Bible Beehive

What is Bible Beehive?

Bible Beehive is a collaborative web tool for Bible translation teams. It is particularly aimed at teams in difficult contexts targeting languages where there is no existing Bible translation, and where users may struggle with more advanced software like Paratext.

Why was Bible Beehive started?

My team and I are working in the developing world to produce a new translation of the New Testament in a language where almost no Bible resources exist. Because we could not find Bible translation software that met our needs, we developed our own, with the working title of "Bible Beehive". As the team worked through the translation of the NT over three years, the software was continually developed and improved. We now want to share this software with other Bible translation teams.

Who is behind Bible Beehive?

We are working in a context which makes it difficult for us to share our identities publicly. We are a team believers in the Lord Jesus, we are on the ground, and we are working in partnership with a well-known and trusted Bible translation organisation. The software itself was developed by one person on the team with programming abilities. Please contact us if you want to know more about us.

Can I see some screenshots?

Here you go:

What features does Bible Beehive have?

Bible Beehive has many features already! In summary, it has: comments, back translation, consultant review, key word highlighting, mandatory peer review, recruiting features, community testing features, simple progress tracking, and the ability to export to Paratext.

Click to read more about all Bible Beehive's features

In order for a proposed translation of a verse to make it to the final text, it must be approved by at least two users. (This personally is my favourite feature of Bible Beehive. This approach increased the quality of our work substantially, in my opinion, and it provided us with the confidence that the last user to modify the text didn't accidentally introduce an error.)
Log in using Google, or using your email address and password. (Our team struggled to log in with a username and password, hence why we developed the ability to log in with Google.)
Adjust the interface into different languages.
The verse is displayed in different languages and in different Bible translations all in one page. (Our team prefers having everything all in one page, as many of our users struggle with window management.)
Each proposed translation of a verse is listed all in one page. It is easy to see who approved (or disapproved) a particular proposed translation.
Back translators can translate the verses into a different language.
Back translators cannot see the identities of the other users on the website. (This allowed us to more easily recruit back translators who were non-believers.)
The consultant can ask questions and mark verses as needing correction or not needing correction.
Users can leave comments on proposed translations of a verse, and comment threads can be closed. (This was more useful than email or instant messaging to our team.)
The website can track the progress of the translation in multiple steps (first draft, reverification, back translation, consultant review, and response to the consultant review.) (This was helpful to provide a sense of momentum and accomplishment as we watched the percentages near 100%.)
The text can be exported to Paratext.
Key terms can be marked on the website with guidance created by the team. Verses are displayed with those key terms highlighted and linked.
The text can be shared online on a separate website with a custom domain. Visitors can privately leave feedback without creating an account. (This was a good way for us to get feedback from the community of believers outside of the team.)
Books can be locked to prevent further modification.
Users have profiles where you can view the history of their activity.
Printing books and chapters is simple.
Changes can be displayed easily.
New recruits can be given a particular passage to translate as part of the interviewing process. They will not be able to see other users' work or their identieties. (This helped us enourmously when recruiting.)
It is easy to search across verses in different languages.
Users are represented by their avatars.
And more...

How does this compare to Paratext?

Paratext is a very powerful piece of software, much more powerful than Bible Beehive. If you are happy with Paratext, and if you are confident that your team will be able to learn Paratext, you should probably use Paratext instead of Bible Beehive.

Click to see a table comparing Bible Beehive and Paratext

	Bible Beehive	Paratext
Platform	The web (Windows, macOS, Linux, iPhone, Android, etc.)	Windows
Mandatory peer review	Yes, every verse must be approved by at least two users	No, the last user to edit has the final word.
Free from merge conflicts	Yes	No, users need to learn to handle merge conflicts
Share drafts online	Yes, using a simple website that gathers private feedback	Possible with additional tools, but more complicated and requires sign-up
Text format	Plain text (easy to use)	USFM (more powerful)
Intended users	Technophobes and beginner translators in difficult contexts, as well as consultants	Wide audience of translators and consultants, both experts and non-experts
Complexity of interface	Simple. Like many websites. No training needed.	Complex. Training often required.
Offline mode	No	Yes
Integrated resources	Hardly any	Wide selection of Bible translations and resources
Number of features	Some	Many
Userbase	One team so far	Many teams around the world
Availability	Not yet released to the public, private beta only	Available to be downloaded now
Licensing	Open source	Proprietary
Price	Free to share because it is open source. Hosting is not included.	Free

What technology does Bible Beehive use behind the scenes?

Bible Beehive is built using Python, Django, PostgreSQL, and Vue, alongside the standard web technologies (HTML, CSS, Javascript).

What features will Bible Beehive have in the future?

This will entirely depend on the needs of its users, so please get in touch! I personally would like to make it integrate better with Paratext.

Why is the software named "Bible Beehive"?

This is just a working title, and it may be changed in the future. The name of beehive is meant to invoke the idea of collaboration.

I know you are looking for feedback. How can I contact you?

Yes, please tell us if you are interested in this project! Would it serve your needs? What would you need in Bible translation software?

How can I receive updates about this project?

Please fill in the contact form and make sure to indicate that you want to receive updates over email.

How can I start using this software?

Bible Beehive is currently being used by one team. If you would like to use it too, or to try it out, please let me know by contacting me.

Is Bible Beehive open source?

Yes, Bible Beehive is open source, according to the Open Source definition. It also free (as in freedom) software according to the Free Software Foundation. To request a copy of the source code, use the the contact form.

Is Bible Beehive free of charge?

Since Bible Beehive is open source and free/libre, it can be redistributed free of charge.

So far, Bible Beehive was developed just for the needs of one particular team. I am trying to discover if there is a need for this software outside of our team. If there is, then we would invest more in this software and we would look for ways to make its development sustainable. This may mean entail charging for the software (while remaining open source), or it may mean applying for grants, or alternatively, forming a community of volunteers motivated in part by open source values. I'm not sure which will be the best path forward, so please contact me and help me figure this out!

This website was launched on 25 May 2022 and was last updated 14 Sept 2022.