Mobile Ministry Magazine

There have been a few items sitting starred in Google Reader that I've been meaning to post. Sharing some of those, and hopig to spark something that will get you and I to think a bit more as the week goes on the place of mobile and tech in faith.

• ESV and NJKV for MS One Note (Bible Studies nad Technological Tools)
• When Should Parents Purchase a Mobile for their Children (Just Another Mobile Phone Blog)
• Research and Note Taking Tools, and the follow-up article Bonus Items for Research and Note Taking (Bible Studies and Technological Tools)
• Mission Field Money Crisis (Chruch Relevance, Charlotte Observer)
• Blogging Ministries (Church Communications Pro)

Got any news that would be of value to the Mobile Ministry Magazine community? Use our Contact page to send it to us.

Labels: annotating, Bible, church, device, education, mission, reading, review, software

This is the meat of the MMM Mobile Experiment Report, and also where it makes the transition from being just a review of software and online services to one of looking beyond the offering to the ability that it lends. Here's an outline of what is covered in this, Part Two, of the MMM Mobile Experiment Report:

• Additional Setup Items
• Day to Day Use
• Immediate Challenges
• Accessibility versus Versatility

Given the length of this, section of the report, it will be an extra day before publishing the third and final section. This report will also be made available as a singular download (debating on the format of that now). Enjoy Part Two, and please do not hesitate to give any comments to this or Part One.

Part Two:

Having set up the Mobile Web Server application on my device, and creating the Mobile Web Server website, I had to set up some initial pages so that in coming to the site, Mobile Ministry Magazine readers would be greeting with more than just a blank page. There are two parts to setting things up for day to day use; one part is on the mobile device and the other is through a browser (that can be on the mobile device or not; but most might choose not to go that route and just use a separate computer).

Setup on the Mobile Device

On the mobile device, one navigates to the Web Server application and is presented with a series of screens. First, you are asked to insert your user name and password that was set up on the MWS website. There are a few easy to figure out section of the application that is always shown when it is opened from here: Users, Status Message, Statistics, Access Log, Folders, and Settings.

The Users section was probably the one that I spent the most time with initially. There is a default Guest account where one can set Guest access to the MWS; and then from contacts in one's address book, you can set specific users to have ability with a user name based on their name in your address book and a password that you have set for them. I quickly abandoned doing this for a lot of people and just settled on making sure that I had a user group for my family to special sections of the MWS site, and everyone else just got the Guest account.

Truth be told, I spent a lot of time looking at the Access Log. I wanted to see how many people were hitting the site, and it was kind of neat the first few days of the experiment. We averaged about 10 unique users per day and for the most part people did not have issues with logging in (user names are case-sensitive; found that out halfway through the project).

Setup through the Web Browser

There is a setup wizard that one has to access from a device that has a suitable web browser while the mobile web server (MWS) is running. On my end, I used my Nokia N800 Internet Tablet connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot at a local coffeehouse while the MWS was running on my N75.

Two parts of this allow you to set up things like the welcome screen, offline page and message, and get a badge that can be displayed on several websites. After this wizard, there is a control panel that keeps the latter items, and allows for presence updates on the status page. One can change the theme to several types; however they are nothing more than color and banner changes. Unless you want to dig in the mobile device and play, there is no way to create custom layouts or fiddle with the CSS for more customization.

From the web browser one is able to set all types of options and create content and points of contact.

• Home
• Blog
• Camera
• Gallery
• Guestbook
• Contact Me
• Presence
• Web Chat
• Calendar
• Messaging
• Phone Log
• Contacts

By default, guests only see the Home, Blog, Presence, and Contact Me sections. The Gallery has to be setup to either show (share) pictures that are shared from the phone's internal memory, memory card, or both. I found that the Guestbook was a bit of a redundant feature, but it could prove beneficial in some applications. The Web Chat section is interesting as when someone starts a web chat, there is notification on the mobile device of the chat and then an IM-like interface is given. From there chat happens just as it would in any other chat room. The Calendar, Phone Log, and Contacts are pulled right from the mobile device and gives a browser-accessible means to see and edit content. I liked this feature, but wished that there was more granularities so that some users could see "Busy" instead of the specific event. Presence tells the state of the mobile phone such as how long it has been idle, battery life, and a status message. And finally Messaging allows one to send an email or SMS message directly to you as well as see all the SMS and MMS messages that are stored on your mobile device (Inbox and those sent).

One neat feature that is present throughout is the fact that all contacts that appear in various applications such as Calendar and Messaging are linked to their contact card. This contact card shows the last call as well as links to the address book entry. Simple, but really neat.

From registration to setting up the welcome page and basic access rights it took about 30 minutes to get rolling. After that it was just a matter of running the MWS on my device and engaging with people as they visited MMM Mobile.

Day to Day Use

The Mobile Web Server is pretty much a set it and forget it type of application. I let it run most of the day, taking it down in the AM in order to use my mobile device as a modem for my Internet Tablet and desktop. During this time, I updated the status message to point visitors to the MMM Jaiku channel. In pointing people to the MMM Jaiku channel, it was my hope to engage the usual readers of MMM, and the new visitors of the breadth of content related to Mobile Ministry Magazine, as well as engage in some discussions across a social network in a slightly different function than what is normally done in blog-driven websites.

On the downside of the day to day use, the MWS was an inconvenience in terms of the other connectivity that I aspire to have on my mobile device. Usually, I run the Emoze email client and the Jaiku Mobile client. Because of the MWS, I was not able to run these and have a long functioning device. Either the MWS would take over the connections, or the applications would consume too much memory and cause one or all of them to shut down. During the experiment, I only suffered one total device crash, but this was an instance where the hardware specifications of my N75 (which has about 15MB of memory free for running programs at boot) was at the very bottom of what is needed to run the MWS.

Because of this limitation, I was not able to use programs such as widgets to keep me abreast of what was going on at the MWS without opening the application. That being said, it was quite nice to have the server running and not have to think about it unless I needed some kind of functionality that was a bit more than normal.

A small note: the Nokia N75 is a 3G phone, meaning that it has the ability to use a high speed data network called HSDPA. Because of the specifications of this network, the device is able to use applications that connect to the Internet at the same time as using voice functions. While running the MWS, there was no drop off in voice quality or phone functions except for occasional slowness for MMS message processing.

Immediate Challenges

While there were those hardware challenges, the large and more pertinent challenges to using the MWS was trying to keep the same kind of communicative presence that had been done at Mobile Ministry Magazine. Essentially, opportunities to post to the blog, upload pictures, and engage the reading community were all things that seemed a lot easier when connectivity was spread across devices instead of being centered on one device.

For example, whenever I needed to use the web browser on the N75, I had to shut down the MWS because the two applications were too large to run at the same time. This meant that I would have to create a status message saying that the server was down and point people to the MMM Jaiku channel; then initiate a discussion at the MMM Jaiku channel; and then I would be able to continue with using the web browser. Certainly, having a device with later hardware (more memory and processor speed) would have been great here.

Another issue that I found was that in order to publish to the blog, I needed some type of dual connection. Using the MWS made situations of traveling to WI-Fi hotspots a bit of an adventure as now instead of using them just as a rest place, I wanted to be strategic in making sure that I could create a conversation piece around the use of the technology. It was not until later in the experiment that I realized that there would be times that I would be able to use the web browser on the N75 in order to populate the blog. This stretched the mobile device, but creating a blog post where I was able to live blog a sermon and have my notes created on the N75 instantly appear online was quite exciting (mental note: taking a T9 typing class before doing this should be a prerequisite).

Accessibility versus Versatility

This challenge of balancing multiple devices, multiple input methods, and then just the plan fact that a web server can really go with you anytime makes one feel more accessible than ever. The granular level of being able to assign contacts or groups of contacts to various parts of one's mobile device presents a solution that is present already in some enterprise applications such as SharePoint and even commercial ones like Movable Type. But those are PC-focused solutions. Nothing wrong with that, but as mobile devices become more versatile, one should not just assume, but see that a lot more of what we do can be driven from a mobile platform.

The Mobile Web Server is an answer to a question that is not yet asked so loudly yet though. Its not so much an issue of how does one stay accessible, as many connected devices open to you; but it allows you to determine how you want people to connect to you based on the social network that you have built - your phone book. This is more powerful and empowering when combined with a communications strategy and a personality that invites people to want to connect to you. That being said, its not accessibility that is the focus of using the MWS, its versatility. Versatility meaning that you are empowered to take your social network with you, and how they connect to you is determined by you, not by the service that you subscribe to.

This is if you where using the software and service makes a change from being just a piece of software or just another online service. It would be easy to just put the MWS into one of those categories and then judge it based on its benchmarks; but there is nothing to just it against. Nokia's Mobile Web Server is a canvas that if given the network and the hardware (and economies) becomes a canvas that enable the kind of personal computing that was dreamed about in the 1950s when the foundations of the Internet began, and now realized with the fast and (nearly) open wireless networks that most of the world has access to.

Flash Sideshow of MWS Screens, via Share on Ovi

Labels: accessiblity, browser, community, device, internet tablet, Jaiku, mobile, Mobile Web Server, mobiles, mobility, N75, Nokia, review, SMS, software, tech, usablity

The MMM Mobile Experiment was one part a technological look at what is possible with mobile devices today, and a look at what is possible/can be done now with mobiles as part of a social strategy for inreach and outreach initiatives.

Just a review of what Part One of this report will contain:

• Reasons and Goals of Experiment
• Explanation of Nokia's Mobile Web Server and my Device
• Social Networking Component

As stated in our previous post, the experiment is looking at the technology as something doable now. But also why software and usage has relevance in this highly connected world. Part One of the MMM Mobile Experiment Report gives an overview of the technology used in this experiment and how it was set up for use.

Part One:

For eight days in April 2008, Mobile Ministry Magazine's Antoine RJ Wright conducted an experiment where the Mobile Ministry Magazine website was hosted completely on a mobile device using Nokia's Mobile Web Server. The goal of this experiment was to test the viability of such a mobile platform as a solution for running a community website, to investigate the capabilities of mid-range mobile phones and smartphones as a communications hub, and to investigate possible uses for such technology in various social and economic environments.

Backing up this software, Mobile Ministry Magazine used the Jaiku social networking service as an offline community component. The reason for this is that limitations in the phone hardware would mean that the mobile web server (MWS) would be offline, yet there needed to be some means for consistent with the MMM reading community. This channel of the Jaiku network contains aggregated RSS feeds of several websites that speak towards life and technology in Christian circles.

With these two aspects set, the MWS server was activated, and MMM Mobile began to live. In this section of the report, we will talk in detail about the technical and physical look of this MWS, and then how these worked in real-life.

Nokia's Mobile Web Server

Nokia released software based on the Python programming language called the Mobile Web Server (MWS). Expanding the methodology of their N-Series mobile devices being the "next stage of computers," the MWS is a project to demonstrate the ability of mobile phones today, and to explore the use of a server, or data and application hosting platform, on a connected and mobile device.

Setting up the MWS requires the registration of a user name at the MWS website (http://mymoobilesite.net). This user name will become the address of the website (username.mmymobilesite.net). After setting up the user name, you then set up information such as a profile, offline page, and then download the software.

The MWS software is compatible only with Symbian S60 mobile devices. While there are a few devices by Samsung and Motorola, only Nokia devices with Symbian S60 have been tested to work with MWS. Unfortunately, not all Nokia S60 devices will work, and many will have limitations based on their hardware. This limitation will show up later as a reason where a solution for its use is limited technologically and economically.

My device is the Nokia N75. This S60 smartphone is one of three 3G devices that Nokia currently has made available in the US. This device was featured on the Cingular/AT&T wireless carrier a little over a year ago and for most purposes is about at the end of its marketing life. This doesn't mean that it is incapable, only that better is here and coming. I purchased this device in December of 2007 in order to better learn about the S60 operating system and have something that would have ample value to my usage as a person who enjoys and lives on the web and mobile devices/applications.

The Social Networking Component

As a nearly-30 adult, much of my online time is spent on email and within social networks. While I do not have a presence on MySpace or Facebook, I do have one with Jaiku. A recent Google acquisition, Jaiku found favor with me because of its mobile client application, the ability to consolidate RSS feeds into one singular area, and a community of people from multiple background, faiths, and locations. In terms of social network services, Jaiku belongs to a subsection called lifestreaming applications. Lifestreaming meaning one can have several streams of their life appear in this service. From microblogging to sharing photos on services such as Flickr, to community channels, Jaiku is one part a community and another part a gate where you can allow people to come in and out of your life.

For Mobile Ministry Magazine, Jaiku is used as an RSS feed aggregator and community window. Through discussion and the RSS feeds, our community focus is seen and shared. Because of this ability to be a window made it a suitable back-chatter component for this experiment.

In Part Two, we cover the day to day use of the Mobile Web Server, some initial and lasting challenges, and the difference between accessibility and versatility as I began to dig into using MMM Mobile.

Labels: community, device, mission, mobile, Mobile Web Server, mobility, N75, Nokia, review, software

I am one part a member of Nokia's Blogger Relations team, and have recently been invited to be an S60 Ambassador. Essentially, I speak about Nokia's products to people when I see that there's a need for them. In some cases, I'll get devices or services to try out and then report those findings back to Nokia. For them, it's an effort to see how people are using their devices and services. For me, it's a chance to see how mobile technology can enrich and empower lives.

The better part is that there are relationships that happen. Being able to live in Christ around them makes having opportunities like these presented by Nokia and other companies kinda neat. Here are a few of the recent reports that I filed to Nokia's S60 Ambassador's program. For those of you looking at ways to see how mobile tech fits, this is how I go about learning and applying.

Episode 1: The Young Mother

I went to visit a friend of mine on the other side of Charlotte as she has a 1yr old kid who has provided for several great photo opportunities. She and I talked about her e-learning class that she is taking and some directions that she could go with content for her blog. I recommended the idea of the phone as the literal center of the Internet for the school by using the Mobile Web Server.

First, I had to explain to her what the Mobile Web Server is and what kind of functionality that it opens up. Then, I told her that I could show her what it would look like. So I pulled out my N75 and turned on the Mobile Web Server. We navigated through each of the pages on her laptop that was in front of us, and I showed her how such a setup would make for a different take on distance learning ventures.

She was amazed that my phone could do that and asked why it was that her 3555 was not able to do the same things even though it was a Nokia phone as well. I explained to her that while they were from the same company, that they used different operating systems. One of the applications that she'd become a bit intrigued about is Jaiku; especially its ability to link with the address book for presence notification. That was something that she wanted for her phone. I led her to Yahoo, and there she learned about Yahoo's oneConnect service. Unfortunately, she does not have a mobile [data] plan, and does not see getting one; so downloading that was out of the question.

he problem that she posed to me was how to get more out of a phone like mine without being online. Considering that I do so much online via my N75, that really left me without many words. Other than the Bible, voice, and SMS, the rest really is the Internet. Making my phone compelling towards those who don't need that functionality will have to become another search of mine.

Episode 2: The Church Admin

Monday night is usually bible study at It's a Grind Coffeehouse and that is where I was again this Monday. Having had a successful demonstration of the Mobile Web Server running on my N75 earlier Monday, I decided to pique the interest of one of the administrative workers of my church and get her idea on such a solution.

First, I gave her a small demonstration of the software on my device, and then used my N800 Internet Tablet to show what the site actually works like in a web browser. At that she was impressed, but I could see not convinced at its usefulness. I then changed modes to talking about how there is always some information that one wants to keep personal, but other things, like pictures and availability that would come in handy for some people to know.

I then set my Gallery to show the pictures from my memory card and showed her how that page could be set with permissions. I then showed the Contact, Presence, and Calendar screens and showed that these can be controlled with a simple group that is created on the phone.

She looked at the phone and said "that's interesting. Your phone is a powerful little thing." Powerful indeed, but as a device that connects, its hard to beat.

Related Items:

• Nokia's S60 Ambassador Program
• Nokia's Mobile Web Server
• N75 Live-in Review Update
• MMM's N95 (via Nokia Blogger Relations) Review
• Yahoo's oneConnect service

Labels: Bible, church, community, device, family, Jaiku, mission, mobile, mobile accessories, Mobile Web Server, mobility, N75, Nokia, phone, software, tech, urban, usablity, Yahoo

Last night, I downloaded Nokia's Mobile Web Server onto my N75 and have to say that its am impressive piece of work. Besides being a web server, aka I can run a website off my phone, I can also use it to extend things like my calendar and contacts to friends and family and essentially have a website for direct communication.

That, of course, got me thinking about Mobile Ministry Magazine (MMM) and a route that could be taken with it. Essentially, I was thinking of taking a week to host the site on my phone, and then use the MMM Jaiku channel to supplement things when I need to take it offline (ya know , to turn off the phone or use it for something else).

But before I go off the deep end and really make MMM mobile, I wanted to ask you all of your thoughts. Here is the poll, please place your responses in the comments.

• MMM should stay as it is and the mobile MMM just be an aside
• MMM should go mobile as described above
• Something else entirely (please describe)

Please understand, I am totally mobile and so doing this for a short time is mostly a test of the technology and my abilities to be productive with it. My phone will certainly have a fit with it, but this is part of the reason I get the devices I do, I like to push.

Thanks in advance, and I hope your week can start off with some innovative ways at addressing life and tech.

Labels: browser, community, device, Jaiku, mobility, N75, Nokia, phone, software, tech

Image from Wikipedia

For many of you, its not an issue of "if" to extend your offices, by using web and mobile technology, its a matter of "how."

To answer the "how" we are going to look at a few areas: engaging people to use the tools and selecting what works best with your budget.

Engaging the Team

A major hurdle to using anything new is getting people sold on the idea that it would work best for them. Unfortunately, we are creatures of habit. Doing something different, especially when it comes to utilizing mobile devices, services, or applications can be a bear.

One thing you want to have in place before you roll out a solution is some type of easy to access help system. This should be in two layers (simple): knowledge base and people (in that order). The first questions people ask are the "how do I do this" ones, so making sure that this is populated, and constantly maintained, is of great importance. This resources should be emphasized during any training, and a part of a weekly routine of checking on the progress of implementing a solution.

What this looks like to the minister's on-the-go-office could be a wiki that is saved on the mobile device with common topics. It could be a contact entry that is constantly synced with a note detailing how to do immediate problem solving.

The people resource should be the second and final one. This is where one asks for assistance in doing a feature, or needs a refresher in what was taught originally. Everyone needs a point of contact, and assuring them that there is a person that can be contacted makes it easier for people to accept that there's a change in the workflow in the mist.

Actually getting the team to use those new tools might be less difficult if it could be implemented into the normal routine. For example, in one SharePoint installation I was a part of, instead of making the entire enterprise use it all at once, we made the departments use it only for announcements. We left it open for individuals to play with, but made them know that the only way to know about what was going on was to visit the SharePoint website. Over time, we rolled out more and more SharePoint-only features, backed up with training key users on more features so they would talk about it, getting others involved into using it on a more consistent basis. Basically speaking, giving it to them in small bits is better than force-feeding.

Budget Concerns

One of the questions that is always asked when talking about extending one's office using mobile tech is the cost. Cost doesn't just include the money, its also inclusive of the time, the administration, and any thing else that is not actively using the tech. Balancing cost versus use is hard, but here are some things to think about when evaluating cost:

• Are those providing support or those building the system a volunteer who may leave at any given time?
• Does using a mobile device require additional learning outside of just using office tools, such as user interface and system maintenance issues?
• What is the backup plan? Will implementing a backup plan cost as much as implementing the primary plan? Can using the backup be easier for users than using the primary?
• What are the cost savings/expenses of an entire ministry team being online? Are subsidies or grants available to offset the costs of running/not running a physical office?
• In extending the office, what are the costs to family, friends, and ministry endeavors? Can appropriate boundaries be kept?

Addressing Smaller Offices

Some of you reading this might see these as all well and good, but you are part of a 5-man or smaller team. Things just aren't that deep (in scope or budget). So what can you do?

Take advantage of web suites like Google Apps or Zoho Office. While providing a centralized interface for work, it will also keep things manageable in one area. Using smartphones, Internet Tablets, and UMPC devices are a good means to take light work on the go. Remember though that more devices are more things to manage. Choose the device carefully, basing the costs and engagement on what you already do and what you need to do better.

Labels: browser, community, device, email, family, Google, mission, mobile accessories, mobility, networking, SharePoint, stewardship, study, tech

I remember back in 2002 when i received my first mobile device. A Palm Vx. Though I think it was a couple of years old, to me it was a world class device! Black and white screen (STILL can't beat those for battery life or visibility in the sun), 8MB of memory and a 20MHz processor. It's crazy because I still have the device complete with 56k modem sled, docking foldaway keyboard with case, and a hard case. Still works though the digitizer drifts a little more these days. I've turned it into an alarm clock/multi-device remote control when i ever do use it. Most of the time it just collects dust unless one of my newer fancier devices stops working. I was looking at the Vx docking station sitting here on my desk and wondering... who else out there still has their original mobile device? What was it? What do you use it for now?

Labels: device, first, original, Vx