Online Journal Writing

[Wingnut]

Also, I'm actually not sure which visitors' center the broadcast is in -- yours or mine. As far as I know, the event is for the Kirtland and Cleveland Stakes, so I just assumed it was at mine, but I really don't know. The tickets I have are for inside the temple, though.

[rameumptom]

I was thinking of going to the Kirtland anniversary, but my wife's sick. So I'll probably just stay in Indy and go later this year in celebration of it.

[applepansy]

Don't do it. I don't want my thoughts to be the property of some website.

QUOTE]

I agree too. my thoughts and feelings are mine and don't belong to anyone else. :)

[Guest mormonmusic]

Interesting. I have a bunch of students doing a business plan for an online journaling website. I'm surprised at how big the whole security issue is to everyone here (not in disagreement, just surprised). I'll be looking to make sure they have identified this as a huge stumbling block to their business plan. My hope is they will also recommend selling a non-Internet version of the software you can just install on your machine (fictitious, since they don't actually build the software, just create a business plan for academic purposes). This might address the concerns taht some of you are sharing about security.

By the way, has anyone tried this one out? www.lds.journal.com. You can write your journal up there and then with the press of a button have it sent for hard copy binding.

I'm not affiliated with them by the way; it's just a point of interest for me. I have also heard of LiveJournal: Discover global communities of friends who share your unique passions and interests., and other free ones out there. There is another one I thought was particularly cool for people with mental health issues called MyTherapyJournal.com. It was featured on Shark Tank (the reality TV show) and garnered an investment of $80,000. It allows you to graph your progress toward certain mental health goals.

Now I have a question -- what if the online journal application provided features not possible simply by using MS Word? For example, the ability to tag, categorize entries, as well as set, track and monitor progress toward personal goals which you track within the journal? For example, if you want to track you scripture reading, how you did on that goal can be tracked with a custom-goal setting tracker that is part of the journal application. Or the ability to annotate former entries with additonal comments. I have 25 years of journals off and on, and I often read them. From the perspective of the future, I always feel like I want to comment on what a dolt I was, or how a situation was resolved if I didn't state that resolution in the original journal, or if I want to give my impressions of who I was back then, etcetera, and how I've changed since.

Or, to be able to have it sort through and produce a list of all my entries related to achievements so I can read them all in one place. These are things you can't get easily with Word, and adds value. or, have easy portability features such as export to txt or word, or PDF.

Would such features entice you to keep a journal using journal-specific software? Whether online or not? (I have another one -- I'd like to be able to send my journal to a confidential service that will digitize it all -- much of my journals were written back before we had computers!!!!). it's basically typing -- but I would actually be willing for someone I don't know and who does it professionally to type it all -- particularly if it can be done so they don't exactly who I am.

I also thought it would be interesting to be able to categorize entries by achievements, conflicts, or advice to my kids, so I could custom-publish to a PDF advice for my children at the end of my life -- allowing them to see only that.

Edited March 23, 2011 by mormonmusic

[slamjet]

The problem for me is that they will use the stuff posted for targeted advertising. Also, anything posted on the internet is not private. Plus, anything that is posted to a website no longer belongs to me, but to them. So it's a real issue to me. Otherwise, how can a journal-ing website make any money? If it's being done in an altruistic manner, well, that's a pretty sucky business model. I'd be more interested in journal software that's on my computer than the web.

[slamjet]

What I think would be cool is a journal writing software that can take text entries and image entries with annotations to explain the picture. Also, it should sync between a computer and an android or iphone. That way I can type out a thought while out somewhere and sync it to my computer for saving and/or further processing.

[Iggy]

I'm not overly fond of the on-line journal idea either. I bought a program for my computer. I downloaded it from the site, but also requested they send me the CD.

It is Personal Historian; http://www.personalhistorian.com/I really like it. What sold me on it was that you could back it up to a CD, or flash drive or on-line.

[Guest mormonmusic]

For me, the power of a COMPUTERIZED journal (whether online or not) is that I can search, sort, and publish sections of it. So I can write my deepest darkest (not for posterity), or things for posterity, and read only that after a search. If it's online, it's more secure from my family. My sister fell into a bad situaton when a boyfriend got hold of her journal on her computer and read it. If it's online, he has password stuff to get around. There is software out there than can unlock MS Office passwords.