Tag Archives: mobile in theology

A Disturbing Image, A Passive Reaction

Edward Snowden

With the Halloween season right around the corner, there are enough tales of humor and horror to keep you busy for another 364 days. Yet, this year the most disturbing image given – the acknowledgement of some of the most influential governments in the world have been monitoring digital communications in various clandestine ways – has seemed to illicit more of a yawn and more of the same.

…But what is, in a way, more alarming is how relaxed many of my professional peers seem to be about it. Many of them are people who do understand how the stuff works. To them, Snowden’s revelations probably just confirm what they had kind of suspected all along. And yet the discovery that in less than three decades our societies have achieved Orwellian levels of surveillance provokes, at most, a wry smile or a resigned shrug. And it is this level of passive acceptance that I find really scary.

What’s even more alarming is that the one group of professionals who really ought to be alert to the danger are journalists. After all, these are the people who define news as “something that someone powerful does not want published”, who pride themselves on “holding government to account” or sometimes, when they’ve had a few drinks, on “speaking truth to power”. And yet, in their reactions to the rolling scoops published by the Guardian, the Washington Post, the New York Times and Der Spiegel, many of them seem to have succumbed either to a weird kind of spiteful envy, or to a desire to act as the unpaid stenographers to the security services and their political masters…

The Guardian is right. Publicly, we’ve just not done this part right – and its scary.

I’m guilty too. I’ve not moved as far or as fast as others have towards making more secure communication practices or crafting online spaces which are better secured from prying eyes. I’ve done a few things, but not nearly enough… most of us in #mobmin haven’t. I don’t know that we can continue to be passive about it. Either we play the role that many in the public space have – ignore it while talking about it only in private – or we take ownership of it and do things differently (whatever that looks like).

I’m in a bit of a weird space. I could do something like what’s had to happen with my personal blog and steps I’ve taken with social networking, or there might be something more drastic of a step to take – like really going back to hosting MMM from a mobile phone (really good method here), and only letting verified connections take place to it – then doing secure RSS feeds from there or something else which is mobile, secure, and open – like OpenRepos.

I don’t know… there are methods of ministry on mobile that we should continue to talk about. But, the other side of that tech and truth is that mobile is also a very monitored and monetized communications media whose aim isn’t connecting (first), its making money and keeping vigilance. Can we accept that and be passive about those issues going forward? Or, does #mobmin adapt to that reality too… teaching better methods, understanding even more the incredible opportunity going forward?

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?

Rapid Mobile Phone-Based (RAMP) Survey Tools

Some folks have been asking for sometime about best methods to collecting data via mobile, or at least some best practices in doing so. For better or worse, those folks asking usually weren’t trained in the area of quantitative or qualitative research methods and so there’s a bit more of a learning curve when it comes to answering that. Nevertheless, there are some methods and practices out there and the Red Cross has pointing to a neat method/toolset called the Rapid Mobile Phone-Based (RAMP) Survey. Here’s a bit more about it:

RAMP provides a survey methodology and operations protocol that will enable national Red Cross Red Crescent societies, governments and other partners to conduct surveys rapidly, at reduced costs, with limited or no external assistance.

In 2011 and early 2012, RAMP was piloted by Red Cross societies, the IFRC and partners in Kenya, Namibia and Nigeria. In these countries malaria is a major public health problem. Programme managers were interested in finding out the extent to which malaria programme objectives were being reached. The surveys provided statistically significant data in a number of areas including: ownership and use of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs), and the percentage of children under five years old that were accessing health services within 24 hours of the onset of fever. A RAMP survey bulletin was available within 12 hours of completion of the final survey questionnaire with a full draft survey report available within 72 hours.

Read the rest at the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

RAMP-slideshow

We’ll be getting this added to our listing of resources pretty soon, while the case studies section will link to the reports already posted. For some of you, this kind of info will speak directly to your efforts. For others, it might make for a means for you to move forward with mobile/mobile ministry, with some additional insight towards areas of opportunities.