The Influence of an Address Book to Create Community
I've recently blogged about this at my personal site, but wanted to take a somewhat different route here.
At its core, mobile technology is supposed to able more seemless avenues of communication. For some people that has clearly been the case. Some choose phones based on how they handle SMS, web, and email. Rarely do you hear someone saying that they want a phone that has a killer address book. In many respects its a given for the address book and other items to just be there and work.
But if we really thought about how we connect with each other and how we want to communicate, I'd wager to say that for many, the address book is problably the least developed and least used item on a moble device. Sure, it can store tons of numbers, a picture, and with a click or tap get a line of communication to someone. But does the address book really help foster community, or only give a sense of the community that we wish to have?
I've recently started using an online presence service called Jaiku. As a service, it is not terribly complex. It leverages short text messages and links to various types of RSS feeds to give a picture of who you are, and threads by which you can get into and out of different commnities. This is all well and good, but it has this traditional feature of being passive. We wait to be communicated with, or engaged before we create that thread that ends up being community.
Earlier I said that mobile tech only gives a sense of community, it doesn't really look to foster it. So how could an address book foster community? I think a serivce like Jaiku is part-way there. Jaiku has a downloadable application (only Symbian phones currently) that essentially makes your address book into an online presence application. Where you once just had static information and had to contact someone to see if they were available, with Jaiku you set your state, and those in your contact list (buddy list) could see that and be responsive to that state (think like away settings on an instant messaging program).
And just as easy as you can tell someone to not chat to you, this application allows you to set an actual geographic location (based on cell towers) so that those people either within Bluetooth range, or cell tower range would know that you are in the area.
Imagine if you will, taking a trip to minister to a small town, and they know that you are in the area as soon as you get within cell tower range. Sure, they might not have met you before, but because you didn't have to call and say, "hey, I'm 5 minutes from you;" there is the chance for a larger community involvement. Or in the case of ministering to senior citizens, their phone with your information in there and presence set so that they can contact you without feeling as if they interrupted your "young and spiry" way of life.
I am well aware that an application like this will bring up questions of privacy and availablity. But, as I learned recently from a book that I read, we have a God given ability to say no and to turn off those avenues in our life where we do not want people to drive down. As one friend of mine states, "I don't turn my phone on unless I want to make a call because I don't want the unnecessary and disruptive ringing." We have to be managers of the space that we are given, and when the opportunity presents itself, be open to share in the lives of others.
Imagine if every phonebook in every mobile device had that option of being static (as they are now) or organic (online presnece and availabilty like instant messaging). Being able to create lines of community that exist beyond just knowing a phone number or email address, and actively being able to reach into opened areas of one another's lives to encourage and edify. If you will, creating the opportunity for community, the space for the Gospel to be lived. Kinda neat isn't it?
Feel free to add me to your Jaiku contacts, and let's make some God-pleasing community out of this :)
At its core, mobile technology is supposed to able more seemless avenues of communication. For some people that has clearly been the case. Some choose phones based on how they handle SMS, web, and email. Rarely do you hear someone saying that they want a phone that has a killer address book. In many respects its a given for the address book and other items to just be there and work.
But if we really thought about how we connect with each other and how we want to communicate, I'd wager to say that for many, the address book is problably the least developed and least used item on a moble device. Sure, it can store tons of numbers, a picture, and with a click or tap get a line of communication to someone. But does the address book really help foster community, or only give a sense of the community that we wish to have?
I've recently started using an online presence service called Jaiku. As a service, it is not terribly complex. It leverages short text messages and links to various types of RSS feeds to give a picture of who you are, and threads by which you can get into and out of different commnities. This is all well and good, but it has this traditional feature of being passive. We wait to be communicated with, or engaged before we create that thread that ends up being community.
Earlier I said that mobile tech only gives a sense of community, it doesn't really look to foster it. So how could an address book foster community? I think a serivce like Jaiku is part-way there. Jaiku has a downloadable application (only Symbian phones currently) that essentially makes your address book into an online presence application. Where you once just had static information and had to contact someone to see if they were available, with Jaiku you set your state, and those in your contact list (buddy list) could see that and be responsive to that state (think like away settings on an instant messaging program).
And just as easy as you can tell someone to not chat to you, this application allows you to set an actual geographic location (based on cell towers) so that those people either within Bluetooth range, or cell tower range would know that you are in the area.
Imagine if you will, taking a trip to minister to a small town, and they know that you are in the area as soon as you get within cell tower range. Sure, they might not have met you before, but because you didn't have to call and say, "hey, I'm 5 minutes from you;" there is the chance for a larger community involvement. Or in the case of ministering to senior citizens, their phone with your information in there and presence set so that they can contact you without feeling as if they interrupted your "young and spiry" way of life.
I am well aware that an application like this will bring up questions of privacy and availablity. But, as I learned recently from a book that I read, we have a God given ability to say no and to turn off those avenues in our life where we do not want people to drive down. As one friend of mine states, "I don't turn my phone on unless I want to make a call because I don't want the unnecessary and disruptive ringing." We have to be managers of the space that we are given, and when the opportunity presents itself, be open to share in the lives of others.
Imagine if every phonebook in every mobile device had that option of being static (as they are now) or organic (online presnece and availabilty like instant messaging). Being able to create lines of community that exist beyond just knowing a phone number or email address, and actively being able to reach into opened areas of one another's lives to encourage and edify. If you will, creating the opportunity for community, the space for the Gospel to be lived. Kinda neat isn't it?
Feel free to add me to your Jaiku contacts, and let's make some God-pleasing community out of this :)
Labels: accessiblity, community, Jaiku, mobile, phone
posted by Antoine @ 5/15/2007 12:55:00 AM
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