Thursday, March 8, 2012

More on PearlVault

Contact: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aaron C. Frey, Founder
PearlVault Scripture Notes
(412) 223-7394
aaron@pearlvault.com

PearlVault Project Seeks to Save the Bible Margin

SAGINAW, MICH., March 8, 2012 – Until March 31, Bible readers can lend their support to a project that, if successful, will provide a single, permanent place to store all their Bible study notes in a powerful format that will be available throughout their entire lives. But without enough support, the project disappears in April.

The PearlVault project is the brainchild of Aaron Frey, a former pastor who has been a Bible software enthusiast for more than twenty years. “I was already getting into Bible software before I went to college to train for ministry,” Frey recalls. “Professors told me that you needed to find a particular paper Bible that you liked and then immediately buy ten copies. They said that you needed the extras to copy your margin notes into when the Bible you were using started to wear out.”

But Frey knew that the growing field of Bible study software had a different solution. “Bible software doesn’t wear out. You can back up notes. You can create hyperlinks to other verses within your notes. That seemed like a smarter way to go.”

But over the years Frey learned that there were disadvantages to Bible software, too. Notes could be lost due to data corruption. Software updates might adversely affect them as well. Plus, if you ever switched software packages, your notes generally stayed with the old software.

“Bible software packages,” Frey smiled, “really needed to learn to play better together.”

That’s where PearlVault comes in. “The idea behind PearlVault,” Frey related, “is that you can take your notes there and the people behind the web portal can take responsibility for making sure that they are available in a huge variety of formats. We can optimize it for mobile devices so that your notes can go with you anywhere, be used with any Bible.”

But the ultimate vision is much bigger. “In the end we also want to synchronize notes in the vault with Bible software, websites and apps. That way you can use whatever study tool will serve your purposes best without ever losing your notes. A software version’s life is measure in months or years. Websites can change daily. But Bible study is a lifetime pursuit that requires some constancy if a person is to grow in it.”

Frey came straight from pastoral pursuits to website development and didn’t bring a network of investors with him. That’s why the project is based at Kickstarter.com.

Kickstarter.com allows people to back a project like PearlVault with a credit card pledge. In return, they are offered a variety of rewards. If the project gathers enough pledges by the appointed deadline, the credit cards are charged and the project goes forward. If the goal is not reached by the deadline, no one is charged and the project creators are not stuck trying to get out rewards with only part of the money required to produce them.

“It’s a perfect setup for a venture like ours,” Frey beamed.

The PearlVault project has until March 31 to raise $305,000 in pledges, and it’s off to a slow start. Frey admits it’s a long shot with no advertising budget, but he is convinced by his research that there are more than enough people interested in a permanent place for digital Bible notes. It’s just a matter of reaching them.

“And with today’s connectedness,” he commented, “this kind of thing is entirely possible.”
Those who would like more information on the project can look for PearlVault at kickstarter.com. Or they can visit the project page directly at http://bit.ly/PearlVault.

About PearlVault
PearlVault, LLC is a privately held company founded by Rev. Aaron C. Frey and based in Saginaw, Michigan. Their goal is to provide a single repository in which a Bible student can store gathered notes throughout an entire lifetime without loss of data or usability. Their website is www.pearlvault.com. Interested parties can write to info@pearlvault.com for more information.
– end –

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.