Entering the 8th month of 2012 already? Yikes, it really felt like March just a minute ago.
Well, with the end of the month, its time again to take a look at the resolutions that we’d put forth and see about how things are progressing. Here are the items we posted:
Given the activities and actions of the past month, I can truly say that MMM has been called out on all these specifically. We’re making progress. How are you doing on your resolutions in faith and tech? Anything you’ve had to reset or restart giving how far into the year we are? Or, has the summer/winter months thrown you off a bit and you might be looking for something else to reignite your efforts?
This month, I participated in the International Conference of Computing and Missions (ICCM) USA Conference in Colorado Springs, CO. This was a nearly-week-long conference where those persons involved in IT strategy and support for various missions and BAM groups came together for a time of rest, fellowship, and restarting. The theme of this year’s conference was Spiritual Reboot – ironically, this was something that I recommended last year. And indeed, for many of us, the 4 days or so in CO definitely served to rest and reset life in work, family, and ministry.
At ICCM, I presented a few times, and engaged within several conversations about mobile technology and its use within faith-spaces. Some of the most interesting conversations I’m keeping to an offline state, but let’s just say that its pretty neat what some folks are asking of the tech and channel that is called mobile.
My primary presentation was about comparing the current leading smartphone platforms (iOS, Android, and Windows Phone), with a bit about HTML5 thrown in there. This presentation is up over at MMM if you want to take a read, comment, or recommend corrections/additions. And to quote something that I mentioned to a few folks at ICCM, I’m not in favor of any current smartphone platforms. I’ll continue to take a balanced look at them all, but aside from my iPad, none of them fit me well enough to get a ringing endorsement *all* of the time.
The second presentation was something a bit random (why I didn’t prepare this before I don’t know) but apparently also had a neat listening audience there. This was about the Mobile Ministry Methodology that I developed and released in the Spring. I talked through each of the phases of the methodology and where it can lead to consistent, reproducible, effective, and traceable projects in tech and ministry. I’m still hearing that there is nothing like this within the digital faith space. So perhaps this project methodology can be something that other types of digital faith efforts can adapt, tweak, and move with.
Both of those were done on the same day… whew.
That same day, along with a few other days, I participated in what was called Birds of a Feather (BOF) sessions. These were more fluid group discussions, proposed and voted on by all attendees, and then someone elects to – or falls into – be the facilitator of the discussion. I was involved in a few of these. The first of which being a session on Mobile Apps for Ministry. I managed to take some (shareable) notes of that one. Other BOFs I participated in included Mobile Options for International Travelers, Alternatives to Skype, and several informal lunch/dinner-time talks.
Speaking of drawings, I did do a sketchnote for ICCM, however, I unintentionally included some information on the sketchnote that shouldn’t be public. That’s going to have to be one that sits in my private library until I manage to edit things or, or just do another w/o that information. There were pieces of the sketchnote posted to Twitter (see under my handle @mobileminmag or the hashtag #ICCM). That’s about all that will be public towards that end of things (sorry).
The conference was themed “spiritual reboot” and I can definitely say that it merited that for me. Besides just being tired, before getting to the conference, I had a situation which really could have been a lot worse that what it was. Thankfully, having the presence of mind to pray often and ask for help got me through – but it was mentally and spiritually draining for both me and my lady. Things are going to get better (that particular situation isn’t over), but I feel a lot better about leading life with faith instead of fear.
As for expectations, I’m hoping that ICCM leads to several new trips and opportunities. Its already sparked a discussion about availability in a few areas of the USA for projects, an another media interview with an old friend from the UK (will post on that when it goes live), and a spark to get my hands on the Nokia N9 for personal and project reasons. Not sure what else can happen, but having seen some mountains that aren’t green (difference between Rockies and Appalachian ranges green and height), I’m just looking forward to whatever is next.
Not done traveling either. Looks like I’ve got a pretty major one coming soon. I just got to get my paperwork done. ICCM has a Europe and Australia/Asia meeting. Would be worth going to those if you are interested in this space… I know I’m pretty invested in my interest in it.
Press Release:Mobilize Your Children’s Check In Routine Using iPad®, Tablets, and Smartphones with Roll Call Mobile CheckIn
BYRON, IL., July 26, 2012– Keeping children secure through the use of a computerized children’s check in system is a prerequisite for nearly all children’s ministries. By the Book has taken children’s check in a step further to provide churches with ultimate flexibility by offering Roll Call Mobile Check In, which allows churches to use iPads, tablets, and smartphones for kid’s check in procedures.
“We feel the mobile check in option will give the church the ultimate in flexibility in how they do children’s check in,” says Kim Conley, co-owner of By the Book, software for churches and nonprofits. “Roll Call Mobile CheckIn allows the church to deploy volunteers throughout their facility to check families into classes or even worship services.”
Imagine a church that offers a bus ministry: Armed with an iPad that has 3G capability, the volunteer could check in kids as soon as they arrive on the bus and have name tags printed and waiting for them upon arrival at church.
The Roll Call dashboard will give ministry workers real time headcounts so the children’s ministry leader will know right away if any classes are getting too full or if they need to enlist more volunteers.
“They’ll also be able to check in visitors right from the mobile device and even walk them to the appropriate classroom if they’d like,” adds Conley.
“This children’s check in system has been the easiest out of any I have used. I love the ability to grow with more computers, tablets, or key cards as our ministry expands,” comments Angela C. from Summit Ridge Church.
Children’s Check In/Out Process
The child check in system in Roll Call allows users to check students into their classes, record attendance, and print nametags and security labels. With Mobile CheckIn, volunteers can check students in using a mobile device by looking up last name or last four digits of their phone number, then print labels at a centralized print station. To check students out simply compare the security code on the child’s name tag with the security code on the parent tag.
Technology Specifications
In order to run Roll Call Mobile CheckIn, churches will need to have Roll Call church management software installed on at least one computer. This computer must be running Windows Pentium 4 (minimum) or Mac (Intel) OSX 5.8 or greater. More details on technical specifications can be found here.
Churches will also need a mobile device such as an iPad, tablet, or smartphone that can connect wirelessly to their local network. If using the mobile device outside of local network, that device must be able to access the internet through a 3G or 4G network. If churches will be checking students in from outside the church’s local area network, they will need a fixed IP address for the Roll Call Server machine.
About By the Book
Founded in 2002, By the Book (http://www.bythebook.com) offers robust desktop and internet accessible church and nonprofit management software. Roll Call Church Management Software meets the needs of churches from small to large through membership management, attendance monitoring, visitor follow up, contribution tracking, and background check management. Roll Call Child CheckIn and Mobile CheckIn add on solutions offer churches peace of mind by securing children through PCs or mobile devices. Honor Roll Fundraising Software offers nonprofits complete donor management tools, pledge tracking, and contact management. Free trials are available of all of By the Book’s software offerings. Email, call, or sign up today: info@bythebook.com or 1-800-554-9116.
Was reading a few items at the end of a day during the ICCM conference and came across his article at the Harvard Business Review:
…To avoid “bloodshed” in mobile, learn from past lessons in Web, digital and social. Improve your understanding of the nuances of mobility and mobile behaviors before you ramp up your investment in mobile. Resist the temptation to rely too much on a guru; hiring a guru will only take your organization so far. Many of the organizations who brought in “social media gurus” learned this lesson the hard way. A single individual cannot scale. However, if the organization is willing to put real teeth behind their mobile efforts, a single smart person can help form a center of excellence. Establishing a center of excellence that puts mobility at the core, and integrates it with other business initiatives, can get a business thinking about mobile more strategically…
The article goes into something we have said for a long time, it’s not so much that you need to know mobile, you need to know and maneuver the tech and channel of mobile around the behaviors that make sense with it. Meaning, know what mobility means and then when you go mobile that you use the right skills and methods.
Funny too, because I talked with a few folks this week about how to best create more people like myself. I am not enough to help understand mobile, but we all doing offer parts makes mobility of this faith the return to the way it was done when God walked with us.
Continuing with some of the sessions done at the ICCM Conference, I was a facilitator for the BOF (birds of a feather) session talking about mobile apps for missions. This was essentially a conversation about what’s out there, what’s missing, what’s needed, and then any tangents those questions cause. Here is the Sketchnote I took during that time:
The app idea towards the end (an app/service to better do contact management and donation management for individual missionaries) was pretty neat. I think that is something which might really have a chance of happening, if some of the political ends of it can be answered.
That was the 3rd session that I led in some fashion for the day. I was totally wiped out when that day was done, and yet, I think that kind of intensity of participation was needed from me.
The second presentation given at the 2012 ICCM Conference was about the Mobile Ministry Methodology:
The Mobile Ministry Methodology is a framework designed to assist individuals, ministries, and organizations determine the value, prospects, process, and successes of mobile ministry projects. Derived from SDLC methodologies, this framework is designed to keep the a singular goal in perspective despite tendencies for scope creep.
If you have already started working with the Mobile Ministry Methodology, get in touch with us towards any successes, challenges, or successes with your projects. If you are looking to utilize this in order to get your mobile projects off the ground in a traceable manner, also get in touch with us as we do offer consulting based on this practice.
As a matter of course, this was an unplanned presentation. And wasn’t the last time we got in front of folks for the day. Spiritual Reboot is the manner of happenings here.
Am currently attending ICCM USA 2012. This is basically a tech retreat/conference for those who have a passion for or work in tech and missions. Though, there’s actually a nice contingent of non-mission and BAM (business as mission)-like folks here too.
MMM is up to present at few times at this conference. Our first topic, which should be in progress right as this is going up, is a talk detailing the Android, iOS, and Windows Phone smartphone platforms – with some comparision to HTML5 approaches for apps/services too.
If I do good, I’ll also get to finish the drawing that I did that was to accompany this deck.
There’s also one or two more presentations happening. Stay tuned to Twitter (either @mobileminmag or #ICCM) for updates and links to anything additional. So far, I’ve already demoed the instance of TiddlyWiki that I have running on the web server that’s on my phone. Definitely want to keep up a bit of a pace towards some of the items done here over the years that might spark some refresh for the folks here.
And if you could, a bro definitely needs some prayer for items outside of ICCM that have some effect on my time here. The theme of the conference is spritual reboot. Weirdly enough, its attributed to me as the one who suggested it. I’m in need of that and a good bit more.
Got to admit that its kind of neat just letting the tweets speak. Been a lot of nuggets and things to consider along the way. Here’s the slate from yesterday, perhaps there’s something in here for you to consider as well.
RT @CSLewisUIf you read history you’ll find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. CSLewis
[Reading] Mobile SEO is A Myth http://j.mp/RXfShQ //IMO, all SEO is a myth, but this topic has merit as is
Not a bad list for the last day. We’ll see what the next few days have to offer. Follow @mobileminmag to get these and other tweets as they happen. Or, tweet something using the #mobmin hashtag and perhaps that would be something highlighted here also.
@edstetzer if automation is more your style, build in Keynote, run presentation from iPad; apps: Evernote, Prezi, Penultimate… or Adobe Ideas if u really go creative; don’t flip pages; have all text on scrollable screen incl verses; use large size; share deck when done (add extra notes)…
RT @timmybrister I’m looking for a Korean translator (into English) who has some theological training. Can anyone help with this? Or point me to someone?
RT @chadw5Q: On Web content: “Simplicity is about removal. To simplify you have to take away.” http://ht.ly/c6ITD //applies to life as well.
RT @brad_frost: Need any more proof that mobile matters? @lukew rounds up stats from sites that see more mobile traffic than desktop: http://bit.ly/MbC1Kt
“As soon as I saw the title to this, I thought of a talk at BibleTech some years back by…” — Mobile Ministry Magazine http://disq.us/83ldx3
Going to be taking it light this week in terms of new content. With ICCM-USA happening next week, I want to make sure that I’m spending the time needed to wrap up the presentation (iOS vs Android via Windows Phone vs HTML5) as well as just get some needed break from the content-generation side of things here.
That said, MMM won’t fall totally off the radar. Tweets and retweets will happen via Twitter (@mobileminmag) for the better part of the week, and if the days get heavy, we’ll be sure to just pull them together in a post here. For example, this would be the last three days of tweets:
A Sunday for working the outline/content for #iccm presentation; really hoping it fits #mobmin needs beyond the conf
Entering the 8th month of 2012 already? Yikes, it really felt like March just a minute ago.
