Mobile Ministry Magazine

I traditionally like to submit MMM to the Carnival of the Mobilists because of the unique perspective on mobile technology that is not always explored in the realm of mobile professionals. In following a link from Digital Sanctuary, I came to the website The Kingdom 2.0 which made note of another carnival, the Christian Technology and Media Carnival, to which MMM should be making semi-frequent, future appearances as well.

However, it will be a bit before MMM is included into the next Christian Technology and Media Carnival, so do take a read of The Kingdom 2.0 posting of the First Edition of this carnival. Several articles on the use of media and the Internet in the Body, and some great thoughts on the worldwide perspective of such endeavors.

To those accustomed to reading the Carnival of the Mobilists, #122 at Xellular Identity is the latest published.

Update/Correction: Apologies, the latest Carnival of the Mobilists is #123 at GoMo News.

If you are reading the Christian Technology and Media Carnival and would like to submit an article you have written on your blog, visit the Blog Carnival Submission Form in order to fill out the requisite information.

Labels: Carnival of the Mobilists, Christian Technology and Media Carnival, media, mobility, tech

Another use for the Mobile Web Server that occurred to me this morning was to be able to use it to edit and add information on my mobile device without having to fiddle with a number pad or small screen. For the most part, sync conduits and integration into services with applications like GooSync already handle this. But if the mobile device can play the role of being the server already, you can get rid of the middle man and just log into your phone from any larger screened web terminal and then add/edit information much easier.

Thinking about it like this makes the MWS seem a lot more versatile than just a means to have information. There is an empowerment about it that is only limited to the imagination of the user.

For example, a person could be a developer and design an entire website and interface for their projects using the MWS. A teacher could design class modules and then using groups allow for students to log in. Taking that a step further, that teacher could have a test that will only be up while the MWS is online; taking it down means that whomever didn't finish their test on time could be easily noted just from looking at the logs.

I write this to say that I know that its a bit unconventional, and uneconomical in a lot of respects, to think about connectivity in this granular of a fashion. But we have to look at this mobile tech as a means to an end. Taking out some of those in-between points might very well be a means to helping to realize this, and the fruits of the thins past generations constantly dreamed about.

I believe you have to be willing to be misunderstood if you're going to innovate. That's actually a serious point. If you're going to do something that's never been done before - which is basically what innovation is - people are going to misunderstand it just because it's new.

Jeff Bezos, one of the founders of Amazon; quote via Tony Morgan Live

This post was written before the third installment of the MMM Mobile Experiment Report was written. Some of the information in this post is repeated in that report, but not in the detail that it is presented here.

Labels: Mobile Web Server, mobility, software

Welcome to the third and final installment of the MMM Mobile Experiment Report. In Part One, we talked about the general setup and the reasons for doing this experiment. In Part Two, we spoke on the day to day use of it; and then started talking about why its not yet an accessible solution, but it is a versatile one. In Part Three, we talk more about what is possible with the Mobile Web Server and come to some conclusions towards its potential use.

You see, for most end and power-users of mobile devices, the Mobile Web Server is not yet a solution. There are a few too many niggles with it before it can become a solution. What it is however is a canvas, a very empty canvas. When one wants to think of what is possible with mobility, this section of the report hits on that. And specifically for the Christian church, what we do with technology will go a long way towards making divisions along digital lines a thing of the past. Innovation requires that we think outside of the box before we jump into a new one. By the end of this report, I hope that you can not just see why doing the MMM Mobile Experiment was a paradigm shift for me; but also where and why Nokia sees this as a profitable endeavor.

This section of the MMM Mobile Experiment Report contains:

• Lessons Learned
• Current and Future Applications
• Why This Is A Model for the [Digital] Church
• Appendix/Additions

Lessons Learned

At this point, the MMM Mobile Experiment seemed to be a solid idea that is just a bit further than where people want to go with interacting with websites and at the same time, its not far enough in terms of how organizations and ministry can reach out to one another. What I saw in the first few days was that in order to get people to come to MMM Mobile, I had to be proactive about advertising and up front about limitations such as loading speed and the log-in issue. After getting used to it from a lifestyle perspective, I had to come to grips with the ability of attainable technology not being up to snuff with the demands of a web server being backed up by a social network. The frame work is there, but there is a gap before this can be applicable on a broad scale.

I did learn some things that were quite positive, and gives me hope that maybe the Body is better equipped to use near-solutions in effective ways. For example, in talking to my pastors about the MMM Mobile Experiment while it was going on, they had a genuine interest in how it would pan out and how it could be relevant to them. One of the smaller experiments was to live-blog during one of the sermons and then forward them the link to get their thoughts. Live-blogging the sermon on a mobile phone brought stares from people unaware of what I was doing, despite knowing my technical bent. Getting my pastors to be able to log in without issues became a problem because I did not noticed the case-sensitive issue for logging in under the guest account. And even during the sermon, I was not prepared for the out of memory error that running the browser and mobile web server would cause, preventing users from even accessing the site. it was advantageous to try, but in light of things, could have been better planned out.

Other parts that proved positive were in just the evangelism of mobile devices and the Internet as being tools of connectivity. I found that with the MWS active that I had more time to spend on mobile devices, thereby getting me in places where I could engage people and allow various aspects of using mobile technology open the door for conversations. In one instance, interacting with a child in a coffeeshop was made more fun when I took his picture via the Web Camera feature and then showed it to him and his parents from the screen of my N800 Internet Tablet. This showed to them that technology has a way to touching us even more than we think without having to have a Star Trek moment.

Current and Future Applications

Having done this experiment, it is easy to say that it can be used. However relevance for the mobile web server has its place in only a few areas, mainly because of the hardware and connection requirements that would necessitate more affluence than the market can share at this time.

In terms of a software platform, having a web server on a mobile phone can present the opportunity to remove a few middle layers of device management and information management software that has been slow to catch on in some areas. Normally, we think of this as syncing, backup, and personal information management (PIM) software; the structure of this mobile web server platform offers a few aspects of use that previously were harder to get newer users to adopt:

• If the smartphone is online (cellular broadband or Wi-Fi) accessing it though an IP address or domain name assigned to the device (or SIM card) give the opportunity to do things such as add and remove applications, connect contacts to social networks, backup contacts to an offline storage area, or even lock down the device in case of theft;
• If the device is not online, these same tasks can be done through a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi ad-hoc network where all that a person needs is a browser with a larger screen in order to extend the functionality of their device;
• Adding an email component would essentially make the MWS platform a replacement (on the consumer level) or products like MS Exchange as the device is the server and there is nothing that needs to be additionally added to the device.

This is thinking about the mobile web server as it can have present relevance in the way that people want to get the most of their devices. For this to work best however, unlimited data plans, and seamless connectivity needs to be the norm and not the exception. Also, quality of service in terms of mobile operating systems, cellular lines, and even user experience will play a larger part in letting this connectivity option be the norm rather than the exception for mobile computing.

Taking things a bit further, the mobile web server has the ability to innovate in small business and organizational communications by:

• Intranet for a low-funded ministry or non-profit organization
• Website for a traveling missionary who travels in well connected areas and has has the funds to connect frequently enough to make this viable
• Future: platform for sharing documents and calendars as a family point of contact system
• Multi-campus connector for small groups spread over a large area

This is not to say that there are not other applications; only that in using the Mobile Web Server, I spoke with and engaged with organizations where the relevance of a mobile device that can handle these connections made for opportunities to remove buildings, excess tools, and in some cases a learning curve, therefore making more time for the connections that a web server and interpersonal communication allows to happen.

Why This Is A Model for the [Digital] Church

I was asked very bluntly at the conclusion of my experiment why I felt that this was a model for computing that the Body should be receptive to. I was given the reasons about economics, device availability, and even preconceptions that a mobile device should only be used for talking. My reason for thinking and believing that the mobile web server in various forms is a suitable means to enable the digital church is simply that it is something that has not been done before. Its new ground, and puts the Body at the place of pioneering and setting the bar in terms of what is possible with communication technologies.

I do not say this to mean that there are not other organizations that would not benefit from what has been written here, but to say that because the church has a mission to connect and empower people, it should take what is available and not duplicate solutions, but create them.

The book of Acts is an account of a sledging church finding its legs after Jesus left the scene. He deposited within them the Holy Spirit to empower and equip them with the innate ability to go to the ends of the earth and be a representative of Him and carry the Gospel's message of a redeeming and justified love. Since taking the plunge with Nokia's Mobile Web Server, I can see how that would not just be a radical idea, but an attainable one. The question is, are we innovative enough to capitalize on what has already been deposited in us to do since Acts.

Appendix/Additions

Labels: community, education, email, gospel, mobile accessories, Mobile Web Server, mobility, Nokia, phone, software, tech, usability

Web Worker Daily recently posted an article titled 5 Essentials for the Mobile Web Worker where they looked at 5 pieces of hardware and software that would be essential for the mobile web worker. Here are some of mine:

• Removable memory card with backup of data
• Solio solar portable battery charger
• Bluetooth external keyboard

Given that my setup is based on a smartphone and Internet Tablet it might be different than yours. Seeing that many pastors are moving towards a similar type of setup - laptop computer, Wi-Fi- hotspot, and online applications - what are your essential tools?

Bonus: And what things do you have in place when those tools aren't working due to environment/finances/etc.?

Labels: Hardware, mobile, mobile accessories, mobility, N75, N800, software, tech

I write this a good bit before writing Part Three of the MMM Mobile Experiment Report but this is a great article posted at the Biblical Studies and Technological Tools blog about thinking about what technology and faith will look like given what we have seen happen in other media and lifestyles in the Western church.

Without going too far into things on my end, here is a snippet of this great thought-piece:

I am also wondering, then, if we might actually become more dependent on private resources/devices rather than network resources. I.e., it will be lots easier to secure a personal device not connected to any network, and I will be more confident in working with guaranteed secure resources not based on the network. This does mean that I believe that someone will still be developing and providing technological resources for biblical studies, but I also suspect that the choices will be greatly reduced. We are already seeing the convergence of best features of the various Bible programs, and as this trend continues, the only differentiating factor will be cost. I just hope we aren't all buying Wal-Mart or Google Bible software after they buy up every other current company in this field

Read the rest of the post The Future of Bible Studies and Technological Tools.

Related Articles:

• New King James with Microsoft OneNote (Palmsolo)

Labels: Bible, church, community, education, gospel, mission, mobile, mobility, networking, phone, purchasing, software, stewardship, study, tech, urban, worship

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

Greetings all; thanks to all of you who have visited and commented on MMM Mobile in the past week. It was certainly a new experience for me to use a mobile device as the web server and I have a greater appreciation for a lot of aspects of server administration that I had not had before.

Seeing what my mobile device could do under the pressure of being a communications platform in every sense of the word was tough as well. From blogging, to the web chat on day one, to just making sure that I would keep the MMM Jaiku channel going with back-chat; it was both a pleasure and a challenge to do something that (to my knowledge) has not been tried before.

What's next is a report of things that I found, as well as why such an experiment has relevance in this highly connected world. With talk of net neutrality, the new digital divide, and Christian digital responsibility, there's a good deal that this experiment opened that I will be bringing to you in a three part report.

To give you a heads up, here is an outline of what you can expect in my next three posts:

Part One:

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

Part Two:

• Day to Day Use
• Immediate Challenges
• Accessibility versus Versatility

Part Three:

• Lessons Learned
• Current and Future Applications
• Why This Is A Model for the [Digital] Church

I am trying to take my time with this, and I do encourage you to ask questions along the way towards parts that need to be better explained or clarified. Like I stated earlier, making sure that you (this audience) understands why such an mobile experiment has relevance for you today is a big goal of this report. Keeping in mind of the Word to always encourage one another, its my hope that this would encourage you to not just think about how to use technology, but how your innovative use of it will give people a chance to view Christ in ways that they never imagined.

Again, stay tuned, Part One is just about finished being written and edited. Looking forward to your comments.

Labels: Bible, browser, community, mission, Mobile Web Server, mobiles, mobility, tech

Mobile Ministry Magazine has gone mobile. For the next week, MMM will be hosted completely via Nokia's Mobile Web Server on my Nokia N75. This is one part a test of the technology, and another part a means to keep me on top of those things that might lend towards some effectiveness towards those of you who need small intranets within your workplace, but the cost of developing and maintaining on might be out of reach.

View MMM Mobile at: http://mobileministrymag.mymobilesite.net.

Username: Guest
Password: mmmguest

If it says that the server is offline, its probably because my battery is dead or I needed to close the app for a bit, just visit the MMM Jaiku channel as news, notes, and discussion can always be found there.

Now this is really taking things mobile :)

Labels: community, Jaiku, mobile, mobility, N75, software, tech

Image via Wikipedia

Monday night, I was talking with a baristia at the coffee shop that my church has Bible study at and she was very happy about her mobile phone. She uses a Palm Centro on Sprint and has enjoyed what it brings to her life. Being a high school senior, I was able to point her towards ways her phone can help her transition towards college, but I also noticed how it was very much a lifestyle device for her. To hear it in her words, it was not an attachment to how she lives, but it was a part of it. An essential thread even.

This look at mobile technology as part of one's lifestyle is a fairly new phenomena. For people roughly in my age group (I'm 29), we grew up literally watching tech be what it is now. I've had both penmanship and keyboarding classes. I've used the Dewey Decimal System, Infosearch (or was it InfoTech), to Google/Yahoo for various searches. I've gone from no planner to Radio Shack planners to Palm PDAs to smartphones. In literal terms, I am a part of a generation that has grown up with the DNA of mobile and web technology under a lot, and this presents a line above and below of how tech is viewed.

As the church, we are in a similar time period. A lot has changed very fast and we now have to adjust to increasing streams of connectivity that are in our ministries, families, schools, and governments. We have to brace for informational security, just as much as we push for or against net neutrality. We are on the verge of a major shift with computing and life as we know it - its a lifestyle now, not a choice.

It would be easy to just make the next steps in this of trying to just wait it out and then use and do what's popular. But my heart is that we as the Body would do more than just anticipate what is coming, but we would already be working in it. Whether that is a community-ran blog on social and educational issues that interfaces with thought-leaders and the classroom, or just advancing the use of VoIP to connect families whose jobs have disconnected them from their countries of origin. We have to address what is given to us, but we also have to push for where God meets us in this.

You see, one of my passions is to see the Church literally get to the point where our use of mobile and web technology is a direct reflection of the love, justice, and mercy that God granted us through Jesus Christ. It was this vision that cast me onto the Internet to begin with. We are at the point where this can be our Body 2.0, or just a old media shunning the inevitable change. Something to think about the next time you stop for coffee and the baristia is taking your order with a mobile instead of pen and paper.

Related Links:

• Is Your Church Leadership Interactive (The Digital Sanctuary)
• On the Problems of Designing User-Friendly Software for PDAs and Smart Phones (Laridian)
• Leatherbound iPhone Bible (ESV Bible Blog)
• I Wish Changing Churches Was As Easy As Changing Bible Versions (Palm Addict)

Labels: Centro, community, mobile, mobility, tech

Image via Wikipedia

A friend of mine has been debating when to get the Nokia N810. He basically wants it to replace his laptop for the lighter ministry tasks that he does. He's been doing his homework, looking at his budget, and basically learning all that he can about it before he makes the jump, but the question that he has is "when?" You see, for him it is not so much that its there, but when should he get it is the more important question.

For those who follow technology of any kind, you know that there is planned obsolescence for all of it. Nothing seems to be meant to last forever, and in some cases, not much longer than the 5 minutes that passed since your purchased it. However, being a good steward over our resources means that we have to take a proactive approach towards attaining mobile technology, and for many of us that leaves us in a constant wait pattern.

So how do you decide to pull the trigger? Here are some things that have helped me in the past on this side of decision making:

• Have you prayed about it or just told God that you wish that you had it?
• In investigating the device or software, have you noticed complaints for basic functionality or advanced features?
• Has the device had a major recall during its product life? Or is there a standing glitch that has not had any communication from the manufacturer that it will be addressed at some point and time?
• What devices/services are planned to come after this? How long from this point until that new device/service is released?
• Have you checked the Buy/Sell threads at the fan sites for this item (usually used, but the price is a lot lower than purchasing new)?

What about you, what kinds of decisions do you go through before making a purchase?

Labels: mobile accessories, mobiles, mobility, N810, Nokia, purchasing, tech

I was sitting here thinking about the Nokia N-Gage platform and their new Get Out and Play campaign and how it takes the online aspect (think X-Box Live and World of Warcraft) and brings that community to mobile devices. I wonder, much like some ministries have gone into virtual worlds to start ministering to people there, could the same thing be possible within N-Gage?

Labels: community, mobiles, mobility, N-Gage, Nokia, software, Video game

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A very big thing for churches and ministries to understand about mobile tech is that it is an active agent. Being an active agent means that it not only is a product of an action, but mobile technology fosters several layers of interaction. From listening to a phone call, to reading an SMS, to viewing video, to something even more advanced, taking advantage of the computing that is in one's hands is an advantage for community-building that the church should not miss.

This is why I like the service Mobile Verses. It doesn't require that one have the latest or greatest smartphone, only one that is capable of receiving text messages. Yes, some of the services might stretch budgets a bit, but that is where churches/ministries work with Mobile Verses and other sponsors towards making these services usable for mobile device users.

Now, a common question I get is "why would I want something like Mobile Verses when I have a Bible?" Any pastor, or just a general onlooker can tell you that having a Bible is not always handy. Nor is having a calendar that is always accessible. Mobile Verses not only puts the Bible at your fingertips, but can accent that [sometimes boring and crowd thinning] announcements section of services. Yes, people will have mobile devices out during services, but like I've stated in other posts; the church should be at the front of teaching tech responsiblity. What better way to do so than with using a service like Mobile Verses.

Now before anyone thinks that I am writing this because they "tipped" MMM, please understand that this is not my reasoning. Mobile Verses is a very solid offering and one that should not be looked past, especially when high school students are carrying phones and using them to write things in their calendars ;)

Visit the Mobile Verses website for more information.

Labels: community, mobile, mobility, phone, SMS, tech, usablity

I was just at the car wash thinking about my slate for the rest of today and had the reflection that mobile technology has done an interesting job in teaching me about evangelism - from a mobile tech standpoint, but just as much if not more so from a spiritual one.

Mobile Lessons

When sitting in a coffeeshop with an Internet Tablet, Bluetooth keyboard, and mobile phone out, one should expect people to ask questions. What I didn't expect was that people would ask questions and just have comments about so many things. Some people wanted to know about iPhones and phone plans, others wanted to know how my setup worked and if it could work for them. And still others just took my "open platform" as a means to just have a conversation.

In terms of what mobile is, things are still new and people are still looking for a definition that fits how they are mobile, connected and productive. Being a person who is using tools and services so out in the open, I am getting a chance to see exactly how people respond, and if need be, point them to a solution that would work best for them.

Spiritual Lessons

The greater lessons for me have come on the spiritual side of things. Where some people can separate their tech from their spirit, I happen to have a very tight relationship between the two. It was the idea of having multiple Bibles on my PDA that allowed me to minister to various friends and students on my college campus without carrying the intimidation of a large book bag around. I've had to learn what affluence is, gluttony from the tech side of things if you will and how that can and does rub people the wrong way. I've had to learn how to be a teacher of those things Godly with this tech, sometimes at the cost of cutting off myself from the things others do. Frankly speaking, I've learned that there is a holiness to using technology that we really do miss because we are not usually taught that this exists in this medium.

And From Here?

I've been working with Brighthand for years, with Nokia and the S60 Ambassadors/Nokia Blogger Relations, worked as a web designer and developer for more than 9 years, and basically played the roll of techie to a lot of people in my life. There's more to this than devices and my own wares though. Without educating others on how to use this tech correctly, they miss the point of the benefits. Misuse almost always turns into someone speaking against proper use because of that misunderstanding.

The same thing has happened to Christianity on several levels since Jesus (one can even argue since Adam). There's a responsibility to wield this faith in a manner that represents the breadth of God's love. Whether that is speaking against inappropriate use, or just teaching someone how to study the Bible, the responsibility is clear...

...go to the ends of the earth and teach people about Jesus. Not just with a Bible and a few nice words, but with the power of the Holy Spirit.

When you think about it like that, mobile tech could really be on to something, couldn't it ;)

Labels: accessiblity, Bible, community, devotion, education, gospel, mission, mobility, stewardship, tech

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)

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

I unintentionally tend to sit on some news stories. Hoping to speak about some things when there is an open slot or the chatter on the interwebs isn't so loud about it that it would get lost in the shuffle; some things just get pushed to the back a bit. Here's some of those items that aren't too flaccid in terms of timing, but definitely useful for various applications.

• Logos post address Spanish-oriented resources.
• The latest GMPSoft newsletter has several deals on various electronic resources for your PDA or smartphone including a Bible Bundle which includes the Greek UBS4 module.
• Something to make you think on how to approach little ones with the subject of hearing God and prayer even when its something that the Bible may/may not talk about ;)
• Palm Addict has a random giveaway of a 15 inch Mac PowerBook going on right now. The rules are to send in a post relevant to how you are using mobile tech. If not something that you need, definitely enter for someone in your circle who could use a computer but may not have the means to attain one.
• Swerve, a ministry of Lifechurch.tv, has two post titled 10 Things.... The first deals with Introspection and the second Ministry. Hands down, a very solid read and meditation piece for the weekend.
• And finally, the Carnival of the Mobilists at Mobilestance has plenty of readings from the past week in mobile tech.
• Forgot this one: YouVersion has done some updates that have improved performance and added a few new versions to the fray. Unless you are on an Internet Tablet like me, it really should work very well in connected settings as both a journaling and group Bible study tool.

Don't forget that we published MMM Issue 5 earlier this week. Several articles and insights there as well for your own mental scratchpad.

Labels: accessiblity, Apple, Bible, Carnival of the Mobilists, community, devotion, family, issue 5, mobile accessories, mobility, Spanish, stewardship, study, tech, worship

The last two posts, we've talked about extending your mobile office to help mangage the tasks of doing ministry easier. But there's nothing like real world examples.

So what do you do to extend your office capabilities? And what hurdles have you encountered either personally or with your team?

(Lord willing, a question like this in the future can be met with some kind of giveaway to help some of you on who are doing this already)

Labels: church, community, mission, mobile accessories, mobility, tech, urban, usablity

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 have been sitting in my usual coffeehouse office for this afternoon, and in reading announcements about the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet with WiMax, I started thinking a bit more about how possible it will be for believers to take computing and the task of [managing] ministry on the road.

Much like I chatted about last week with my pastors seeing the N800 as a viable ministry solution. The addition of WiMax networks takes this to more attainable possibilities.

Let me explain a bit about WiMax. Think of it as WiFi (hotspots) but instead of confined to a small area (300ft) this is something that can cover miles and miles, similar to a cellular connection. Except, unlike a cellular connection, the ability to do rich media is greater because the "pipe" that info is carried on is much bigger.

Now, that being said, imagine a situation where one can have their "office" in their pocket. When WiMax is official (mostly in larger metros initially) and more devices hit, this is something that will not just be a possibility, but could be an option.

Related Articles:

• Internet Tablet Talk Anno