The Carnival of the Mobilists returns this week with a smattering of articles to get your mobile appetite going on this Thanksgiving week. Featuring posts from Jeb Brilliant, Tomi Ahonen, and more, there’s a lot on deck for this 284th edition. Grab your relaxing drink of choice and check out the suite of posts at Blog.AntoineRJWright.
Perhaps its just a case of doing this a bit too often. But, its Monday morning and I have moved the office to one of my favorite local coffeeshops (see #todaysoffice in Twitter). This is one of those days where you see many pastors come and also sit with themselves or others for the Monday morning quarterbacking session. You know, a little studying, reflection, and availability to process Sunday’s workings. Today I sit near a few pastors, all of whom have mobile tech in various forms being used.
A gentleman sitting by himself has a laptop and phone, but most of his reading and writing since I have been here has been on a paper newspaper and notebook. Interesting, because in this case, the tech is simply used to manage communications (emails, texts, or voice).
Two who are sitting near talking in a mentoring or counseling-like capacity. At different points, they have picked up their mobiles (iPhonrs) to look up information or coordinate dates. There was one point where they agreed to some date, then both went to inputting it within their devices.
Another person was in line fiddling on their mobile, until it was their time to order. After they ordered, they pulled out a card to make a payment and another loyality-like card.
There are some more folks here, and per usual, my antennas are up paying attention to these active and passive tech interactions. Sometimes, I sit and wonder where is a greater or deeper use of mobile in these moments:
I see these potential mobile interactions and wonder where they are, or if they are too extra to the core action. Sometimes, they are. Other times, I see them as missed transactional opportunities that if we hit them now, that ministry applications can grow easier or fuller from these. Then again, its Monday. What might be missing moat in these observations is that all of these contexts endear a reflection on the tech that is healthy to see before the week begins.
When you’ve decided to go the route of using a smartphone, you’ve acknowledged that you will sign up for a higher cost of living. Devices, plans, applications, and even accessories all become a part of the lifestyle of the smartphone user. But, if we were to pay some attention to that good word stewardship, we see at times that the higher costs we are seeing with smartphones can be avoided if we make some better decisions.
Over at ReadWrite, Tim McCormick has been doing a few articles on using a smartphone but taking a drastic and much different approach towards using it. He’s written two pieces looking at different aspects of using a smartphone.
Over the last six months, I’ve made an experiment of giving up my $90/month cellular + data plan, and exploring alternative ways to use my smartphone (iPhone) costing as little as $5/mo. The key point is that you don’t need a contract or a subscription to use a smartphone, contrary to just about everything you ever hear.
Read the rest of How to Drop Your Data Plan and Still Use Your Smartphone
…Intermittent connectivity helps to automatically counter one of the key behavioral problems with the Web and mobile tech: the so-called “buffet table problem.” That is, when you have seemingly infinite more options to explore, like an endless buffet table, you tend to keep foraging, hoping for better options; rather than stopping, sitting down, enjoying and digesting what you’ve already gathered. In combination with “save it for later” behaviors (see #6), not-always-on connections help you stop and absorb what you’ve already gathered…
Read the rest of What Life is Like for A Smartphone User Without A Data Plan
Earlier this year, I had some financial situations that took me not just offline, but also away from having a phone line for a while. Besides being an exercise in being a more savvy mobile user, I also was able to reclaim some of my sanity towards mobility. And then with resources such as PrePaid Phone News’s PrePaid Plans Guides, I was not only able to get back into being connected, but also drop my cost of owning and using a mobile by 50% each month.
I hear often at ministry events that the cost of smartphone ownership is a problem for many. Between unbearable data plans, or travel needs which don’t lend themselves to easy solutions, it can be pretty hard to see how mobile works in a cost/time/connectivity efficient manner. Then again, there’s a lot that we assume about owning a mobile that really isn’t true. Which, if we were to take heed towards, would make us a lot more savvy towards mobility than what we’ve done previously.
This year, I had the pleasure of meeting Jason Caston, the voice and energy behind iChurch (by Caston Digital):
…Our company exists to help ministries have a global presence online. To provide digital solutions that help ministries connect to people everyday around the world. The iChurch Method is the first book of many that will tell what Caston Digital can do to help advance your ministry online.
Yesterday, Jason introduced version 2.0 of his book, iChurch Method, and its one of those reads that we’d definitely recommend towards understanding and taking the best advantage of mobile, web, and social media for engaging your churches and their surrounding communities.
Volume 2 in the amazing iChurch Method series, the purpose of this book is to continue to help ministries and businesses advance online. Continuing with the five part approach to taking your ministry/business online and reaching the world:
- Part 1: Website – Interactive websites
- Part 2: Multimedia – Internet Church Campus
- Part 3: Ecommerce – Online Stores/Online Donations – Part II
- Part 4: Social Media – The Rise of Visual Social Media
- Part 5: Mobile – Mobile Websites and Apps
With these five parts, a ministry can reach and change the world. The iChurch Method is a MUST READ for every ministry leader who desires to have a global presence online.
You can pre-order today and have by May 2013 both the paper and eBook editions.
Earlier today, we contributed to Central Piedmont Community College’s Geek Fest a presentation talking about augmented reality and mobile devices as hubs for greater experiences. Here’s the presentation abstract:
With more than 5.5 billion mobile devices in use currently, we can probably say that we’ve got the hang of these impressive communications and computing devices. However, they can do more than tweet, text and voice. This talk will explore some of the other avenues where mobile technology has gone, including newer media experiences in which mobile is very much like a magic wand.
The presentation can be viewed here. As usual, the presentation is built with web technologies using the very solid S5 Slideshow System. Previous presentations are also archived on this site for viewing.
Makes a lot of sense for many individuals and organizations to have a mobile-accessible or mobile-friendly website. Still, trying to figure out what should be on a mobile site isn’t always as simple to go for. Tyler J Anderson blogs on 5 mobile website essentials for mobile marketing-oriented websites:
Awesome list, with some solid explainations as to why these make sense on the post. Then there’s that question asking if that’s from the mobile marketing perspective, what would those 5 from a mobile ministry perspective look like? Here are how we would phrase these:
What essentials for mobile websites for mobile ministries would you throw out there?
Its always helpful when thinking about mobile to consider that there’s more than just the technology or the communications medium as key to understanding it and making it work. Forbes has taken note of this with a recent article looking at five points about the future of mobile that could easily be termed five points about the present of mobile. Here are the points:
Forbes is a business-oriented magazine. MMM is a faith-oriented one. Could you see these points in a similar, but differently worded, light.
I don’t think that its all that hard to see how God wants to direct us in this space. At the same time, we have to have to understand that mobile, whether we are talking devices, services, or the overall experience, is merely a channel, the character of the community leading into mobile needs to be consistent with what people will recognize not just as mobile, but also as a witness of the gospel (John 17:20-26). The teachings of the past is the lesson of both the present and the future.
Found an excellent article in the education space the other week that really broke through the rhetoric that we often hear in this space when it comes to tools and traditions – that its the tools and traditions, not the products of these that need the people to utilize (or not use) them that makes change happen. I found this article about as life-giving as any others we’ve linked to here, and I think that when we get out of our lenses of preferred devices, services, or even behaviors, that we really can start to see that its not about mobile, but about the kind of life that mobile and other media technologies can enable when led by the Spirit and a good dose of innovation:
…This week, I’m helping host EdTechTeacher’s iPad Summit, what we believe is the first national gathering of educators pioneering the use of iPads and tablets in schools and classrooms. As I think about facilitating the event, I keep coming back to the idea that this event for iPad users can’t be about iPads. My own koan for the week is this:
If you meet an iPad on the way, smash it.
If this event becomes a meeting about how we got rid of power cords or extended battery life or solved workflow challenges or found some neat apps, then we fail. The iPad summit is not about the iPad.
The way we are seeking is one where we prepare young people for a life of civic commitment, of self-reflection, and of meaningful work and contributions to community. The way is about unlocking student talent, compassion, and humanity. If the iPad distracts us from defining the way, then we have to smash it…
Starting next week, MMM enters another one of those busy sessions where its just one event after another. Should be pretty exciting as there’s a good mix of online and offline activities happening.
Mobile Marketing Webinar with Symbiota (11/26 @ 4PM EST)
Visitors are increasingly using mobile devices to search for churches information, listen to sermons, and pay tithes and offerings. Your church members are mobile, how about your church? On this webinar we will be helping churches understand how to get their message through, on the most important method of communication today: Mobile Phones.
Learn more and sign up for this webinar and learn more at the Symbiota website.
The CPCC Geek Fest talk “Mobile As a Magic Wand (Nov 15)
Abstract: With more than 5.5 billion mobile devices in use currently, we can probably say that we’ve got the hang of these impressive communications and computing devices. However, they can do more than tweet, text and voice. This talk will explore some of the other avenues where mobile technology has gone, including newer media experiences in which mobile is very much like a magic wand. Besides my talk, there will be tech demonstrations, and lots of other talks from academic, business, and community leaders on the role of tech.
Learn more at The Geek Fest website.
Mobile Ministry Forum Consultation (Nov 28-30)
The MMF Consultation is the key gathering in the world for people interesting in learning how to use mobile technology for the kingdom! Our prayer is to establish a mobile ministry movement so that every unreached person will have a chance to encounter Christ and His kingdom in a compelling, contextualized fashion through their personal mobile device by the end of 2020!
Not sure if there are seats left, but you can learn more at the MMF website.
Jesus.net Conference (Dec 1-5)
We are called to: facilitate online the spiritual journey of people seeking life in abundance and liberation for the dominance of sin, so that their lives will be affected and they in turn will affect others; encourage our online audience to experience the power of community and durable fellowship within the body of Christ and stimulate the creative potential of our partners and become more effective by working together.
Learn more about Jesus.net at their website.
There are a few other items on the #mobmin calendar, and we aren’t able to make all of them, but want you to have a point of reference as to what’s happening in the Body around this intersection of faith and technology. If you are looking for MMM to speak to your organization on a specific topic, you can make your request known using our speaker form.
The future of publishing is something we discuss from time to time here (being an online magazine, it only makes sense to). Therefore, hearing that a frequent contributor to MMM was interviewed by Roar – a company which produces an excellent suite of mobile app and content management tools – to speak on the impact that eBooks have had on Christian publishing at large. Here’s a snippet:
When looking at the future of publishing, ebooks play an integral role.
While many of us may think ebooks are a pretty new development, WORDsearch has been creating books in electronic format for over 20 years. “Every title that we publish through WORDsearch is an ebook that can be read through our advanced Bible study software,” says LaRosa.
The transition from paperback to digital is already taking place, and it will continue to grow going forward. “Technology and innovation are driving us in this direction, both in hardware and software,” he says. “Devices like the Kindle and iPad have cemented ebooks as a mainstay, and why wouldn’t they? The functionality of ebooks far surpasses that of print books.”
Read the rest of Ebooks: A Win-Win for Both Publishers and Consumers at the Roar Blog
Also, do check out Roar’s Mobile Content Management plans and strategies; this probably one of the best complete packages for mobile and social that you’d find the faith-based space. See more in the below video.