Mobile Ministry Magazine

In a comment in a previous posting, this was asked about a content direction for MMM:

What I would like to see is more how technology can replace paper and how to get people to accept the technology as a tool for everyday life.

If I had to sit and first ask that I would ask how does technology have a place in your everyday life. Whether this is a laptop to catch up on mail when you get home, or managing finances, or connecting with friends and family located in various areas, where are some of your everyday uses of tech?

The other side of that is the hard part, the sell if you will:

...how to get people to accept the technology as a tool for everyday life.

The only way to really do this is to idenitfy the tool and the use that is both painless and totally beneficial to the user. So if that is replacing a checkbook with a PDA because the bank messes up, or using a laptop because you need better organization to Bible study notes, the technology has to be a means to an end. If not, we get into that idol-factory of getting it just because it is cool.

Another way that tech has everyday use is found simply in checking out the manual as to what your device can do. For example, did you know that if you have a laptop and a printer, that you don't have to pay for a newspaper subscription. Most of the major articles are posted online (cost of paper, ease of use) and those that are not there are community blogs that discuss much of the rest of the paper. Or, instead of carrying a PDA, carry a USB key with portable versions of Firefox, Open Office, and other applications and just plug in your USB key at a public computer and have your mobile tech right on your keychain (size, privacy, ease of use, cost).

There are a few ways that tech can be used everyday. How do you use yours?

Labels: accessiblity, Bible, community, mobile, usablity