When I am at a coffeeshop, I usually have my mobile to the side of me and my iPad in front of me -occasionally with my wireless keyboard. At times, at least when I’m typing on the keyboard, I’m stopped to ask if I like my iPad, or how I get along with the keyboard. On one particular day, a woman asked me my opinions on the iPad as she was considering one. It just so happened that less than an hour before she asked me that, Amazon announced its new slate of Kindle reading devices (Kindle, Kindle Touch, Kindle Touch 3G, and the (color/Android) Kindle Fire). I mentioned to her that she might want to consider the Kindle – and it was apparent that she had. And then showed her the image seen on this post – her expression and the conversation that ensued afterwards got me thinking about how leaders, technologists, and then everyone else tends to consider technologies like what is exposed with Amazon Kindle.
For instance, the woman asked me what it is that I do with my iPad (reading, drawing, then everything else was my response). I showed her my artwork, and then the notes that I’d written at a recent church visit. The notes impressed not just because they were handwritten, but because she could see the point in not just having an electronic bible, but an ability to write notes, highlight, and then have those available on any computing device she owned. It sounds almost normal to many of us, but the perception that you can disconnect content from the devices you read it on is still a new idea to many.
She asked about saving the data on my iPad and how much space it takes. I explained to her how I don’t save a lot on the device itself as I use the entire Internet as my hard drive. We talked about how Amazon, Dropbox, Microsoft, and others essnentially give you their servers to use as the hard drive. In that case, its not always a limitation of the space that you worry about, but how you are able to control access, security, and what you are comfortable with storing on another company’s hard drives (servers). She noticed that on the pages for the new Kindles that there was no mention of the size of the internal storage and asked why that could be. I told her how Amazon is positioning their servers to be your hard drive – essentially making the Internet your hard drive. Her expression again amazed at not considering before that you could take what seems to be a normal computer function and turn it on its head.
So what becomes of how we talk and demonstrate Biblical texts? Could we have moments where instead of simply telling people to turn to such and such a passage that we could have shared that bookmark via YouVersion or another Biblical service. Or, maybe as a minister who is an aspiring author, do we learn and utilize services like Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and Lulu to disseminate our locally-created materials instead of or in addition to the traditional publisher route? Obciously, there isn’t a need to do these kinds of things all the time, but devices like the Kindle will mean that we do have to consider that our use of the technologies available will endorse the purcahsees that many are already making.
Or, we can choose to not see efforts like the Kindle as being useful or beneficial for our respective audiences. Which is ok. But, if you are in the business of content creation or teaching, what kind of perspective will that lend to those whom you say you lead?
~ picture via Gizmodo
In some recent conversations with clients/friends, I was asked if I would check out a few pieces of mobile software that were looking to be utilized for a few different mobile ministry projects. I used to not mind doing so, but this time I did. A few pieces of the software that I was being asked to investigate/review were core to the goals of those projects. In addition, the persons asking that I’d take the time to investigate those mobile applications had seen in projects or used similar mobile devices to the ones which would be utilized in those projects. They’d essentially be relying on my disconnected use of the software on a device and platform they had little familiarity with in order to roll out a solution that they felt met the needs of their project. 
How do you keep up with the topic of mobile ministry? Some people have asked this and there’s no real science to it, we basically just keep our ear to the ground and spend sufficient time reading what’s there, reaching for what isn’t, and relating to what makes sense.
How Much Is This Worth
Friday, October 7th, 2011While I totally understand that some groups just don’t have a budget to bring out a speaker/trainer/consultant/subject matter expert (that’s another issue of organizational management, but I digress), the very unique nature of the few folks in digital/internet/mobile ministry can’t be freely given away if folks aren’t just asking for that knowledge/wisdom, but also travel and any other expenses.
I am finding it very hard – as a person doing this as a primary endeavor – to say yes to engagements when there is literally only ego compensation (am not the only person who thinks that economy is backwards, re: Jaron Lainer). I run a site which is free, it feels very much like a slap in the face to ask for me to also put up lodging, registration, travel, setup, and (the inevitable) post-speaking activities when there’s nothing coming back this way. This puts me in a very hard position. I’ve got to spend hours looking for work/clients, as well as working current projects, and then spending the time to develop that specialized knowledge. Even if this was a multi-person operation, that would be hard (we won’t talk about folks that don’t pay in a timely manner and the 8-ball that presents).
Simply: if you would consider MMM or any uniquely gifted person or organziation is worth asking for their time, they are also worthy of being compensated for those labors. A laborer is worthy of their wages, and digital is where we labor. Yes, there needs to be some meeting halfway for many of you whom are also financially constrained. That’s one of the reasons why *everything* you see on this site is freely available. There’s too much data out there for commentary and analysis of this degree not to be. But, when you want something specialized, then you move into that space where you can’t rely on free, and have to be considerate of the time and resources that it takes to make specialized work for you.
Services like MinuteBox (see profile) I’ve started using to help faster convert some of those conversations into compensated events. I’m not sure that it is any longer (or if it ever was) fair to ask any of us in this space to give place to speaking/demonstrating our knowledge in this space without some form of compensation. There aren’t a lot of people in this space – check the list. If this is worth its value to up-skill your organization to meet their goals, then demonstrate that in your approach. Don’t let the perception of “Christian online/mobile” be that of “undervalued and under-appreciated.”
IE Day pointed to similar questions of value and our approaches in ministry in this post.
Disclaimer: Our hosting (incl. domain registration and WordPress administration) had been taken off my (Antoine’s) hands for sometime now. LW (name withheld) has managed that for us freely for years. And for as appreciated as I am that he has done so, I would love to be at the point where I could compensate him for the few times a year that there’s a request for domain/WP items. Or, remove the site completely and let MMM live completely on mobile and self-hosted servers…
Tags: compensation, consulting, innovation, knowledge, knowledge management, labor, services, speaking, training
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