Author Archives: Mobile Ministry Magazine

About Mobile Ministry Magazine

Mobile Ministry Magazine (MMM) is online magazine asking questions, presenting approaches, and experimenting around stories related to the implications of faith and mobile technologies.

Mobile, Privacy, and Considerations

Its easy to continue down the consumer line that the holiday brings – talking new devices, apps, and services, and leaving weighter concerns to the opt-ed pieces which might hit a magazine or two. And then there’s that sense of responsibility. A condition of mobile in ministry is to understand the landscape and the challenges of just being in this space. In light of what we do, own, or promote, it our responsibility to pay attention to what might negate this landscape as well.

…Thanks to smartphones or Google Glass, we can now be pinged whenever we are about to do something stupid, unhealthy, or unsound. We wouldn’t necessarily need to know why the action would be wrong: the system’s algorithms do the moral calculus on their own. Citizens take on the role of information machines that feed the techno-bureaucratic complex with our data. And why wouldn’t we, if we are promised slimmer waistlines, cleaner air, or longer (and safer) lives in return?

This logic of preëmption is not different from that of the NSA in its fight against terror: let’s prevent problems rather than deal with their consequences. Even if we tie the hands of the NSA—by some combination of better oversight, stricter rules on data access, or stronger and friendlier encryption technologies—the data hunger of other state institutions would remain. They will justify it. On issues like obesity or climate change—where the policy makers are quick to add that we are facing a ticking-bomb scenario—they will say a little deficit of democracy can go a long way…

That segment is from an article that’s stayed open in a tab for me for a number of weeks now. The Real Privacy Problem at MIT Technology Review is a must-read, must-bookmark, and must share.

And yet, that’s not the end of things. We understand that its not just what we do which is being exposed, but what others are gathering about our actions which present very real challenges – if not outright defining characteristics – to what it means to have mobile ministry practices.

…The NSA has no reason to suspect that the movements of the overwhelming majority of cellphone users would be relevant to national security. Rather, it collects locations in bulk because its most powerful analytic tools — known collectively as CO-TRAVELER — allow it to look for unknown associates of known intelligence targets by tracking people whose movements intersect.

Still, location data, especially when aggregated over time, are widely regarded among privacy advocates as uniquely sensitive. Sophisticated mathematical tech­niques enable NSA analysts to map cellphone owners’ relationships by correlating their patterns of movement over time with thousands or millions of other phone users who cross their paths. Cellphones broadcast their locations even when they are not being used to place a call or send a text message…

Read the rest of NSA tracking Cellphone Locations Worldwide, Snowden Documents Show at the Washington Post.

The Washington Post and others have been very brazen in publishing items like this. Whether or not one can get around that kind of monitoring is one thing, understanding what that monitoring means is another. And the truth also exposed here has to be understood – if countries are advanced enough to pursue these complicated and powerful means of using data to make connections, countries/governments/organizations/individuals which don’t have that skill, or have the controls in place that might be present legally/ethically here, not only have that ability, but have been working in similar manners.

Don’t just be so naive to dismiss the dangers when running towards the opportunities.
Don’t be so paralyzed by the dangers that you neglect running towards the opportunities.

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.

Advent

Once again, the Church has entered into the Advent season. Many of us take this time to not just prepare for the holiday but to reflect towards how the entrance of Jesus into our own lives has upset the norm and changed things.

If a mobile app helps you get to that point of reflection, this small listing is here for you (found a ton more for Android here). If the traditional Advent calendar is more your speed, there are several for sale still – with candle holders and other peek-a-boo doors – for example, this one for Outlook and similar apps.

May you take the time to reflect on the soon-coming Messiah, and draw your strength in grace of his birth.

Thankful

While there are lots of folks getting out from under plates and shopping bags, I do hope that you take a moment this day and weekend to be thankful. Not for your resources. Not for your lifestyle. But, for the grace that has been afforded to you.

Two Sides of Feeling

Was pointed to this piece about two sides of owning a [smartphone] mobile on Twitter by @AdamGraber. Here’s a snippet of the piece:

10. Desired/Disappointed “I love getting new messages and feeling the love, but I check my phone so often that I’m more often disappointed than not. We’re constantly checking our phones for new notifications. Because we get texts, emails, Facebook messages, tweets, and calls all on our phones, each new notification makes us feel like we matter. We love this. But if there’s nothing new, we have this pinprick of regret. Since 2010, we’ve gone from checking our phones every 10 minutes to checking them every 6. That’s a lot more pinpricks. 9. Accessible/Obligated “I feel good knowing my friends are within reach, but sometimes they text me and I don’t want to text back right away. Am I a jerk?” Texting is perhaps the most complicated communication medium we have. Sometimes the responses are immediate; other times, they can take days to respond. But we never quite know the reason for one versus the other. The expectations around it are a minefield of miscommunication and frustration.

Read the rest of 10 Reasons We Love/Hate Our Smartphones at The Second Eclectic Some of these make a lot of sense. And given some of the counseling bent of some ministries, there might be a window towards ministry opportunities which are mobile in focus, but not ministry done with mobiles.

The God Stamp

Have had the Halloween/Harvest Celebration comic from Wes Molebash (Insert [IMG]) opened in my browser for a few weeks now (it seems). Part of it is because Wes is the kind of artist-with-faith that its easy to support. But, there’s also the aspect of the community that he’s created which occasionally offers the kind of mature comments which shows there’s more to this life than the wonton opinions that many times fills the web.

Of note, in this comic there was a comment that made me stop – hence the reason for it being open for so long – and consider that there just might be other motivations at stake in this space that I’m watering – an unintended consequence of seeing an intersection of faith and mobile tech:

Where I do have a problem though is when we try to put a God stamp on something to make feel ok to participate. I think that this is what God is getting at when the Bible says, “do not to take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” The heart of the principle is that We shouldn’t put His name on something to curse or bless it for our purposes.

I feel like our attempts to create Christian adaptations of cultural practices do more harm than good.

Ouch.

There’s only so many ways to say it – and thankfully, Wes actually said it another way in another comic soon after – we can’t go about mobile ministry, doing mobile and then putting the God stamp on it, expecting that others will respect or honor those efforts, or even that God will. Just like we’ve said before that digital has to be native to your ministry, ministry has to be native to those things you do digitally. If not, its nothing more than a fish on a car as it cuts in front of you on the road. It gets there first, trumpets something about Christ is known in there that’s being ignored to get there first.

If you are like me and enjoy Wes’s work, support his efforts by donating or commissioning a work for your organization.

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.

CLA Mobile Ministry Course Registration Open

The Christian Leadership Alliance (CLA) has again opened the door to their winter session and the course we designed and will facilitate – Creating a Mobile Ministry: Mobile Ministry Introduction and Relevance – is going to be offered.

Learning Objectives

This course is designed to provide participants a better understanding of mobile technologies used in ministry practices. Upon completion, the participant should have a better understanding of the current information that is known in this space, be able to ask/answer questions of that information, and then generate new questions that will lead to sound research and applications of mobile technologies in ministry applications.

Module Overview

This course intends to lead the participant into an understanding of mobile technologies and behaviors which influence faith practices within Christian and other religious spaces, with the goal of creating a theological and sociological framework for analyzing, discussing, and leading local/global communities in mobile interactions. The participant will have the knowledge and foundational skills to supplement existing ministry activities, or start new ones which utilize mobile technologies, communications, and/or behaviors.

You can register for Creating a Mobile Ministry: Mobile Ministry Introduction and Relevance at the CLA website.

As with the previous offerings, if you have specific questions which are not answered on the course website, do ask.

Using Mobile, The Skeleton of Twitter

A simple question came to mind while reading an article at Bloomberg Businessweek talking about the technology behind Twitter. Here’s the part which poked at that question:

…Another of Twitter’s discoveries was that mobile phones could work as a broadcast platform. This was something of a miracle of timing: A massive proportion of its traffic today comes from mobile devices. The short length of the tweet was perfect for celebrities in limousines to communicate with thousands, and later millions, of followers. The tiny payload of tweets could be easily jammed into narrow mobile phone data streams, giving people a real-time flow of information…

The article is really clear and simple about what’s going on behind Twitter in terms of how its technically designed. And here comes the question – specifically for those building mobile ministry projects?

Do you understand the depth of interactions that happen on mobile? Does your mobile ministry solution build on the basic behavior, or on top of another’s technology that does?

Post your comments here or on Twitter (@mobileminmag or use #mobmin in your response)

Geek Fest Presentation

A bit late, but definitely as interactive as it gets from these parts. The presentation from Thursday’s Geek Fest is now viewable by all:

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 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.

A Bit More About this Presentation

There’s a bit more that’s gone into presentations as MMM has evolved. Some years ago, we started experimenting with the idea of taking the focus of the presentation off of the presenter and the projector and putting it into the hands of those attending. A further evolution from there was to reinvent the slide deck along our mobile-first mindset and develop interaction decks which looked and acted betted on mobiles than they would on 100+in screens. This presentation goes a few steps further in terms of the plumbing and connectivity involved.

First, the outline of the presentation was created using Dave Winer’s Fargo.io Outliner. As a starting point for thoughts, as well as a logical means to organize resources, Fargo will continue to be the backbone to presentations – or at least having an output in XML of what’s happening there.

Secondly, we used a lot of video in this presentation. That’s not normal, therefore YouTube was leveraged before their abilities to organize into a playlist the collection of videos, and allow those who produced those videos the space to be heard for their work. I liked how the videos were integrated into the storyline this time around, and will explore in future talks how to leverage some of the same (probably with other video or audio services, just to see what happens).

The slide deck is HTML5-driven. Technically, it uses a feature called AppCache in order to be saved to the viewer’s device/machine, so they can look at it later. Now, if they clear their browser cache, then they will not see the deck. There are linked assets in the deck which need a web connect too (the XML and videos) – and so it will not be completely viewable offline. It is interactive, and displays the points that needed to be conveyed. The UI is purposeful in directing attention – there are few ways to go backwards depending on the screen. Much like the Choose Your Own Adventure books of our past, its designed to let the story unfold as you read, instead of all at once.

If you have comments or questions about the content or tech used in this, please do not hesitate to ask. To view previous presentations and other assets created at MMM, see this page.

In the meanwhile, do take shots… you never know where they might end up.