Mobile Ministry Magazine

Here at MMM, we spend a lot of time talking about mobile technology education. And there's a good reason for that - there isn't much talk about it out here. At the same time, the idea of what makes up various learning methodologies tends to change all around us. After taking a spin through the archives here, and thinking about my own workflow methods, I started asking the question if in this more-digital time, that we are taking the time to reassess how we teach and learn various items.

One of the rabbit trails led me to looking at the group called Sugar Labs. These are the folks responsible for the operating system which is on the OLPC device. I immediately gathered from looking at their website is that effective teaching requires one to constantly reevaluate how they are learning.

For example, in a small group that I lead, we talk through the subject "how to study the Bible." However, that "how" becomes a very wide question in the context of learning styles, economics, and even attention spans. In our current study, I'm challenged with helping the team learn about different methods of utilizing cross referencing in order to understand and learn Scripture and to this I'm challenged towards really paying attention to what they are learning and then presenting the lessons in ways they can grab and excel with. To this point, I don't know yet what will be successful, but I do know that if I'm not careful to consider their eyes, then they'll miss seeing the point.

The other part of this is that I've got to look at how I'm learning. Today I'm making decisions regarding different screens that I use in my personal workflow. Those screens describe a bit of the spatial way that I learn and parse information and my environment. In this, I see that the environment isn't under my control, but I do control how I learn from it. For those things mobile, this is a key point that separates it greatly from other media.

Labels: education, OLPC

Last year, we talked a good deal about the One Laptop Per Child project and the Give 1 Get 1 Program. In my opinion, this was something that should have seen the Body jump on quickly as a means to not only address issues of technology enablement, but also create roads for shared learning, education, and ministry where the Body just hasn't done so much (loudly).

Well, the Give 1 Get 1 Program is back again and this time Amazon has joined in to help with aspects of marketing and distribution.

There's no need to say it again, but I really will - despite what current economic conditions might be saying to wallets - technology, specifically mobile technology applications, is one huge area where the Body can make a signifiant inroad towards being Christ to the nations. The thing is, the Give 1 Get 1 Program while being about enabling developing countries, is even more about the idea of leaving the ability for the next generation of technologists to see the value of leaving a legacy. Digital might not have that same effect as paper, but being involved in the lives of others does. In order to create and preserve the standard of Godliness that Jesus and others set out before us, this is an opportunity that should not be overlooked.

Labels: giving, Hardware, mission, OLPC, urban

This year, one of my biggest struggles with just about everything has been to remember that there's a good bit of relevance that must be undertaken with everything. And especially in the field of mobile technology where things just move faster than people want to even write about, its important to remember something I've been told often, technology is only relevant when it is personal. Some recent thinkings have put me in a position though where I realize that I have to do a lot more evangelism than just using this stuff in order to make this point clear.

I can start with the example of my use of Nokia's Mobile Web Server. Frankly speaking, this is probably one of the most far out things that I use and one of those things that people go "ooh" about, but just don't understand. Without repeating the entire post that I wrote up on my personal website, I will say it like this: using a web server on your mobile phone, or even just the idea of having a web server in your home gives YOU control of the information that you put on the net. Not Google, not Nokia, not anyone. You administer it, and you say how it gets anywhere, if it goes out at all.

The mobile device that's that and adds the ability to associate that personal information with the context of your environment. Its not just an IP address, its an IP address that's attached to a photo of a place or a contact person or a a mesh of all of those and more. That's not the web virtual, that's a literal web. And its already something in your hands. Imagine knitting the Body together with that kinda stuff.

Or about about mobile devices in general? Most would say that while they are enabling, that they offer no real benefit over other computing situations. That might be right, until you consider the cost of powering devices. The wastefulness that we display as a computing culture is crazy. Slimming down to the bare essentials should allow us the time to develop more accessible and renewable solutions, while making all of those previously stated connections all the more fruitful.

Connecting: I want to be the kind of parent who has the "key" for allowing his household to be online. If you will, I'd like my mobile device to be the gateway for my family. This way I can see and interact with what my kids are doing, and my wife has an accessible and open means to keep me accountable. Far reaching? Nope. Using something like this soon to come software and a solid smartphone this is not just possible, but probably advisable.

Look. I am not saying that we have to do this. I am saying that the technology is relevant if we look at it as being so. I still think that a partnership between churches and developing nations could do more for increasing technical competencies for both sides than just doing nothing. I still feel that solutions like Earthcomber should be used by more urban missionaries to share and live the Gospel. I still see the need for people to put these devices down and interact with one another being an important part of using these devices. I just have a problem with just letting it sit here. I'm made in God's image. I'd like to believe that somewhere in me beats the ability to be relevant with whatever is in my hands and life.

For me, it just happens to be mobile tech and its various applications, intersecting with my faith, in a way that just happens to push the green light out a bit longer.

Labels: accessiblity, Bible, children, church, community, computer, environment, innovation, Internet, Mobile Web Server, mobility, networking, OLPC, smartphone, software

I was reading about the next OLPC laptop, the XO-2, and its new form factor and it caused me to reflect a bit on the purpose of technology to empower and enable people to reach beyond the glass ceiling that social or economics presents before us.

As the Body enabled with mobile tech in its various forms, I think about a project like the OLPC Project and wonder where and if we are being as effective in terms of looking for innovative and needed (debatable term I know) solutions for empowering communities.

Another thing that the OLPC Project brings to mind is the fact that we can sometimes have an effect in a place where we originally didn't want to. The OLPC has spawned devices such as the MacBook Air and Asus Eee PC as capable laptop solutions that fit into lives instead of forcing you to fit into theirs (mostly).

I've been exposed to some very blessed people in the Body, and some wealthy ones. I wonder on both accounts if we are doing what we can to effect change for the greater good given our abilities with resource. Not to say that we all have to be a Bill and Melinda Gates, but how are we using what we have to bring Christ into a place that He hasn't been. And moreso to improve the quality of life of those around us so that preaching Christ is easier to be heard since basic needs are met.

It's just me thinking aloud. But I wanted to share this because its something that hits me pretty often. Is there really any innovation left in the Body, or are we just riding the coattails of whatever happens until Jesus returns?

Related Articles at MMM:

• The OLPC Give 1 Get 1 Challenge As A Mobile Opportunity
• Becoming More Tech Savvy Is A Necessity

Labels: Asus Eee, community, innovation, MacBook Air, mobile, OLPC, tech

This is from a post on my personal site, however the content and subject relevant enough to be shared here as well. Here's a snippet:

... As I spend time here in Charlotte, I can see that there is a need for this kind of techie engagement to happen a bit more often. I've come across those who have smartphones, but all they use the the voice and occasionally the calendar features. I've come across those looking for work, but have very little working knowledge of MS Word and other programs. The way I see it, they have the tech, but not much of a knowledge on how to do anything with it. I have these skills and want/need to share them. Somehow, I need to help people to understand that if they are not more technologically savvy, that this world (the Americanized, computer-driven side of it) will run them over...

Read the rest of this post.

And what are your thoughts? Clearly, there has to be more attention paid towards enabling others to understand and use relevant technologies, but there is not always a simple solution available (labs, classes, initatives such as the Give one Get One program, etc.). How does the Body address this need to empower technolgically with the Spirit of God and the Gospel, but do so in a way that doesn't Bible thump people into not wanting to receive anything we'd have to offer?

Labels: mission, OLPC, tech

We posted a few times on the OLPC and made a case on how it would make for a great means to jumpstart tech-based missions efforts via the Give One Get One program. Well, it seems that the program has been extended to Dec 31, according to Ars Technica.

From the Give One Get One Website:

Since November 12th, OLPC has been offering a limited-time Give One Get One program in the United States and Canada. During Give One Get One, you can donate the revolutionary XO laptop to a child in a developing nation, and also receive one for the child in your life in recognition of your contribution. Thanks to a growing interest in the program, we are extending Give One Get One until the end of the year. Through this extension, and the increasing public interest in OLPC, we hope to give many more children the opportunity to grow, explore, learn and express themselves.

I know it is the holiday season, and there are probably a boat-load of other charities that might be nipping at your heels, but think of this from the perspective that you are not going to just be able to donate to a solid cause, but there will be opportunities for you or your kids to be able to work alongside other receipents to help enable others to sustain their communities in tech-based fields. Doing so with the mind and heart of Christ as the motivation should make for a lot of solid engagement.

Labels: mission, OLPC, tech

I am sitting on a few issues right now, but really had the thought in my head of asking us to conduct a multifaceted discussion on "the intersetion of faith and mobile technology."

The first part comes from a question that is placed at the MMM channel at Jaiku:

How can mobile technology be improved for your faith endavors?

The second item comes from the OLPC side of things, and something that I posted in response to a post addressing its possible inroads at Gear Diary:

I really like the idea of using technology as a means to open the door of education to developing and developed nations alike. I've personally been pushing for churches and missions organizations to get behind the idea of the Give One Get One project because it takes the idea of missions from being an aspect of "just sharing faith" to "sharing faith in word, but also giving an action to associate with it."

The key thing is that one must realize that there is no "one stop" solution to mitigating the issues that plague developing and developed nations. As long as there is ego, there will always be a case of the lower class having to fight for the same opportunities that upper class peoples and nations get. The question lies though of us that have: do we really beleive that we are better without making someone else's life better, or is humanity at its best when we give a part of ourselves to help those that have no voice of their own.

Where is our response as a Body of believers, and how much more should we be doing to address both of these?

Labels: Jaiku, mission, OLPC, tech