Persuasive Technology for Bible Translators: TheWell with BibleOL

To what extent can digital technology improve what Bible translators think and do, and how is this also an ethical issue?

This paper offers theory, evidence, and a practical solution through a technology that works, is accessible, and has instructive force for Bible translators. It implements B. J. Fogg’s seminal proposal in “Persuasive Technology” (2003) which explained how computers can change attitudes and actions of students without manipulation, bias, or misuse, and led to a new theory of information architecture known as Persuasive Design.

A new solution for design for persuasive learning of Biblical languages has been developed since 2008. It is now available online as the web application BibleOL, short for Bible Online Learner (https://learner.bible/) hosted by the Nida Institute for Biblical Scholarship.

To be truly ethical, however, this solution must be accessible and affordable in remote areas in the MajorityWorld. A viable solution is to deliver BibleOL on TheWell (https://thewell.systems/) a small portable box which can work offline on rechargeable batteries as a local network for 20 simultaneous users. Three private students of Biblical Hebrew tested this solution in rural Ethiopia in 2024 with impressive results for training of advisors of Bible translation. The focus of an intensive summer course in Addis Abeba in 2025 is to train the local trainers, and over the next years to implement BibleOL in Biblical languages programs at Mekane Yesus Seminary in a new “Bible Translation Center”.

This paper will describe how a persuasive design enhances self-pace, formative performance, feedback, and gamification in a global setting. This paper will also focus on how online and offline learning and tutoring can go together, and explores the ethical aspects of training, usability, and dissemination of learning technology.

Our goal is to introduce BibleOL and TheWell as persuasive technology in collaboration with local and global partners.

See TheWell BibleOL working offline at the JCBT table (no. 4)