Archive for August, 2011

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Technology as the (C)reator’s Material

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

Came across this article recently which chose to look at technology as something different than simply the capacity of it’s end-parts. Here’s a snippet:

…We understand materials not by reading about them, or assuming what they can do, but by exploring them, playing with them, sketching with them. Ideally, that sketching happens in the final material, but perhaps, like a sculptor sketching on paper, it happens in abstractions such as paper-prototyping. What matters is that you find a way. Sketching is not just about building towards a final work; it’s about building familiarity with a medium itself, working it into one’s practice.

As creators, we must feel our materials – even if we are not the ones using them in the end.

The sculpture analogy is again useful. For centuries, sculptors have worked with the aid of others in their studios and workshops, to produce large works. But despite drawing on the expertise of others, they must be skilled in their chosen mediums themselves…

Read the entire article at Infovore.

Tech isn’t just the hardware, software, or services, but the process and behaviors that we take into those elements. Can mobile, when it intersects with faith, derive a different or more God-affirming activity because it mimic God’s creative intents?

 

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Describing Some of the Challenge Mobile Presents to Media Incumbents

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

ICCM GRN Mobile Strategy Session Sketchnote - Share on OviThere are several ways to look at mobile as a veichle for pursuing ministry goals. However, things look very different for mobile when the conversation turns to those media companies (speaking of print, radio, and tv) who have long cultivated audiences, methods, and have begun hitting a stride when it comes to the Internet. In a very real sense, mobile is *yet another layer* that’s isn’t exactly welcome but won’t be ignored.

The key for these groups is to dial down the layers of all of the existing (in-use) communication channels to some base elements:

  • What is the intended response someone should have after receiving your message (no matter what channel you are using)?
  • How does your existing audience relate to you (what is their association to your brand, message, and activity)?
  • What are the issues with understanding, responding to, increasing, or limiting the effectiveness of your message?
  • Where are you spending your energy towards resource management?

Mobile, like any other communication channel, has it’s advantages and it’s limitations. However, when viewed as a layer separate from these kinds of questions, mobile becomes another “project” or “activity” on top of current projects and activities instead of being embedded into the very DNA of your mission or focus.

So then, instead of mobile being looked at another activity, or even in that Google-quotable “mobile first” mentality, mobile becomes an agent of behaviorial transformation. Transformation in respect to the priority of messages versus channel versus results versus relationships. And then transformation in respect to valuing what actually worked in previous channels towards meeting goals, versus activities that seemed profitable, but were really high-profile activities with higher overall costs.

 

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Fostering Meditation by Journaling and Sharing by Mobile

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

We scribble sermon notes w/Tactilis, @YouVersion, @evernote, ... on TwitpicOne of my favorite verses of Scripture is found in the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures (Joshua 1:8 KJV):

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

There’s something direct and simple about that command that the Lord gave to Joshua. And it also happens to be effective to us in these days as well. Many people have the behavior of reading the Bible (I won’t get into statistics about this), but we don’t always hear as much outside of those whom are published what it looks like to meditate – contemplate, consider, debate within ourselves – the meaning of Scripture. 

This is something we’d hear from time to time with those in the pastorate. But, to hear the same from a layperson – someone not with some kind of official capacity to be teaching one or more people – is a bit different than what we are used to. Looking at this verse though, it would seem that its not just meant for the newly established leader, but for those who walk alongside that leader (even if not in a noted capacity) as well.

This past weekend, I had two experiences that brought to my forefront this idea of contemplation with Scripture, and there was an interesting intersection with mobile tech in both cases. In the first, I was speaking with a former pastor of mine (I visited my old church in Philadelphia) and spoke about what it is I’ve been doing with MMM. One of the questions that I asked him was, “how do you use your smartphone besides calls, texts, and an occasional game?” His mention was that he doesn’t do much at this time and my responses was something to the effect of, “have you considered using your smartphone as a means to share your sermon outline before you teach?” I gave him an example of how he could upload all of those sermons to Google Docs, and then simply text the members in attendance right before he gets up to preach the URL for that outline.

The second moment came later on in the same day. My mother had seen my notes in Evernote (especially the handwritten ones, via Tactilis) and remarked that she’d like to try that app on her Nook Color if that were available. So, I took her Nook Color, and showed her how to search for the app then download it. She then got a message noting she needed a memory card. So I took an 8GB memory card that I’d been using as an archive of my previous mobile, copied its contents to my 32GB USB memory key using just my Nokia N8 (the N8 can connect to a USB memory key and also has a microSD card slot), and formatted the card so that she could use it in her Nook Color. After doing that, I walked with her through the setup process of her Evernote account and she was ready to start writing her notes in Evernote. I had also added the Evernote app to her Windows laptop so that she’d have her notes in both places ready to access as needed. 

In both cases, the central point was notes. How do we utilize this mobile and web technology to endear us towards contemplative moments in faith? I think that both situations give us two ways to approach it. We can play the role of a pastor-teacher and have some kind of outline or memory points ready to share that are simply shared directly to a mobile using SMS or MMS. And then we have the second where a person should be able to leverage their computing devices, network-services, and various methods of writing notes (pictures, typed text, etc.) to record and retrieve those notes.

One of the things my mother liked in my use of Evernote was that I had the ability to search across all of my notes from any device I was on. My pastor mentioned that he has over a half decade of sermons typed up, but they are simply sitting on his computer not shared with anyone unless he directly sends it to them. What can we realize in this life of faith when we take both of those matters and put ourselves towards utilizing the tools we have to be in that position ot meditate on the text everyday? Could you imagine the kinds of walls that would be ready to come down in our lives if that were to happen?

 

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Your Mobile Effect, After Your Life

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

Pumpkin and Flower - Share on OviToday, I’m attending the first of two funerals for a family member that recently passed. As with many sudden deaths, there’s a bit of a scramble to make sure that the deceased’s estate is taken care of. When my mother and I sat to talk about this passing versus my father’s passing over a decade ago, we talked about things such as “where is your emergency information” and “how would my mother notify my ‘digital relationships’ about my passing.”

Those are certainly some important questions and caused me to make sure that my digital information and archives are put in a position that emergency personnel and my family/friends are able to make the right decisions concerning my properties. But, I was left at a bit of a loss when I thought about that effect in terms of digital spaces. Especially since I do a lot online (where I’m usually the teacher to my friends/family) and what I do I actually hope that it has more of an effect when I’m done than when I’m working in it.

The last part is what I’d want to open the door to. We have books like Foxe’s Book of Martyrs or even various commentaries and quotations of those who heard many fathers/mothers of the faith and recorded them. This is great, and has left for us an amazing wealth of knowledge and perspectives with which to mature our walk of faith. When we go digital, or our ministry is mobile (mobile = portable, action-oriented instead of doctrine-defining), how much of that becomes left into the residue that becomes the following generations of faith?

For example, you’ve taken Netcasters (read our review) to heart and have created a space where you’ve discipled several believers from various regions on how to create and share Gospel-centered literature. Your legacy looks like that of a pastor-teacher or evangelist, however the fruit of your labors isn’t that people copy your materials to others, but that they develop materials themselves to which is passed on. Does it matter if your name is written into the faithfulness of that effort? Does it matter if you did or didn’t do all you could to make this effort more successful? If you will, can your digital actions create – really, continue – in the rich history of using various technologies to share the impact of the love of Christ to the world?

I often ask, “in 100 years, when someone looks back on my life, will they be able to measure my life/actions against Scripture and it be clear that I am doing something in the same line of faith and love that the Bible records? Or, is what I do and how I live so far off that I’d be considered apostate and a sign of what not to do?” Does mobile (in) ministry look like the fruit of the faith? I surely hope so, but really, that’s something that will be judged better when I’m gone than when I’m here.

 

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Book Review: Netcasters by Craig Von Buseck

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

Netcasters is a short yet deep read (12 chapters, about 175 pages). In it, The author (Craig von Buseck, @churchwatch) dives into the question of “why” it’s important to consider digital spaces as applicable for missional, teaching, and discipleship activities. He then describes some of the activities happening online such as EveryStudent.com and Internet Evangelism Day. He then goes into some practical steps that computer savvy and not-so-savvy ministers and lay persons can take towards casting their net online. The content focuses more on social networking and pull-marketing-like methods in order to find, reach, and enable online ministry – though mobile and SMS is mentioned in passing.

Normally, I don’t have much a problem going into reading a book. I can usually get around everything from opinions to facts and simply enjoy the read. With Netcasters, the challenge was a lot different than I was accustomed to in respect to reading. Not only was I reading a subject that I have proficiency in, but I was reading a lot of the same information that I have posted here. It very much felt at times as if I was reading my own writings – and to anyone who knows that feeling of listening to your own voice, you can only take that so long before you need to put your ears into a different place.

That said, I came away from Netcasters feeling that this is still a timely read and useful resource for ministers who might otherwise be feeling overwhelmed with the pace and utilization of Internet technologies in faith, as well as general social contexts. von Buseck’s assessment of the potential for technology to play a part in ministry engagements is in one part still coming to pass, and in other respects is playing out exactly as he and others have foreseen. The challenge, as he notes several times in the last chapter taking about the crossroads of technology and faith, is that we don’t get discouraged as to what we have or don’t have, but just set ourselves towards this digital mission field and start/continue plowing forward.

Netcasters can be considered an old book in respect to writings on technology (published in 2010). When faith is added, there aren’t many solid materials in the faith-technology intersection and therefore this book finds itself as a solid resource guide for those looking to wrap their hearts and minds around the intersection of faith and technology, and what’s possible in this space. I would recommend this to any one with an inkling that digital spaces are ripe for ministry. But, not to stop at simply reading this, take some of the lessons and either join an existing effort or cast a net of your own to further ministry effectiveness in this space.

Netcasters: Using the Internet to Make Fishers of Men
Author: Craig von Buseck
© 2010, B&H Publishing Group
Print and eBook versions available via Amaon, CBN, B&N Publishing, and more

 

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The Five Year Lag

Sunday, August 21st, 2011


The other day I had a brief twitter conversation with @johndyer (whom all my readers should follow) about technology in the Church. John often hears complaints that churches are “five years behind the rest of the world” technology-wise and, being a thoughtful technologist remind the complainers, “Look, its 2011 and George Lucas has JUST gotten Star Was on Blue Ray.” It’s a good point, the rest of the world is sometimes not as far ahead as we think.In our exchange however, I pointed out that the irony was that Blue Ray was a DOA medium anyway, so John may have picked a better example. His response was, “Doesn’t that make it a better point?” Again, he has a good thought, people are so keen on “catching up” that we end up running blindly into dead ends. I agree, which is why I think that John wasn’t really talking about the “five year lag” at all. Our conversation ended with me asserting that the real problem facing churches is not a five year lag in technology, but rather the continued assumption that technology is just another gimmick “to get young people in.” Full disclosure, the quoted segment made no appearance in our twitter exchange – I was thinking it, but didn’t write it.

Read the rest at Painfully Hopeful

 

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Upcoming: iPad for Minister’s Workshop

Thursday, August 18th, 2011

Of the many items on the plate, putting together a workshop for ministers with the iPad as the centerpiece is on deck. We’ve got an outline getting put together, and some prospective locations in conversation. Here’s a peek as to what’s to come:

Sessions

  • Getting to Know Your Tablet
  • Sermon/Bible Study (Prep, Preaching, and Sharing) with Mobiles/Tablets
  • Overview of Bible Apps/Notes Apps and Methods
  • Creating Quick Notes Docs for Sharing/Reference

These sessions will be totally hands-on and require having an iPad to take advantage of this. Doing similar for other mobiles is also in play, and a good bit easier to do, but getting those classes together in a non-online fashion is considerably much harder.

Again, this is only part of things, but we are working towards having at least one of these sessions in September (location totally to be determined). If one of these sessions interests you, and you’ve got the location or people who’d be interested, let us know so that we can put it on the calendar and get ministers equipped.

 

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