[Presentation] Minutes to Mobile Money at Hackerspace Charlotte

As mentioned in the rash of events post last week, tonite we’ll be at at Hackerspace Charlotte (@hackerspaceclt) giving a presentation titled Minutes to Money: How Africa Hacked the Cellphone and Changed the Credit Card Industry.

This talk (15-20min) will discuss the trend of mobile money (transfer and technologies) and how culture, economics, and mobile disruptions make for a fertile ground for such innovations.

Hackerspace Charlotte is located at 430 E 36th St Charlotte, NC. Feel free to come through. Its a free event,. Though, if you can’t attend, you can view the slide deck.

To those looking for the connection to mobile ministry (#mobmin), its all about understanding the context of behaviors that leads to identifying opportunities in whatever space faith can be a participant in the discussion. For some of you, mobile money has meant simply how you can get your projects or ministries funded. You’ll need to think beyond that frame of thought and activity if you are going to take the activities identified in the mobile money space and make those a case of relevant faith transfers as well. Do add your questions or insights to the comments to this post if you have any.

Notes About Slides
If this is your first time (or its been a long time since) taking a look at slides done here at MMM, we use the S5 SlideShow system in order to create and share presentations. This HTML/CSS/JS format is versatile enough for any device and all that’s needed is a browser in order to view it. Unfortunately, this keeps us from sharing in avenues such as SlideShare, but other networks and methods are easily available since this is simply web and nothing else.

The QR codes are linked to URLs in this deck; and the resources such as Tomi Ahonen’s Pearls Vol. 3 and the Netsize Guide are very good and profitable resources for this type of talk.

The 10 de’s of the Bible Also Describing Mobile

Today, it seems a foregone conclusion that mobile (and what mobile connects you to) disrupts life. But, before mobile became something easy to see, you can imagine the fun we had in talking about its disruption. If only we had Naked Pastor’s list back then:

de-stabilize
de-nationalize
de-centralize
de-culturize
de-colonize
de-religiousize
de-textualize
de-intellectualize
de-theologize
de-spiritualize

Check out Naked Pastor’s post for the definition of these ideas. And then consider this:

every change in communications technologies has also reset the actualities and expectations of the relationships we have towards one another and the industries that broker our relationships

Mobile is more than just a channel. It a reseting of the description(s) of realities that are relevant.

Image from Naked Pastor

Mobile Ministry is More Than Devices (Part 2)

This is continued from Part 1, posted previously.

I mentioned earlier that the services layer is where we’ve seen the most work happen in mobile ministry. Part of that is because of the maturity of that layer, the accessibility of that layer due to (simply) the existence of the Internet, and the (usually) generous offering of compatible APIs between services and some families of devices. This allows the ministry/organization/individual developer to focus on making sure things plug together neatly, and they can put more energy towards the experience that is to be gained from using their application.

But what if you want to focus on the device layer? What are you in for? Let’s just look at a few device platforms that you could support:

iOS (Apple)
RIM (BlackBerry 5, 6, and 7)
Android (1.6, 2.1, 2.2, 3 (Honeycomb), and now Ice Cream Sandwich which has no version number and spans several device form factors both mobile and not)
Windows (WM 6, 6.5, Phone 7, and Phone 7.5)
Nokia (S40, S60 Feature Pack 2, Symbian^1, Symbian 3, Qt 4.5)
Brew (incompatibilities across carriers)
HP (WebOS 2, 2.1)
Samsung (Bada, Bada 2)
And several mobile devices which use proprietary OSes that cannot be developed for directly, but are sometimes enabled on the carrier-level for some services (see the graphic in this Vision Mobile article for details)

And that’s just what I could name off the top of my head.

You can’t focus on the “mobile = devices” meme. You can’t even let that maintain more than 1/3 of your thoughts on mobile. When you do, what happens is that you start to make smaller the addressable persons who would be able to successfully utilize produced content, or even enable them to produce content for themselves.

Let’s say that you want to focus on the services layer. What are you in for here? A small list again:

WAP
HTML (4 and 5; devices support different and mismatching pieces of these)
SMS (MMS, shortcodes, carrier-specific rules, analytics that matter, etc.)
APIs to default applications (requires platform-specific SDK)
APIs to web services such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. (read the terms of service for what you are able to access and what compromises you or consumers might have with these).
Content Management Systems

Again, just a few pieces. But you can’t just say “go SMS” and not also be cognizant of the fact that SMS broadcasting rules are different in various countries/carriers. You also need to be able to scope carefully what your entire workflow will be for that communication from the creation of the message, to what happens with the data about that consumer, to expectations for them and your organization.

I’d go into experiences, but you might be getting it now – you can’t just think about mobile as some isolated channel. It isn’t isolated, and the entire mobile definition is predicated on the synergy of devices, services, and experiences.

The potential of mobile is that there are 5.3 billion accessible persons who can be touched in some way by a carrier of the Gospel. The realistic assessment is a lot smaller, and requires more than just a passion for the theological command. Our passions also have to account for the ability to get to the message in an accessible manner. That’s more than a device. And ultimately, it requires us getting on a deeper level than the channel itself.

Mobile Ministry is More Than Devices (Part 1)

It is clear in several conversations (online and offline) that mobile ministry is one part understood for its potential, and another part misunderstood at how mobile can best be applied in ministry contexts. I think that this opens a can of beans by stating it like this, but its better that its just stated now since mobile ministry is still at its infant stages.

(Refined*) Definition of Mobile

Communication and computational events facilitated through the use of handheld devices which expand personal contexts to mediated and shared life experiences.

(Refined*) Definition of Mobile Ministry

The use of, and application of devices, services, and experiences classified as mobile to experience the fullness of religious faith traditions.

*Both of these refined definitions were taken from our GCIA 2011 Presentation Deck; you can refer to our other discussions on the definition of mobile ministry by using the tag reference to our articles on this subject.

There are a few pieces to note within this definition key to my position on this. First, mobile isn’t about having a certain kind of mobile device. Mobile devices are considered to be any computing device that is portable. That means laptops, tablets, PDAs, phones, music players, personal media players, gaming systems, and even calculators are mobile computers. What you do with them doesn’t yet drive the definition, these are all devices which process several types of input and output another type of data without physical tethering by either the user or the computing device.

Next, there are three parts of mobile which aren’t exclusive to mobile, but do drive the understanding towards how to proceed forward. Mobile is made up of three layers: devices, services, and experiences. Devices include all of those which I described in the paragraph above. However, when you hear “mobile devices” in marketing and similar communications, it is implied that you are speaking of computing devices that have screens between 5in and 2in in diameter. This doesn’t mean that other devices aren’t mobile, only that the marketing term for mobile has been constrained to this type of device form factor only.

Portable devices without a screen that also facilitate computing-style interactions are also mobile computers, but again, marketing or functionality determines their name, and therefore their perception. This includes how we think about portable computing devices for those with disabilities.

After the idea of devices, we have services. Services include those applications, wireless networks, applications (and their frameworks and development tools), and those tools of analysis and monetization that enable the devices to perform/facilitate communications or describe/analyze events. On this layer you have the fun of mobile platforms, cellular frequencies, developer tools, regional idiosyncrasies towards using a device (SIM, no SIM, MVNOs, etc.), SMS, etc. It is in this layer that much of what has happened to date in terms of the application of mobiles in ministry has taken place.

Lastly, you have experiences. Experiences include “soft” aspects of mobile including design, marketing, intended effects (education, salvation, discipleship, etc.), and the environments effected by mobile (politics, psychology, theology, etc.). The experience of any mobile device, for example, how hard is it to call up a verse in the Bible when listening to a preacher, overall determines how we judge the device and service layers of mobile as an entire experience.

One of the many difficulties that organizations (not just in terms of digital faith) are having with mobile is that they are letting the device layer direct the application of mobile to their intended audiences. Unfortunately, when that happens, especially when you take smartphones out of the equation, is that the development of consistent experiences and integration of services becomes very difficult. Engaging any mobile audience requires a clear understanding of how these three layers are going to be effected, and decisions need to be made very early in the process as to what layer you will most focus on, and how you will craft your expectations around that layer.

This continues in Part 2 next week.

Going Mobile, Embrace Its Unique Characteristics

How about we look at mobile in this respect:

You have already made the decision that you will use mobile as the first channel that you will broadcast and engage your community. You have not settled on applications, websites, or any kinds of marketing tools, but you are certain that you want to use the most that you can with mobile.

Sounds good to me. Here are the characteristics of mobile then you want to keep in mind:

Mobile is the first (and most prevalent) personal mass media

It’s not just that mobile is where markets are focusing, it is where people are focusing on individual levels. And they are actively filtering content and the context of their personal, professional, and spiritual lives thru several mobile devices and services.

Get over the fact that people will not make you their priority, or their authority. You will be one of several streams. But, you can (and should) play a significant role in helping them to manage those streams.

Mobile is permanently carried

A mobile device is seemingly carried by everyone. If it isn’t a phone, it’s a personal media player, game system, music player, and sometimes even a voice recorder. Whatever it is, the device is closer to them than your application or service is. Learn the moments when your mobile effort will best be used, and use the fact that something is carried as part of the reason to be present for that moment.

Mobile is always-on

Always on doesn’t necessarily mean always having a signal. It means that there is power flowing to a device that can garner secondary attention from a primary event. This means that your application or service doesn’t have to sit front and center to their attention, but it should be available in those moments where someone is defaulting to considering something outside of an event going on immediately around them.

And what about those people who aren’t on because a device has lost power. Considering being the point where they power the device back up, and draw a solution for broadcasting or engagement to that point (not necessarily to the mobile device).

Mobile has a built-in payment mechanism

First things that ring in the pocket here are tithes and offerings. Get over it. Unless you are making your online giving systems as efficient as Amazon and iTunes, this won’t gain much traction. Doesn’t mean that people won’t give, but that they will have expectations. Slow services, countless clicks, and an unoptimized experience will simply merit the same responses that giving kiosks have had.

You can, and should, partner with those organizations whom are doing mobile/online giving. Use this as a teaching point for money management and information security. Yes, you are qualified to do so, and this is relevant not only to mobile, but any terminal where payments can be collected.

Mobile is available at the point of creative inspiration

Just because you cannot draw or produce award winning videos on your mobile doesn’t mean that it is impossible. Encourage the creative members of your communities to create and upload to the shared church/organization website the products they create. To those of you already using drama and painting arts in worship services, extend that to those things created dynamically during the service as well. I am sure that sketchbooks and sketchnotes could be really interesting in this wise.

Don’t dismiss the written language. Yes, SMS is only worth about 140 characters, and that’s a good thing. Teach people to pray or write psalms in that space. Again, encourage sharing and broadcasting a specific points in community life. Then, let creative life happen.

Mobile has the most accurate audience measurement

Some of you have justified fears about people tweeting or texting during sermons. You also what that response just as soon as they have it. Consider setting up a Google Voice account where voice and text messages can be set during a service, and then as a leadership team, pray and vet thru the responses for a followup in the next meeting.

Mobile captures the social context of media consumption

If your members are on Facebook more than they are in the Word, consider using those social networks that connect to Facebook as a means to get their eyes in front of the text. And if they are on Facebook and other social networks, are you there with them? What are they talking about? What are the pictures most about? Does your conceptualization of the Gospel meet the, where they live, or where you would like them to live (implying that their lives are meaningless because they don’t follow your pattern of faith)?

Mobile allows augmented reality to be used in media

Augmented reality (and virtual reality) means that you are placing a layer of content, usually online, on top of the real world. Sometimes, this looks like making sure that you are listed in Google Maps so that people can find you using Street View. This can also be the using of QR Codes so that people are accessing their mobile device, and making a shorter step to keeping mind of important information that in just hearing it.

This can also be done in geo-games between churches/groups. This can be a photo mashup compiled from the mobile devices and cameras of several in your community, but layered into the existing web presence your church/org offers.

There are a lot of ways to take mobile and make it work for you. It’s not all about applications, mobile web, or text messaging either. Using the unique qualities of mobile, where you go with it becomes up to your community, not market trends.

Dimensions of Mobile

This has been one academic week with two talks about MMM and mobile ministry in university settings. In both sets of talks, there’s been the setting of expectations around mobile as it relates to ministry and media. So far, they’ve poked a few thoughts.

Stealing a bit from the second talk, mobile seems like a three iterative layers of communication: there, I described it as speech (communicate to interact), tweet (communicate to broadcast, not necessarily targeted), and text (communicate with intent to re-engage). With mobile, there are layers that we use it, and many people sit (stop) with the first. Its that second layer that many of us are seeing more and more, and the third that we have the most problem with. For the most part, communicating with intent to be re-engaged is a bit much.

These layers also seem to play their part in matters of faith. Speech (prayer, small groups, etc.), tweet (sermons, mailings, larger-group teachings), and text (conferences, fellowship, communion, etc.). Simplified, but maybe you can see what I am looking at here. Mobile has its space in which its usable, and others where it facilitates something bigger. The key is understanding the difference, and then going forth (whether in ministry or addressing culture) from there.

Due to the various perspectives (faith) of the audiences that I’m speaking to, I see this as a better route to talk about mobile ministry and digital faith efforts. What I’d probably want to do here is become a good deal more informed towards what’s happening in other faiths in respect to mobile and web (of the latter, its a ton). Those perspectives can help, and at the same time will have a viewpoint unique to their faith cultures.

Interesting thoughts to end the week aren’t they? Poke us if you have any insights, or would like to have us speak to your class/group. There’s much more to explore at this intersection, and from there we can send and receive – and occasionally pull something out that is in a different space that what you might be used to thinking about.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
« Apr
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

Mobile Ministry Magazine

Asking questions, presenting approaches, and experiments at the intersection of faith and mobile

Tag Archives: definition of mobile

The 10 de’s of the Bible Also Describing Mobile

Mobile Ministry is More Than Devices (Part 2)

Mobile Ministry is More Than Devices (Part 1)