Am getting ready for the WIP Unpanel at Uplinq which happens this week. There’s going to be a slew of people at attending the 2 day event, with the panel occurring on the second day.

Now, it might sound a bit interesting to be attending this. But, in order to best understand the various contexts of mobile, Uplinq provides a unique opportunity to engage the mobile industry at the network and carrier level.

The WIP session also provides a means to hear and dialogue with developers who are struggle through understanding market opportunities, devices, and a growing/change user dynamic. If you will, it’s everything except the end-users who will be chatting.

From several recent conversations, it would seem that many of you are also looking for those case studies and white papers which will help to drive mobile strategies, such as content management across various types of connected environments. I’ll be asking some folks for these, in addition to seeing what content needs to be generated here. Unfortunately, documentation is always one of be last things to be done when it comes to pushing forward.

In that respect, please accept a few days of light content. There will be notes posted on Twitter, and maybe some chances to get in front of a camera with a few folks.

Excellent, excellent post over at the Ohio State University Digital Union blog. The post talked about the goal of using reference technology at the point of care (nursing) to make better informed decisions. Within this piece, there were three points given towards the principles which guide their program:

• Embrace choice
• Don’t assume that students will figure it out
• Information literacy, not technology

As an educational institution, you can see how these three principles have a lot of weight, and point towards sound wisdom gained and applied. The last point, however, points to something that (on the side of media, technology evangelists, and industries) that we can really fall flat on quickly if not careful.

Here’s the section as quoted from the DU Blog:

We have found that students have issues navigating the software we give them; specifically, they don’t immediately understand the structure of the resources. Students likely would have the same issues navigating the dense texts they purchased to provide the same information prior to our mobile program, but students didn’t feel like they were battling technology when they couldn’t find information they needed. We try to teach students about tools like search, cross-references and bookmarking and how they can make finding resources faster and more efficient than text versions, but there is a limited amount of time for this type of instruction and often students don’t understand the purpose until they become comfortable with the content, which usually occurs well after the instruction.

Notice how the use of the technology is bolstered with instruction on how to analyize the content. This is something that we are very familiar with in the Christian context. We understand that no amount of parallel biles, concordiances, or dictionaries means anything without the ability to understand and correctly analyize the content.

Pay attention to this commonly quoted piece of Scripture (2 Timothy 2:14-17):

…Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene…

There’s a lot of good wisdom here. And primiary in the manner of how to handle the information that’s been given to you. There’s this understanding on Timonthy’s part that it matters not so much the method that he’s using to present the Gospel, but that he’s doing so in a manner that shows that he has maturity in handling it. For Paul, the onus was on him to know that he taught Timothy well enough for him to handle the word, and that the wisdom given in that time would address any of the tools that he’d employ after that.

Yes, there’s something to be gained for understanding the role of technology, but more to be gained in terms of how we understand how to use the information that mobile and web technologies afford us.

Note the emphasis on the base skills: search, cross referencing, bookmarking. There’s this overall behavior that’s being taught to become managers of their informational environment. Understaning the context and reach of your audience, not just the tools that get you out to them, are key. Teaching your audiences how to fish, not just leading them to a fancier pole.

About eight years ago, I was given a grant of 30 Palm devices to use with the Millersville University Upward Bound Program. These devices were used in a pilot class of high school seniors to teach them time management, and to epand their viewpoint towards the abilities of personal and mobile technology. To most students, the lessons learned in this class were extremely valuable, not because they got to play with a “Palm Pilot.” But, because they learned how technology is designed to enable them to better work towards attaining their goals. Some students had to work harder than others to make the technology work for the class – but that’s what I was there for as an instructor. By the end of the class, they’d traveled the internet, learned about PC hardware and software, and gained a leg up on managing the rest of their classes’ information.

For most people, some attention to the basics is all that’s needed in order for them to create life at the point of relevance.

An upcoming project behind the scenes here at MMM is to assist authors in cultivating a presence within online social networks. In doing some research and analysis before this project, a core or key question sits at the front of things: how does one approach being social?

There are two ways of looking at social networks: they can either be a part of what you do normally (online and offline networking is pretty much the same thing to you), or that online social networking is a layer on top of what you do, and is more of a learning to live digitally, than it is something you do naturally.

Some would ascribe the terms digital native and digital immigrant to these perspectives, and they wouldn’t be totally wrong. There is definitely a generational (and socio-economic) grounding towards adeptness towards the area of social networking. But, I’d like to reach past even those two generalizations to something more core – how do you connect with others?

Social networking, at its simplest, is another word for connecting people with people. Online social networks use everything from residency, to hobbies, to schooling, to even pets, in order to craft venues which allow people to connect with one another over shared interests. And while these venues are topic specific usually, the end result is usually the same, and expansion of care and influence to a segment of the global population you might not have had before.

For many people, the idea of expanding their circles into such an arena is natural, for others, its learned. In both respects, is a leaning on this understanding that if they are going to grow, mature, sell a product, or expand and influence, that they have to learn and apply skills which might knit them to a different group of people. It is this aspect, making and cultivating relationships, that stands as the big decision for engaging within social networks.

It is easy to find various communities, add your name and a means to contact you, and just be there. It is another thing entirely to invest into that community where you are adding value on the level of relationship building. This isn’t a small deal – every connection, every click, every shared status message or picture, everything will require you investing a part of your life into the lives of others.

In directing others to whether they should or should not engage within a particular social network, this is a key question, and one that should become the basis of any engagement: are you willing to invest into the life of another at the cost of something within or outside of yourself?

For some, investing within social networks has meant that they can no longer or even more than before, be a part of local community groups. It may mean that they have to own up to the consequences of past actions, but maturity and time have also granted grace and mercy before justice. It always means that there will be something or someone else buzzing your ear at a vulnerable moment – and you will have to make sound decisions whether its a good time to respond or not.

It means that you have to pay attention also to the technological and political contexts around those networks. Yes, you might be able to connect, but does a connection to a certain group compromise one of you in a spiritual, personal, or professional context in the near-future? Are you able to deal with the increased notifications, and the attention that would need to be paid to responding to some messages more immediately than others?

Does the social community/network challenge you to grow beyond your perceptions, or is it an incubation chamber for growth in what you already know, or is it an echo chamber? Do members of that community/network engage beyond those online “rooms,” or does that offline group thread life inbetween meetings with voice, text, email, or other tools?

We commonly hear that “Jesus met with everyone.” But, I think the core of his “meetings” was that he cultivated a social life that allowed him to see what the Father was doing, respond to people in need, and embed his strengths into the lives of others, enabling them to grow their lives and the lives of people around them effectively. In this age of social networking, and the many questions around how to do this well, I’d argue that we can not only draw some parallels, but also some key points:

• For all the connecting Jesus did, he spent time away from people in solo reflection and prayer
• He made sure to communicate in a way that the majority of people could understand, but left room for people to ask questions and meet with him for clarity
• He didn’t run from dissention, but also would not allow himself to get into pointless arguments
• He understood timing and the fact that not all social networks can last forever; the one that does last forever was yet to come
• He left changed from every gathering, the people he gathered with left changed

Social networks really have not changed all that much. Yes, the speed at which we can connect has changed, and certainly the tools are different. But, whether we are adept at the concept and tools, or learning our way as we go along, taking a moment to assess why we connect socially, and what that looks like is very important. And then from there, we can make steps in the direction(s) of using the right tools, around the right people, to enable them to see life in the best way possible.

Just a reminder that there’s still some time to post your responses to the Digital Disciples (Charlotte) Information/Interest Survery. Comments and reflections will be analyized at the end of the week and pushed for a future post, and some updates as to what can and will happen with Digital Disciples (Charlotte). Thanks again for your time and responses.

I will chime in again with just about everyone else who’s used an iPad for any amount of time – its a very good device for consumption-based reading/browsing, and the battery life is phenomenal. Thing is, its not so great when you want to read certain types of content – mainly because, some things just aren’t available anywhere but in a browser (hence the title of this post).

When I purchased the iPad, I knew that there was a smattering of (e)books that could be downloaded to it. And I was very excited and intrigued about any perodicals which would use the Bonner’s Mag+ Concept as I knew that for such a device, making the content fit into a unique immersive reading experience was very key to enjoying the device.

What I didn’t expect was that I’d have to grapple with vendor lock-in and a lack of being able to port content easily.

It’s an Apple device. There’s not Windows, webOS, Symbian, MeeGo, or any other mobile platform coming out that can skillfully run on this hardware (without a ton of hacking). It’s not meant to be open or opened, and that keeps some things in a positive light – until you want to do something more and not go through iTunes or the AppStore to do it. I wish that in the respect to other software platforms, other tablets would use platforms as a means to enhance the consumer experience, not just tie them down.

The major beef for me though has to do with porting content from the iPad to my N97 (or whatever the mobile of the week is). Outside of those things that appear within a browser, I’m generally having to make the decision to either download on the mobile and put in a email draft folder to share with the iPad, or put it on one device and ignore the fact that I switch between devices frequently, but want to keep my content wherever.

And therefore, I’ve only downloaded samples of books. I can’t handle the idea of reading something on an iPad to be locked there, and then between Apple and the publishers to not have access to content that I purchased on any other mobile device that I own.

Saddest of these is that I’ve not really liked the Bible experience on the iPad. I’ve been looking at YouVersion for a few weeks now and it comes closest to the functionality that I get from Google Reader – I can read and note on any device, and both the native and web-based applications keep my information accessible no matter which device I’m using. There aren’t too many apps – or content streams – which do this in the PC world, let alone the mobile world.

Ideally, I’d love to be able to simply purchase the licenses to a (e)book and then be able to read/consume/share that content accordingly. But, right now, this has to happen more on the side of the Bible software developer to account for the user and the licenses, not so much on the side of the publisher. And with such the niche that Biblical software is, some items just are better left not purchased unless you can make the time investment into the device they are targeting.

So I’m left reading samples of some items, and sharpening my search and research skills for other items. I refuse to get into the game of jailbreaking (hacking) my iPad just to share content easier; and definitley don’t walk the line into piracy – the men and women who take the time to create, test, and market this software deserve to be compensated fairly for their labors. I just wish that it were easier to abstract the content from specific platforms, so that it would make for a better value proposition for me the consumer of the content.

Maybe if that happens, I can stop looking to paper books as models of truely mobile content.

If you are visiting MMM, chances are that you’ve already identified the opportinuity that mobile can and does play within life around you. You might even have realized that there’s an inroad within your ministry or organization that can be better developed within the lens of mobile processes or actions. Just having a realization isn’t enough, and many time, what’s signifiant about an opportnunity to utilize a new tool isn’t the possibilities with it, but the tangeable results afterwards.

As any person who has done process design or even some kind of system/process analysis will tell you, opportunities are best defined by being able to track progress and replicate the successes. In the context of mobile ministry, this is no different – however, identifying the real opportunity from the pie-in-the-sky ones does present a problem. Here are some of the questions MMM has posed to groups in the past:

• How many people will be needed to setup and support the technology and administrative efforts?
• What are the reasonable levels of participation compared to the histories of other activities?
• What are the costs you see/don’t see?
• What event could drastically change the outcome of this effort (positively or negatively)?
• What are the social implications of this effort? Is there a point of no return?

Questions such as these can be asked before making a step forward in order to better understand the scope of the proposed opportunity. Once these questions are addressed, the idea of what’s a clear opportunity and what isn’t not only becomes clear, but then moving forward towards ministry that’s enabled my mobility becomes something less likely to meet the kinds of resistances which should have been considered beforehand.

What you can’t do is be afraid to take a chance. Innovation demands that you put down the teathers of success or failure and embrace adventure at the cost of engaging others within this faith journey. Yes, some efforts will cost more (people, resources, financally, etc.) than others; and clearly, there are some things that depending on the context that you just should not do; but there is never a reason to not try something new. Mobile is too new of a context for a group not to.

Identifying an opportunity for mobile-enabled minsitry should not be looked at as a means to boost numbers for anything except the household of faith. We should not be looking at creating a new digital community, or another layer to people interacting within [our] faith communities without first looking to address areas of need – personal, communial, social, legal, etc. – that enable the fruit of the “good news” (John 13:34-35) to be seen, consumed, and multiplied (Matthew 28:18-20).

Then, the results of our excursions into mobile would be seen and received with gladness (or even greater tribulation, which is also a sign of vindication), and the risen Christ is rightly credited with taking opportunity of the moment, and we are thanked for being in position to be utilized as vessels for His moment (Zechariah 14:20-21).

As I write this, I’m in the mist of an IM session with a friend who found her personal information on a website that she never published it to. As a fellow business owner, I could understand her angst towards such info being out there – especially in light of information theft and personal security concerns.

But, one of the sticky points centered around the implications of the sharing culture that we are firmly in the mist of. Specifically, she remarked about how people seem to take no thought to the implications of sharing content, or even their obligations to friends and family when sharing content that contains them. In light of this’s site’s focus around mobile devices, and what they do enable, its also appropriate to look at mobile in these contexts.

Implications of Sharing Content
Many people visit websites and freely share content without clearly understanding what could be done with the information (or the metadata around that information). In some cases, this is because we took the easy way out and “just clicked OK” instead of reading the terms of service. Other times, it because we simply just don’t understand the technology enough to know that there is a positive and negative implication to sharing content.

What are some of these implications? Here are a few based on that conversation that sparked this topic:

• Greater visibility into personal life
• Visibility into personal relationships
• Disclosure of private opinion
• Disclosure of private (to a company or organization) information

Yes, usually speaking, we know about these implications, but we share anyways because its one part the culture, and another part a value assessment (the positive implications outweigh the negative).

But, what happens when those implications turn negative (for example, Facebook and LinkedIn changes their terms of service for their benefit but exposes or curtails your previously held positive value)? Do the implications matter anew, or do we roll with the punches, not taking personal responsibility for the information exchange we have equal stake in?

Obligations to Friends and Family
There’s another side of this managing and sharing of information online that we need to consider before even logging or sharing it – that is, the opinions of friends and family. The same friend referenced above spoke about a family member who posted pictures of her on Facebook, but she wasn’t on Facebook nor gave permission for those pictures to be posted. By law, she would be able to request that the pictures be removed; however, by the nature of the Facebook service, the only way she’d know that pictures of her were published is if someone inside of the service network told her.

In effect, the family member didn’t observe solid manners when posting those pictures by asking for permission first. Yes, its usually implied permission that we take (note: not “give”) when posting pictures of someone online. But, if we are not able to execute their right to change what is shared about them, then we effectively have denied them their rightful voice.

Enter Mobile, and Several More Questions Than Answers
This is where it gets extremely hard to manage mobile. On one end, we can do the right thing by taking pictures or noting content of others, making public only those items which they allow. But, on a mobile device, this is essentially letting someone into your “personal space” and then making the call to go forward or not.

Technically speaking, mobile devices, platforms, and networks don’t allow us the luxury of knowing when someone has taken a picture or written something about us. That would require a level of monitoring and filtering that current networks can’t take, current devices can’t stayed powered for, and current governments just won’t broach (usually).

Within the mobile industry, it is well understood that there’s a ton of money and influence to be made off of understanding and managing the content and the metadata around the content of what is produced on a mobile device. As a part of those topics we talked about in terms of where the Body needs to beef up within the next 10 years, information analytics and intelligence is pretty major. We need to not just understand this as an industry or organization though; there’s got to be a personal understanding towards what exactly we have in our hands towards all the information being generated and tracked. And that means not only to read the terms of service, but to know the law in regards to what to do if your privacy has been compromised.

Scriptural Response
Spiritually, the call is to take the luxury of sharing and connecting as a part of our obligation to “live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:18) by putting their perspectives in front of our own (Phillipians 2:3-5). We view our freedom to share in light of the fact that others have something to gain and lose if we aren’t careful of the rules (laws) and opportunities that others can take advantage of. And when presented with a situation that doesn’t work to our advantage, we respectfully, and rightly, take it up with those with the power to change or influence change so that at the end of the day, whatever we shared has given someone the ability to grow in Christ. And if someone becomes offended in the mist of this, we handle this not with the mindset to slander or take revenge, but to extend the same grace to them as we’ve been extended – understanding that the implications of sowing love, joy, grace, peace, and mercy, is a bumper crop of unity (John 17:20-26).

Things You Can Do
If you’ve been the victim of personal information being posted online, or identity theft, your service provider(s), local and national governments, and in some cases even internet service providers/domain hosting companies have policies in place to help rectify the issue. Unfortunately, its much harder to undo the damage than it is to inflict it; but in your communications, be sure to alert those in public office your concerns as it is most likely on their agenda as well (many influential voice can help give rise to a change in this behavior).

Don’t put information online that you don’t want to come back and haunt you later. Do your best to own the information that you do put online (for example: own the servers and/or the software that creates the content, have the ability to leave the service and take your data with you (see The Data Portability Project,), and just use good sense.

I have to admit, in the process of looking for a new blogging platform, WordPress was really at the bottom of the list. One of the reasons was simply because of the nature of living mobile – there are just some things that (apparently) need a laptop/desktop for administration tasks.

Well, my desktop is back in business, and therefore I’ve done a few updates-of-the-Wordpress nature to the site. A few things folks should find a bit easier to deal with:

• A button to share items via AddThis’s sharing service (previous to MMM’s previous setup)
• A Twitter sidebar widget (because some conversations overlap into posts here)
• A better Contact form
• And a few other behind the scenes ditties

If you will, the site needed to be managed better, and before tweaking the design, these functional elements needed to be added.

That being said, please don’t expect there to be too many add-ons. I don’t wish for the site to get like others. Nor is the point of this site its functionality, its all about the content. Anything I can do to keep the content in the front will be done.

And if I can’t, there’s a Twitter following full of people who know WordPress and what it can do.

Adventures are wonderful 🙂

“…to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.”

To any fans of Star Trek, this phrase will ring very familiar. And to those who prescribe to missional and evangelitical contexts within the Christian fiath, this is pretty much your DNA and way of life.

And now there’s another veichle. One where communication and media travels faster than the attention that it deserves. One where its just as easy to connect spiritually as it is to disconnect socially. One where its a matter of several systems working together properly, not the least of which is the wallet to fund its relevancy.

I speak of mobility – not (just) Internet. And the purpose behind mobile is just as clear as it is within other forms of media and communication – connecting people to what matters most to them most, and sharing that value with others as an purposeful behavior, not a compelled one.

Depending on the perspective of who is reading this, you might also say the same for the Internet. But, I will caution you – its not the same journey. It is, in fact, accented by the gains made on the Internet, but punctuated by the gains made in access. The Internet isn’t everywhere. As a matter of fact, its not even everywhere in places that esposue to be connected more than others – for example, one county over from Silicon Valley boasts some impressively miniscule computer and broadband adoption raters. Mobile, on the other hand, sees nearly 4 billion unique eyes (and several million more machine eyes), and this number is still increasing at a high rate. Another example, in several countries, the number of mobile phone subscriptions is greater than the total population of that country. The Internet isn’t on that scale in any country at this time.

And yet mobile is added to the pie of communication that the Internet is also a part of. A pie that’s not finished baking if you as many who study and analyize the Internet do understand and forward. It’s not that the Internet is half-baked, but it – like media that has gone before it – undergoes continual change – the latest being the social web, or commonly called Web 2.0.

Mobile, or mobile access, can be argued as the most disruptive of these changes. It still in the adoption phase (6.5-7 billion people in the world, 4 billion mobile cellular subscriptions and growing; hunderds to 4 billion in 25 years, etc.). The idea of connectivity on a mobile is in its 3^rd generation (3G = voice and data, with the ability to deliever broadband-like services, security, and monetization optimizations, mainstream acceptance, etc.). And the best is yet to come (augmented reality, unified communications, etc.). Mobile is a personal communication’s channel, enterprise/web testing bed, and a largely unexplored nebula of interpersonal and inter-communal interactions.

Mobile is a personal warp engine to reality. It doesn’t just invite you to use computing to connect, it compels you to get out in the real world and connect. Mobile isn’t just simply refactoring the behaviors of broadcast media,* it invites the receiver to be a participant in shaping the message narrow-casting that message to others.

*Broadcast media is normally defined as commercial media sent to a large group of persons, receivable by a hardware commodity which may or may not be subsidized by the media entity, but does follow specific governmatal and commerce regulations in order to disemenate information. Its not voluntary accept in the fact that you have your choice of channel, not message context.

One of the many questions asked about adding a mobile and social component within ministries misses this key point. Mobile isn’t about what you can push to others, its about what you can do to get them to participate within the story you wish for them to subscribe to.

A question posted today on Twitter by the Ideas Project points to this incoming change in the way we understand and use information. It’s not that the learning, or even the information has changed. What mobile (and social Internet) has invited is this idea that there can and should be more participants crafting and dissemenating the story narriative. Mobile invites response by its very nature. And as mobile marketing analysists have investigated, the response time for communication to mobile devices can be 3-10X greater (in numbers) and measured in minutes (in respect to hours, days) to other media.

It’s therefore easy to say “go mobile,” or “let’s develop a mobile strategy that will put us in the minds (hands) of newer generations of communicators.” However, that might be the wrong approach. Its been seen time and time again on the educational side that learning happens best when students are a part of crafting the message. It was one thing when Jesus was the person visiting the sick and delievering hearts from oppression (Luke 4:18-19), it was another thing entirely when the people he taught to do (live) the same put on such clothing (Acts 2:40-47).

I’d argue that mobile invites us (the Body) to embed into others the ability to craft this story of our faith. Not that previous media or methods couldn’t, but because mobile is so close to the storyteller, that is makes sense to develop and enable others to do so.

What say you? Is this a part of what we’ve been endowed to do (Acts 1:8)? If you will, mobile/mobility inviting a literal practicing of the life we will eventually live (Revelation 1:6; 20:6)?

Today, there’s a meeting of Digital Disciples happening in Atlanta, GA. It is a free gathering, and certainly open to all. So here’s the information – hope to connect with you there.

Don’t forget that Digital Disciples (Charlotte) has a survey that’s out and looking for feedback. There’s been only a few responses so far, but we’re looking to restart the group in Charlotte with some relevant topics and content. View that survey here.

For more information, and to find Digital Disciples groups in your area, visit the Digital Disciples website.