Thursday, September 4, 2008

Lodge Tracker: Let's Aggregate

The Internet is one of the best methods to aggregate information. Whether it be an online phone index or dictionary, the Internet has made organizing, finding, retrieving and using large amounts of data simple (well, relatively simple). Thankfully, Brother Abraham Nasser has put together a wonderful new website called Lodge Tracker. Before, if a brother was looking at Lodges to visit, he would have to get out the phone book or go to the Grand Lodge website (if the Grand Lodge had a website) just to find an address. Now, brothers, in many jurisdictions, can now enter their Lodge's information into the site and can peruse the records for other Lodges that have been added. I have added my Lodge, Corinthian Lodge #67 and found the process incredibly easy. The site includes an area to put a photo of your Lodge building, contact information and a Google Map of your Lodge's location. I would encourage all my brothers to add their Lodge information so as to create one great central resource when looking for a Lodge to join or visit.

7 comments:

The Plumbline said...

Great find! Lodge added. Where do you find this stuff?

Tom Accuosti said...

I happened to spot this on the Usenet group alt.freemasonry a few weeks ago. I went to the site and added my lodge, then I put his badge on my blog. From there, it looks like a bunch of people starting visiting and adding their own lodges.

I'm not going to take all the credit, although I do think that Bro. Nasser owes me a beer ;-)

FD2L said...

Good idea and concept, but I think I will stick to using the Grand Lodges Website to find a lodge to visit. :)

The Plumbline said...

@FD2L - That's all well and good, but I know a few grand lodge websites that are short on the details. I wanted to visit the lodge in my hometown, but all it had was the address: no date, time, or point of contact information. Bummer.

Tom Accuosti said...

And that's a problem with *most* GL websites - no listings for the various lodges.

A few years ago, Conn got its own server and gave each lodge their own space and domain. Each lodge now has a template, and when they publish their calendars (that is, if they do), it's automatically updated on the GL site, so you can search for, say, EA degrees in a district. Lodges are listed by number and towns. I'd like them to be listed by district, too, for visitors who might not know what towns are nearby.

Mass did a fantastic makeover of their GL website. Unfortunately, it ends there - you can't figure out which lodge is where, and the websites for them are still haphazard and run by the lodges themselves.

The Lodge Tracker is a good idea - the next thing is to get as many people as possible to sign up. When I get a chance, I'll put the other lodges in my district on there.

Chris said...

Looks US-centric to me. What about us foreign Freemasons? I don't see anyplace on the form to send a comment to Bro. Nasser so I'll register my query here.

Chris Hansen, Goliath Lodge #5595, UGLE (London, UK)

Millennial Freemason said...

Chris,

I would use the contact form. He was very quick in responding to my comment and you might be able to convince him to add UGLE to the mix.

Nick