Mobile Ministry Magazine

Do any of you who are teachers, pastors, etc. utilize websites to share information about your taught content? If so, what services do you use and why?

Labels: teaching, web application, website

In Part 1 of Parents and Mobile Kids, we talked about how parents and kids have a view of mobile technology that is sometimes contrary to one another. We gave a few positives though that both groups can take from these opposing viewpoints, along with some suggestions towards how to bridge the gaps. Here in part two, we'll talk about the negatives and how the changing views of mobile and Internet technology has to meet at Christ no matter what the output.

Concerning the pace of technology, there are some notable negatives towards the perspectives of parents and their children that might not be clearly seen: the pace of mobile technology adoption and development, the openness about the lack of privacy*, and the ease at which one can be addicted to aspects of mobile and Internet technology.

Unfortunately, the research on some of these negatives is still being researched, and conclusions are somewhat hard to come by. However, there are some things of note that can be stated here.

Mobile technology is a phase of media, communications, and technology that will continue to evolve. Its more personal than PCs, more interactive than radio and TV, and just as immersive as writing on paper. Because it crosses those other media areas so easily, the lessons from all of those apply and don't apply at the same time.

In terms of privacy, there has never been privacy in any communication-based media; however, there has never been the amount of blatant openness about what about you would be used against you with communication-based media as it is now in mobile/Internet technologies. Teach your children about how they should present themselves (Romans 12:1), how they should speak and behave (Titus 2:1-10), and how the Internet is not different than the offline world in these respects. In their lives, more than anytime before, the intersection of faith and technology will cause them to have to respond in maturity and wisdom.

In addition, there are laws about privacy that many youth are not aware of. Please, please, please make sure that you understand what is lawful, and then teach it responsibly. Kids need to know that this is very serious (See the report of a recent case on kids passing undressed/nude pictures and the sentence given to them by a judge, via Cellular News).

Mobile and Internet addiction is a touchy subject. Its a very real psychological item, at the same time it is not understood. Teach appropriate times and boundaries for using mobile and Internet devices (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8), but allow time for exploration and discovery. Be open to what they want to learn, but also seek to make sure that a Christ-aware framework is present as a means to direct those energies and talents.

And most of all, understand that like you, they will not agree with everything that their parents have said. They will want to push and push, pull and pull. You might not have the time as a parent to learn everything about each mobile device, Internet website, or associated technology, but you do have their mouth (as they have your ear). If they want to use it, have them teach it to you so that you have some awareness about the technology that is being asked to be brought into your homes. After all, we are told that we are to govern our own houses, and hearts, and minds, all in Christ Jesus.

*Privacy will be an increasingly important issue, and something that as a community MMM will try to guide and direct where possible. However, due to the amount of laws that govern cities, states, and regions, there is no way that we can cover everything. The responsibility to understand the privacy laws of your region does lie on you. But from that learning of policies and use at a high level, one can be a point of wisdom and instruction for youth and other parents. Please make sure that whatever you get into (mobile, Internet, otherwise), that you understand the scope of the privacy laws that apply to you and that usage. Only then can you teach your communities appropriately about mature and wise use of this technology.

Labels: addiction, children, Internet, mobility, Parents and Mobile Kids, privacy, teaching, teens, youth

Most people get on me because I am so focused on mobile. And they do have a point, I do and push things that in a lot of cases just don't seem feasible to most folks. But then again, it is. Check out a snippet from this story and think about it:

...The story goes something like this: Vic was out for dinner with family and friends. The adults were on one side of the table, the kids on the other. The adults were debating some issue, and Vic said, in response to a question from one of his friends, "I don't know."

His four-year old daughter Samantha, whom everyone knows as "Tiger," piped up from the other side of the table: "Daddy, where's your phone?"

"What do you mean, where's my phone?" She explained that she'd overheard the question. Why wasn't he just looking up the answer on his phone...

There's a lot that people are doing on a PC that would be a lot better served on a mobile, and by interacting with one another. As the Body of techies, how are we teaching and enabling this simple observation from a child, to change how we approach tech and ministry?

Labels: education, innovation, mobile, mobility, teaching

The Nokia Conversations blog has highlighted an article and its source post speaking about internet etiquette education in [South] Korea. Being that mobile and internet use is very high in terms of use and lifestyle in [South] Korea, its almost appropriate that they would be one of the first to take a whole sale approach to addressing use and ethics for parents, youth, and culture.

This quote speaks to why this matters and why as a Body we need to jump in and learn/apply these same lessons:

...many children including myself go through the phase when they relate their identity to imaginary or fictional characters. i am no expert in this area so i do wonder how future children would discover and exploit the fact that they can be the imaginary character to a certain extent if they want to, aided by other ‘people’ in the digital world, not just by their own imagination while they are going through the blossoming age of developing their social perception and individual identity. it is up to whether the child will be able to master the delicate skill set of constructing and maintaining the perception of a world in a non-physical form...

This is a subject that begs discussion on so many levels, not the least of which is because the technology moves so fast that education can sometimes be seen as a chore and something that holds it back. I disagree with this notion, and therefore discussions and policies like these are needed so that we don't end up with a culture that has a jaded sense of what is real versus what is virtual - or in other words find their identity in more than just the social programs they are engaged in.

Check out the posts at Nokia Conversations and Nokia Design Researcher Younghee Jung, and then the original Korean article (its in Korean) speaking about these policies for more insight and backstory on this.

As leaders and parents, how do you teach ethics, while allowing the technology to be a place where imaginations can form maturely?

Labels: children, church, communication, community, computer, education, parenting, teaching, tech, teens

Hope that most of you are having a good weekend and summer. I want to continue a bit on the subject of creating an ideal Bible reader by taking a look at a concept user interface (UI) that I created some days ago.

What you see here is a wireframe design of a UI for a touchscreen (PDA or Internet Tablet) or large screen (think laptop/desktop) computer. The the basic premise is that most of the time, we just want to read. But there are levels of interaction with the content that we'd like to explore, and thankfully, many in the Bible software and open source software communities have made available. This is just a more functional (and given some graphics, prettier) UI than what anything else offers that I've seen personally.

I got the idea of this from watching part two of Adaptive Path's series on the Aurora Concept. The Aurora Concept is a vision of UI and user experience (UX) web design that's projected for 5-7 years out. This takes into consideration only that the web is more ingrained into our lives, and that software works together with the live world around us to offer more compelling interactions with content and with one another. Simply speaking, I saw the video and it clicked.

My reasons are putting it out here (meaning the Internet) are many-fold. For one, I'd like to get some feedback for this kind of interface for a Bible reader. Many of you who read MMM are publishers, developers, and content creators/editors in the Christian space and therefore your input towards what might be missing or not clearly stated in these wireframes is very important.

To those of you who are academics, pastor-teachers, or just laypersons who like to read and study the Word electronically; this is an opportunity for your opinions to be heard given this skeleton of a mock up.

It is my hope that this can encourage us as a Body to start looking at the greater impact that the Internet has and will continue to have in the lives of those who utilize a much more connected and mobile paradigm of living than what humanity has had before. Yes, we can preach moderation and appropriate use, but we can also model usability that doesn't take away the older concepts of living, listening, and enjoying those quiet moments when we just need God and His Word.

Its not explicitly my hope for this to turn into an application. However, I have presented this to a few people and the response has been quiet encouraging that this is in line with what people are looking for. Having not the time to learn how to develop this, I'd probably be looking to the developer communities of various device operating systems to see if this can be turned into something that makes possible what I last spoke on - a common user experience framework, but designed within the scope of the system and the device.

The last thing that I'd like to state is this: this is by no means a project that a commerical entity should not be interested in. The feedback given on this Bible Reader Concept should be a help towards developing a more fluid system of reading and studying the Word given publisher and device constraints. After all, we are in this to help people read the Word more and see Christ interlaced into their lives. Demonstrating this literally in mobile software would be an excellent witness, wouldn't you agree?

Labels: Bible, community, Hardware, internet tablet, mobility, open source, reading, software, teaching, UI, UX