I think that one of the reasons that wearable technologies find their appeal is that many of us either have the impression, or live the lifestyle, that computing is more work that it needs to be. With these wearable devices, we are able to put a more appropriate level of attention onto the technology, but moreso onto the context of life going on around us. To that end, this idea some kind of balance between tech and life needs to be ironed out, makes wearable computing not just an attractive matter from a psychological perspective, but also from a computing one.

Over at GigaOm, the world-renowned human interface/user experience designer/developer Christian Lindholm (@clindholm) has posted 9 trends to pay attention to concerning wearable technologies:

1. Watches enjoy a renaissance as accessories
2. Functional jewelry as armbands takes off
3. Audio wearables shape luxury electronics
4. Sensors connect our everyday objects
5. Wearables get dressed up
6. Sensor platform wars begin in the bedroom
7. Apps make wearables’ data actionable
8. Sensors in labs reveal our souls
9. Google glass becomes a social transformer

Christian Lindholm is the CEO and co-Founder of Korulab, a wearables company based in Finland; he’s also the inventor of the mobile phone interface made popular on the various Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, and other mobile devices we’ve seen for over a decade (green and red buttons, numeric pad-grid icon navigation, etc.). His exposition on these 9 trends in detail should enter your radar now as mobile has not just become an entrenched matter of behavior and life, but we are into the 3rd (or 4th, depends on where you start from) generation of mobile within consumer spaces.

That said, the idea that wearable computing has a context that’s relevant to the field of mobile ministry is a preemptive one. One of the challenges we see now with mobile technology is the struggle that many have had just wrapping themselves around context-appropriate behaviors. And now we’re proposing that there’s another evolution of computing in progress that will also have a set of behaviors, perspectives, and implications towards ministry endeavors. That’s a lot to take in… and yet it has to be.

Just using the 9 items above, we’ve got several questions in which aspects of ministry have answered, or might have to reframe expectations for how we respond to them:

• When the computer is just as much a fashion accessory as it is a communications and functional one, where do we start the conversation about modesty in dress
• When we talk about wearables now, its mostly about the fitness end of things; how does the traditional perception of the out-of-shape church leader become a voice worth hearing
• Its not just 3rd party companies that will be able to mine the information these devices create, people themselves will be able to mine, mashup, and even go off the grid because of these devices – or the behaviors they will incite. What about connectivity needs to be kept, and what does fellowship become redefined as if I can connect with you over data streams, not just physical presence
• What kinds of social transformations do non-religious artifacts instigate into normative religious traditions (for ex., wearing of a rosary could also be the wearing of a pedometer and communication handset – see Nokia’s Human Form Concept)

Not that we have to have the answers now, but this is the tech that is becoming the new(er) wave. Wearables also gets into things such as cybernetics and cosmetic augmentation, items that were once the realm of science fiction only. Its here now, and whether or not it comes in the next decade is non-essential. What’s clear from Lindholm’s trends is that we should be thinking and working on understanding the spiritual implications of these now. Not when it becomes mainstream… at that point, its too late and now you are just catching up to the slowest runners.