The information in this post can now be found on the #mobmin Event Calendar

Being that it is the beginning of the year, and the trade show/conference run for 2012 has already begun with CES, it’s a good time to look at a few lists of events and doings happening in an around mobile this year.

The first list of events comes to us from Mobile Advance. They have compiled a Google Doc listing events of interest to those looking at mobile ministry-oriented events in 2012.

An overlapping, but more mobile industry-wide listing of events is constantly updated and published over at WIP Connector. These events range from large conferences, to workshops, to regional developer/marketing events.

Other event listings, such as the ones at Camerjam, Microsoft, and GSMA are updated frequently with various workshops which can be useful for connecting with others in mobile.

If you are looking for local happenings, I would recommend checking out sites such as Upcoming and Meetup as they tend to have smaller, locally focused events which might also be useful for activities around mobile and mobile ministry. Digital Disciples and the Church IT Roundtable are other connection points for locally relevant tech with ministry leanings.

Feel free to add your events to any of the calendars noted, or to this post. While 2012 looks like a crazy busy year on the conference side of things, it also seems to be a number of needed connection points. Looking forward to seeing you at some of these.

2012 brings back the Carnival of the Mobilists in a weekly format, and that should get back to some persistent and mind-stretching writing about mobile devices, the mobile industry, and mobile innovations.

MMM has been included within the first slate of posts for 2012’s entries for the Carnival of the Mobilists (#256 being hosting at theFronecast) – our 2012 resolution on mobiles in education being highlighted with the other entries. There are enough entries for this week to keep you reading for a few sesssions. I’d certainly recommend that you do set aside the time to read the thoguhts from the contributors to the Carnival of the Mobilists each week. In addition to getting that opt-ed viewpoint of those things mobile, you’d also get a better handle on the opportunities in mobile which can be an entry point for your mobile ministry endeavors.

So, grab a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy this week’s reads at theFonecast.

If you would like your posts to be considered for inclusion within the Carnival of the Mobilists, follow the instructions and just wait for the notification that your post as been accepted. Once you have submitted and been included three (3) times, you can submit to be a Carnival host – which is a great way to get some addition eyeballs to your website’s content and mission. So consider it, and see what happens.

Of the news items of note so far this year, and interesting one came across my RSS reader speaking of a group in Sweden being recognized as an official religious organization (re: church). The Church of Kopimism describes their creed as such:

…information is holy and copying is a sacrament. Information holds a value, in itself and in what it contains, and the value multiplies through copying. Therefore, copying is central for the organisation and its members…

Essentially, its a religious group organized around file sharing as the prominent activity. Much of the commentary in the tech space has been interesting, not the least of which because when tech and faith do come together, the sparks and hacks fly all over the place. But, instead of simply repeating those points (seriously, its not the point of how we work here; you can search that easily), I’d like to offer an opinion/stance that there are two states in which a church/gathering can function in – one is its recognized state, and the other is its behavior. The Church of Kopimism says its a religion, but I’m of the opinion that its more a headless (goal-less?) religious activity.

Context of the Religious
Some days ago, I attended a small gathering of believers in the Charlotte area called Unplugged. During the time after the sharing of the lesson when there were questions/comments, a young woman asked a question framed around people calling her “religious.” She was in between confused and offended as she couldn’t understand why she was being described as such when the intention of her life-choices clearly (to her) was anything but “something traditional and dead.”

Both the leader of Unplugged and myself encouraged her that to continue to follow the faith as she has, and continue to grow in the understanding of how her choices will appear to those who may or may not share the same dedication to the faith. Specifically on my end, I pointed her to 2 Cor 1-3 (correction: this should have been 1 Cor 1-3) where Paul enters the discussion about the distinction between those whom are in Christ who therefore understand natural and spirtual matters, and those who are not whose lives only allow them to perceive what is natural. I encouraged her to understand this distinction and not be offended by those who call her religious in misunderstanding her behaviors, but to put on the wisdom that some people simply won’t be able to understand it until they get into the same perspective. 

Considering File Sharing As A Religion
As I contemplated The Church of Kopimism, it was this interaction which brokered in me this: file sharing may very well seem like a religion to those who observe it. 

Those who gain esteem, who observe what they are sharing, as well as the action itself of sharing, as something which adds to their personal value systems, Kopimism is indeed falling under this construct of religious activity. 

Now, they are calling “information” holy – that’s interesting, and one part scary. Is information in all of its forms “sacred and set apart?” Can information be unholy? Does information being holy begin to transform items which hold it into icons? These questions take me back to my undergraduate studies and the discussions of semiotics. This is what’s being asked though. Is the term “information” base enough to be a contianer for a set of beliefs? If it can, against what is information not sufficient enough to be an agent for religious activity?

Copying is called a sacrament. This feels like a stretch – at least until I start reflecting on another part of my past – the eight (8) years I spent in the Roman Catholic tradition (school and parish altar boy) – could I look at a sacrament and draw similarities to what The Church of Kopimism is aiming for?

Sacrament is defined as “a religious sign or act regarded as an outward and visible sign of divine grace.” The first thought I had was of one of the seven sacraments regarded by the Roman Cathoic Church – reconcilation (penance). Reconciliation is an activity that we do in regards to recognition that our activities (thoughts, behaviors, or intents) have gone opposite to the prescription of what’s considered holy and in right-standing with God, and are therefore resetting thoughts, behaviors, and intents back to God’s standards through verbal confession and life resetting. I’m not sure that “copying” invokes the same kind of… for lack of better word, “impact.”

And I think this lack of my understanding comes in part because when I look at The Church of Kopimism, I’m looking at a religion that has no defined end. It has activity, but that activity has only been described to the point of validating an action which only truly gives value to the transaction, not to those conducting that transaction. Now, it seems to be a truth of our economies these days that its not data that has value, but the transactional information that can be measured and rewrapped between that information. The value is the transaction, not the information.

Information is being described as holy, not the people. The transfer of information from one machine to another (am guessing that telepathy doesn’t count here) is the activity that’s valued, not the content of the information as it relates to the person sending or receiving it. File sharing – at least as I’m finding my way through this discussion – might be a religious activity more than a religion itself. And as a religious activity, its got to point to something more than the simplicity of a behavior that The Church of Kopimism has set forth.

Where the Religion Could Come In
Now, if you have broached the topic of faith and technology, you have most likely come across the term singularity coined and evangelized by Ray Kyrzweil. Mr Kyrzweil has steadly offered the opinion/prediction that at some point in the near future computing will be advanced enough to literally supplant organic life as we know it. At that point, we will have to make a decision to “become one with the machine” or be “evolved” out of existence. Mr. Kyrzweil has been very spot on with information technology trends for a number of decades, and so his thought have to be taken with a few grains of salt. That said, what he proposes is literally an age of machines which attains a similar level of signifiance to our lives as does religion. Its a viewpoint that I bicker internally with often, because at times it seems that we are moving directly into that frame. But, I’ve also chosen to ask if that’s the only result of the course we’ve taken with computer technologies, and if we’ve not, what else is there to consider?

If I were looking at The Singularity as a religion, I could see The Church of Kopimism’s aims functioning more like a sacramental activity within it. Where information, at some semantic level, is able to be used during the activity of copying for the purpose of… (advancing the machine, raising levels of artifical intelligence, etc.). And if folded under that guise, then The Church of Kopimism should arise on everyone’s radar a number of legal and theological questions:

• Is having (owning, accessing, and/or brokering) information of any kind a right
• Who creates/maintains the structures used to organize and dissemenate information
• Is there any information that should be kept from the eyes of a class/caste
• Where do national/cultural boundaries come into play towards understanding and repurposing information
• Who are the high priests/scribes by which information 

And several other question. And really, these are no different than questions had in groups similar to Unplugged (cited earlier) where people want to know what it is that the accepted (authorized, declared holy) text has to say about what they do versus what others observe. Where there is misunderstanding, who governs the understanding?

If the singularity is the model of religion that computer technology leads to, then file sharing (and pretty much any behavior instigated by programable machines) is religious. However, without some kind of goal, or transformation in regards to the participants, its merely a headless activity who’s value is too releative to the transaction to be of any redeeming value.

Your Turn
That’s where my thoughts are so far on this. I’m up to hearing yours (and any pointing to those who’ve written/talked on icons, religious behaviors, sociology and religion, etc. would be great for this discussion). In light of understanding the implications of mobile not just towards ministry efforts, discussions such as these are needed more in public (academic and non-academic) spaces.

While it is good to get the perspectives of going mobile or web with Bible reading, sometimes it’s better to get a view of the implications of the introduction of those technologies from the more tradition end – starting first with the print (paper) Bible, ad then seeing what kinds of technologies can be grafted onto there. If done well, it can be an enhancement. If not, it could end up as just one of those features that’s great for conversation and little else.

When looking at Ricky Cadden’s perspective at the Life Essentials Study Bible, it’s hard not to have both sides of that features discussion play out. Here’s a snippet of what I mean:

…Recently, though, we picked up a new Bible for Christina that offers an interesting balance between my iPad-based Wired magazine and my duct tape-bound study Bible – the Life Essentials Study Bible. It was put together by Gene Getz, and in addition to the normal extra definitions and side-notes that a Study Bible normally includes, he’s put together over 250 hours of video content, hosted it online, and then inserted QR codes throughout the chapters. You can scan the codes to get directly to the appropriate video for that passage, to get some additional video insights that you wouldn’t get by simply reading the words…

Read the rest of The Convergence Of Print And Digital – Life Essentials Study Bible at Ricky Cadden’s blog.

What say you to seeing a print Bible include features such as QR codes, short codes, or other methods to sort of embed traditionally screen-only media into them? Ideally, this bible might be best suited for personal or small group study moments, but could a similar application be laid out in a larger setting where keeping the feel of paper in one’s context is just as important as having the ability to use one’s mobile like a magic wand to open up other worlds of content?

Or, would you say this is just temporary, a stop-gap measure keeping luddites happy until everyone is reading or studying from some electronic foundation?

Initially, this post mentioned just the research and rankings by Tomi Ahonen; a later publication granted similar context with similar and different conclusions which combined with Ahonen’s insights grants considerable understanding towards current and future contexts of mobile on country levels. Therefore both of these are presented in a single post for relevance and compaative analysis.

Tomi Ahonen’s Ranking of Most Advanced Mobile Markets (by Country)
Tomi Ahonen (by virtue of his consultancy) tends to have all kinds of information which offer some measure of contextual relevance towards understanding mobile perspectices and trends. One of those that tends to cause all kinds of neat conversation has to do with his ranking of countries towards how advanced they are. He’s done this tanking for a few years (within his publications) and now offers this ranking again. Its not the most perfect (see the methodology quoted after the numbers, but should offer clear enough reasoning why approaching mobile from a “let’s evangelize the whole world at once approach” isn’t the best strategy.

Here’s his ranking (reformatted in a cleaner table layout):

…This index is as far as I know, the only international comparative table that uses all the major metrics for the industry as inputs – ie I use the mobile phone penetration rate per capita, the migration rate to 3G networks, the adoption ie usage of mobile data (which typically is the adoption rate of SMS text messaging in most markets) and the measure of how advanced the handsets are in that country (which in most cases is the adoption rate of smartphones)…

*Emphasis ours

Read the rest of Tomi’s 2011 Mobile Phone Index Ranking posting.

Flurry’s Analysis of the Installed Base of Users for iOS and Android Devices
One of the most popular (and heard) metrics for ascertaining the relevance of mobile is to take a look at sales and activations numbers. And certainly these do have some redeeming value when looking at the “right now” action that is happening with mobile. However, concentrating on sales and activations misses the most signifiant statistic – how many devices are being used right now? And if there is only a percentage of those total sales or activations being used, what others kinds of information does this installed base give us that might better allow us to see the actual use of mobile, and the opportunities which might lie for mobile/mobile ministry endeavors?

The largest take on installed base research that I’ve seen to date seems to be this work compiled and recently published by Flurry.

Flurry validates their research by using several data points, most of which are available publically, and then cross-linking that against their metrics gained from the 140,000 applications which utilize their analytics software/services. Here’s a snippet of their report:

…Because this chart measures future potential, TAMs are much larger relative to active user bases.  The result, visually, is a lot more “light blue.”  Many of the world’s largest countries have largely un-penetrated markets, primarily due to standards of living (emerging markets) or increased competition for consumers’ disposable income (developed markets).  In either case, the TAM is there, but the adoption hasn’t yet occurred.  So, many of these markets are future bets with the time of maturity somewhat variable and unknown.  In this chart, the U.S. has both the largest current installed base and market upside.  Again, this is because of its unique, well-penetrated and large, affluent population.  Next China, given its very large population (1.3 billion), along with a growing middle class who has already begun adopting smart devices, has the world’s second largest market potential.  In comparison, even though India has the world’s second largest population (1.2 billion), its TAM is much smaller than China’s because of India’s very low standard of living.  The result is that, even though its total population is not far behind China’s, its total addressable market is.  Further, the adoption of smartphones and tablets among its TAM has been small.  Finally, Japan, the world’s fourth largest market, has a lot of upside given light penetration of iOS and Anroid devices against its large, addressable market..

Read the entire iOS/Android Installed Base report from Flurry

Takeaways/Conclusions
We titled this post Two Looks at the Context/Term ‘Advanced Mobile’ because the phrase finds itself often within conversations about mobile/mobile ministry. Being advanced is indeed one part functionality (Ahonen) and another part current/analyized use (Flurry). Aiming devices, services, and experiences to a mobile goal means that you have to keep in mind not just the trends (Ahonen) but also what’s happening that’s addressable. Aiming for smartphone users in the US makes sense because of the shape and prospects of the market. Using the same approach in Angola might not be a good bet. The context of what’s advanced mobility there or elsewhere has to seen in light of what’s actually happening.

Given the information above, shaping your mobile strategy for 2012 and beyond should be a good bit clearer.

We were recently forwarded an article talking some about the role of mobile technologies within educational environments. And though there are some pieces that I can pick at, there is some sense that I got when reading that article, and similar pieces, that if we are going to make something of an approach towards understanding the role of mobile in educational environments, that there’s got to be some core understandings that we come to before, during, and after the tech has been introduced.

There were nine points raised in the aforementioned article, some of these might hit square on for some of you, but others point towards more indepth understandings of mobile and education which need to be addressed. Here are the nine points:

1. Expanding university apps and mobile web
2. Nomadic learning
3. Augmented reality learning scenarios
4. Mobile apps for education
5. Twitter feedback in class
6. Mobile library access
7. Mobile phone payments
8. Mobile marketing
9. Mobile pop quizzes

Now, let’s take these apart a bit and see where mobile in education settles out.

Concerning #1: there’s definitely an opportunity for colleges and universities (as well as high and middle schools) to take the paradigm of a portal application and have a means to create a education-focused environment on a personal or school-subsidized mobile device. I don’t know that there’s ever going to be a situation where one-type of approach fits all devices/students. For example, it is common in university settings to have non-traditional students who don’t have the dedicated finances for obtaining a school-subsidized device, or might be in a situation where downloading a portal application doesn’t make much sense for a 3-day professional development course. Universities would have to plan how they will expand into mobile by defining personas for mobile educational experiences, not to simply copy what’s happening within consumer/prosumer spaces.

Concerning #2: academia has been even more stubborn than many professional/knowledge-worker environments in respect to distance learning. Not in every case, but to disassociate the school as a temporal meeting place even in the collegic environment has unintended ramifications towards accountability, information and device management, and even tracking progress. I’ll speak specifically towards my teaching with the Upward Bound program (Millersville University, 2002-2004). One of my classes was conducted exclusively on Palm m105 PDAs and had only a meeting place in respect to “be here at this time or you miss where today’s class will be held.” Not only was it a fight to allow that kind of  behavior to happen, I also had to demonstrate contempencies by the students when spatial norms were not bound by them to begin with. Can you say fun?

Concerning #3: augmented reality is good, but like we found in the PDA class, we had even more of a challenge getting students and teachers alike to be acclimated to reality. For example, if you have a PDA/mobile, and you are in a math class, why would you carry a TI calculator? Reality was that we could download the graphing calc app, and save space in one’s pocket/bag. Reality was pushed when we instigated them to find other apps that took advantage of the sensors on the device so that learning could be pushed. Using the IR as a means to capture velocity/time/spatial data, then process thru another app/same app on user’s device, then beam your answer to the teacher? Yup. Reality. Going beyond is possible, and should be normal, but just leading on those skills is much more than many teachers are allowed time for.

Concerning #4: its the same (reword) as #1. So how about we say instead, mobile services for education. We can take that towards learning environments (Blackboard, etc.), or even retrofitting forums and blogs for learning engagements. What services are/aren’t fit for education? What would an ideal service look like? Could it be something like a group scheduling/tasking service that works only in specific classrooms (authenticated WiFi) and a web browser? When we go to that point, what’s possible?

Concerning #5: I’m a fan as much as anyone of feedback, and enjoy when there’s some Twitter chat happening during a talk that I’m doing, and I can go back and reread what’s been said. Responding to that in real-time is nigh impossible and shouldn’t be the aim of such channels. What Twitter-like services can allow though is the freedom of communication about the lesson that might otherwise be forgotten before evaluations are done. Or, we can take a lesson from #educhat and similar to use Twitter to organize a class, with a different pedogy for validating whatever the learning goals are. There’s a lot that can happen here, feedback though is probably the hardest to take from an idealized setting to the norm.

Concerning #6: I liked this point. Throwing in a counterpoint: if the perodicals, journals, and specalized searches are electronic, and one only needs to be authenticated on the network that such materials are validated for, is the (physical) library needed beyond being like a Starbucks (3rd space) for contemplation, discussion, studying, and special sessions? Or, does the depth of those materials that won’t be electronic anytime soon invite mobiles to take on the role of organizing/digitzing those assets are persons are using them. The person is invited to borrow the materials, but must return it along with a digital image of what they cited so that the library can begin analyizing what specifically is being consumed from their non-digital collections, while also partially digitizing content so that later students might only pull on the digital asset (ignoring rights, press, etc. issues for the moment)? Thick in scope, but its been attempted in part.

Concerning #7: If my mobile’s number *and* IMEI (because owning a mobile isn’t inexpensive, going prepaid but constantly changing numbers more often could be normal) could be tied to my student ID so that I could not just get emergency and class alerts, but also use a university-specific shortcode/barcode to pay for items, that would be great. Many colleges/universities offer what’s like a flex/debit account and this could not just be used to pay for items, but also keep a mobile topped off (going back to the time when phone lines were partially subsidized by the student and the school). Could be a nice additional piece of revenue for schools, could also be a neater tie to students once they’ve left campus. Not sure that I’d do this widespread in high school settings, but I do wonder if it would make for a nice credit/debit lesson for seniors.

Concerning #8: I don’t agree that anyone likes to be marketed to. I do think that people would invite marketing messages that add value to their everyday interactions. This is how Blyk works and has been very successful in doing so. If Blyk were school-themed, and that could not just assist students by subsidizing device and service calls, but also inviting them to interact with their schools in such a way that the schools recieve some financial help, that would be good. But, things like SMS blasts, mobile apps with ad banners, and such, no. There should be no room made to make students into billboards no more than consumer markets already do.

Concerning #9: The idea of pop quizzes goes back to #5 in regards to feedback. How about we look at this a bit more discerning towards these questions:

• what are the goals of the class/lesson
• what are the top 3 issues preventing the class/lesson from being achieved
• what/whom are the most readily available resources able to address the issue

If the goal is to find out if lessons have increased knowledge/wisdom/understanding, then we look at the feedback of a test in those streams. Thing is, what’s going to happen with that data? Is the student going to have to wait until the teacher grades it (I hope no, if they are taking an electronic test, then shouldn’t most of the grading be automated as well)? If the teacher has the ability to ping one or more devices for a test randomly, what are any privacy implications (or is all of the teacher/student tech interactions happening through a proxy where the teacher never knows anything more about a device connecting to the class other than its association to a registered student’s name)? And then who’s able to build/maintain these tests? I didn’t mind doing these when I taught, but I’m different. Other teachers were struggling with MS Word and laying out lines on the screen for people to handwrite in answers. Are instructional designers building test templates for their learning content management systems which also take into account a mobile device – because many schools have students to which a mobile is their only best-available computing device?

I share the opinion of the late Judy Breck and others that mobiles can certainly open the minds and hearts of teachers and students alike towards accessible and effective education. I don’t think that its just about apps or even piggy-backing on what might have worked in other times. Each school, each teacher, and each student needs to be addressed on the level of what makes the most sense for all of them. 

Whew… that’s a lot right. So what’s needed:

• methodologies integrating devices, services, and experiences (3 layers of mobile) around a central goal for education (whether that’s skills retraining, general studies, or something else should be hashed out on the level of the teacher and the instutution) – this will point towards the ways to develop the curriculia
• cross-functional knowledge by all teachers
• interdependence on parents, community groups, and local/regional businesses with schools
• outright running after imagination

Teach in such a way that they will be prepared to take on the world that will exist in their time, not yours. In this case, technology is only relevant when the end result is improved retention rates, graduation rates, and capitalized job opportunities.

Over at the NY Times, I took in a reading about the OLPC Project and some stumbles and successes that it has had. One of the more interesting things about that project, at least in light of the small summary that the NYT offers, is that for all of the success that it didn’t have in terms of shipments, it has had number of smaller (many times unintended) victories. Let’s look at a few lessons and glean some understanding (Proverbs 4:6-8):

…To make a very long, very complicated story short, since the initial frenzy subsided, OLPC has concentrated on the logistics of shipping a total of 2.3 million laptops to some 45 countries. It has also worked on ways to improve the performance and maintenance of those machines, and on developing a new tablet computer, the XO-3, which it hopes to introduce late next year…

Logistics planning and execution is important: One of the issues that we ran into when walking through the planning stages for the Kiosk Evangelism Project is that while we were directed for the goals of the program, understanding the issues on the ground to distribute content, training, and administrative support were a lot harder to notch. Ideally, such issues are best solved not on the run but with mind of persons and organizations who are skilled in those functions.

…OLPC’s machines have also proved effective when used on a smaller scale. “We’ve deployed them in a couple of schools with great results,” said Cameron Sinclair, co-founder of Architecture for Humanity, a global volunteer network, which specializes on development and disaster relief projects, although he added that other schools preferred to use traditional PCs…

Small scale, predispositions to other behaviors/methods: Its not an accident that investing technological (tools) changes into a culture can be challenge. Don’t be afraid to take steps back from a larger implementation so that you can see some more detailed usages from smaller groups. In going to that smaller-deployment/implementation route, you will notice that behavioral/cultural preferences might arise for or against your efforts. With small scale, you can address this. If the scale is large, you might get that kind of push-back and then refactor your entire plan, when only a small section needs to be addressed.

…Similarly, the praise for the design of OLPC’s cute little laptop has helped the computer industry to develop a lucrative new global market for tablets and other small computers…

Unintended market effects: It wasn’t the intention of the OLPC project to create a new cottage industry (low-cost, accessible netbooks came expressly from the successes that the OLPC Project was making in non-Windows/Intel streams). But, it not just had the effect of opening up new usages, but spreading that usage’s best points (better device design, power efficiency gains, lower prices, etc.) to the larger notebook/PC market – effectively raising the bar for what it is we purchase. Your project might cause similar. Resist the urge to try and control those effects. If anything, be more streadfast towards your goals so that the baramometer of success for those other market effects has its own bar to reach.

…That said, OLPC has encountered difficulties, and its designers have had to modify the original laptops since they went into daily use in schools. The shiny plastic on the case was replaced by a tougher rubberized material. The keyboard was strengthened with a steel plate, and its lights removed to reduce energy consumption. OLPC had to add little feet to the machines used in countries like Nigeria, where school desks tended to be slanted. It has also trained local technicians to repair the laptops, rather than running a centralized maintenance program…

Planning is good; itertative changes is better: One of the more frustrating moments in any project is when you’ve had some kind of change in the roadmap. Maybe that’s a move to another tool, another type of final project, or even the additon of pieces which you didn’t origianlly see. For instance, in that same Kiosk Evangelism Project referenced above, before settling on a Wi-Fi Router/HD combo device, we’d looked at traditional ATM-like kiosks, web distribution, several types of content management approaches, and even using a mobile as a server to distribute the content. Each of those pieces were iterations to the current implementation of the project, and had to be gone through, even if they weren’t all within the original plan for that project.

Some years ago, we opined that the OLPC Project could be a beneficial tech-mission engagement. We’ve since talked about that kind of opportunity amongst others. If that were an opportunity taken on, there would have been these challeges and lessons learned. There would have been some notable successes. And probably a few failures. But, it would have produced the kind of understanding that – when fed back to the rest of the Body – would have created some needed wisdom points.

Its the new year, and therefore time to hear and wade through all of the predictions for the coming year(s) in mobile. Well, there are some which are better than others, and definitely a means of weeding though it all. Here’s a snippet towards how I tend to walk through these statements:

I was passed a link via email recently which spoke (lightly) about smartphones in the coming years. I disagreed with the sentiment that it was a worthwhile prediction as the article-interview left no context behind the person’s statement. Still, I think it was a healthy exercise to pay attention to in the coming weeks as many will be predicting much, and there needs to be some way to get through the noise.

This is what was sent to me:
Marc Andreessen [speaks to CNet] about what the major technology trend(s) will be in 2012 & beyond. In a nutshell, it boils down to smartphones.

Read the rest of Distilling the Perspective of Prediction at Blog.AntoineRJWright.

Takeaways:

• Anything that’s predicted in respect to technology can be easily fact-checked against news, stats, and other analysts in that position
• Be wary of biases towards predicting what will/won’t come next. Bias is always present, sometimes its more influential than some would have you believe
• Pull a Jeremiah 23 and just wait – if the word comes to pass, then observe them for future prognostigations; if not, don’t be ashamed to stop listening to them – I wouldn’t recommend throwing stones unless you have your ducks in a row

Now, that’s all easy to say when you have time to wade through the news, fact-check and such, but “who has time for all of that?” I would admonish you to be just as much a Berean in terms of news and views as you are of the Scriptures. Those following your activites in this life would gain much from your ability to take a stance and walk your way through understanding it.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=dUBxHd3bMhg&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DdUBxHd3bMhg

When it comes to how you view or apply ministry in mobile contexts, is what happens to their lives bigger on the outside our on the inside?

Welcome to 2012 and Mobile Ministry Magazine (MMM). Since 2004, we’ve talked a lot about this intersection of faith and mobile technology and how this has often looked like applications. We’ve talked about the good and bad about these applications, what has improved, and what still isn’t being touched. And yet there’s there is a pervasive resolution that I think you should endear to any mobile ministry efforts for 2012: an application is not a strategy.

We’ll summarize how we come to such a conclusion in this article. Some of these concepts have been covered before, other parts not yet in enough depth to give you a means to continue. But don’t worry, as we encourage you to step into 2012 with your mobile ministry efforts, the goal of this article is that you address mobile ministry as a spoke in a larger wheel of your efforts, no matter where you are in the chain.

This article focuses specifically on these points:

• What is Mobile Ministry?
• What are the specific areas in which mobile has addressed a ministry context?
• Is there anything consistently applicable across those areas of mobile ministry?
• If applications are part of the solution, what else is there?
• What are some resources for applying these points?

What is Mobile Ministry

Mobile ministry is the application of mobile devices, services, and/or experiences for the purposes of forwarding ideals and characteristics of a faith movement.

Mobile computing has a market-led definition (portable, cellular and/or WiFi-enabled computing devices which have screen sizes between 2.2 and 5in, and have some form of primary input that is not mediated by accessory-attached mice/keyboards). We take the stance that mobile computing devices can include any portable computer that is not designed specifically as a clothing accessory.

Mobile services include, but are not limited singular applications of cellular (voice, data, SMS, multimedia), Internet (browsing, email, IM, VoIP, Wi-Fi, GPS), and applications (including the tools to create and distribute, API structures/protocols, development standards/practices, etc.).

Ministry is defined as any activity which forwards the ideals and characteristics of a faith movement, that may be personally motivated, community organized, and/or governmentally implemented.

This definiton is intentionally not grounded on any one religion/faith, and has been [slightly] refined from its more academic-correct beginnings. Discussions towards refining this further should be a part of any conversations brokering mobile as useful in ministry contexts.

Specific Areas of Ministry Applied in Mobile
Over the course of seven years, MMM has observed six specific applications of mobile technology within ministry contexts. This doesn’t mean that there are not, or could not be others. Within these six areas, we have identified unique approaches combining devices, services, and/or experiences which create avenues for personal, media, and cultural transformation through faith-binding activities.

These six areas are as follows:

• Mobile in Personal Spaces/Moment
• Mobile in Discipleship/Education Spaces
• Mobile in Media Spaces
• Mobile in Marketing/Development/Analytics Spaces
• Mobile in Missions/Evangelism Spaces
• Mobile in Theological/Psychological Spaces

We will further define and illustrate these areas throughout 2012. Please refer to former articles and presentations on this subject in order to see some of the progression of these ideas. We will endeavor to link to articles tagged with these topics in order to best consolidate the discussion on this site towards these points.

Layers of Mobile
We are careful not to simply define mobile in the context of devices or development. There are three components which encompass the mobile environment which all need to be considered and included within the context that is mobile computing:

• Devices
• Services
• Experiences

We will further define these areas beyond our initial exploration of these throughout 2012. Please refer this article/document for a direct linking to that discussion.

Applications and Beyond
It should be clear within what we’ve explained so far that defining mobile ministry strictly or specifically in the context of downloadable applications is incomplete. Applications are only a part of the usable toolkit for mobile within ministry endeavors. Streams in which mobile can be developed/sold/applied within ministry contexts include:

• Software Applications
• Hardware Applications
• Voice Services
• Video/Audio (Streaming, Downloads, Sharing, etc.)
• Text (SMS, language transcription, etc.)
• Downloadable/Streaming Media (APIs, content libraries, etc.)
• Mixed Media (creation, distribution, specifications, etc.)
• Security
• Reporting
• Personalization

We will further define these areas throughout 2012.

Resources for Moving Forward

• Connecting with Others within Mobile Ministry
• State of Mobile Ministry (Summer 2011 Report)
• Should My Ministry Have a Mobile App
• How to Build a Mobile Ministry App
• View more resources and case studies

Conclusions: An App is not a Strategy, But…
We will not debate the point that for many endeavors, the first door that mobile will open is that through an application store. However, the first door seen is not the only door available. Depending on what it is you are developing, offering, or enabling, an application might not be the best point of entry.

For 2012, consider your opportunities and challenges within ministry, and whether mobile is the best route. If it is, then you will want to start looking at where you sit in terms of those areas of mobile, and then whether you are targeting devices, building a service, or managing an experience. After that point, it becomes clear how you should approach mobile. It may very well be that you do need an application – but now it will have a specific target, you can begin planning and setting up your team and content appropriately. If it means you need to outsource the development of your mobile solution, you do so with knowledge of more than simply “make it work on this device.”

At the intersection of faith and mobile technology, what are you pointing towards? In 2010, don’t let your strategy (or lack of one) turn mobile into a dead-end for your effort.