Tag Archives: mobile in moment

Reflections on #mobmin13 Conference

Am still working through notes and such from the 2013 Mobile Ministry Forum Consultation, but while doing so, I wanted to jot down a few things which are still sticking out as points of reflection.

  • For those who usually follow me, you know that I draw my notes during conferences, workshops, and Bible studies. I did the same here. Here’s the PDF (because you’ll want to zoom in for the really, really small stuff) and here’s the JPG – posted on Twitter and Google+ if you want to share too
  • I actually was very surprised to see so much paper used during the conference. And then Clyde Taber pulled out using an Apple TV and his iPhone – from a happy-in-tech moment, that was one of the best (4 years ago, he gave me a blank look when I did stuff like that).
  • Pay attention to Heidi Campbell’s work – some good data backing observations said here and other places; her upcoming study on digital religious creatives will be great
  • Talked a bit about version 2 of the Mobile Ministry Methodology – even gave a preview of the analytic tool that will be launched alongside it. Guess who has more work to get done. See Version 1 of the Mobile Ministry Methodology
  • Distribution using SD Cards is all the rage. Lots of folks wanting pure voice solutions though.
  • The range of age was nice to see, and not like it was a few young and a lot of old; there was a lot of everyone (except women – conferences as a whole just need to be better on that end)
  • If you get to meet Kent Shaffer – just listen. The Spirit of God rests on him. He was live-blogging the conference too (Preview, Recap 1, Recap 2)
  • Each year, someone comes with a heavy bat of stats and info. This year it came twice: Faith Comes By Hearing and Tomi Ahonen – loved it
  • Best quotes: “Information is not transformation” (John Edmonston of Cybermissions) and “Recharging and Redemption” (Tomi Ahonen)
  • TWR 360, Ekko Mobile, Estante, Lightstream, C2C Story
  • There were rumblings from some folks about how to pay more attention to the rise of the church in sub-Saharan Africa and SE Asia – I can imagine that next year, those folks will be represented well.
  • I didn’t have the best of attitudes at the beginning of the conference, just kind of didn’t feel like hearing the same things (its been a long time in this space); by the time it ended, I changed – and got some timely and appropriate honesty from a few folks. I’m grateful for those in the Body who still pull us aside and let us know about ourselves.

That’s all for now. I’ll figure out something else in terms of reflections on another time. Check out the #mobmin13 and #mobmin hashtags on Twitter and other social media spaces for reflections from others. Or, go out there and experiment a bit.

The Bible App for Kids

Was really good to see this earlier in November that it was coming, and now its here. YouVersion has released The Bible App for Kids – an animated and achievement-oriented Bible application for Apple iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire devices.

It something that I’ve already given a headsup to my God children and niece. Will be neat to see how/if The Bible App for Kids morphs into other languages and cultures – not only speaking the Word in a language kids can hear, but also offering kids an opportunity to see how other kids look and interact with the Bible.

Visit The Bible App for Kids website to learn more and download.

PwC’s 9 Digital Trends Rewriting Business

The New Digital Ecosystem Reality: Nine trends rewriting the rules of business

Came across a solid piece of writing at PwC towards CEOs, which should also be applicable to leaders of pretty much any domain, talking about nine trends to consider as digital has become more and more the normal way of doing business.

CEOs have faced disruptive shifts before, but this one is different for two reasons. First, the impact of new technologies overlaps more than ever before (e.g., the increase in mobile devices feeds both social collaboration and big data). The challenge and the opportunity of creating a “connected experience” is bigger than ever before. But at the same time, the changes are coming faster. Dealing with both greater aggregation and acceleration means that companies have to do no less than adapt their internal DNA, as they move to new revenue and cost models brought on by a variety of nine key trends.

Read the rest of The New Digital Ecosystem Reality: Nine Trends Rewriting the Rules of Business at PwC (PDF)

The points raised in this piece aren’t too unfamiliar to most, but its packaged for those leaders and influencers who might not hear enough that digital is the present not the future (or take on that statement has been said in the past – mobile is the present, not the future).

Of course, once you hear it, you’ve got to do it (evolve from Romans 10:17 to James 2:14-18). CEOs have to evolve, so do ministries.

iPrayer

As you might have noticed in that post about the sidebar additions, we’ve featured a few mobile apps which are outliers in the mobile ministry space. Not so much because they are popular, but because they do things which are uniquely mobile, uniquely faith-first, and generally, meeting a niche need square on. iPrayer kneels squarely on those points.

This really isn’t a review of iPrayer as much as its an appreciation of what it does well. Much like the 1st version of Instagram, its a mobile-first social network. Once its installed, you don’t need an account to get into it, but it does help if you plan on posting prayers and interacting with the iPrayer community.

Much like MMM, there’s only one person behind the scenes at iPrayer, and that shows in the Daily Word feature. I like that idea, though in speaking with the developer, he mentioned that its possible that iPrayer could configured differently to allow for others’s to be profiled in the Daily Word.

I’ll say though that the thing which really opened my eyes to iPrayer was the UI (user interface). When I looked at the landing screen, my first thought was multi-lingual support. There were so few words and the icon design was so clear that I instantly thought about this being a mobile community app able to serve several languages at the same time. In that convo with the developer, there were no plans to go towards other languages. But, there are other language communities present. Seriously, neat.

My iPad now gets notifications from iPrayer when new devotionals are published. Like another app we’ve reviewed – Bible Bloom – its not about an intense study, but intentional contemplation about those things God desires from us. iPrayer was designed for those folks who have a need for prayer, but might not be as connected locally as some would wish. Its a neat app/service, and one we are proud to push forward as iPrayer is developed further.

For more information and to download: Apple iOS | Android.

Speaking at The Geek Fest Nov 14th

Coming up in about a week, MMM’s Founder and Primary Voice – Antoine RJ Wright – will be speaking at an event called The Geek Fest, hosted by Central Piedmont Community College. Here’s a bit more about that event:

THE Geek Festival (TGF) is an exciting and eclectic annual celebration of the “geek” in all of us; an event designed to educate, energize, and inspire the minds of our students and the community through highlighting the constant creative innovations in technology, media, and industry. It not only recognizes the imaginative efforts made by individuals and companies in their respective fields but also provides a venue through which we can explore the technologies that have become so integral in our everyday lives as well as those that are new and foreign. Geek is chic; not only that, it is everywhere.

And about what Antoine’s presenting, here’s the title and abstract:

What Mobile Experiences Are Left?
A lot of what we think about mobile has been shaped by the entertainment industry’s imaginations, manufacturer’s designs and marketing, and the wonderment of friends and family. In light of that, it almost seems like there’s nothing else left for mobile to unveil. I think mobile has a bit left to unveil. This talk will explore what’s happened and what’s to come, and why its not so far away from your fingertips.

If it sounds like fun, that’s because it will be. The Geek Fest has a lot of exhibitors from the Charlotte area, as well as several national and international orgs. If you are a ministry and looking to sponsor – presentation slots are likely filled up – you’ll want to get in touch with them via their website. As for attending, its free, so just come on out and check out an intersection of education and technology.

For these and other events, check out the #mobmin Event Calendar.

Why Hasn’t Digital Publishing Caught Up

bible software

Was pointed to this via Google+ the other day. But to be frank, its the same discussion, just revisited – with another proposal from someone well associated with digital publishing technologically and organizationally.

In August 2010 we posted an article entitled Tired of Buying the Same Books Over and Over Again. In that post, Kevin Purcell proposed an idea that would allow for bible software customers to buy a digital resource once and then make it available via other Bible software at no additional cost. From a ministry perspective the plan was a good idea. Here we are three years later and the situation remains the same. We still must buy multiple copies of books to use in various programs.

Read the rest of The Next Step at Kevin Purcell’s website

Kevin then writes his response in STEP Backwards: A Counterpoint to The Next Step

Here’s where I get frustrated. Since the digital copies made, after copy one, cost nothing. I have a problem with the second Bible software company selling customers a commentary that they already bought for $9,000 from Awesome Bible Software for the same price. If the customer can prove that they own the book, the publisher should wave the royalty fee and the Christians at the second company should sell the book in their software format at a reduced rate to cover costs of the sale and a little extra. It’s in their best interests to do this because the customer will become a return customer if they can use their favorite books in the second software maker’s program. If they can’t they won’t buy more in the future.

Now personally, I think that to solve this issue of using biblical resources across several devices and applications that there needs to be a significant change of thought and practice. Contrary to the marketing messages, bible software is built for pastors, not laypersons; content licenses are built for publishers, not readers. To design and sell software differently is a challenge that some groups can embrace. It won’t be easy, yet it could be very fruitful.

Jump into the discussion at Kevin’s website, here, or via social media.

Writing Your Own NFC Tags

NFC tags with phone

For those folks looking at person-to-person (p2p) transmission methods, NFC has held a lot of potential, especially when you get past the payments processing end of the conversation. NFC – near-field communications – is something that some feature and smartphones have which enables them to transfer, read, and even write data to tags, which can be read by other devices. What is read/written can be as simple as contact information, or as complicated as a means to shutting on/off functionality.

Over at All About Symbian, there’s a detailed guide on the subject of writing NFC tags, with some good points about what works and doesn’t work from the perspective of Windows Phone devices.

However, one of the lowest-tech and simplest uses for NFC though is in a phone picking up information from a ‘tag’, usually embedded in a poster/sticker, in a business card or badge. The tag is indicated with a logo or arrow or other instruction and you tap the appropriate bit of your NFC-equipped phone to the tag.

And, as you’ll have seen from the idea picking up steam in the Android world from manufacturers like Sony and Samsung, this information doesn’t have to be a URL or contact data, it can also be (admittedly platform specific) shortcut to an application or setting. The other really important thing to note is that any NFC-equipped smartphone can not only read from NFC tags, it can also program them, at least it can when equipped with the right application.

Check out this guide, and even look into using NFC tags for various items in personal and organizational use. Just looking at the image attached to this post, it might make sense to do some “swag” which has writable NFC tags built-in that folks can overwrite and explore other usages with. A scenario that comes to mind is the NFC bracelet – have a branded bracelet for the upcoming MMF Consultation, but then a writable NFC tag enclosed that allows participants to either put a link to their presentation materials, contact information, or something else which might be worth the quick connect.

What might you do with NFC tags and their devices? The limits are your imagination.

[Infographic] Opera Notes Mobile Consumption

Opera, one of the pioneers of the web browser, and definitely one of the leaders for mobile browsing, has recently released a set of graphics noting some mobile consumption trends in the USA. Here’s one of those graphics:

Mobile Consumption Guide

 

One might wonder why we don’t see more information like this, or even how Opera is able to get this kind of info. In Opera’s case, they can pull this information using the analytics gained from the use of their mobile browser products. From that information – including the sites that are being browsed, and the times of day, they can point to trends like this. Its one of many examples of using a common access point to determine how people use your product, and how to position your product development cycle.

Many churches and organizations have a similar data collection point when they offer the Internet through WiFi hotspots in their facilities. Through the data access logs, you can see what it is what people are accessing and when they are accessing it. You’ll want to scrub this information of data that directly identifies who might be browsing – but getting information such as the type of browser, the type of device, the sites being accessed, etc. are enough to understand a bit better what folks are looking at. And if you notice that your web properties aren’t being accessed, that’s not a time to force people to your site, but it does mean that you should look at designing accessible areas on your website which speaks to what people are genuinely interested in.

Infograhpics like this and the one posted a few days ago give those kinds of avenues forward in mobile ministry (#mobmin). Now, its up to you to design and implement a mobile strategy that makes the most of that data.

A Funeral Over Facetime – Digital Presence Discussions

Of the many discussions intermingled with the terms mobile ministry, digital evangelism, and internet ministry, the topic of being present is tightly held. So much so, that many in-coming practitioners cannot see and outright reject a reality where the virtual presence carries just as much weight as the physical. Sociologically speaking, this is because we are talking about a paradigm shift where the participants have always seen broadcast (or screen-cast) media as a different method of interaction. If you will, its always been a media element that talked at you instead of talking with you.. And as such, when those perons who come in this digital ministry frame don’t have the boundary between physical and virtual worlds, there’s a tug of war towards what is right and wrong… when there’s a good chance that the right answer lies somewhere in the middle.

I bring this up now as we are probably the point in digital ministry efforts where the in-coming practitioners don’t have the frame of reference of being separate from digital and physical contexts. They have been living in both easily for the past 10 years, and not because it was something taught, but because it was the context that was always there. And as such, how they respond, even to the most solem of moments, has its footing in a world that seems at times to skillfully balance the best characteristics of both.

His brother arranged it. Matthew arrived in San Francisco early Sunday morning, just four hours before the funeral in Baltimore. Only a military jet flying at Mach 4 could have delivered him on time to the graveside. But both boys had iPhones.  “I’ll ask the rabbi if I can link you in,” said Jonathan.  A wise woman unafraid to blend the ancient with the modern, she said: “Of course.  Bring him here.”

We did

She delivered a eulogy. We chanted and shoveled dirt onto the coffin as Matthew watched, sitting in a too-large, borrowed suit before his phone as his brother held the camera of his phone to the service. The day was blazing hot; I heard cicadas. I also heard, then saw, a young man 3,000 miles away weeping and knew, sad as he and we all were, that he would carry no special burden, for we—that is, all our friends and family—mourned as one.

Read the rest of A Funeral Held Over FaceTime Blends the Ancient and the Modern at Quatrz.

And yes, I totally understand and want to commend both sides of this discussion. There are moments in which culture and sensibilities seem to dictate that to be present means physical, emotional, and psychological being there. But, what does culture say about those who might have adapted to a different reality? One where a funeral being held over Facetime is received with just as much respect as giving someone the funeral program by hand.

Presence, as it seems, might be due for its own upgrade. Or, maybe digital challenging here might mean we have pushed too far. What are your thoughts?