Last week on Twitter, I posed a question that was grounded in something of an experiment done last year at the Mobile Ministry Forum Conference:
If most persons in your community has a personal screen in fellowship activities, would u consider ditching the projector?
In that talk at the MMF Conference (Tablets in Mobile Ministry – Post | Slides | Sketchnote: PDF, JPG), I went with the option of simply putting on a whiteboard a short URL to the presentation, and then encouraged the audience to take their personal mobile devices (smartphone, tablets, and laptops) and view the presentation as I talked. On my end, I had my tablet with the same presentation on there. This is something that I’d thought about doing a few times, and having a few failed experiments with Idea Flight (my issue, not the app). Besides getting a funny look from the participants, I noticed that I was a lot freer to talk to the eyes of the audience, as there was almost this sense that “if we keep our eyes down too long, we’ll miss connecting with the speaker.” It was one of those things that kind of stuck with me, and therefore this kind of bubbling up of the question in the tweet.
So I think… if we are in small(ish) groups where almost every person has their own screen. By screen, I mean everything from feature phone, to smartphone, to tablets, to wireless-enabled MP3 players, to laptops. Each with a screen, and a means (somehow, either by a narrowcast Bluetooth/WiFi signal, or a session where folks who might be “plants” were to share the content with others around them, showing them how to share with more people. And after that, a call to order, and then the person who is speaking literally leads by saying “open that file/document/link you were just sent, as I’ll be talking from the points on your screen there.”
To me, it sounds in part like going back to the time before projectors were a common occurrence in fellowship halls. It also sounds like Slient Frisco but magnified beyond just the audio experience. What does such a change to this idea of a podium or even lead-speaker do to these kind of community engagements? Could it foster something different and longer lasting than simply “well, he preached good?”
One of the responses to the Twitter question asked if this is something I could see in a large (think TED) setting. I had to answer honestly, I could. I don’t see any reason why everyone needs to be fixated on a large screen when there is someone in front of you passionately detailing whatever it is that moves them/moves you. I do think that the large screen community experience works great when we are talking of movies and performances – it makes no sense to go to a shared-viewing event only to stick your head in your own screen. But, presentations (sermons even) are different. The projected content (can, not always does) accents the speaker. And if the speaker is worth their passion in being heard, the slides don’t matter as much as their believe-ability does.
Could you see a future where the projector leaves your fellowships for the direct contact of seeing the person speaking? Could you stand to be that presenter not relying on a projector for context? I did it, and frankly, I’d like to continue the practice.
A few days ago, a post went up over at the BigBible Project talking 
People often ask, “how does this magazine bring in income?” Its honestly not a difficult question to answer. It is a challenging approach though. Many of the insights shared here over the years don’t come from direct mobile or ministry perspectives. They come as a result of connecting the dots between mobile or ministry with the needs and challenges present within other concerns that people, organizations, or industries might have. Sometimes, this takes us so far off the beaten path, that in order to see the connect, the dots that connect become the insights shared. 
While it is good to get the perspectives of going mobile or web with Bible reading, sometimes it’s better to get a view of the implications of the introduction of those technologies from the more tradition end – starting first with the print (paper) Bible, ad then seeing what kinds of technologies can be grafted onto there. If done well, it can be an enhancement. If not, it could end up as just one of those features that’s great for conversation and little else.
You can Log Off But Not Opt Out
Monday, May 21st, 2012A few weeks ago I came across this article, Social Media: You Can Log Off But You Can’t Opt Out, which has put forth some interesting viewpoints, and to a large degree puts the right perspective on social media tech and the constraints they impose socially. Here’s a snippet:
Read the rest of Social Media: You Can Log Off But You Can’t Opt Out at The Society Pages
So, going back to a question we posed a few times already, if you are gong to tell people to use mobile or social networking (an app, for announcements/broadcasts, etc.), are you going to spend the same energies talking to the, about it’s downsides?
Tags: Communication, Mobile in Analytics/Marketing/Development, mobile in marketing, mobile in media, mobile in psychological, mobile in spiritual, mobile in spiritual/theological/psychological, mobility, social networks, tech, The Society Pages
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