festival as their superEvent.