Mobile Ministry Magazine

Another great look at mobile use in Africa, this time from the side of mobile enabling social change. Here's a snippet:

Technology in itself does not lead to social change. For change to take place technology needs to be appropriate and rooted in local knowledge. People decide why and how a particular technology will be used and, depending on the political and socio-economic environment in which they live, adapt it accordingly. As we shall see from the case studies in this book, there are considerable local innovations and non-instrumental uses of the phone – using phones in ways not intended, that step outside their technological aspects and which attempt to bypass traditional power structures. Firoze Manji describes this process as ordinary people taking control of their destiny rather than technology driving the change: 'Social change is actually driven not by technologies but by ordinary people being able to exert an authority over their own experience and, through common actions, developing the courage to determine their own destiny.'

Read the rest of the excerpted chapter of SMS Uprising: Mobile Activism in Africa and order the entire book from Pambazuka Press.

Labels: Africa, mobile activism, mobility, SMS, social change, social networking

This is worth the time it would take to read. Not just because of the perspective - and how much it will snap reality into the Western-side of the Body, but in the explanation of Technology, Rising Middle Class, and the Future of Evangelism in Africa in Africa, we can see even more why the mobile lens is so important to understand for its abilities and it implications. Here's a snippet:

...Utilize Africa’s New PC to Preach the Gospel...Rather African Christians had better utilize their "New Mobile Phone PCs" to effectively evangelize and mobilize for the Gospel. I recall a New Testament Teaching Seminar I helped organize in Uganda, Africa about three years ago; much of the mobilization was through Text Messages to the many Phone numbers given to us. Interestingly, we did not need to put up radio advertisements and posters, rather we wrote a few letters inviting Pastors and relied on SMS Text messages to the many individuals who then passed over that information to others...

Read the rest of Technology, Rising Middle Class, and the Future of Evangelism in Africa at Yesu Mulungi.

Labels: Africa, education, evangelism, mobility, tech

Given the energy around the recent post about moving MMM to Google Wave, I thought it good to link to a post at my personal site which gives a bit of the history behind me (Antoine) and the technology that's penned a good deal of my life. Key thing to keep in mind, this is just my story, the Body has to enable folks to see this and tell their story and the story of the Gospel within whatever lens is appropriate. How MMM does this is something to be further opened as we get closer to BibleTech.

Labels: computer, mobility, tech

In the last post we talked about being engaged or enslaved to tech, here's an example of taking control of your tech, using it wisely, and being quite productive with it:

...When you look at it from this perspective, it’s pretty easy to understand how always-connected handsets that provide a full-web experience are struggling to take off in emerging markets, and why Opera Mini has 46.3 Million users worldwide. Honestly, what good is a full-web experience when I can only open 10 full websites a month without going over my monthly allowance, and when I have to stare at my screen for 15 minutes before one page completely loads on my snail-speed connection?...

I can't say enough about what Rita has done except to say that even here in the USA, we need to look harder at the solutions and opportunities we propose, and really meet where its appropriate use given the conditions, instead of reaching for something that isn't a good - nor wallet-filling - experience. Read the rest of Rita's post at Symbian Guru and let us know some ways you've taken the bite out of the costs of your mobile use, while staying or increasing in productivity/ministry.

Labels: mobiles, mobility, stewardship, tech

Apologies for the post out of sync with the usual posting schedule, but after reading the Washington Posts' views on the Pope's message, I figured that a response from MMM would be most appropriate.

To those who have been following Mobile Ministry Magazine, you know that we've always advocated the use of technology (mobile and web computing) when it intersects with the daily interactions that we have with life around us. Whether that daily interaction is person-to-person, person(s)-to-community, or personal devotions, there's a response to the intersection of faith and technology that's demanded as part of the context of the times that we live in. There doesn't need to be an official statement from anyone on it - this is the DNA of walking in this Christian faith.

That being said, the challenge is to walk not in the ways of others when it comes to the use of this technology. We are defined by our intense love for God and one another - therefore we model our use of this technology after that, not in light of what others are doing.

Personally, I think that its great that others in the Body are coming around to understanding mobile and web technology. However, to just understand it now, and then dive in without understanding of its implications is foolhardy. There's nothing worse than when the Body of Christ puts on something and it looks like a bad copy of what someone else has already done. And then cannot account for the consequences of that display or presentation. We've got to model not just contextual use, but continual maturity.

I'd like to believe that pastors/layleaders have the shared spiritual and technical understanding to use this tech - but history present and past dictates that not being the case. Those are who enabled in the Body to teach spiritual truths need to come up beside those who are technically able to use the tools of this age and together build on our faith. Sorry, we can't wait for a generation of pastors to come forth who have this shared knowledge - it will be too late.

The voice of Christ will remain constant and truthful in every generation that earnestly seeks Him and His Kingdom. On this site, we've espoused this in our asking of you to take a look at your lives at the intersections of faith and mobile technology. We've already responded to the call and demonstrated the ability He's endowed us with. The next steps are to enable others to preach, teach, and live this Gospel. Anything short of that is just a bad attempt at secular marketing.

Note:
This post is based on the message recently shared by Pope Benedict XVI at the 44th World Communications Day event and the resulting article at the Washington Post (via Smart Mobs).

Labels: devotion, discipliship, faith, innovation, mobility, tech, Web

If you are in or near mobile, then chances are you are around a lot of voices. All of these voices vie for your attention - whether its a call, text message, music and multimedia, and even the vibration of something happening towards the former three items. Its because of this personal and very immediate stimuli that mobile has been a disruptive technology for so many people. Its introduction to life has literally changed every culture that it had touched.

Though mobile changes a lot of facets of life; there will be some areas where the technology enables the change that was already simmering, and others where people will find innovative uses of tech that more or less works along with the technology.

What I like though is the understanding that tech isn't the answer. It requires a response, and that response will change our lives. If you will, the tech points the very need that individual and communities would have. I like how this article puts it:

...The mistake both the utopians and neo-Luddites make is by giving too much credence to the idea that technology can fundamentally change human nature. For every article about how Twitter will save the world, a cyber-fatalist will argue that smartphones have turned us all into zombies. Both are wrong. It is not technology per se that has the power to change the world (for good or bad), but rather the innovation and creativity of the people enabling and using it.

Of course, technology isn't the answer - its just a tool, and one that ends up being more or less another manner of bringing the reality of our human-ness (or brokenness) closer to one another. We have to be adept with these tools, but really understand that for that it is, its just another part in that story of how technology has threaded our lives.

Hence why I like mobile (as a tool, media, and movement). It causes us to think about the personal application of technology, and how life ensues afterward.

Hence, why I really like what could happen in the Body. It doesn't take much to see that mobile has and will continue to not just foster new communication activities. It will also add a bit of spice towards how the Body adapts to and molds culture around it. I see mobile merely pointing a way to innovation - so that the voice of the Christ remains not just something people are going to hear, but be able to hear to the point of wanting to do life on different - God's - terms. How the Body uses mobile to tell and share its story will show this voice of innovation, and life around the Body will then be threaded in His effectual graces.

Labels: innovation, mobility, tech

Via IntoMobile

Here are my five (as posted on Twitter a few days ago). Items are posted with a link to the associated tweet so that you could either respond here or there.

1. Mobile will be the primary avenue for telling the church's story over the next 10yrs (tweet)
2. Mobile increases the church's need to have cross-functional knowledge of culture and context (tweet)
3. Censorship and copyright will drive mobile sharing of religious texts to innovative solutions (tweet)
4. Mobile will be vilified by a significant generation of traditionally-minded church and lay leaders (tweet)
5. Education + genuine faith + mobile = education and community redefined (L. Amer India, & Africa)(tweet)

Ok folks, given the several trends spoken, as well as the MMM-5, do you have any thoughts on these - especially in terms of what you are seeing in the places you are in. Remember, one of the characteristics of mobile is that its personal and hyper-local. Where is this media going, and how do we steer it within the context of it intersection with faith? Because what we experience as tech in the Body, will not be the same experience of those considered youth now.

*The hashtag in the title is deliberate as I'd like to see this link automatically when this posts to Twitter.

Labels: innovation, mobility, statistics, tech

Let's start off this year on the right foot with a simple question (reposted from MMM's Twitter actually)

How does mobile change the behavior of living out the message in between the Sundays?

Since Time Online is calling 2010 the year of the mobile - maybe I was two years early in my prediction - this would be an apt question with which to frame our thoughts behind mobile/web use and how our faith is shaped with/by it.

Labels: communication, community, faith, mobility

Am writimg this on the Nokia N900 with MaStory (formerly WordPy) and in many ways this device represents a point that some have realized, mobile computing is here to stay. Sure, everyone won't do everything from their mobile, but the capabilities are there to do more than most had imagined. And along with some mobile interations which are specific to this media, life changes.

Thing is, mobile is a personal movement too. It changes according to the user's context and at the same time submits to it. After a good bit of reading and reflecting, it seems the Body is changing likewise. Changing to fit the contexts of tech, new minorities/majorities, and a call to be organic and orthodox-like ridgid. Kind of fun of fun if you ask me.

For this site it means we too will change and adapt. But starting things on a mobile happens to be good enough for now. From here, its all about people and engaging them in their context while giving them Christ's context. For how we do mobile, this is the way forward.

Labels: mobility

There's a lot of data consumed between the pages/posts of MMM. Much of this data is read, questioned, and then makes its way here as posts or tweets. Some of it takes longer than others. Here are some links to some pieces of research and reading that has contributed to MMM content this year:

• Mobile as 7th of the Mass Media (Tomi Ahonen)
• Mobile Almanac 2009 (Tomi Ahonen)
• Open Mobile (Ajit Jaokar, Anna Gatti)
• Don't Make Me Think (Steve Krug)
• Launching into Cyberspace: Internet Development and Politics in Five World Regions (Marcus Franda)
• Plugged In: The Generation Y Guide to Thriving at Work (Tamara Erickson)
• The Blogging Church (Brian Bailey)
• Smart Mobs (Howard Rheingold)

If you have any research or reading material that you'd think would be great content to contribute to the growing body of knowledge of those things mobile, web, culture, etc., feel free to drop a line - I only ask that it would be electronically available on more than one mobile platform ;)

Labels: mobility, research, resources

One of the hardest points that I hear and am asked in conversastions (whether personal or MMM-related) is this idea of what's relevant technology. Now, this question is usually coming from those who are either from an older generation, or from a time/area where there is a such thing as a primary news/information source. This endears the ubquious nature of mobile and web communications to be slightly misunderstood. And that's ok. There are two sides to that perception, and part of that is why MMM exists - the intersection of faith and mobile (and web) technology looks differently to everyone.

But what does that intersection look like and how can we respond? One report talks about the issues relating to digital dependency, and where those aspects of dependency take place:

Seventy percent of respondents across 11 markets say they either could not live without the internet or would miss it a great deal if it wasn't there, while 69% said the same for TV.

Whose digital love affair is the greatest? Ninety-two percent of Brits, 91% of Spaniards, 90% of Australians and 89% of both Dutch and American respondents rate the internet as completely necessary to their lives.

Is dependency an issue? Yes and no. You have to realize that information's relevancy is different depending on what and whom you are talking to. Age, economies, accessiblity, etc. all matters differently. You have to acknowledge the doors that matter to your target group, and then allow them to respond back in kind.

Just because what you have is relevant though doesn't matter that people will want it in the manner you prefer. TechCrunch highlighted this in their recent piece about real-time communitation and how that's changing news reporting, whether TV, radio, and newspapers like it or not. Yes, we want the news from verifiable sources, but we also want the news when its news, not as leftovers after the fact.

Bringing this back to the Body, what we can do to maximize our use of mobile and web technology? Simple, don't get stuck in the mindset that one-way always works (aka, there is no silver bullet). Be willing to experiment with alternate communication methods, and don't be afraid to speak to people, getting from them feedback towards what would work best for them. Nothing is worse than a church passing out paper announcements every Sunday to realize that people aren't reading them - but would have no problem reading them if they came to their email or mobile. Simple things like this need to not just be considered, but utilized.

A last note about relevancy and mobile/web: I'm very well acquainted about the fears people have about being too connected (this story illustrates probably the scariest reality for many); but the truth is that this will continue. People will connect and share - not even realizing personal, communial, or national issues involved. People want to continue the intimacy of humanity with one another. And despite those fears, this tech is moving on. Relevancy at the intersection means that we don't jump in the way, but we provide the signs towards wisdom and understanding so that others follow right-standing, not just shiny-tweeting.

Labels: community, mobility, tech, Web

In the past months, I've been asked so many questions about mobile that I've simply wished and prayed for the time and resources to craft something like what Morgan Stanley has published in their release of The Mobile Internet Report.

This is an extremely long document - one, at the time of writing, I've not read and is still downloading to my mobile. However, to all of those persons who've asked questions about what mobile is and why should they care - especially use in the good ole USA - this is the report to read - or at least browse through.

If you are a technology, thought, or opinion leader in your ministry/organization, you need to read this report and the supporting materials. From simply a data/analytics point of view, there's not much else available for free like this.

As for me, I'm off to go read. I've got data to get updated and data models to better understand.

Labels: analytics, mobility, research, resources

For those looking for a great source of information pertaining to mobile evangelism tools, trends, and websites, be sure to checkout the Mobile Evangelism Wiki.

Suffice to say, there's a lot of information there, and a lot of information that's not yet there. If you have contributions, be sure to get in Dave and Ed to be sure that you can get in there and contribute to this very solid resource.

Labels: evangelism, mobiles, mobility, resources, wiki

I ran across this site while looking at something over at Wap Review the other week and after going through the site, have to say that its a solid resource for those of you looking for mobile web-oriented resources.

Coders.mobi is a collection of posts which speak primarly from the angle of developing mobile wesbites that follow the (dot)mobi standard. (dot)mobi is the - more or less - W3C standard for creating websites based around mobile content. And while there are some standards and best practices, much of this information is either hard to figure out, or harder to come by. Coders.mobi looks to put this information within one area and using a blog-based format so that items are easy to reference and search as needed.

So check out Coders.mobi, and be sure to interact with the author there for content that you are looking for - mobile video practices, mobile site development tools, analytics, etc. I'll pull in items from there here from time to time as much of that information will be very helpful to those who read and use MMM as a resource.

Labels: developer, development, mobility, website

Last week, Tomi Ahonen published a pretty extensive post detailing the regional breakdown of mobile across industralized and developing nations. Lots of number, long post, but best quoted piece is:

...By every measure, mobile is the giant, the only giant, and the other technologies are the lilliputs. If you intend to communicate with prospective customers in the Developing World today, then you cannot think of mobile as the 'fourth screen' and consider possibly including it in your communication mix, as we still can think in the Industrialized World, as a luxury today. No, in the Developing World mobile is the first screen - and obviously, for as many as 1.8 billion people - one quarter of the planet - it is the ONLY screen. These 1.8 billion people do not have a PC, not a TV, not even FM radio, but they have a live, active mobile phone account. Out of all 3 billion people in the Developing World who have some kind of connection, a massive 60% have no other way to connect, than their mobile phone...

Yep, just like everything else in the Body, you have to have the same perspective of the people that you are speaking to in order to have a ministry that walks in step with their heart's condition (1 Cor. 12-14).

So read the post, then just make sure that you are walking in the regional and cultural understanding of these mobile-booming times.

Labels: mobile, mobility, statistics

One of the pitfalls that I run into when thinking/doing mobile happens to be one of the more notable items illustrated here: there are approx 4 billion registered mobile devices (3.5-3.75 billion mobile users) but only 1-1.2 billion of them access the web on their mobile (how big is mobile). See what I see? 25-33% of mobile users are online, how does one develop a ministry with mobile when its more than just the web that's needed?

Now, its been noted (by Google's Eric Schmitt) that mobile can be a magic wand - of sorts. If you will, its not necessarly the fact that the mobile is connected, but because of its various sensors and the analytics kept with them, a mobile device could unlock interactions where there was none before. This is what I wish to get to get you - the mobile thinking minister or org - to ponder, plan, and do.

Imagine a church with this stance. The doorpost into the church was a digital bulletin board where people posted dates of their salvation, healings, disciples, etc. Bibles in the pew were just as often read as they were photographed and then messaged to those who couldn't be at the sanctuary (mobile camera with OCR, send as SMS, MMS, or email). Sermons and studies were recorded, transcribed on the spot (speech to text on the mobile), and then posted (online) and messaged (SMS, email, IM) for other communities to interact. And instead of tracks/pamphlets/leaflets, people received cards with pictures or barcodes on them to which they could not just read The Gospel, but are encouraged to share the card with someone else so that they could interact with the Gospel - read, SMS for prayer, map to local church(es), etc. - and be called to the action of sharing that card with someone else.

Its these kinds of interactions that mobile allows us as a Body to work with. The key is to not get stuck on the web. Yes, there's a signifiant portion of mobile that means "web." But, we can't get stuck there if we are going to be applicable to those persons who's concept of web is the spider they greet every morning.

Take a good look at this video of a CSI spot where they talked about using a QR Code to crack a case. Note how many interactions, both web-based and not, that were facilitated - with the mobile as simply a wand. Then, try something similar in your ministry/org and let us know how it fares :)

Labels: innovation, Internet, mobility, Web

Some good news out there for those of you who use RIM BlackBerry devices and have looked somewhat longingly at the Celio Redfly. In the past weeks, the versatile Celio Redfly smartphone companion devices have added BlackBerry devices to its list of compatible smartphones. So this means that for those of you who do your work on a BlackBerry, and don't want the hassle of finding wireless keyboard drivers or carrying a netbook, that you have a solid solution.

A few reviews have already been published about the Redfly+BlackBerry package, here's a snippet from the review from Brighthand:

...BlackBerrys don't have an on-screen cursor in exactly the way a PC does, so Celio had to adapt. The Redfly's trackpad-- and mouse if you plug one in -- acts like a 5-way D-pad. This can move the selection point up, down, left and right, but not diagonally. Hitting the left mouse button is the same as pressing in on the track-ball on the BlackBerry. The Redfly has a set of Up, Right, Left, Down buttons, and I often find these easier than the mouse or trackpad...

We've talked about the Redfly+Smartphone combination here a few times. This is really a good solution for those of you who'd have little to no problem working from your smartphone for long spells, but could use the larger screen and closer-to-full-sized keyboard. Add to that you get 8hrs of use out of the combination, and you really do end up with a very robust mobile solution.

There are a number of churches/orgainzations which may have looked at BlackBerries and Windows Mobile devices as enterprise-like solutions for communication and productivity. This Redfly+smartphone works really well. And, instead of configuring laptops, then having to track those (more expenses), you get something a lot less expensive in the Redfly, and something that requires a lot less maintenance for you (the IT department) and the user.

For more info, to download drivers for your device, or to see the different Redfly models available, check out the Celio website.

If you are using the Redfly, we'd love to hear how you are getting along with it and some of the positives and challenges. Leave your note in the comments below.

Labels: BlackBerry, ceilo redfly, mobility, Windows Moible

A few weeks ago, I had a call with a new friend about how they can utilize mobile better in their ministry approach. After listeninng to what it was that they wanted to do, I recommended a few options to them.

While I won't share directly what I shared with them, I will state a few of the points and perspectives that drove my answers. These should help you scope out a mobile strategy that works best for you/your organization. Anything more specific, I'd have to refer you to Inner-Linked ;)

(#1) While mobile is one of the largest ares within media (4 billion overall users, 1.2billion of which do mobile web), its regionally and personally more specific than many other media streams. Have a different approach for ages, regions, and even cultures - when able.

(#2) Take advantage of mixed-media approaches to meet your mobile audience. For example, MMM uses RSS, RSS w/SMS, QR Codes, and a mobile-friendly website to be accessible. There's no silver bullet, you'll have to scatter-shot a bit and then drive into those pieces that work best.

(#3) Doing specific sites for each language variation that will come to your mobile site isn't stragetic, concentrate on the core languages and develop partnerships to develop the rest.

(#4) Lastly, be interactive. Just because you can view video/listen to audio/browse the web, doesn't mean you stop at that. Engage the viewer to take action (getting involved, text/tweet feedback, etc.). Think of going mobile as being a handshake, and you are simply using that window to make a first impression, and start a dialogue with someone.

Labels: mobility

As if I were not excited enough about mobile. In a recent conversation at VSN was shared the link to a presentation titled Using Mobile Technologies for Outreach and Education. This is a great topic, and something that I am personally putting into action within various places and events in my life. Check out the resources here. Also check out the site Golden Swamp that has a ton more resources on handschooling and other mobile-education topics.

Labels: education, mobility

I wish that I could have written this a bit earlier, but my friend Tomi Ahonen posted some really neat stats about mobile devices the other day. Here's a quick summary:

• More than 3 billion people in the world use SMS;
• The total revenues for SMS has passed 100 billion dollars, which is more than the combined total of the global music, global video gaming, and global movie industries!
• 31% of mobile phone users use the mobile web (over 4 billion registered mobile phone users globally);
• A little over 1 billion PC internet users versus 1.2 billion mobile internet users

Personally speaking, these numbers are amazing. And just point to the sheer impact that mobile devices have been over the last 10+ years.

That's not to say that the PC will go away, but mobile means a lot more to more people than PC does. And we are just getting started.

Labels: global, Internet, mobility, SMS

MMM was recently asked about the availability of the Bible widget we spoke about some time back. Unfortunately, this was merely an idea, not a real-deal application.

That being said, this is a really good idea, and something that I think most folks should be able to use easily. Considering also that many mobile widget platforms are simply HTML/CSS/JS components, this could potentially be developed very quickly. The sticky is making it compatible with the various APIs of every bible reader out there. That part would be hard, but could ultmately be most valuable.

How valuable? As a developer or publisher think of it like this: the API allows a person to taste your offerings for free. But to dive deeper, if you will, to gain that deeper integration, you can use that widget as a window to your other, deeper offerings. While many might not bite on that, those that do will be lasting customers. Something to think about. So, to those looking for ways to penetrate the mobile market, here's another door. Keep it open source and you gain something even more for short and long-term efforts.

Labels: Bible, mobility, widget

I ranted this topic/subject on my personal blog, but really it can be summed up in saying that innovation within mobile has nothing to do with applications or devices, it has everything to do with empowerment, education, and enablement.

When the Body is ready to step into mobile - shoot, technology period - in that fashion, then we change things.

Labels: innovation, mobility, tech

Setting up and executing an effective mobile strategy is something that comes up a lot when at conferences or during engagements with various (and prospective) clients. The easy thing to say about that is that you have to have a mobile strategy (speaking solely in terms of faith-based endeavors). Its not an issue of if you will need it, but that you do and need to go about it with much clearer planning an your internet strategy.

Now, without giving away too much of what allows Inner-Linked to survive ;) I will let you in on a few things that you should be mindful of when thinking about "going mobile" on an organizational level.

• First, understand that mobile is just a window into interaction, not the only door, and should definitely not be the last door. Its a handshake, treat it as such.
• SMS is more effective than a website; so don't get caught up in mobile web and applications, yet
• Do take advantage of mobile learning via apps and websites already created for mobile use (for example, YouVersion Live)
• Finally, just try something; mobile is still too new to say that everything won't work. So try something, learn from it, and move to the next door/handshake.

Much like the Mayo Clinic is finding out, you need to have and think hard about a strategy before moving forward. But you have to move, its part of the commission (Matthew 28:18-20) and its the present and future.

Labels: Inner-Linked, innovation, mobile, mobility

You ever have one of those moments when you have a presentation, but moments before you go up, you realize that one of the analogies that you wanted to use to frame your presentation was way off?

That happened to me while in LA for the VSN Summit. And it was probably the best thing that could have happened - as I've been able to reflect on things. You see, even though I had this nice slide deck ready to go. I really was a stranger in the mist of this group of media vetrans and innovators. That is, until I started introducing myself to them.

When it came time for me to speak (#3 of the first day), I had the exact metaphor that worked not only for the presentation topic, but for exactly the impression that I think people should be getting from a mobile-enabled lifestyle: a handshake.

One of the things about a handshake is that it is almost like getting a second chance for a first impression. Someone might look a particular way, but once you've been introduced and the handshake happens, your perceptions adapt and change. That's a good thing, physical and personal interactions should cause us to change our perceptions of people and the world around us. Its my hope that one of the uses of mobiles within the Body would follow along a similar action-set. That the introduction of mobile enabled services and applications would extend another chance for someone to get to know us just as much as we want to introduce them to our faith.

And to be honest, I think its something that could work - just given the response from those at the summit. You see, I don't think that its just about the development environment, bling, applications, or even the ability of us to be connected that makes the point that mobile is useful in ministry. Its that avenue with mobile that we take that invites others to want to change their perceptions of us.

This is something that can happen with mobile devices, apps, or whatever. But we go to others in full confidence that God will take our faith in that moment and produce something that will someday turn into a part of life that glorifies Him. We go into those communicative events hands open so to speak. Our hands - while holding a mobile device - are open with the possibilities that someone wants to connect with us and see just how our lives are intersecting with theirs at that point.

Its just an idea, and it could be fleshed out in so many ways - hence the title being called an idea. But, its something that I think many times, if we just grasp the fact that our mobiles are a part of just presenting an open handshake to Christ, that we could have that second chance to use that fourth screen for a first impression that just might take us all to an eternal joy. Your thoughts?

Labels: communication, community, mobility, tech, VSN

This Sunday, two things happened in my sphere that showed me something difficult and at the same time advantageous concerning mobile.

The first one was a list of 40 people who are considered to be today's most influential minds to watch in mobile. Now, while some of those names and companies I recognize, there were many areas that I did not. Being an analyst by trade, I started wondering about that list and where are some of those fields that are mobile, but not necessarily marketing and telecom. I think there's room at this inn ;)

But even in the mist of that, I got pushed to the other side of mobile. My pastor's son asked me to help him understand the T9 functionality of his mobile phone. Simple right? Well, to some. But to him it was a revelation in how to write and see words not just as letters but as simpler actions. He really got so bright in the face on that simple lesson that it brought perspective to all these things mobile, as well as the list noted above.

No matter what we are doing, there's always going to be some effected in a positive or negative way. But the really cool thing is to be an influencer, and to not get the widespread applause of an industry, but of a generation of users who will simply want to learn something new. For my intersection of faith and mobile that day, it was that realization that has me seeing clearer still how God positions us all over the Body to effect His people for His good.

Labels: commentary, mobility

Great article over at GigaOM talking about the differences between two styles of education. The really interesting this is the tie-in to web/mobile-based education and the ways that we have traditionally gone about teaching. This article highlights that there could be a better way if the technology was better utilized, and the focus taken off of memorization and scoring and put into contextualization, comprehension, and application.

I know that to me this is very interesting stuff. I personally tend to try all kinds of learning/teaching methods in order to see what works for me/groups and what doesn't. I've found out a lot about myself in doing so. I've also found that some people just don't like change, no matter how ineffective a current method is.

When we start doing things with web and mobile, there's a chance to reassess how we learn and teach, and then seek to find better solutions to common problems. In light of this, has there been anything that web or mobile technology has exposed to you as an issue in teaching/being taught by others? Or, has web/mobile been a solution for you where other paradigms weren't as useful?

Labels: commentary, communication, community, education, mobility, tech, Web

Just taking things a few devices at a time, or something like that.

I've gone ahead and consolidated my N95 and N800 into the new Nokia N97 (read my review at Brighthand). I like this device, and its pretty much the one that I've been waiting for since moving to Symbian devices.

Some of the positive aspects from using the N97 has been the screen and keyboard. Its a tiny bit larger of a screen than the 5800XM, and the built in 32GB of memory and sliding keyboard really speak well towards getting things done, or just letting me know how life is rolling on the internet-side of things.

Its also been attracting some interesting attention in church from folks who have mobile devices that do the sliding keyboard or touchscreen thing but want Bibles on their device. Its almost as if the N97 is more approachable in that context..

Now that I have the hardware I want, I wonder if things will improve with software like the mobile web server (like this) and aggregated address books (like this) so that connectivity can be more instinctive of a process, and then we can just get to the matter of using mobile/tech to solve issues.

Labels: mobility, N97

This is an abstract from an upcoming speech that I'll be doing in September at the Visual Story Network's Leadership Conference. I'm posting it here to get some initial thoughts and provoke some conversation:

For some, mobile is another opportuninty to push into themselves and outside of the reach of the cares of this world. For others mobile is an opportunity to connect and get answers for questions will make or break that eternal relationship. One thing is clear, mobile - commonly referred to as the 4th screen of visual media - has the opportunity to reinvent how we think about how others make that first connect to Christ.

Here's how to think about this abstract in its context - visual media, preaching, community-engagement, footsteps. Let's chat :)

Labels: mobility, visual media, VSN

Earlier this week, I submitted a panel topic to a few folks that are working on setting up a panel for next year's SXSW Conference. However, the topic was a bit late in getting to them, and therefore had to be shelved for a while.

Nevertheless, I'm pretty confident in saying that the topic is one that could offer considerable insight into technology leadership within the Body, and even more, be something that promotes the Body to seek to be not just "the same" as what people expect in terms of tech development, use, and adoption, but that we take an active part in being the innovators.

To that end, I'd like to share the topic as I presented it to the SXSW panel group for discussion here. Hopefully, there can be enough of a discussion about this that we could get consideration for a side panel or present this at another venue before 2011.

Topic Title: How Do Faith-Based Organizations Respond to Increasingly Mobile-Connected Members and Communities

Short Summary: The effect of mobile on faith-based communities has further reaching effects than spirituality.

Longer Summary: Each mass media technology has faced an uphill fight towards being adopted and used effectively by faith-based organizations. Mobile presents a special kind of challenge because of its seeemingly personal nature which contradicts with the communal approaches many faith based organizations take towards conducting their business. This panel asks whether faith-based organizations are up to the task of addressing not only the web-connected contigent, but also the mobile-enabled one. And then what are the implications of giving this mobile arena attention, when education towards the effectiveness of the 6 mass media (internet) has not yet been perfected?

I know its not the most simple of things to talk about; but we should. So, let's chat :)

Labels: community, innovation, mobility

Picked this up from Strategic Digital Outreach:

Dave Hackett, will be leading a conference call tonight on "Sharing God's Message Intimately - Online and On Phone."

The conference call will be held on tonight at 7 p.m. CDT (5 p.m. Pacific and 8 p.m. Eastern). Dave will inform us about the growing influence and practice of digital evangelism and newly emerging issues of online/on-phone evangelism, and time will allow for questions and answers. All are welcomed to join in on this call.

The presentation will use an audio conference call and an online presentation to be accessed simultaneously.

Voice Conference Call

Join the audio call by calling the Conference Call line at 1-616-597-8000. Enter the Participant Access Code 258593#. This audio call will be recorded and the call will be available for playback beginning Wednesday by calling 641-715-3443 and entering Access Code 258593#.

Presentation Site
To view the PowerPoint that Dave Hackett will present during the call, please have this Google Docs [presentation] up on your screen at the time of the presentation.

Labels: communication, community, conference call, mobility, presentations

I responded to another of Gabe's insightful posts (Twittering in Church) because its a subject that I think needs all kinds of abilities to understand. Afterwards, I wanted to post the response here - as this is a slightly different audience - and continue some of that discussion because it hits on areas of contention that have been had online and off. At the same time, this is the kind of discussion that we should be having as a gathering (here @ MMM) of tech-enabled, worshipers of God. Here's the comment (please do read the blog posting and comments afterwards for the complete context):

Teaching what is appropriate and not is a cultural and social function [of technology]; this should be something that is done independent of the technology trends [for example in discipleship], and at the same time it [the teaching/discipling] should mind those trends and give wisdom where needed.

Simply saying that "because a pastor is preaching doesn't mean you should be texting and tweeting" is not a remedy for the issue – that is, you are only addressing symptoms of a greater thought that most likely wasn't taught. Namely: ethics (re: Proverbs and Ecc.).

It is only after teaching these ethical issues of social, technology, and culture that one can sit and make the rules that others suppose should be the case of this digitally native and very social generation. I’m sorry folks, but most of you commenting are more like myself where you sit as a late Gen X or early Gen Y-er; you aren’t native to this way of communitating and therefore your "rules" and "perceptions" will cause more problems than they solve.

To those peeved that people can text better than they can recite books and doctrine, do a better job discipling and then maybe you won't have the tech issue to harp on as loudly. And yes, I very much practice what I preach – Gabe can totally vouch for that much.

Lastly, I too am of the opinion that "church" is what happens in-between the Sunday worship gatherings. That the active acts of creating community with people in and outside of the Christian faith should be what defines church. If this action is spilling over into our use of tech, and moreso into those worship gatherings, then we need to (a) redefine and further emphasize what it means to be a gathering of worshippers, and (b) do a much better job of discipling one another towards healthy boundaries and margins, making sure that we don't miss that knowledge and understanding of this specific time and space towards technology, while sharing the implications of this change and what it needs to mean for us and those around us as we engage in this thing called church.

Labels: church, community, mobility, SMS, twitter

Are there any readers/listeners, of MMM who deal with the issue of assistive technology needs? I'm looking specifically for someone who might have some insight into the development of better mobile-enabled tools, such as the Braille-PDA that we spoke about a few months ago. Please either leave a comment, or utilize the contact page as I'd like to speak to you directly. Thanks in advance.

Labels: accessiblity, assistive technology, mobility

This is a subject that I'm working on understanding a bit more these days - in part because I sit on the line between Gen X and Y - that being the subject of the role that mobile (devices, services, lifestyles, etc.) play in the cognitive development of youth (youth being under the age of 18yrs).

There is a post over at the Next Great Thing blog which goes into this and takes a similar view to what we took here during the Parents and Mobile Kids series. Namely, that even though technology is moving faster, for these kids who are digital natives they "will still have to navigate developmental cognitive stages" just as we all have. Though the NGT blog is geared towards marketers, this article shows some of the insight within other fields which helps to recognize and better understand the implications of mobile technology within this intersection.

Labels: community, development, mobility, parenting, teens, teens. youth

I just posted this on my personal website, but the feelings probably should ressonate here some too. Here's a snippet:

...I tend to think though that if I can display Christ in this, that somehow I can reform my heart and mind to understanding that there is a servant's heart aspect to mobile that is missed and that I'm probably pioneering to some level. Its an honest assessment that I don't always feel that this is service. There's just so much out there that I get hit with in terms of the who, what, and what's next. But when Christ isn't left out of it, mobile is a fruit to someone else... somehow...

Read the rest at my personal site (well, for as long as I'm not in the mist of moving to yet another mobile).

Just the thoughts of a guy in mobile whose faith intersects with every piece of his use with it.

Labels: mobility, tech

One of many great reads from the past weeks comes from the Vodaphone Receiver. In this piece titled The Lamp Posts on Brick Lane, author Carl Honore (In Praise of Slow) talks about some of the implications of mobile technology (some of which were covered in the MMM BibleTech Presentation) and what we can do about it. Here's a snippet:

...Overdosing on mobile communication can also mess up the relationship we have with ourselves. Human beings need moments of silence and solitude: to rest and recharge, to think deeply and creatively, to look inside and confront the big questions, ΄Who am I? How do I fit into the world? What is the meaning of life?΄.

That isn't likely to happen when your mind is constantly wondering if you have new email or if it's time for a fresh tweet.

So where do we go from here? Are we doomed to a future of falling IQs, superficial relationships and walking into lamp posts? I hope not. Whenever a new technology comes along, it takes time to work out the cultural rules and protocols to get the most from it. Mobile communication is no exception: it is neither good nor bad, what matters is how we use it...

Read the rest of this piece at the Vodaphone Receiver. Then, find yourself a place of quiet reflection.

Labels: contentment, Mental health, mobility, stewardship

Its been a while since plugging Inner-Linked, but I wanted to let you all know of a new service offering through this training/consulting arm of Mobile Ministry Magazine.

Called Mobile Engagement Consulting, this service combines analytics, stragetic planning, Web 2.0 services, and a team-based approach to assist ministries/organizations plan and execute a mobile strategy that enables outreach to current audiences, and opens new windows of engagement to new audiences.

Many organizations are looking for that cost effective extra marketing or engagement edge. We believe that mobile is the most adept and versatile platform for getting to that edge. And in respect to faith-based audiences, it is a very new arena that can generate engagement opportunities faster and deeper than even social networking. We will not sit here and say that there are any proven strategies; we will say that there are several opportunities that would be wise to explore and from there, create the kind of engagements to Christ-centered living that is sometimes missed in our uber-connected world.

So if this is something that interests you or someone in your circle, take a spin over to Inner-Linked and foster that connection of mobile and ministry.

Labels: consulting, Inner-Linked, mobility

Something that many of us who are leaders and innovators grapple with is this constant pull of being ahead of the call, and at the same time behind in profitable use. Over at Brighthand, my latest editorial titled Ahead and Behind at the Same Time speaks to this. Here's a snippet:

...There's the grapple with those of us at the utter edge of technology that is just perpetual and never-ceasing: we are ahead of the curve. We learn and apply, do and administrate, faster than analysts can analyze. And at the same time we are laughed at and called fools because we see technology now as it will eventually be seen by others -- years later...

Read the entire piece at Brighthand.

Speaking with a pastor friend recently, this is something that's just hard to come to grips with. We want to be ahead. Its literally a spiritual, mental, and physical leaning that we want to try new things and be ahead. And at the same time, this press to be ahead puts us behind the skillful use that many people simply need.

Something that I always found amazing about Jesus' approach towards "innovating" in his time was that he'd use parables - clearly expounding on things that were far and beyond the grasp of normal understanding, and at the same time packed so simply that it remained relevant to people whether they received him or not. Oh how to be ahead and behind in the same way with this tech, even moreso towards using it as a means to displaying God's eternal truths by solving simple, everyday issues.

Labels: communication, community, innovation, mobility, tech

One of the more popular topics this past week was in the video of the White House Press Secretary and the mobiles going off during a press conference. Now, besides just about everyone agreeing that this was a rude moment, it is something that we do acknowledge that happens all of the time. Simply speaking, we are still trying to get a handle on making sure that we observe manners and mode with mobile devices - in just about every social context.

Granted, we can do things like have signs and vocal reminders that people should turn mobiles to silent, not use the flash on their cameras, etc. But, part of the onus also has to go on the user. Especially those of us who are more forgetful about these moments.

One of the things that I have done recently is to look for software that would automate the process of managing my mobile's sounds. If you will, when I get into certain locations, my mobile changes - without my intervention. And this is good, because I not only use my mobile everywhere, but I engage with people everywhere. The less that I have to do in terms of minding my mobile's manners, the better I feel about using it when I need to.

Another thing that I do is to be mindful of the age and demographics of those whom I am around. For example, some people can stand you visiting their church and then pulling your mobile out to read the Scriptures. Other folks are flat out offended (and won't say a word to you about it either). Sure, there is something towards education that can be done, but that is not the point. The key is to always make sure that our use of tech follows as best as possible along with the manners and customs of those around us.

Last note on this (because I really wanted to post it on the weekend but tech issues happened) - when you use your mobile device in a public place, its apt to cause conversations, but it is one of those small and subtle things that points out your observance of cultural norms. In terms of our relationship with God and others, we would do best to show maturity and mind our manners, even if that means or mobiles have to become silent stationary creatures.

Labels: culture, mobility, tech

One of the more interesting notes to come out of BibleTech (and even in my preparation for my presentation) was the idea of added SMS to the texture of community interactions.

One company, Church Texting Manager, from the founder of Laridian Bible Software, aims to hit that niche squarely by enabling announcements and group management via SMS. The great thing about this is that there are some churches already in the game and enabling SMS within their services now.

For example, Ricky Cadden (of Symbian Guru and Mobile Burn fame) has posted on his personal website about the new experience of his church doing SMS during service. Here's a snippet of his reflections:

... I rather like the ability to pose questions anonymously, and definitely think that it helps others who might not be comfortable speaking out to ask a question, or who might not know who to ask. This setup also closely adheres to my belief that technology should enrich and enable real life, and not get in the way. In this case, it enables others to easily get answers to questions they might have, in a nonthreatening way. It also enriches others, as it helps the staff know what things the congregation might be confused about, or what things would be good to focus future sermons on.

Read the rest of Ricky's experience over at RickyCadden.com.

Much like we've chatted about on several occasions, SMS is the kind of mobile-enabling technology that can not only cut down response times in admistrative facilities, but it invites the kind of interactions that offer new windows towards being open in faith - whether that is simply being available for a question, or including someone on a random request for a group prayer/fellowship. And as Ricky's post showed, enabling SMS messaging also has the side-benefit of driving people to the church/org's main website. Making for some more potential avenues of feedback and interaction.

Just think, what if your kids were able to use SMS for more than just random chats to friends, but had an outlet - a personal one - to get the questions answered they'd been looking to have. What could the response to life and faith be there?

Labels: community, mobility, SMS

The past weeks since BibleTech has seen me talking to a lot more peolpe about how important it is that the Body remains technically literate. Not that we need tod o everything under the digital sun, but that we do need to have an awareness of what's going on and then set an approach to understanding it so that later generations are not simple digital and naieve.

That being said, its sometimes more difficult to broach the subject of technical literacy (as aspect of the digital divide) because its not the younger or connected (digital imports and digital natives) that aren't on board, but those who feel that digital goes to fast and that they have no time to engage digital trends that are happening. Unfortunately, its this group that needs to be the voice of reason and accountability, else we end up with lots of shiny gadgets, but dull minds and hearts.

Howard Rheingold has been a huge influence in my life as he has been at the forfront of understanding digital communities and the implications of this technology. In a recent blog post at City Brights (via Smart Mobs), he says:

...only after confronting this issue for a long time did I become convinced that the difference between the haves and have nots, between education and disinfotainment, is not a matter of hardware or software or even (entirely) of being able to afford access to the Web. The most important critical uncertainty today is how many of us learn to use digital media and networks effectively, reasonably, credibly, collaboratively, civilly, humanely.

Its not enough to just use these services, we have to mature in our ability to use and understand these. As Reingold says also in that post, "don't assume [teens] know the rhetoric of blogging, collective knowledge gathering techniques of taggers and social bookmarkers, collaborative norms of wiki work, how to tune and feed a Twitter network, the art of multimedia argumentation - and, by far most importantly, online crap detection."

How then do we manufacture a better understanding of technical literacy? How do we not just learn what's new and coming, but also give those core lessons that other media and tech have done before?

Personally, I believe that we start at the cross and the stone. We start with the simple understanding that literacy begins and ends with knowing Christ. And even if a person doesn't subscribe to Jesus, we still walk in His frame towards displaying and being "Jesus with skin on" around them. Its not just bible software and filters, its teaching people to deal with the reality that their actions have consequences that will filter into eternity.

From there, teaching the tech becomes a matter of legacy for us, and survival for them. A point that everyone can agree with is more important to understand as the world around us drives itself into a more digital context.

Labels: Bible, commentary, community, education, literacy, mobility

Again with the BibleTech reflections... ok, so you are probably getting near tired of these, but really, there was a lot of good information that came through the presentations and networking. One of the conversations that I had was with a few of the folks at BibleTech (with the ears of other software and publishing houses nearby) in speaking about what users really want from electronic Bible readers.

There's one little problem, there are different buckets of users, and they want a different starting point. So I asked a question: since mobile is just one section of users, the paradigm of mobile use isn't the same as desktop or even book use, how about we start designing a Bible app from that different paradigm.

A few definitions so that we are all seeing this in the same (or as close to the same) light:

• Mobile: just speaking of devices that have a screen size smaller than 5in
• Mobile use paradigm: the goal is a task that can be completed quickly, and leads to other interactions that may or may not lead to a different technology or use (30 seconds versus 30 minutes)

So that be leveled, let’s start with what the process looks like:

Person sitting in a fellowship gets the call to open their Bible to John 3:16. There's some reading of the verse, then commentary. All the while, the only interface to the text is John 3:16.

Current Bible software says:

• Head the call to open bible
• Navigate to application
• Open book chooser, chapter/verse chooser
• Open another application (or feature to reader application) for notes
• Bookmark verse for later reference (notes usually not attached)

This sounds pretty simple. And in most cases, this is the process that we use when "thinking" about how to interact with content. Now, what if the user interface (UI) had us go into this differently:

• Navigate to application (or widget)
• Type in the reference(s) - yes, we can deal with multiple references at once here
• Select option to tag text (given preset tags of book, chapter-verse, date, and geolocation; can add custom)
• Small text field to write notes which are saved to an external file that can be read by other Bible, browser, or text applications

If you will, instead of starting at the point of "show me the text then go to where I want to go" (something how babes in Christ learn how to read the Word); we give folks a simpler interface (search box - think Google - and a list of recently used tags).

In speaking with those folks at BibleTech, the draw is that we want to expose people to that greater functionality such as commentaries, other languages, maps, etc., however the current user interface leaves a lot to be learned by users, which makes the user experience falter.

So my suggestion is that we simplify things. Starting from a search box (and this works for every mobile platform), from there, opening only the functionality that needs to be seen.

Now, this works for mobile devices better than it does for desktops (and to some degree laptops). When you are at those larger devices, you are sitting still for some period and working out something a bit more than casual reading. When the device gets smaller, the perception of functional time is different. You get on a mobile to get things done quickly, not just to read and browse. That being said, there are some elements of thinking like this which can be pretty powerful if given the attention to structuring data and simplfying.

I'll have to do some screens of how this would work out, but here and here are similar thoughts to what I've done on this meme previously. Who wants to take the first crack at doing something different?

And if you've read this far and think that this kind of approach might not be so good, take a look at what the Mozilla Firefox folks are proposing (Ubiquity/TaskFox). There's a lot that can happen when all we do is strip the conventional UI from the app, and start letting people use natural language to request functionality.

Labels: BibleTech, innovation, mobility, software, UI

Logos posted this Tuesday that the audio files from the various BibleTech presentations have been posted at the BibleTech conference website. Some speakers have also made available their slides that they used for their presentations.

For MMM's presentation, Mobile Technology and Connecting Communities, here's the audio and outline. Enjoy.

Labels: BibleTech, innovation, mobility, speech

If things are working out right, and you are accessing MMM from a mobile device, you should be seeing a mobile-friendly view provided by the good folks at Mobify.Me. Still working some things out, as well as getting that proper m{dot} address going well, but this should further enable you to view, read, and share MMM with others. If any questions or issues, just let us know.

Labels: Mobify.Me, mobility, website

First off, let me say that this is not a knock on any of the presenters, or even Logos, but its something that was highlighted to me directly while at BibleTech that is something that needs to be address sooner rather than later (more like addressd yesterday instead of tomorrow if you get me).

I am speaking of the subject of accessibility - specifically for those with visual, touch, and auditory impairments to whom mobile and web technology should be making for a better life, but has really made them stand out more as "different."

I had a discussion with a person who works alongside the e-Sword project and one of the questions he asked me is if I had seen the Braille PDA. This PDA I had seen, but it had been many years since I had heard anything about it. Come to find out at BibleTech, this device - which was antiquated when it was origianlly developed - has not seen any development, nor has the price decreased.

$5000 device.

Really, folks can barely afford a $500 device in a consumer-driven economy, and now we have a need for accessible technology that is priced so far out of range that the argument that "no one is buying it therefore we don't need to develop it" is about as flawed as any.

I got a chance to play with this device (pictured), and I had to say that its a pretty neat device when you think about it. You "see" with your thumbs and the first 3 digits of your hands on each finger control the dots so that you can "read and write." It would have taken me some time to get used to it - because I cannot read Braille - but as an assistive technology device that can plug into just about anything, this was cool.

Yet where's the discussion in the Body on this aspect of mobile tech?

That night, I started thinking about that scene within the BibleTech lunchroom. All of us with our G1s, iPhones, laptops, etc., chatting away about what the other is doing to make information, connectivity, and more possible because of what's available to us. And yet, we weren't there addressing those people who had even more legitimate needs - people to whom rightfully deserve the Gospel and all its benefits presented to them in a "language" they can "hear."

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' (Matthew 7:21-23)

It would be really sad to think that for all that I've tried to put my hands to do here, that it would mean absoutely nothing in the heart of my Lord. But in terms of that critique towards where BibleTech could and should have been more effective - talking about how technology is meeting the felt needs of HIS people - that was one area where I was left at the lunch table a lot more hungry than the food in front of me presented.

Maybe beyond what's possible, we can start building the conversation and action towards what's needed to be heard by all.

Labels: accessiblity, BibleTech, mobility

Posted also via this week's Carnival of the Mobilists, I've recently published an interview of Interview with Tomi Ahonen. He is the author of the book Mobile as 7th of the Mass Media and a 2009 Mobile-Fact Almanac. Here's a snippet of the interview:

The internet has legitimately been the biggest disruptive effect to all of global industry and business in the last two decades. And the internet will cause MORE changes in the next ten years than the last 20 years. So far more is yet to come. Now consider mobile. The first downloadable content for mobile phones was sold just over ten years ago, in the autumn of 1998, when in Finland some little company named Saunalahti (now part of the Elisa group) decided to sell this little things they called ringing tones. The ringing tone business rapidly became a 5 billion dollar global industry. But that one idea spawned a mobile content and data services industry in only ten years, that is now worth.. 200 billion dollars. The mobile "internet" and data industry, including SMS text messaging and premium messaging like voting on American Idol, etc, has grown to be rougly as big as the total internet industry, in only half the time. This to me, suggests that the mobile data opportunity is far less understood than the internet. It is also a more dynamic opportunity (if that is even possible) and about to grow to become bigger than the internet, in about only half the time. Mobile is difficult and complex, but it is a huge opportunity and it is a major cannibalization threat, even more so than the internet was. Any industry and business will ignore mobile at its own peril.

Read the rest of the interview at my personal website. The interview and book contributed greatly to the MMM BibleTech presentation.

Labels: Carnival of the Mobilists, interview, mobility

I said earlier that I would continue to drop some hints towards the contents of my presentation at BibleTech. Here's the latest hint, and this one I didn't even have to write up:

...The folks attending this show are generally ahead of the computing trends in the general population, so while I don't foresee folks dumping their notebooks in favor of smartphones, I do think people are more comfortable with letting their smartphone be their computer for a longer amount of time. The willingness of these attendees to rely mainly on their phones on the floor of the conference is a shift from years before. I bet it's a shift that continues as mobile phones get smarter and mobile broadband gets better.

This is part of an article posted at GigaOM concerning the SXSW Conference that went on this past week.

A hint or two more to come until the big event ;)

Labels: BibleTech, Laptop, mobility, smartphone

Just a few mobile-oriented questions that have been stirring in my head today:

• I see more and more pastor-teachers opting to carry information-centric mobiles such as BlackBerries. What are some of the top reasons that you use such a device, and what would make using it more effective for your needs?
• To those of you who use a smartphone in addition to other office software, what do you to manage information that is ministry/business in nature, but you are notified during personal times (days-off, evening family time, etc.)?

Labels: BlackBerry, communication, mobility, Personal, smartphone

Ok, this is just cool:

It lists thousands of kosher restaurants and includes the Book of Psalms, the three daily prayer services, the Traveler's Prayer, a Hebrew calendar, and two versions of Grace After Meals.

The state-of the art electronic gadget geared to the religious public will be unveiled Thursday morning at a Tel Aviv press conference in the office of the city's Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, who will "give his blessings" to the device.

The device, which was developed over the last year by Mio Technology, will also list thousands of other points of interest in Israel, including holy sites, synagogues, cemeteries, and ritual baths.

Read the entire article at The Jerusalem Post.

~ via Palm Addict and The Jerusalem Post

Labels: GPS, Jewish, mobility

One of the points that I picked up in reading Mobile as 7th of the Mass Media is that mobility can be defined in a number of ways. One really effective way to look at things is in respect to the time it takes to do tasks - or as it was stated there, 30 second and 30 minute tasks.

There are some things that we just do since its immediate: check weather, look at a calendar, sports scores, etc. There are other things that we do in longer durations: read and reply to email, watch videos, blog, etc. For some of these tasks, mobile devices can be pretty effective. When you need information right now, SMS search services and the mobile internet can be pretty effective. However, as many of those systems are built, if you want to do something like invite people to something, it takes sitting down and patching information from many places - turning that 30sec task into a 30min one.

Now, let's frame this in the context of some of the things we do in the Body. For example, we have various services and meetings. For many of us, we'd do well to have those meetings near us in some kind of calendar, and maybe even a reminder. How about then your church having a service where in addition to a church calendar that you can view from your normal browser, that you can elect to get SMS alerts for the most upcoming events?

Or let's make it even better. Suppose you are at that point in the service where the pastor will be preaching in a few minutes. A notification is made (voice or big screen) that you can dial a shortcode in order to get the outline sent to you via SMS before the pastor starts preaching. To those who are visiting a new church who aren't in that church's directory, they are made aware that they will get a second SMS asking if they want to opt-in to other announcements. Those who are on that list already would just continue with having the outline on one screen, notes and Bible on others (or not).

The idea is simply that with mobile devices in the hands of most of us, we can start looking at better enabling those types of content that can fit within 30sec stints, instead of forcing them into 30min ones.

Yes, there is always that case where you will want to do more. I'm not saying that you cannot. I am saying that skilfully using this technology means that we start looking at better ways to do simple tasks. Its in doing this that we start to see the potential for mobile-enabled devices and services to come alongside what we are already familiar with, and create that 4th screen (or 7th dimension) to a fuller expression of unity in Christ and beyond.

Small additional note: Tomi Ahonen expounded on this from the perspective of mobile on a post at Communities Dominate Brands today.

Labels: communication, community, innovation, mobility, SMS

Welcome to a new week all. This weekend was a bit of a milestone of sorts. Not in the respect that there will be a major change (haven't heard that trumpet), but in the respect that in terms of mobility, MMM, and where innovation lies next, I'm thinking further and differently.

Let me start with a comment that I left at Church Crunch:

Mobile Ministry Magazine, or MMM for short, is a website which explores, instructs, and points the ways to respond to our lives at the intersection of faith and mobile technology. Moreso than any other media, mobile devices have had greater penetration rates, more personal connections, and more overall implications to aspects of our lives than its media forerunner, the Internet. For that reason, MMM picks and prods, considers and guesses, and when given enough facts, we direct and lead the Body into creating a foundation of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding that will not only help folks make sense out of what is going on now, but also arrive at future destinations with the Body as a caretaker and innovator in this space and beyond.

That's what we do here. Its not just mobility though. As I learned this weekend as I read Mobile as 7th of the Mass Media by Tomi Ahonen (my review of it), its not that cellphones/smartphones/mobiles in and of themselves are these great things. The personal and immediate nature of this technology ties so many points from previous aspects of technology (voice, paper, recorder, radio, TV, and internet) together that there cannot help but to be a global response to it.

Mobile enables points of knowledge, instruction, and assistance to not be defined to a point, but accented by it. And yes, I know that many people don't or won't see this. And that's just it, part of the point of MMM isn't that you see it. Its here because you don't. MMM speaks to a point in time - soon to come in some parts of life more than others - where the Christian Body has to respond to the impact and implications of communication and connecting that is realized actively, not passively.

I don't know where this will lead, I only know that we have to lead if this tech is going to be something future generations are going to look back at and say that a solid foundation for use and learning was established.

Towards MMM, I want to change this site. I see after reading Mobile as 7th of the Mass Media, this site has to change. I have ideas, a few of them. Even a sketch and some process planning started. But nothing firm. There's a reaction to what will come that MMM will be ahead of. After that, its just up to us to respond to the facts. To quote an interview I recently did with Tomi Ahonen:

The mobile "internet" and data industry, including SMS text messaging and premium messaging like voting on American Idol, etc, has grown to be rougly as big as the total internet industry, in only half the time. This to me, suggests that the mobile data opportunity is far less understood than the internet. It is also a more dynamic opportunity (if that is even possible) and about to grow to become bigger than the internet, in about only half the time. Mobile is difficult and complex, but it is a huge opportunity and it is a major cannibalization threat, even more so than the internet was. Any industry and business will ignore mobile at its own peril.

You might not agree with everything being said here, but you will want God in the front of this as I. Let's see what happens from here, and till this ground right.

Labels: mobility, Tomi Ahonen

I've been thinking about ways to enable some of the MMM content to reach people a bit more readily. Things like email newsletters and RSS are conventional, and they do work, but I was looking for something a bit more... immediate.

What if MMM was available to be delivered right to you mobile as a SMS (text) message. When a new item is posted - or at a time you determined - you would get an SMS with the latest post (title and link) or a list of the last five posts with a link to the front page?

From there, you'd be encouraged to share (forward) the SMS with friends, and others would also be able to subscribe either via email or sending an SMS shortcode.

Of course, I also think of a service like this working for something like church announcements - where your church has a shortcode where you simply type it and then are subscribed to SMS updates in a digest form from your church. You would then have a place on your church's website where you could also have the articles sent to an email address, or change SMS delivery options.

Thoughts? Its just something in my head I'm playing around with for now.

Update: I found out that there are two services similar to this idea, SMS Gupshup and Google India's SMS Channels (found via Digital Inspiration). Uhmmm...

Labels: community, mobility, SMS

From time to time, I'll get a chance to speak with people about MMM, the idea behind it, and why its such a passionate area for me. Most people say they end up with a headache. I sort of apologize, but the scale of what is mobile/web and how that influences so many aspects of our lives is easily overlooked because of its pervasiveness.

So I'm trying to work-down my conversations to settle into some managable scales. If you will, some numbers that make sense, but don't belitte the utter size that is mobile/web and its implicaitons. Some numbers at a recent post at Communities Dominate Brands illustrates one part of this scale of thought:

Lets start with comparisons. Newspapers? the total circulation of all daily newspapers worldwide is about 480 milllion. Cars? There are about 800 million cars on the planet. Cable and satellite TV subscriptions? About 850 million. Personal computers including desktops, laptops and netbooks, about 1 billion. Fixed landline telephone connections, about 1.2 billion. eMail users about 1.3 billion. Internet users about 1.4 billion. Television sets about 1.5 billion. And credit cards? About 1.7 billion people carry at least one credit card in their wallet.

But there are 4 billion mobile phone subscriptions now in January 2009. More than twice the number of credit card owners, 2.5 times the number of TV sets or internet uses, approx 3 times the number of email users of total landline phones and yes, four times the number of personal computers. This is a monster sized industry, totally towering over all others.

I really implore you to take a look at this article in its enterity. But simply stated, mobile technology is bigger than anything else out there and endeavoring to understand what it means not only as a tool within The Faith, but the implicaitons of such devices and technology on a generation of people who only knew mobile and internet is huge.

At every intersection, you look down the road to get an idea of what's coming your way so that you can move on. Just think of that scale of things concerning mobile/web and faith.

Labels: commentary, communication, mobility

As many of you have probably read already, Google has released an enhancement to its Google Maps and Google Maps Mobile services called Latitude. Essentially, Latitude allows one to share their location with others (via an opt-in process; and not publically to all) via a widget or mobile application.

And while I do think that Google Latitude is a solid product - for example, for families on the go, this can be an inexpensive teather. I do think that it hearlds a change in mindset towards privacy that some people don't mind, and others (loudly) loathe.

So what is the problem? For some, they will tell you that such services are bad because they are open invitations to even less privacy. To that point I only agree if you believe that you have had total privacy to begin with.

For some, they might say that such services point towards singular digital identies that will make it easier for you to be tracked and monitored. This too is true, if you want to ignore that since the late 1800s that behavioral tracking has been a huge scientific, militaristic, and governmental practice.

But then there are others that will say that this is the inevitible end of technology, specifcally mobile and web technologies that are more engraned than ever. And I'll agree in part there too; just as paper, boats, written language, money, radio, TV... changed life as we knew it too.

I don't think though that we can just look at the negative connoations of this and then dismiss it. As I've stated in previous posts, we need to understand both the positive and negative ramifications of technology before completly accepting or dismissing it. Only with that wisdom can we say that we are really being good stewards of these creative juices.

Google Latitude has a lesson (or more) about privacy written all over it. There's the lesson of "who do you want to know your digital footprint (Google, friends, etc.)?" There's the lesson of "how does one manage location in a mobile context, under the constraints of power consumption and realisitc us?" There's the lesson of "reading the terms of service to determine what Google or its partners can do with my location data."

Then there is that obvious lesson: understanding the role of these presence-enabled services in a very loud, connected world - and maintaining privacy of some kind in the process.

Of this latter lesson, Google Latitude offers one of the best solutions, and the most surefire way to execute it - you can turn it off. Because you use Google Maps doesn't mean you have to use Latitude. Because you have a GMail address doesn't mean that you have to continue to push forward the Google ad engine. You can (and should) turn things off.

While it is that I am more connected than many around me, I've realized that if I truly want to keep private, I have to make the conscious and unplanned decisions to turn things off. Whether that is in a small way by limiting access to some digital assets, or the biggie of just turning off my mobile - privacy isn't so much just a right, its a choice. And one that not everything that we are invoved with will allow.

At the intersection of tech and faith, I yearn for that place where Jesus said that I can close the door and speak with the Father alone. There's nothing in that verse that said I needed to take my phone in there to tweet it. I choose privacy, even if the technology wants to impose something different.

Labels: commentary, communication, community, Google Maps, mobility

Yesterday, I received a call from a friend in the area asking me about phones. This isn't unusual as I get these questions pretty often since this its something of a hobby for me to write and research about mobile devices. After speaking with him, we decided to get together that night and just spend a bit of time speaking on those mobile questions he had in detail.

One of the things that I did was that I took a mobile that I had been keeping around as a "giveaway" mobile to him. It seemed that part of his issue was that he was having a problem with a phone, and his wife as well. The phone I had, while a solid mobile, was not something that I used very often and literally purchased it because it was inexpensive and would bless someone down the line. So I gave it to him as a recommended replacement for his wife's phone which had been acting up.

After that, we talked a bit more about me and mobile and I asked him a question about his own use. Interestingly enough, he was in a position where his PC was no longer available, and so he did everything over a mobile phone and quite enjoyed the simplicity in doing so. Because he had a Windows Mobile phone (the T-Mobile Wing), I wanted to know about how he felt about being mobile and how well that would work for him. Hearing those observations from someone other than myself was refreshing, but then eye-opening. There *are* more people in this position, and so I wonder what a mobile capable mobile could do.

I then asked if I could show him something. We had talked about memory cards, and so I wanted to show him a few online so that he could see and make a purchase. Well, we didn't get to the memory cards, because I was more in wonderment about the fact that he was smartphone centric, and getting things done. Pretty cool to me (of course); but then I wondered what could be done with a touch more.

I showed him the Celio Redfly and asked if that is something that could work for him when he needs to get more significant tasks done (instead of doing them on a work computer - mobile ethics ya know). Amazingly enough, after explaining the concept, he was very much on board. Just the idea of having the familiar laptop form factor, but not that incentive to manage more technology was very appealing.

As we talked, it was hit upon that a good deal of folks could do with that solution but they didn't know about it. I figure that at some point, this could change. But in the meantime, what about that mobile world that we don't see.

By the way, I was showing him the Celio Redfly using my phone connected to his TV via my N95's TV-Out cable and 3G internet connection.

So we then moved to showing MMM. Yea, I had to do a plug, but since he's a brother that I try to get with on occasion, I wanted to share with him some of what "passionates" me (I know, made up the word last night too). As I spoke to him about the vision and mission of MMM, you could see a whole new world opening up to him. In only a few minutes, he went from seeing the world through his mobile phone, to using that window as a change agent to share the Gospel in ways that people he encounters rarely see.

And all night I've been thinking about this - despite the fact that I probably pushed a bit hard when I came to sharing my passions. What happens when we are confronted with the fact that the world that we once knew has changed to the point that we literally can go out to the ends of the world and share with them a world (Christ) they have not yet seen. What are the implications of technology at that intersection?

Personally, I know some of the answers to these questions and observations, but I will share them at Bible Tech and afterwards. But if you know me, then you know that I'm about something a lot more than just playing with the latest gadget or web service. There's a state of reality that we are going to (my friend called it the Matrix) to which the Christian Body will have to adjust and become change agents there as well. I feel that we can do that, only when we know the foundations of our faith, and then acknowledge that with the tools of this age we can craft what hasn't been seen before.

At least that's part of how I think. The rest, well, you'll just have to live with me and see ;)

This was previously posted on my personal website; so the timing is a bit off, but the concept is what I intend to share.

Labels: ceilo redfly, community, mobility, N95