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Stop and Reflect as the Friend of Instant

Monday, April 9th, 2012

Today is the day after Easter/Resurrection Sunday. Many businesses opt for this as the day off to observe the holiday and to allow for their workers/participants to get a bit of time to stop and reflect after the last many weeks of activity (especially if you have been observing Lent, alongside the rest of the seasons’ concerns – taxes, spring breaks, etc.).

In the midst of this, we’d like to kind of remind you that stopping and reflecting shouldn’t be the opposite of the instant communications and technologies that you have in your hands right now. Surely, there are statistics and commentaries aplenty which describe how we’ve let the speed and access to faster and more targeted communications tear away at our ability to reflect, rest, and demonstrate a keener awareness of concern for one another.

If anything, let the below graphic be a reminder of that point. You don’t have to go so fast, but you do need to stop in order to see a life that’s risen (click on graphic to see entire graphic [clipped], in new window):

Instant America

~via Instant Gratification of America

 

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[Repost] Easter/Resurrection Sunday, Narrated Through a Mobile Lens

Sunday, April 8th, 2012

Last year, we published an account of Good Friday and Easter/Resurrection Sunday in the context of what that story would look like if mobile were present. Here’s a snippet of what happened on Easter/Resurrection Sunday in that story:

…The brothers planned to meet near the place were ate with Jesus last. The keeper of that room also received the message from the women and assured us that we would be taken care of and fine there. We had to think and act quickly. And somehow, if Jesus is risen, get in contact with him. I’m sure that he couldn’t get a mobile – but I’ve seen him produce all kinds of things out of thin air, anything is possible with him.

The plans came along quickly. This was much different than in times past. It seemed like this time that we just wanted to be on one accord. Some of us reclined in our seats to breathe, some had been on the run a lot longer than just the past three days. Then something strange happened. The mobiles in the center of the table turned on at the same time, then vibrated, then turned off. That was weird, and we all seemed to see it at the same time. It got quiet, really quiet…

Read the rest of Easter/Resurrection Sunday, Narrated Through a Mobile Lens, and the previous installment, Good Friday Narrated Through a Mobile Lens

 

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[Repost] Good Friday, Narrated Through a Mobile Lens

Friday, April 6th, 2012

Last year, we composed an account of this Easter weekend, but told through the perspective of what things could look like if mobile was a part of the story. Here’s a snippet of the story:

It was only a 30 second clip. But that was all that we needed to see. There he was, I think. In the face it looked like him, but the body was badily bruised. He had something on his head, but I couldn’t tell – I’ve got a simple mobile without a good screen. It looked like he nearly fell with some beam on his back, but then some other guy grabs the beam from him and then the scene cuts. We all looked at one another terrified. We knew what was next. This kind of message only comes out for certain kinds of capital punishments.

My mobile had been off for a few hours. I needed to relocate and didn’t need any cell towers tracking my movements. Better that myIMEI simply shows up in a different region with a different SIM than traveling across regions. It was around noon when mine and all the mobile around me beeped again. There was another MMS. This one felt different. The sky had darkened before it came in. I had this feeling in my stomach that I lost something very important.

Read the rest of Good Friday, Narrated Through a Mobile Lens, this story continues on Easter Sunday.

 

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Mobile Ministry Event Calendar

Thursday, April 5th, 2012

If you’ve not seen this already in our redesigned sidebar, and in keeping with that 2012 resolution in keeping on top of conferences and such which might be beneficial to those following mobile (in) ministry, there’s now a public Google Calendar showing a smattering of #mobmin events for 2012 and beyond.

This calendar actually started as a personal calendar that’s now public, with some members of the Mobile Ministry Forum having the ability to add to this calendar. I’ve gone the route of putting many of the major events that we talked about before on there. As the year goes forward, you will also be able to see some smaller calls and conferences as they happen appear on here. The link to this calendar will show on our mobile site(s) soon-ish.

Small instructions in case you feel like sharing (hint, hint):
  • For those of you with Android devices, you should simply need to go into your Google Calendar account (use a desktop web browser), and then add this calendar to have it appear alongside your calendar; I’ve yet to play with a 4.0 (ICS) device to see if any changes with the calendar effect this or make it simpler
  • For those of you not using an Android device, but do have a Google Calendar account, you need to copy each event (individually) into your main calendar, and those events will appear there. However, they will not update when the calendar updates.
  • You can subscribe to this calendar via RSS (link here); items will show in your RSS reader when they are added to the calendar, not when they occur
  • You can also add to your Apple devices calendar using iCal (link here). If you add this link into iTunes, it should transfer to another (layer) calendar in your iOS devices; this link does update when the main calendar is updated as far as I know.
  • Depending on the mobile device you are using, the RSS/iCal item should show an individual item download, so that (for example) from a mobile device, you can download a specific event into your calendar. From your calendar, sharing is as simple as hitting the “share” button on your device and it sends as a vCal item in an MMS message
  • I have a workflow running using ifttt which automatically tweets out newly added events using the #mobmin hashtag – so if you are looking for an easy way to have your audiences keep up with events, that hashtag just got more valuable.

If there’s an event that needs updated information, needs to be added/removed, just let us know.

 

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End of March Resolutions Checkup

Friday, March 30th, 2012

2012 calendar from Just CalendarDuring the month of January, we posted six articles which corresponded to five resolutions suitable for those working in and around mobile ministry. We are now wrapping up the third month of 2012, and so how are you doing in terms of these or your personal/organizational resolutions?

Here are the items we posted:

  1. An App is Not A Strategy
  2. Specifically Define Mobile in Education
  3. Get Connected to Tech, Mobile, and Mobile Ministry Events
  4. All Books Project and Mobile UX Standards and Raising the Bar on Mobile UX Standards
  5. Become a Digital Faith Advocate
 

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When Do We Count Success

Thursday, March 29th, 2012

At what point in any mobile ministry endeavor do we count it as being a success:

…While the comment has faced criticism from those in technology and education circles, it certainly made a splash. OLPC still makes a laptop (the XO 1.75), but the organization now has its eyes firmly set on its new tablet (the XO 3), a solar-powered device that the group describes as “unbreakable and without holes in it.”

But OLPC’s visions have never quite materialized. Negroponte’s “tablets from helicopters” comment was reminiscent of his earlier announcement at the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society in Tunisia, where he proclaimed OLPC would sell a laptop for $100. Then in 2009, OLPC announced that its tablet would also break the $100 barrier, despite the fact that the original laptop project had never reached that price (it still hasn’t; the price remains about $185).

Negroponte originally hoped his organization would sell “tens of millions” of laptops and could get the price low by requiring each country that wanted the machines to buy a minimum of one million, a figure that never panned out…

Read the rest of Ars Technica’s Look at the OLPC Project and Its Influence on EduTech Initiatives

When I’m asking these questions about mobile minisyry – its viability, its potential, its challenges – I am also asking where success is defined. Generally, the ministry answer is that success equals the salvation and maturity of people who align themselves with Jesus Christ. But, I wonder if such aims are going too far, or if they are too broad to be of any impact.

Instead, I wonder if those whom are able to make plans towards that larger end are able to collect the smaller victories in their methods? If they are in fact able to keep that big picture goal in mind, but see whatever they are working on as being a part of something more than just the usual evangelism and colonization approach?

You’ve got challenges and successes; where do you stop and see what’s affirming your goals, and where do you continue to press forward when you don’t see what’s affirming that mission?

 

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How Has Tech Changed Ministry for You

Sunday, March 25th, 2012

We usually have something along the lines of the thinking piece for Sundays since many people are attending service and have their local communities on their hearts and minds. And so with that in frame, we’d just want to continue that with a simple question about computer tech and its appearance within faith communities:

How has the use of mobile and social technologies influenced or changed your perceptions of ministry?

Place your answers in the comments.

 

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Research Publishing Tracking Evolution of (Digital) Tech within Faith Communities

Thursday, March 22nd, 2012

At the time of this writing, I’d not taking a deep look into the survey, but I do think that its on course for being good for reflection (an investigation of the methodology and research process would answer any questions of value beyond what’s been published). From Church Mag:

…As of 2010, the percentage of churches that had no web or Facebook presence was 24%. Perhaps I shouldn’t be too shocked by this number. Considering how only an estimated 78% of the North American population uses the internet, maybe it should be expected that roughly the same amount, 76% of American congregations, have an internet presence. But then I have to ask, who is using the internet? The population of North America is roughly 350 million. As of 2011, it was estimated that about 272 million were using the internet. I may be wrong in this assumption, but my guess is that the majority of ‘non-internet users’ are either infants or elders. The percentage of the population under 15 years old is roughly 19%; the percentage over 65 is roughly 13%. (I realize that children, especially going into their teenage years, are on the internet quite a bit; however, statistically speaking, this gives us a good estimate for comparing usage vs. necessity of usage.)  If we only consider the percentage of 16 – 64 year olds who are using the internet, the age range with whom most churches try to connect, the percentage of this population who are online definitely increase from the overall population estimation of 78%…

 

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[Event] Biola Digital Ministry Conference (June 5-7)

Tuesday, March 20th, 2012

Just a heads up that the Biola Digital Ministry Conference is coming up in a few months (June 5-7). The theme for this year’s conference is the disruptive nature of digital.

The Biola Digital Ministry Conference is designed to empower individuals with the vision, knowledge, and relationships necessary to be thoughtful designers, developers, and practitioners of digital technologies for the cause of Christ.

There will be three tracks this year: theology, strategy, and technology. I’ll be doing a breakout session teaching folks how to (quikcly) build a mobile website, and there will be a score of opportunities to network with many ministries and organizations throughout this mid-week conference.

If you are a missions organization, developer/development shop, or just have some general interest about what’s happening in the space of digital ministry, definitely consider coming out. Would love to connect with you if we haven’t already there.

For more information, including registration and session topics/speakers, visit the Biola Digital Ministry Conference.

 

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Catching Up with the Carnival of the Mobilists

Friday, March 16th, 2012

I always find a gem or two within the Carnival of the Mobilists, even if there are those moments when I’m not able to keep up with the weekly postings. Over the past two weeks, the Carnival has had plenty to choose from in terms of relevant articles which create some avenues for thought and potential activity.

For example here’s a snippet from the 263rd Carnival, posted at MobyAffiliates:

First up Carnival Queen Peggy Anne Saltz who brings her regular video blog providing analysis on the evolving mobile voice market, looking at new developments such as Siri and similar innovations.  There’s loads more in this vodcast, which is full of really rich and useful information and discussion so go check it out:

Second-up a guest post from Michelle Manafy drawing on her new book, Dancing with Digital Natives, looking at how to motivate the ‘Millenial’ generation in a world of changing economics, high youth unemployment and rapid change:

Second in the ring is Yomi Adegboye from the excellent Mobility Blog.  Yomi has a quick post about his plans to go “mobile-only” and use mobile computing for all his IT needs.  Armed with just an iPad and an assortment of handsets can Yomi stick to this mobile-only regimen?  This blog is well worth checking out for a view of the burgeoning mobile market in Nigeria.

And then there’s this snippet of insights from No. 264, posted at MobiThinking:

First up, we have an avalanche of mobile stats and analysis from Tomi Ahonen’s Communities Dominate blog The State of the Union blog for Mobile Industry. This is a must-read piece for any marketer that wants a true picture of the mobile business. Did you know that the global installed base of smartphones is 19 percent and that Nokia’s Symbian still has the largest share (just ahead of Android) or that SMS has overtaken voice as the number one activity on mobile devices?

Well some brand marketers are clearly getting the message… After flirting with apps, it seems that brand marketers are re-embracing text as the most important channel. But SMS should focus on customer engagement, rather than just being one-way conversation, i.e. more than just a money-off voucher, points out Mobile Insider’s Steve Smith, and their role model should be Obama 2012. Read: From Obama to Brands: Leveraging Participatory Engagement.

A sobering piece by Matt Kapko at Eye on Mobile highlights the plight of those workers at Foxconn in China who make sought-after mobile devices for Apple, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and many more, in The real human cost of our mobile devices. Foxconn employees regularly work 12-hour shifts at a starting salary of US $1.78 an hour… so how many hours must they work to buy an iPad (assuming they don’t eat)?

As you can tell, there’s much to be said in and around mobile. The various perspectives of those folks who work in the industry, in-line with and apart from larger organizational directives, tends to give mobile that taste of something a bit more than just “fast food.”

If you are invovled within the mobile minsitry (#mobmin) space, and you’ve been writing about mobile from that perspective, I’d really like to encourage you to submit your writings, case studies, or proejct summaries for inclusion into the Carnival of the Mobilists. Information on how to do so, and what your response needs to be if selected, is noted on the website. If you are a causal reader of things online and just looking for something a bit different, the Carnival of the Mobilists is an excellent means to spread your reading wings a bit as well.

Personally speaking, there’s not much better in terms of “readers digest”-style reads than the Carnival – especially when joined with a hot tea or coffee beside.

 

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